If you had asked me on April 17 to name one oddball FPS from the early aughts that stood no chance of ever being remade, I may very well have answered XIII. But then on April 18, PlayMagic and Microids announced that they're remaking XIII, so that would've been egg on my face, eh? It was scheduled for release on November 13 at the time, but Microids announced today that it's been pushed into next year.
"We are thrilled with PlayMagic’s work so far. This additional development time is needed to reach the level of polish we’re aiming for," Microids head of production Francois Coulon said. "The announcement was greeted by an overwhelming response from the community and we’ll make sure to deliver the best possible game to our fans."
XIII is based on a Belgian comic from the mid-'80s, and follows the adventures of an amnesiac soldier who's been framed for killing the President of the United States. There's a whole big conspiracy thing going on (surprise) and Adam West is in fine form, but the experience is dulled a bit by David Duchovny's obvious disinterest—although in his defense, his gentle Fox Mulder monotone probably wasn't right for the role anyway. (If you're going to match a guy up with Adam West, you better make sure he can bring the bananas.)
The actual shooting bits were good, though (as I remember them, anyway), and I really enjoyed the art style. The cel shading was well done and the live-action comic book effect was very nicely brought to life with onomatopoeia effects splashed across the screen and quick, multi-frame closeups of particularly cool moments.
The teaser Microids released when it announced the XIII remake didn't really give us much to look at, but you can get a better feeling for what it's all about in the old Xbox trailer up above. Unfortunately, there's no more specific release window at this point than sometime in 2020, but we'll keep you posted.
