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XIII Enhances the Gaming Experience with Xbox Live Play
Executive Producer Julien Bares Opens Up the Possibilities of Taking XIII Online
Sometimes online gaming can pop up in the most unexpected of places. You are playing a nice little mystery title, unlocking keys to a past that has been shrouded in the darkness of amnesia. The only thing you know for certain is that people are trying to kill you.
So, you are immersed in this tale when suddenly another aspect of the game pops up – hey, this has multiplayer capabilities.
And not just any multiplayer, community-supported Xbox Live multiplayer action.
XIII, from Ubi Soft, is a different kind of game from the get-go, so it stands to reason that the multiplayer aspect would be a tad different as well. To get the scoop on how XIII integrates with Xbox Live, GameZone.com went to the source, the game’s executive producer, Julien Bares.
Question: XIII is a terrific film noir game, stylish and with a real sense of mystery. The game drags players through an unfolding plot that has sinister overtones. But this game also features a multiplayer aspect. Can you give us a quick overview of what players can do in the multiplayer mode?
Julien: The multiplayer in XIII is made of 3 parts - the split-screen mode which enable a four-player game with or without bots, for fun or for practicing; a LAN experience, where you can connect several XBOX together; a Live experience where you can join your friends online.
In all those modes, you can play Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and the original Sabotage which is a mode where the attacking team must bomb three points in a limited time.
Q: What characters will be available for play in the multiplayer setting?
Julien: On Xbox Live, you can play the basic characters of XIII (XIII, Carrington, Mongoose, Jones) and some random characters who are random civilians taken from the game.
Q: Do you think this really breaks the mold for multiplayer gaming in the genre and how so?
Julien: For Xbox, we have guaranteed that every gamer is satisfied, the people looking for classical gameplay will be satisfied with Deathmatch, but we wanted to make a mode specifically for Xbox and here comes Sabotage where the use of the voice chat is compulsory, and where the strategy is the key.
Q: How is the general tone of mood of the game maintained in this mode of play?
Julien: XIII is about a man with a lot of training but with no memory and this is pictured in a cell-shaded game. In the multiplayer, we have kept the comics spirit in the location and also in the game modes where we imagine a commando-like mode, what the XIII character is all about: Sabotage.
Q: What did the Xbox allow you to do to enhance the experience?
Julien: The live feature was the key for us in addition to the machine power. We knew that the game would look nicer with better effects, lights, animated pop-up windows and so on, but we also wanted to have a team-based game mode - here come Sabotage.
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