Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

While there's nothing particularly special about Unit 13, it does well at integrating many of the Vita's core features into its gameplay.

It plays like your run in the mill third person shooter. You're in control of an elite military unit...each of the 6 playable members specialize in different forms of attack tactics. Certain mission types are better suited for certain Unit 13 members. For example, Ringo specializes in stealth combat, so he's best suited for...wait for it...stealth missions (bet you didn't see that coming!). You don't have to worry about trying to guess which member is best to use for which mission type since the game will recommend the best person to use during the mission breifing. Each of the 6 Unit 13 members comes with their own stat bonuses and set of arms that upgrade the more they level up (max potential lvl 10). There are 4 different mission types...direct action, covert, deadline, and elite, which is the most difficult. While the other mission types provide checkpoints throughout, elite missions don't and throws out periodic healing as well. However, checkpoints are replaced with health restores but if you die, the entire mission has to be restarted (this becomes a real pain during the longer missions). In addition to the regular 36 missions (which are periodically unlocked after completely current missions), High Value Targets can be also be pursued. HVT missions can only be unlocked if you met the minimum requirement of stars needed. Stars are awarded at the end of each mission in accordance to how well you performed. The max that can be earned are 5 per mission. There are 9 HVTs in all and 180 stars are required to gain access to all of them. The HVT missions themselves operate mostly like elite missions with respects to the difficulty and making you start all over if you die but they do allow periodic healing.

Beside this, the game does a great job at integrating the touch screen controls during regular gameplay. Its a really good balance and never feels like you're being forced to play the game mostly with the touch screen or that touch controls are merely a forgotten/gimmicky feature. Touch controls are used for common things such as changing weapons or disarming deathtraps. Online co-op is decent but for some reason if just always felt that the other person was in my way more than helping. Unit 13 also provides daily challenges in a variety of mission types which can be downloaded once everyday. They also greatly help with leveling up each member.

The story...the what? Character development...what's that? All the likely reactions Zipper Interactive must've had when developing this game. Seriously, Unit 13 is entirely mission based with no story linking any of them together. You all just have one particular terrorist group who you are trying to take down. Each mission strikes a blow to their anti-America agendas or their strong hold on certain countries. Besides the occassional remarks by each Unit 13 operative, you really never know or even get a feel for who any of these guys are or what dynamic their personality brings to the team.

My Breakdown:

What's Good:

- Solid third person shooting action
- The daily challenges adds more opportunities to advance in the game
- Online co-op is solid
- HVTs add to the game's playability
- ^ Many things to explore outside of the regular 36 missions
- Provides a good amount of challenge
- Great visuals and sound
- Integrates the Vita screen into the core gameplay very well
- The different strength and weakness of the playable operatives provides a good balance to the gameplay


What's Not-So-Good:

- The elite missions can be very unforgiving
- There can occassionally be an imbalance in mission difficulty. Some early missions can be harder than some later ones

What's Bad:

- No real story
- No character development
- No other multiplayer modes besides co-op

In all, Unit 13 does nothing to revolutionize gaming or its genre but it does do a heck of job of showing off what the Vita is capable of in these areas. With that in mind, I'd definately recomend it to any new Vita owners this earlier in the portable's lifecycle.