XIII | PlayStation 2 | PS2

About the Game

XIII is a cel-shaded single-player and multiplayer first-person shooter game with stealth elements. The game is based on the Belgian comic series of the same name and follows an amnesiac man who wakes up on a beach with a gunshot wound, a safe deposit box key, and the Roman numeral "XIII" tattooed on his body. He soon learns that he is the prime suspect in the assassination of the President of the United States. With government agencies, hired killers, and members of a hidden conspiracy pursuing him, he must survive long enough to discover who he is and what role he played in the events surrounding the assassination.

Story & Setting

These modes are separate from the story campaign.

Gameplay & Core Systems

The single-player campaign is divided into a sequence of mission-based levels set in varied locations, including coastal areas, banks, government facilities, military bases, prisons, wilderness areas, and secret installations. Objectives change from level to level and include escaping pursuit, retrieving information, protecting allies, infiltrating guarded areas, surviving ambushes, and following clues tied to XIII’s lost identity. The narrative is presented through cutscenes, flashbacks, overheard conversations, documents, and in-level events. Combat is played from a first-person perspective and uses a mixture of firearms, thrown weapons, explosives, and hand-to-hand attacks. The arsenal includes pistols, revolvers, shotguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, crossbows, grenades, and heavier weapons.

Standout Features

• players can crouch, move quietly, use silenced weapons, throw knives, knock out enemies with improvised objects, drag bodies out of sight, and avoid raising alarms.
• Some objectives fail if players are detected, harms the wrong character, or allows an alarmed target to escape.
• Environmental objects such as bottles, chairs, ashtrays, brooms, and shovels can be picked up and used as temporary weapons, often allowing non-lethal takedowns when a mission calls for restraint.
• Comic panels may appear during play to show important events, close-ups, or headshots, while written sound effects such as footsteps and gunfire can appear in the environment.
• These visual sound cues can help players locate unseen enemies, especially when moving carefully through stealth sections or waiting outside guarded rooms.
• Progression includes tools and skills in addition to weapons.
• players can also acquire skills that improve specific abilities, such as quieter movement, faster lock-picking, better use of first-aid items, improved sniping stability, or dual-wielding certain weapons.
• These upgrades are limited and tied to campaign progress rather than to an open character-building system.

Modes & Ways to Play

The game uses a cel-shaded visual style modeled after comic-book artwork. Multiplayer support varies by version, but supported releases include competitive modes such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and other platform-specific modes. Some versions support bots, local multiplayer, online play, or map editing, again depending on platform.

Player support includes Same/Split-Screen, Free-for-all / One-on-one (VS), and Team.

Presentation & Atmosphere

Ammunition is limited and must be collected from enemies or found in the environment. This presentation is not limited to the cutscenes.

Audio support includes Dolby Pro Logic II.