You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <alllinks galcontinue="Backup|1657" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="1355" ns="0" title="Sponsors" />
      <page pageid="1379" ns="4" title="OCE Space Simulation:Community Portal" />
      <page pageid="1656" ns="0" title="Triton 1996" />
      <page pageid="2150" ns="0" title="Samuel Baltz" />
      <page pageid="2272" ns="0" title="Mission-Specific Hierarchy" />
      <page pageid="2394" ns="0" title="Mission Control LOGS" />
      <page pageid="3333" ns="0" title="Backpack documentation" />
      <page pageid="3334" ns="0" title="Backpack Creation" />
      <page pageid="3335" ns="0" title="Backpacks" />
      <page pageid="3630" ns="3" title="User talk:FaraFellow" />
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>