Just a Peek - Fun Four From Feral (Part II): "XIII"

by

- July 8th, 2005

Yo, and hello. Time for part two of my four-part Feral game review. Last time we took a look at Worms 3D, a slithering strategy game where the players are worms armed to the gizzards (yes, worms have gizzards) with weird, whacky weapons, and the goal is to turn the opposing team of worms into so much goo.

This installment centers on a first person shooter that borrows its artwork from graphic novels. So, let's get into it.

Lucky XIII

If you're a fan of first person shooters, but want something with a little more meat, XIII may have your name written all over it, especially if your name includes Roman numerals.

Art Part

Where Worms 3D may look like a cartoon, XIII looks like a graphic novel come to life. The colors, black-line drawn characters, and even the menus all combine to give the game the look and feel of a story from Marvel or one of the independents graphic novel publishers.

And, just like in the graphic novel, there's a story that must be told; instead of reading the action, and feeling the suspense second hand, you live it first hand as you control the main character, XIII.

The story may even sound familiar to graphic novel aficionados: You wake up on a beach with no memory and a strange tattoo on your chest. You discover that the President of the United States has been murdered, and it looks like you are the one who pulled the trigger.

While it is true that there are many, many game similar to XIII, this game separates itself by giving you a truly unique look. I happen to like the artwork, but I realize it is not for everyone. Even so, there enough here to keep most gamers of this genre happy.

Into the Mix

As the main character, XIII, you hunt for clues, weapons, and anything that may help you survive long enough to find out who you are, what is going on, and how to get yourself out of the mess you've found yourself in. All the while you are dodging bullets and beating up bad guys.

While the graphics look as if they were lifted from those expensive comic books, the action will put you in mind of some of the more, er, graphic graphic novels; there's plenty of gun and knife play, and people do die bloody deaths (parents, take note: this is not a game for younger kids). This game has definite adult themes; you can take hostages, use certain objects to bash people over the head, and literally blast people apart. There's one scene when a grenade is tossed into a shed, which then explodes, and the occupants come running out...on fire! Unsavory!

When you take out someone at a distance, a close up of the person on the receiving end of your shot is shown, in true graphic novel style, in the upper corner of your screen, so you can watch the bloody details of you enemy's demise. There's a certain morbid satisfaction in watching someone take a head shot and crumble like a sack of potatoes.

What Moves You

Another thing you'll notice is that playing the game does take some practice; while moving around was easy and intuitive, it took me a while to get the hang of using the different weapons, and there are many. Different weapons work better than others in certain situations, and in the early parts of the game you get introduced to these weapons while in the thralls of a fire fight, or on the run, which is probably not the best time to learn something new. Needless to say, I died often. Luckily, the game will let you come back to your last saved point. Good thing!

As in a comic, XIII has a certain linearity to its story line, but the story is divided into segments, and in many of these segments you have free reign over how you get through: Go for the shotgun instead of the throwing knives, pick off the guy on the roof instead of the one coming around the corner; it's your choice, and that makes the game all the more interesting.

Low Points and Lowdown

There's also a multiplayer option that will let you play against others online via your local LAN or through GameRanger. Sadly, my 800mhz, 512MB, G4 iMac does not have the horsepower to take this game online; you need a Mac with at least a 1Ghz G4 and 512mb of RAM to challenge others.

Of the four games from Feral that I've tested, XIII makes the most demands on your hardware. While the package may say that an 800mhz G4 is adequate, I think you'd get more enjoyment out of the game if you load it up on a Mac with a bit more umph. Maybe a 1GHZ iMac G4, for instance.

There are also some very minor graphical abnormalities that did bother me a little: Sometimes, when you kill a bad guy and he falls, part of his body may disappear into the floor. I can understand it if a character falls and his body doesn't fit in the corner he happened to fall in, but a glitch like that should never happen to a guy just lying out on the floor. It takes away from the fun, at least for me. It may not bother you at all.

Review Item	XIII
Manufacturer	Feral Interactive
Price Street Price	US$55 US$29 (Amazon.com)
Minimum Requirements	• Mac OS 10.2.3 • PowerPC G3/G4 800 MHz • 256 MB RAM • Hardware accelerated 3D Graphics Card with 32 MB VRAM • DVD Drive • 1.6 GB free hard disk space • Mouse and Keyboard • QuickTime 6

Bottomline

XIII is like a good graphic novel; you just can't put it down until the story is done. There are some minor glitches, even so, with this game, each move you make brings a new set of challenges, so get ready to spend some long nights in front of your Mac, which is never a bad thing.

In part three of this four part review we take a look at latest updated to a classic platform game; Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc.

Check ya later.

is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.

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