A decent game on the mobile, but not too worthy of a download since you can easily pass it in less than fifteen minutes.
The mobile version of XIII doesn’t differ too much from the PC/console versions story-wise, although there still are some loose ends after you finish the game. You find yourself at a nameless island with a key to a safe that’s somehow mysteriously got into your pocket. After popping some enemies, you’re introduced to La Mangauste, also known as Mong, who becomes your main enemy in the game. Time to time, his face appears on the screen, shouting the same dull phrase - “I’ll get you!” After some more chapters of enemy blasting, you’re finally at the bank of Winslow, trying to solve the mystery of the safe key. I’m not going to tell any more, since, as rare as it is in mobile games, XIII has a decent story. Unfortunately, though, what kills it all is the game’s length. There are seven chapters in total, whose length varies from around two to five minutes. Ten, tops. For the record, I’ve passed XIII in twenty minutes the first time, and in thirteen the second. I’m not that much of a mobile gamer, hence I don’t know whether 20 minutes is much for a game on a cell phone or not, but it seemed way too short for me.
People who have played XIII before on other gaming systems will recognize the main characters – Jones, a fearless woman who helps you out in quite some missions, and General Carrington – the man who is going to save you from an accuse gone wrong. I haven’t passed XIII to the last chapter on the PC, hence I don’t remember whether Mong was there or not, but he plays the main role in the mobile version. Frankly, it’s not that much of a challenge to evade him a few times in the latter chapters, and kill him in the last one. The variety of enemies isn’t big at all, but the variety of weapons is, - you’ll get to use a shotgun, a submachine gun, a pistol, and more. You can switch between weapons with help of one key, - the controls are easy, in general, as you’ve pretty much all the moves a typical shooter game has, - walk, jump, crouch, and shoot. Mantling up little boxes is possible, too, and it gives you a bit more freedom, although the game’s very linear. There are missions both indoors and outdoors, but walk pretty much the same direction all the time, walking into “doors” there and there that teleport you into a different area.
Killing the enemies is not hard – it takes one or three bullets, depending on the weapon you’re using. However, the game’s one huge flaw that takes out a big part of the challenge, - crouching makes the enemies’ bullets fly past you. In other words, enemies can’t crouch, therefore crouching makes you pretty much invincible – you can easily wipe out the enemies on the screen without them even hurting you. If you’re not a sissy who doesn’t play “difficult” games, though, you won’t find this too much of a problem.
The visuals are done well enough, although they could be better on the Nokia 7210, - the graphics look like what you’d expect to be on a mobile game. Indoors, they look pretty repetitive since you have to walk along one wall quite some time. Needles to say, things aren’t too much better when outdoors, as you get to walk on some kind of pipe – trees and other vegetation doesn’t play a role too big. The sound is good enough, as well, for a mobile game – there’s a music track when loading the game, and some sounds there and there when you shoot a bullet, get shot, etc.
Like I said, while the graphics are nice to look at, XIII ends just too quick. The bosses or whatever you want to call them are easy to beat as well, if you jump around like a psycho. All in all, it’s is a decent game on the mobile, but it’s not too worthy of a download since you can easily pass it in less than fifteen minutes.