Unit 13

Unit 13 is a third-person action shooter that, instead of a long story campaign, relies on dozens of short, precisely designed missions built for repeat play and chasing a better score. The player commands a squad of six operatives with different specializations, from a silent sniper through a heavy-armoured trooper to a specialist skilled in close combat, choosing whoever best suits the type of task at hand. Missions are divided into categories that dictate the style of play: some call for a silent infiltration without raising the alarm, others for a loud, timed firefight, or for completing the advance without taking a single hit. Every attempt earns a grade and a score, so the main motivation is to refine your own approach into the cleanest possible run.

Zipper Interactive, the studio behind the SOCOM and MAG series, built the controls around both analogue sticks and complemented them with touch input for quick commands, loadout selection and interacting with the environment. The structure of short missions proved to be a clever solution for a handheld console, since you can finish one mission during a tram ride, while the room for improvement remains almost limitless. The game was rounded out by daily challenges, online leaderboards and two-player co-op, which turned many missions into an entirely different experience.

Reviews praised the precise controls, brisk pace and technical presentation, which ranked among the better showcases of the Vita's early library, but criticized the generic environments and the lack of a narrative that might have given the action greater weight. The title also ended up being one of the last works of the studio, which closed shortly after release, lending it a somewhat melancholic edge. Today, Unit 13 feels surprisingly modern: a structure built on short, repeatable runs and leaderboards is exactly what action games commonly do today, on both mobile and home platforms. Anyone who enjoys polished repetition and measuring themselves against others will find a surprisingly addictive game here, one they keep returning to for missions they already know by heart.