"The graphic style is very different than all the realistic FPS's on the market"

You wake up on a desolate beach in New England, your memory gone from the near-fatal impact of a bullet. Who shot you? And why? And why is the number XIII tattooed on your chest? You have a key to a bank box in New York, but what secrets does that hold?

But if the day started bad, it’s about to get much worse. What that bullet did not do, a couple of hired guns arrive to finish. But reflexes take over, the mind goes on hold, and you dispose of the hitmen with relative ease.

It seems that the president has been assassinated and your name is mentioned as the likely suspect.

Did you do it? You certainly seem equipped to handle it.

XIII from Ubisoft is a stylish action game displayed like a graphic novel with the aplomb and flair of a 1970s secret agent flick. The game will be released in mid-November on the PC, GameCube, PlayStation2 and Xbox.

This is a game that appears brimming with personality, not only from the comic book look, but in regards to the film noir meets pulp fiction feel. From covert operations to heavy combat with a wide range of weaponry (crossbows, sniper rifles, bottles, chairs or even the bodies of enemies) the game runs the gamut of action available in a shooter.

The initial goal is to discover who you are, but as the game progresses, you will be drawn into the realm of a conspiracy that may shake the very halls of the secret inner government power mongers.

XIII is a real departure from the stock FPS titles on the market and with its own sense of style, this is a title that may well create a new sub-genre within the shooter category.

Julien Bares, executive producer, takes GameZone into the realm of XIII.

Q: There was a movie genre known as film noir which was extremely stylistic. While some other games have presented cel shading, few have taken it to this level, in a gritty shooter format. Please explain how that decision was arrived at to present XIII in this manner and what does this style allow you to do that another would not.

Julien: Since XIII already possessed a compelling storyline, we wanted to keep the original comic story a prominent feature in the game. We decided to keep a comic book visual style as well, utilizing cel-shading to stay in the mood of the original comic.

Using thrillers from the 70’s like Bullit, the Getaway and French Connection as an inspiration, we choose a more American style of action, and we used special effects, like cel-shading and pop-up windows to complete the comic effect. 70’s film noir was very inspirational for us as they showcased intense, fierce action without using over the top gore.

Q: In a nutshell can you explain how creating a game entirely based on cel-shading techniques is different than creating the more standard form of FPS? Is this process more labor intensive? Is this the type of game where the details matter more because of the format, or you can get away with cursory attention to the minutiae background details?

Julien: Since this was the first time we tried cel shading, technically it was a learning experience. Because the cartoon effect had already been used by other video games, the main challenge was to take it even further and create a coherent vision of our style. The idea was that, on seeing a décor, you’d say – without a shadow of doubt – that is XIII! Above all, we didn’t want to resort to a simple, strip-cartoon style of illustration. We wanted to produce a new style that would also use the possibilities of 3D and particles – in our special effects, among other things. It might seem weird or even sacrilegious to say this in the video-game field, but I believe what gave XIII such a characteristic style was the fact that neither the artistic director nor myself are big game-players, so we looked for our graphic reference-points outside the world of video games. From time to time, we glanced at other cartoon-style games, mostly to ask "How did they do that, technically speaking?" But, as far as the style is concerned, we didn’t refer to other games. The best way to avoid copying is never to look at other people’s copies!

Q: In looking at the trailers, once cannot help but think of real-life incidences. A lone gunman in an abandoned building, a parade for the present, the hint of a conspiracy - all these seem to be drawn from events in the early 60s. Is this the case or just a false impression?

Julien: Jean Van Hamme’s, the original creator of the series, story was definitely inspired by some of the most famous conspiracies in history, including the Kennedy assassination. The story is full of suspense and fits in well into the video game world. You embody a man who wakes up on a beach without any memories from his past. The only clues that link him to his past are a tattoo on his chest and a key to a deposit box in a New York bank. Players soon find they are being hunted by both killers from a mysterious organization, and FBI agents who accuse XIII of shooting the president.

Q: The trailers also see to have that feel of an early James Bond film (Sean Connery era) with steady action but in a plausible setting. What other influences played a role in creating this game (which may include the pulp fiction style of narrative)?

Julien: Our biggest inspiration was thrillers from the 70’s like Bullit, the Getaway and French Connection. Similarly, in XIII, you can really feel the threatening, menacing nature of the bad guys, but the game’s style was not overly gory. For the games, obviously, we took a look at all shooters with strong immersion and story -- Halo, No One Lives Forever 1 and 2, Half Life. This was a good inspiration to find a good way to mix a story and gameplay at the same time.

But our major inspiration came from American Graphic Novels like Sin City or 100 bullets. By studying those comics, we really have found a way to develop a special style and a special rendering for all the actions and events in the game. They really have a special way of highlighting actions and characters with strong visual effects. With those comics, the inspiration for all our pop up and windowing system was born.

Q: We have a central characters with no memory of what happened, only the haunting doubt that he may or may not have assassinated the president. Obviously his background will be revealed as the story progresses. Trailers have shown an array of other characters that seem german to the storyline. Who are the central figures and is there more than one playable character?

Julien: XIII is the only playable character in the game, but players will encounter several NPC characters as well, some allies, some enemies – players will need to determine who is friend and who is foe for themselves. Another important character in the game is Major Jones, she acts as XIII’s guardian angel, saving him from several precarious situations in the game, also giving him missions and directions throughout the game. Players also encounter General Carrington, who XIII must save from a military prison.

The main enemy in XIII is a character called Mongoose, who is determined to kill XIII. There are several other enemies involved in the "conspiracy," but we don’t want to give anything away.

Q: What are the primary settings for the game in terms of world locations? Does the game follow a linear path, or does the story evolve on decisions made along the way to one of several possible endings?

Julien: There are 13 different chapters in the game for a total of 35 maps from indoors (military facility, bank) to outdoors (cliff, jungle, etc.)

Concerning the missions, the structure of the missions develop into the story, so the missions and objectives change each time something new happens. By developing the game this way, players have multiple ways of achieving their objectives allowing the gameplay to feed into its graphic novel roots. Players literally feel like they are living this story, where every decision they make will impact the next mission and unravel the story. So for many maps, you will face new developments that will lead you to new objectives and gameplay. Obviously you are quite free to find your way to proceed. For example, on a stealth mission, you can choose to kill everyone so that at the end you can walk without any risk or you can choose to kill soldier only when you are forced to do it.

Q: What type of graphics engine propels this game and what did it enable you to do that you may not have been able to do otherwise?

Julien: is powered by next-generation Unreal technology. For the first time, we used a non-Ubisoft engine. The special thing about Unreal is that the modeling works by subtraction. The universe is full, and you dig into it. That’s the opposite to what we usually do with 3D software, which is to fill an empty space with constructions. The big challenge was to train the whole graphic team to use this engine, while holding on to traditional modeling know-how (all the objects are done in 3Dsmax). The graphic designers had to juggle with different technical work methods and, at the same time, take on board the very formal graphic constraints – mapping objects with outlines, and so on. What’s more, with regard to data, Unreal keeps nearly all the décor info in a single file, and this limits the possibility of several different professions working on the job simultaneously: the game designers had to wait for the graphic designers to finish before they could get to work, and sound designers joined the line!

Q: With the style of animation, the soundtrack becomes as big as player as the graphical elements. In a case like this, the whole feel of the game can be eliminated with a soundtrack that is contrary to the visual elements. How did you manage to correlate the audio to support the video? Who did the music for this game?

Julien: XIII’s soundtrack and audio have been specifically designed to demonstrate the game’s wicked style and attitude. The in-game audio was created by the development team, and is very 70’s funk with a spy thriller influence. We also released an official standalone soundtrack created by San Francisco rare groove and funk label, Future Primitive Sound. That was another way to reinforce XIII’s confident attitude and stylish message.

In-game audio is situational – i.e. if the player encounters enemies or a tense situation, the music speeds up and noticeably increases the level of tension. When things calm down, the music returns to a more laid-back, funk style. It’s implemented perfectly, and actually enhances the game rather than just correlating with it. That, allied with the superb audio effects and voices featuring David Duchovny, rapper Eve and Batman’s Adam West, means you are literally drawn into a stylish graphic novel with attitude!

Q: While the visuals are refreshingly stunning, and there seems to be a touch of humor injected into the visuals, the story is what will drive this game along. What do you think will have the biggest impact on gameplayers launching this title?

Julien: Well, first at all, the graphic style is very different than all the realistic FPS on the market.

The ambiance is also different, because the player evolves in a modern environment, far from the war theatre with jungle and Vietnam soldiers everywhere, or in a futurist world with aliens for example.

We are an alternative to other FPS because we give you an experience not closer to TV but to comics, we are gamers and wanted something fresh, something with attitude

I have to say that at start, I loved to discover the story playing the single campaign. I love to play in a lot of various places like snowed forest, or in a submarine, bank, military base…

Then when the multiplayer part was operational, all the team here had and continue to have a lot of fun playing against each other. I can hardly wait to fight against player all over the world.

Q: What does the XIII refer to?

Julien: XIII is the hero’s name, but also refers to a conspiracy involving members 1 – 20, many of whom involve high ranking government officials. Players must expose the members of the conspiracy in order to prove XIII’s innocence and protect the US government.

Q: Does this game have multiplayer support? And will there be any marked differences between the ports to different platforms?

Julien: Even though our solo game is very deep and strong, we wanted to work hard on the multiplayer aspect, especially on PS2, because we’re the first FPS for Sony Online, and Xbox Live -- we believe networked multiplayer is a huge part of videogames right now. Since most of FPS players are used to online gameplay on the PC, they are now looking for a similar experience on the console.

We wanted to create a unique, original experience for every console so we created exclusive multiplayer modes. In addition to the classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes, the PS2 features the "Power Up" mode, a custom Deathmatch multiplayer mode, which includes unique pick-ups, including "invincibility" and "invisibility." Additionally the PS2 and Cube versions feature the "Hunt" mode where players chase a running target throughout the map, gaining points by hitting the target. Xbox gamers will play "Sabotage," a team multiplayer mode, where two teams compete to take control of different strategic points in the map.

XIII allows up to eight players for Xbox Live, four players for Sony Online and up to eight players per map for the PC. Additionally an exclusive map editor for gamers to create their own action-packed levels will ship for the PC following launch.

Right now, we are determining the downloadable content ideas. Once the game has shipped we will fix a timetable for releasing new content. We probably will launch new maps first, but we're looking to create additional unique downloadable content items, such as special storylines, alternate endings and new gameplay modes and features.