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Well, finished AP yesterday. I have to admit, it was the surprise of the year.

The story is sweeping & well written. Not too realistic, but realistic enough for a spy-RPG. It would fit quite easily in a Tom Clancy book, or a James Bond film.

The characters are deep enough for this kind of plot. There's the typical clichés, but those appear in every game and story, and aren't a bad point at all, if done well.
Often, you're forced in a choice, and it has real consequences, which improves replayability.

It has smooth gameplay, with nice controls. Stealth is implemented well, and certainly a valuable tool. The shooting action is quite nice, but rather hard untill your character develops his skills.
I was particularly fond of the animations: the martial arts were well done, for example.
The conversation system is even better than in Mass Effect, since you have to answer in a limited time frame and thus prevent you from overthinking, although sometimes the clock starts counting down before you've heard the question you should answer, which can be problematic. It only happened once or twice, and only in minor issues.
I had a lot of fun customizing my character's skills and making exactly the kind of hero I want to play in this kind of game. There's a great amount of items to buy and collect, which means tweaking your gear requires attention, yet another big plus.

The graphics, while not up to date, or "Duh-blivion" pretty, support the game well enough and aren't a detraction. Please note that I'm not a graphics whore, so I really don't care about the technicalities.

The music isn't as grand as I'd like, but good enough. I can't remember a single tune, though. The voice acting is excellent.

There are some minor mouse lag issues, but nothing severe. Not a single CTD.

In conclusion, this game easily deserves an 80. Don't believe the negative reviews. If Bethesda had developed this, it would be praised to death probably...

Just read The Guardian's review, and sorry Gawain, the fact that I've foudn the Guardian to be reliably good, added to the fact that I've found Obsidian to be reliably god awful means I have to take their word for it.

Hence the title "Pleasantly surprised". Besides, Obsidian's games were never bad, they were unpolished and bugged. (Which does not necessarily equates fun gameplay, I'll grant you that.)

Never had a problem with the camera.

The minigames were never frustrating for me. I had to get used to them the first three times, but that was it. If I compare them to Fallout 3's minigames (which I'm also play atm), they are brilliant. FO3's minigames are plain stupid and moronic.

I find the "generic bland setting" comment quite misplaced: it's a present-day, every day invironment game. What would you expect?

I think the fact they tested it on the Xbox makes a lot of difference.

Up until the last week or so, I was barely able to pay any mind to this game. I saw a couple of glimmers that made me want to give it a shot. Make no mistake AP is a rough beast. I won't claim that it is what people would call an RPG, but it definitely checks more of the boxes off than other games that have been called that *cough Mass Effect 1 or 2 cough*.


A demo will pop up sooner or later, hopefully that will get a few more people off the fence. In the meantime I am waiting for the patch that will tighten up those loose mouse controls.

Alpha Protocol is the Garbage of the Year. Just take a look at either Sega or Obsidian's support forums and you'll see there's a ton of people complaining about various bugs ranging from being unable to even install the game to enemies disappearing when reloading a saved game.

If you want bang for your buck, do not buy Alpha Protocol!

Curry wrote:Alpha Protocol is the Garbage of the Year. Just take a look at either Sega or Obsidian's support forums and you'll see there's a ton of people complaining about various bugs ranging from being unable to even install the game to enemies disappearing when reloading a saved game.

If you want bang for your buck, do not buy Alpha Protocol!

Right, and other games' support forum are completely devoid of any complaints...
Nobody will deny that the game has bugs, but which game doesn't nowadays? That doesn't excuses AP in the least, but if you don't hold that against other games, don't hold it against this one.

jklinders wrote:A demo will pop up sooner or later, hopefully that will get a few more people off the fence. In the meantime I am waiting for the patch that will tighten up those loose mouse controls.

Hope that there is a demo, but I don't recall Obsidian mentioning anything of the sort, so I'm not holding my breath. Might have to rely on borrowing someone's copy or renting it to try it out if that is the case, given that the videos and previews I saw didn't really convince me of this game's potential.

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I'm still playing through te game (finished the first 2 hubs) and I must say I have been loving every minute of it. Haven't had any bugs and love the way the story is told. I'm glad I didn't read any bad reviews before buying it (still haven't read any simply because I don't trust reviewers) because that could have meant missing out on this game. it may not have the typical rpg feel to it but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying it.

I must be on a different planet than the OP

I'm truly stunned that AP was released. The most basic thing that I can say about the game is that it doesn't work, and I don't mean that it doesn't start or that it crashes. You can play it, but the controls don't work. On my PC that has played every other game that I have bought (ME2, NWN2, Dragon Age, and a dozen others), this game won't work.

What happens is that, when enemies are loaded, the screen will freeze for a second, but your mouse movement input then causes your guy to spin around after the freeze. It is absolutely inconceivable that this would have gone unnoticed if there was one playtest that lasted for 5 minutes. It is like releasing pac-man where, every minute or so, pac-man freezes and spins around randomly, while the ghosts move closer.

A "fix" that doesn't work has been posted on the sega forums, and no patch. I guess that some people, like the OP, somehow don't have this bug happen, but plenty of people have experienced it. I don't see how a game with a bug this insane could have higher than a "1" out of 10 in a review.

On top of that, the hacking mini-game would essentially make me stop trying to play this game all by itself. Besides the utterly absurd difficulty of the mini-game, the horrid controls make it twice as bad as it otherwise would be.

As I said, I had the bug happen. The simple .ini fix made that disappear.
I honestly don't understand the difficulty in the hacking game. It came across as hard the first time, but afterwards, it was fun. Moreover, your skill and gear can make it easier.

Finished my first play through last night. the only bug I saw was the guards disappeared sometimes during a reload of checkpoint. Oh and brayko got stuck on his rockstar stage during the fight with him once. I was actually kind of grateful for that as he was a pest to put down. Second time I fought him he went down easier due to a better build.

I'm with Gawain, I really enjoyed it.

WARNING: Wall o' Text incoming. TL;DR version below.

The two main arguments against the game seem to be:

1. It's buggy.
2. It's not ME2.

As far as the bugs go, yes, they exist. Yes, some are pretty bad, but they didn't ruin the game for me. Maybe I'm more tolerant. Maybe I'm just such an RPG whore that I'll take some of the crap if there's a decent game underneath.

Thankfully, there is. As far as the story goes, I found it to be excellent. In truth, it's game saving. Had the writing not been excellent and the plot very good in it's own right, then this game would have landed somewhere between "mediocre" and "brain-stewingly maladroit" dependent on the bugs you get on that play through.

I'll not go into the story itself, if you’re interested I'm sure you can dig it out, however I will mention the characters. A good number of reviews I've seen tend to them being cardboard cutouts or voice acted chess pieces. I found the characters reasonably developed. No, you don't discover everything about them. Yes, they are built from conventional character archetypes. I consider neither of these things weaknesses in characterization, more a method of streamlining them for the games significant cast.

The gameplay is the second trigger of distaste for the game, and I get it. It's not ME2, it's not a polished, streamlined 3rd person shooter, with an abundance of RPG traits. AP is an RPG. This means that at low levels in skill, no matter how good a shot you, the player, can be the game can miss because you haven’t spent point into attribute X. For a shooter this is would be a huge problem. AP isn't a shooter. This is how the game play is meant to be. I have no problems with it on that level. It is not however exciting. It's not bad, just not particularly spectacular in its own right. As I said before, had the story and writing not been supporting this game play, it would have been mediocre affair.

The real aspect of this game that drew me into it was the conversations, I honestly felt this was the best dialogue system in a game. Bar none. Timed conversations, with real consquences, it stole the game for me.

TL;DR:

For me, I'd give this game a 7/10 (without the bugs it'll go to 8/10, the same personal score I'd give ME2, for obviously different reasons.)

This is not however a recommendation as such. AP comes with lots of qualifiers. For example:

• If you find you can no longer play ME1 after playing ME2.
• If you hate spy plots.
• If you prefer gameplay over plot...
• ...or even shooting over talking.
• If you hated Obsidians other games.

If any of these things apply to you, I wouldn't bother with AP till it's in a bargain bin. Two or more, probably not even then.

Just my thoughts.

Wildeyn wrote:On top of that, the hacking mini-game would essentially make me stop trying to play this game all by itself. Besides the utterly absurd difficulty of the mini-game, the horrid controls make it twice as bad as it otherwise would be.

It seems that a big majority was able to succeed at that mini-game. Tips : do not try to hack anything that isn't plot-related if you're terrible in the Sabotage line, because then they are meant to be insanely difficult.

X_Toad wrote:It seems that a big majority was able to succeed at that mini-game. Tips : do not try to hack anything that isn't plot-related if you're terrible in the Sabotage line, because then they are meant to be insanely difficult.

Well I found that 12 AP or so to get the lower hacking bonus+integrated circuitry in the armor made most of the hacking games manageable. For the very few that were genuinely hard there is always an EMP charge. Those are kind of like American Express, don't leave home without them.

If bugs are the only major issue, I am fine as I usually buy games after a couple of patches (or until I think there is no more - depends on the game developers... i mean sometimes they give 1 patch and you never see another official one). I am willing to give AP a chance on my own later on. Plus, probably be nicer on a newer computer that I am planning to build.

On a side note:
Apparently - I think I read somewhere (from GmBnshe?) - one of the staff or former staff/worker(?) criticized the game's development. Anyone read that?

galraen wrote:Just read The Guardian's review, and sorry Gawain, the fact that I've foudn the Guardian to be reliably good, added to the fact that I've found Obsidian to be reliably god awful means I have to take their word for it.

<snip>

The bugs on the XBOX 360 were actually good ones. I was thankful at times the guards would mysteriously disappear or Brayko would just walk into a wall and keep at it. Easy kill. Didn't happened every time and I went through the entire game without bugs occurring twice.

The only thing bad about this game is the morons who read reviews and didn't buy the game because of it. Now there won't be a sequel that I'm so hoping might happen one day. I would like to see how Sega/Obisidian could have improved upon the sequel.

And I find it hilarious most of the complaints come from the PC version. I mean, if you're entirely devoted to the PC version, then find someone to mod the game to fix your complaints. It's not like they'll come beating down your door saying you are being sued for fixing the bugs they didn't. Want to know why they didn't look into it? Lack of money from people buying it and Elder Scrolls 6. They might actually lose money if they invested time into fixing the game. Usually, any game that's fixed is a game many people bought. More money, more incentive, less risk.

Mini-game pissed you off? LMAO!!! How entirely easy it was after a moments of playing the game. I mean, you can't just do something you've never done and get it right the first time. You're going to make a mistake. Getting pissed that you're not that good at Sabotage means you probably should make that a selected skill next time. <snip>

Great game, too bad morons who read bad reviews ruined chances of Sega/Obsidian fixing the game and/or making a sequel. As they really wanted to. <snip>

EDIT: For those complaining about the Dialog timing, here's something that will help prepare you so you can enjoy the game a bit more:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/945402-alpha ... faqs/60438
(Works with the XBOX 360 version as well.)

I thought about replying, but not much point

rubberdaffy wrote:lack of intelligence in that review
I feel sorry for you
better then the morons who can't even compile a proper review.

The bugs on the XBOX 360 were actually good ones.

The only thing bad about this game is the morons who read reviews and didn't buy the game because of it.

Mini-game pissed you off? LMAO!!!

too bad morons who read bad review

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galraen wrote:I thought about replying, but not much point

See how easy it was?

While I do think he has pretty valid points, I don't agree with the tone at all. Calling people names won't do much good. Galraen isn't a moron, he just gets mad when someone mentions "Obsidian".

rubberdaffy wrote: The only thing bad about this game is the morons who read reviews and didn't buy the game because of it. Now there won't be a sequel that I'm so hoping might happen one day. I would like to see how Sega/Obisidian could have improved upon the sequel.

That's why the reviews exists. If you find someone's reviews to be accurate of what you feel in general it only makes sense to trust to those, at least to some extent. And if those reviews claims the game to be terrible then it surely makes sense to not buy that game. Have done so many times, and in several cases after I loaned the game (or played it in my friend's apartment) I have noticed that the decision was good one.

Of course everybody should consider carefully when trusting to reviews, as many times when I have bought a game with generally good score from different reviews I have been disappointed. So I only trust to few specific sites and persons in this matter.

And I find it hilarious most of the complaints come from the PC version. I mean, if you're entirely devoted to the PC version, then find someone to mod the game to fix your complaints. It's not like they'll come beating down your door saying you are being sued for fixing the bugs they didn't.

No, the developers probably wouldn't mind that, but it's not as easy to mod modern games unless you are very handy with coding, especially if the game doesn't have any modding tools available. Definitely not easy task. So just trusting that someone will make unofficial patches to modern games is not a good option.

Want to know why they didn't look into it? Lack of money from people buying it and Elder Scrolls 6. They might actually lose money if they invested time into fixing the game. Usually, any game that's fixed is a game many people bought. More money, more incentive, less risk.

How does Elder Scrolls 6 have anything to do with this? TES 5: Skyrim isn't even out yet, not speaking of TES 6, and the developers ain't the same, not even closely.

Besides, the developers of AP have been patching the game, though I'm unsure how active that patching has been lately. Otherwise, what you say about not concentrating to games that haven't been profitable, is true. Though I wonder if AP falls to that category, as I imagine it has sold rather well.

Mini-game pissed you off? LMAO!!! How entirely easy it was after a moments of playing the game. I mean, you can't just do something you've never done and get it right the first time. You're going to make a mistake. Getting pissed that you're not that good at Sabotage means you probably should make that a selected skill next time. <snip>

Just curious, have you played AP in PC? While the lockpicking and rerouting was easy enough with keyboard and mouse the hacking minigame was quite pain due the inaccuracy of the mouse, as I mentioned in my review. And in general the mouse was quite wonky in AP, like chaotic turning and so on.

Great game, too bad morons who read bad reviews ruined chances of Sega/Obsidian fixing the game and/or making a sequel. As they really wanted to.

I agree with the great game part, though I wouldn't say there would no be AP2 in future. And I definitely wouldn't blame the reviews and readers for mistakes made by developers. Better it be that the reviews are accurate enough than terrible game (which AP definitely wasn't) getting full scores just because it's from certain developers or belongs to certain game series.

EDIT: For those complaining about the Dialog timing, here's something that will help prepare you so you can enjoy the game a bit more:
GameFAQs: Alpha Protocol (PC) Dialog Choice Guide by Sandman100887
(Works with the XBOX 360 version as well.)

Many players, I included, try to avoid walkthroughts while playing the game first time, though to those who doesn't the guides may come handy in the dialogue problem. Still I don't see that problem so bad that it would require reading beforehand how the dialogues go just to avoid those few times when the problem occurs.

GawainBS wrote: While I do think he has pretty valid points, I don't agree with the tone at all. Calling people names won't do much good. Galraen isn't a moron, he just gets mad when someone mentions "Obsidian"

Yup, just like I get mad when I heard the game is published by EA, those filthy little *PEEP*...