Game review: Unit 13

I got Unit 13 shortly after launch, and if you don't know why I didn't play it until this month, it's because the version I got online wouldn't play in English. After having no success dealing with Zipper Interactive or Sony about this, I decided to make do by switching my system language to Italian and playing the game in what should now be my second language. I'd say that I'm doing…moderately well.

I'm not so good with Italian, but once I got the gist of the missions, the rest of the game became easier to understand. A training camp mission introduces players to the basic combat functions, and it unlocks the first single mission. Single missions are graded by points that convert to a star level, from one two five. Points can be accrued for killing enemies in a variety of ways, including extra awards for head shots, or for shooting enemy mines to kill the terrorists. Completing single missions with a high star rating will allow you to unlock primary missions, which pit an agent against a high ranking terrorist and his freaking huge army of cloned minions.

In this case, not having a story makes the game easier to play. Objectives are written out during the audio briefing for each mission. I can read Italian better than I can speak it, so having each mission explain in the bullet points in little words helps. Of course, I would have like a larger font. Sometimes the little text here is hard to see.

The radio chatter with the command post during missions is all the same stuff said in the briefing, so once an agent is selected, the rest of the game plays like a standard military FPS. I've usually gone with the agent suggested by the game for each level, but during one or two mission, I substituted the default choice with a sniper, to help him level up a bit. (Though, so far as I can tell, leveling up doesn't seem to do anything for any agent.) I can't say I have a preferred agent yet, as all have certain strengths for their kinds of missions.

One of my nagging issues with the game was the low number of enemy models, and after playing through 27 of the 36 single missions, as well as trying out the unlocked primary missions, the one thing I know about every location is that it's hot. Oh, and also that the enemy troops are almost always hungry. The enemy dialog is repeated many, many times, but I did find it a nice touch that the different locations meant that there were slight dialect changes. It's just that everything is translated the same. "It's hot." Or I'm hungry." Or for some real variety, "When I get paid, I'm buying a better gun."

Also, the subtitles are really small. No, like teeny tiny. Compared to Shinobido 2 or Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the subtitles here are almost unreadable for their tiny size. They also don't work unless you're right on top of the enemies speaking. But since they're always saying the same things, this should be considered a minor complaint.

Another problem similar to the too common enemy models is the repetitive nature of the missions. But once I unlocked some missions and started seeing new maps and mission types, I stopped noticing the cloned models and got into the flow of the game. Each new mission presented me with a unique encounter that could last half an hour, or if I kept screwing up, half a day.

The twin stick controls have a weird attempt at assistive aiming, but it's only going to work if the agent's aim is somewhere near the right spot. If the aim is off in the air somewhere when the left shoulder button is pressed, it won't swing the agent around to an enemy's position. But if the aim is pressed near an enemy, the cross-hairs will move slightly to cover the target. This is not as good an aiming option as the six-axis aim in Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and there's no attempted use of the back panel for zoom, or of the motions controls. Which does make the game feel a bit more restrictive than the Vita's other combat heavy launch title. However, I've been able to make consistent head shots with most of my agents, and I'd credit that more to the assistive aim than I do to my leet skills. (tru fax: I has no leet skills.)

The game does use the touch screen for different buttons. One lets you vault over waist high obstacles, and another allows you to change the cross-hair zoom level on an agent's rifle. Depending on the weapon, this can either help improve accuracy, or it can blind an agent's peripheral vision, making it all too easy for an enemy to come around a corner and fill said agent full of lead.

The auto-aim is somewhat wonky, and doesn't work when an agent is stuck on certain types of cover. Nine times out of ten, the game will stick the agent against a wall unless you've moved the character all the way to the corner, which prevents aiming or even blind firing at enemies advancing on your position. This too, once taken into account, becomes a part of the game flow. If you're facing one or two enemies, sticking to the wall and sliding to the corner factors into the plan of attack. If you need to move for a big firefight, you may want to think of a better firing position. If it's just one guard, you might sneak around the corner and knife him in the back. Or in some missions, you might just sneak behind him, disarm the bomb he passes, and then slip back into another room while he's sweeping a balcony in vain to search for someone to shoot.

Possibly the best missions were those where the point was to avoid killing people. All of the mission types have their own kind of fun, but there's an intense heart in the throat nervousness that comes from slipping into a room directly behind a guard just as the room you're exiting is about to get some new arrivals, all of them armed to the teeth. And speaking with their gun. Even with a silencer on, you can't kill someone without risking setting off an alarm and blowing your cover.

Those missions were the few that I could ace with 5 star ratings because I would make it all the way through a tightly guarded nightclub, and only have to kill the guard at the bar with my knife. It's all sneaking and hiding, but played as a change of pace to the run and gun missions, this is a great counter-balance to the flow of the other assignments.

The toughest missions are elite assignments, in which the agent is armed with some kind of super shotgun, a stock pistol, and only his current health. If the agent dies in these missions, there's no checkpoints or saves to load. You start back at the beginning of the mission.

Some elite missions were so tough, I had to play them for hours before I learned the right pattern to get through the patrols and rescue the hostage or disarm the bomb. While the missions were hard, they didn't feel cheap. Enemy movements can change slightly from one attempt to the next, so even after playing the same level over and over, I can't say that it felt repetitive. I also didn't get any cases of gamer rage or accuse the game of cheating. Every time I died, I understood where I'd screwed up. So even when I got sent all the way back to the beginning, I was cool with starting over. You know a game is fun when I take all the abuse it can dish out and still come back ready for more. In this way, Unit 13 has that same addictive "one more try" grip as Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Super Stardust Delta.

I have not yet found a friend to try the co-op missions, and I didn't get the network pass. I don't know much about the online features, but that may change in the coming months. I am curious to see what the network passes enable, and if anyone has a Vita and wants to play Unit 13 with me, my handle is Zoe_E_W on Sony's network. I still don't know how to make the microphone work, though, so I suppose I should fix that before I attempt online co-op missions. I have tried the daily challenge, and those are fun, though you only get one attempt per challenge. So if you suck like I do, some of those daily mission are a leeeeettle difficult. Yeah.

The game progress counter on the Vita Trophy counter says I've completed 25% of the game, so this should not be considered a complete review. But what I've played up to now has been engrossing, challenging, and most importantly, fun. Which is why it's sad that I have to report that Sony is closing down Zipper Interactive with Unit 13 just out of production. This is sad because Unit 13 could use a maps pack DLC, and maybe even some new enemy packs to make the game feel a little more varied. I'd even chip out a five or a ten for a new gun pack. But even what's in the game is worth the asking price, in my opinion.

I give Unit 13 four stars out of five, and I'd recommend it to Vita players looking for FPS action similar to Counter Strike or to the cover combat systems in Gears of War and Uncharted. This makes 3 PS Vita launch games that I've bought and loved, and three games that I bought and hated. And to me, this is not a bad ratio. If Sony can put out more FPS games like this, I suspect I may find out how durable the controls are under heavy and constant use.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have another mission to complete.