| | Story Line:What's Going on Here?
I could retire if I had a dime for every time I've woken up on the beach with no memory, sporting a new tattoo, and surrounded by armed men that want to kill me. When it happens to the star of Ubi Soft's XIII, however, it's quite a bit more involved. There's a lot more international intrigue inXIII, for one thing, and fewer enraged bartenders. But, enough about me …
Before it was a first-person shooter on the Xbox, XIII began as a French comic series by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance. The console version is based on the first five volumes of the story, which were altered slightly to fit the demands of a complex action-shooter. But, don't worry: The creators were consulted and signed off on every change between the comic and the Xbox title. The game also captures the comic's artistic style through the use of cel shading, which gives the game and everything in it a unique other-worldly feeling that makes you a stranger in an even stranger land and adds another layer of paranoia.
Comic book graphics make it unique.
In the comics and the game, the main character is a man with no memory, an XIII tattoo, frightening combat skills, and expertise with all kinds of weapons. He is called XIII, but he uses many names as he tries to discover the truth about his past and avoid the endless stream of killers who are hunting him. The roman numerals tattooed on his shoulder keep pointing him to a dark and dangerous world that most of us would just as soon forget, but the more our anonymous hero learns, the deeper into that world he descends.
While the first issues of the comic feature the point of view of another character called Abe, the game puts you directly in the amnesiac's shoes, as his horrific situation unfolds before his eyes. The friendly Baywatch-style lifeguard who helps you at the beginning is brutally dispatched by a machine-gun toting thug, and your first mission becomes a strict matter of escape and survival.
In the comic, XIII treks all around the globe on his identity quest. He discovers a definite connection between himself and the U.S. military, but almost as soon as he learns this fact, he is captured and locked away in an insane asylum, where his paranoia-inducing story sounds like the ravings of just another madman. Realizing the extent of the conspiracy against him, XIII breaks out of the asylum and journeys to South America. There, he trains with an elite covert operations team, sponsored by a shady U.S. general, until he realizes it may be a part of the network that's working against him. With the help of a sympathetic major, XIII escapes from the covert unit and begins his quest anew. 
Your mission: survival.
The game is meticulous in revealing the plot to the gamer, but it does betray one of the comic's big surprises early on. In the Xbox version of XIII, it quickly becomes apparent that the amnesiac agent was somehow involved with an assassination attempt on the U.S. President and that XIII suffered his amnesia-inducing head wound during the attempt. It will not be clear until later which side he was truly on, either attacking or defending the President, but in the meantime, everyone seems to assume the worst, and he's obliged to fight his way out of nearly every situation he encounters. For the rest of the story, seek out the XIIIcomic book in your local comic shop, or play through XIII on your Xbox this fall.
By Luke Judge |
