Cult classic XIII, a cel-shaded shooter from 2003, has been remade, with the newer version out today. And boy, fans of the original are not happy with it.
The 2003 game wasnāt perfect, but it did have an enormous amount of style, owing both to its unique visuals and features like comic book-style kill sequences.
Youād think this would have been a cinch to clean up for a modern age, but the remakeās developers, in deciding to tinker with XIII instead of just updating it, have done some serious damage.
I donāt normally pay much attention to Steam reviews, but in a case like this they can be pretty telling. Some highlights/lowlights from fans posted so far include:
Most disappointing remake of a game Iāve ever had the misfortune of playing. A downgrade from the original in every conceivable way.
This remake is the laziest and the most disrespectful product I have ever seen in my life, a true spit in the face of every XIII fan.
Donāt buy this game. Play the original. At itās current state, this one is in no way worth full price.
Absolutely the worst āremakeā Iāve ever played.
The reception on Reddit, meanwhile, is no better
Iāve installed the game and tried it out, and yeah, theyāre right. Itās bad. Animations are inconsistent (sometimes fine, sometimes almost non-existent), the sound is terrible, the āupgradedā visuals actually detract from the originalās entire cel-shaded appeal, and the developers have inexplicably changed key features of the game, like swapping out the old ability to carry every gun for a limited number of slots.
It sucks! But thatās the bad news. The good news is that if any of this has reminded you, hey, XIII was pretty cool, you can still buy the original for spare change
