XIII Reviews
XIII Remake could've been a nice way to relive a classic FPS tale, but it's filled with too many bugs, glitches and technical issues. Maybe with future patches it can overcome its problems but right now you're just better off playing the original instead: it's cheap and it's still the best way to experience XIII.
Review in Italian | Read full review
XIII is a disastrous remake that probably never should have been made. The franchise's cult classic status officially has a major blemish in this remake. It's almost impossible to find anything positive to say about it because every aspect is just so broken and bland. If you want to get into the franchise, read the graphic novel but do yourself a favor and avoid this remake at all costs.
So is this an improvement over the original version of the remake? Absolutely. Tower Five seems to have done its best to re-work the experience without completely starting over, but it could only take it so far. This is one remake we really don't need.
As it feels older than the original, except for its visuals, and is full of bugs and glitches, this new version of XIII will not be fondly remembered.
Review in French | Read full review
XIII has only changed for the worse.
Microids' remake of XIII is the equivalent of injecting a deadly virus into the structure of the original game that results in nothing more than corruption.
PlayMagic's XIII may get better after several patches, but right now it's a broken, buggy mess that plays like a generic shooter and looks worse than the 2003 original. If you really want to play XIII, go play that instead.
With the brilliant heights that remakes of Resident Evil 2, for example, achieved last year, it felt inevitable that a remake like XIII would stand as the exact opposite result in that regard.
All things said and done, this was never a game even when it did come out that was perfect, and today many years later it does struggle against the titles that currently flood our marketplace. There are games that are five or six years old that are better than what you're looking at now at a fraction of the price, or in some cases actually free depending on the level of membership you have with the console of your choice. I would suggest if you're curious to wait for this game to hit said memberships or to plummet in price as unfortunately I'm sure that it will in a very short matter of time. Sadly, I really struggle to recommend this game to anyone.
Such an offensive slap to all fans of the original game and to all gamers in general.
Review in Russian | Read full review
XIII makes a return as a remake of the 2003 original. It's a game that should have stayed in the past where it belonged.
One tiny step forward and three huge leaps backwards. Some minor modern improvements fail to mask the failures of this remake. If you want the best experience, the 2003 original is the definitive edition.
XIII is a linear first-person shooter with a neat graphical style that offers simple fun akin to a game that belongs in an arcade. However, FPS veterans may be put off due to its linearity and general lack of depth.
The XIII remake is best described as absolutely incompetent. A game from 2020 shouldn’t look, play, sound, and perform worse than a 2003 title that wasn’t even that hardware demanding back in the day to begin with. I am baffled with how unfinished and unpolished this game is. I may have played worse games this year, but I seriously doubt any of them, be it Fast & Furious or Road Bustle, infuriated me as much as this remake. The more I play it, the more I loathe it.
In all honesty, XIII from 2003 wasn’t that great of a game to begin with. PlayMagic clearly wanted to modernize and improve what that game did, while keeping the integrity of the game in-tact. But for some reason or another, just couldn’t come through on that. The game’s best feature is its cel-shaded graphical fidelity, being a remake that looks better than it plays. If you manage to pick this up, though I’d recommend you wait for patches and updates, you’ll either appreciate what’s been done or be convinced to pick up XIII – Classic instead.
Fans are better off playing the original on PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. The remake is barely playable in its current state.
We’d strongly advise against playing XIII on current-gen hardware in its current state, at least. Next-gen, the game is considerably better but there’s a lot that’s still not quite up to scratch. We’d certainly advise waiting on this until at least the first update is live, but what we will say for sure is there’s other inherent problems here that go beyond re-balances and tweaks.
Microids and PlayMagic delivered what looks like an unfinished game, with many bugs hindering the story progression and other problems like the bad enemy A.I., leaving just the original plot and the good cel-shaded graphics as the only positives.
Review in Italian | Read full review
You can easily imagine a world where the XIII remake is a success, but sadly this isn’t that world. Broken is about the nicest thing that can be said about this remaster that is somehow worse than the original.
This remake of XIII not only fails to recreate the source material but also fails as an enjoyable gaming experience.