2003 was a crazy year for cel-shading in games. It seemed like every major publisher had at least one title using the rendering technique, either brilliantly (Wind Waker) or as a player distraction from otherwise dull gameplay (Auto Modellista). One of the games that I would place in the "brilliantly" column would be XIII. Released in the fall of 2003 (are we noticing a pattern yet?) this euro-comic-turned-game perfectly translated its source material in the most faithful manner possible while still exploiting the conventions of the first person shooting, resulting in one of the more cinematic experiences the genre has to offer.

Some of us in the states may not have been very familiar with XIII prior to the game's release. Before he would shoot his way through bad guys on the PS2, GameCube and Xbox, XIII began life as a mid-80's comic that combined elements from other spy adventures like James Bond or the Borne Identity. Looking at the source material it's a little bit of a shock that Ubisoft's Paris team didn't create a more traditional third person action game out of the book. Regardless of their reasoning for going with an FPS design, the team went above and beyond to ensure that the illustratively nature of the book remained intact. Paneled cut-scenes and in game sequences are filled with cel shaded character, speech bubbles for dialog and even iconic POW!, THWACK!, and SMACK!, and other onomatopoeic phrases when taking down foes. It sounds gimmicky, and largely is, but remains refreshing throughout. The technique's lasting relies heavily on if you're a comic geek, as the visual language created here is something closer to a comic book than game.

So XIII the game collects the book's first few chapters and begins as a man wakes up on a beach with no knowledge of himself aside from a strange tattoo on his shoulder, the Roman numeral "XIII." As the title character, you then go on a search for your real identity with a few twists and possible misdirection along the way. Action quickly picks up as we soon discover that XIII was (is still?) a hitman for hire and wanted for the recent assassination of the US president. Intrigue enters we he delves into the underground world of conspirators, hired guns, and clues that only lead to more identity-based questions. Along the way XIII, voiced by a characteristically despondent David Duchovny, runs into a few random "Wait... They did voice over work in games?" cameos including Eve as Major Jones, who helps XIII prove his possible innocence, Adam West as General Carrington , a man who knows too much and now held captive by a shadowy force. One wouldn't think this odd pairing of X-file agents, Family Guy's Mayor and the First Lady of Ruff Ryders would work, but the voice over work is surprisingly effective. Not great, but pretty good.

I'm not going to spoil the plot, but the twists and turns revealed here are surprisingly fun, and while a little campy here and there, reinforce a noir comic feel throughout the single player mode. The game doesn't tell all of its secrets, and even ends on yet another cliffhanger. Those invested in the story can track down the books to see just how everything else unfolds once the game is finished.

The levels and action featured in the game boards on standard FPS fair: go here, do this, blow this up, kill this guy, etc. The objectives should be familiar territory for genre fans while presenting them with a very different form of storytelling. There are multiplayer modes and levels based on some of the more interesting locales seen in the game. While it may not be revolutionary, XIII succeeds in areas that most FPS games fall apart for me. Maybe it's because I don't have a glasses-and-goatee fetish or not especially invested the adventures of nameless space marines, but the tense spy action seen here truly feels new, even if the mission design is only above average. When combined with the very atypical art direction, you get the feeling that the developers behind the game didn't want to bring along the hardcore FPS fans, but welcome new players to a genre they might assume to be thoughtless and predictable. It was certainly a large creative risk, tragically one that didn't exactly pay off, but XIII did a fantastic job of introducing me to playing FPSs on a consoles. I would go even further to say that the game proved to me there that FPS games weren't all the same and that the genre has plenty of life still left in it.