XIII - Lost Identity

When Lost Identity was first announced, the news was greeted with great enthusiasm by those who remembered Ubisoft's 2003 FPS XIII. That soon changed when people realised it wasn't to be the game they had hoped for.

Still, it's unfair to judge a game based on what you want it to be. As hidden-object puzzlers go, Microids's game isn't bad - but 'not bad' is hardly the most glowing of recommendations.

Like Ubisoft's shooter, it's based on the Belgian comic book that bears a startling resemblance to Robert Ludlum's Bourne series. It goes back to a familiar beginning - an injured man is found unconscious on the shore, suffering from amnesia. Healing touch Your first task, as you apparently take control of his elderly rescuers, is to find medical equipment carelessly discarded around an otherwise pleasant interior, tapping on bottles of rubbing alcohol, bandage strips, and so on.

Shortly afterwards, our mysterious hero recovers, and then decides to go on an impromptu fishing trip. Naturally, you then have to keep your eyes peeled for rods, nets, and bait.

Upon his return, XIII finds two corpses, which proves that someone's after him, leading to a brief and incredibly simplistic action sequence where you tap on enemies to shoot them. It's not long before you're back to the old pixel hunts. Unfit for purpose

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. But Microids struggles to disguise these sections as plausible objectives. While some tasks make sense, others are shoehorned in awkwardly.

Meanwhile, the option to carry over special objects to other scenes to use in an ultra-simplified point-and-click manner is an entirely pointless addition. As is tapping a photo eight times to clear the dust from it. That's not a meaningful interaction - it's busywork.

Nor is there enough effort to preserve the comic book style, with realistic, detailed environments overlaid with cartoon art and speech bubbles. Flat panels

It wouldn't have taken much to add a dash of presentational pizzazz - Microids could have placed each scene within a comic frame and moved between areas like leafing through the pages of a graphic novel.

Ubisoft's game did much better in this respect with its cel-shaded art style and onomatopoeic text for sound effects. The solid art and workmanlike dialogue isn't enough to capture the spirit of the original. Needle in a haystack

Even within the restrictions of the hidden-object genre it has its issues. While tilting your device to change your field of view feels like you're peering around corners, occasionally your taps won't register, forcing you to question yourself: is that large shiny thing really a coin? And if so, why can't I pick it up?

Rather than make a piece of software to fit the comic's narrative, it feels more like a half-hearted attempt to tag a story onto a group of hidden-object puzzles. Though the story is intriguing in places, it's not enough.

Perhaps the most damning criticism of XIII - Lost Identity is that it's all so bland and forgettable. And for all its problems, that's the last thing you could say about its predecessor.