Alpha Protocol Reviews

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Written by BuckGB on June 3rd, 2010

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There is simply too much potential for greatness here to let this game stand on its own. If the majority of people can see past the game's flaws, and realize the great action/RPG franchise potential, it's my belief that lines would start forming to pre-order Alpha Protocol 2 tomorrow.

Despite some glaring flaws in Alpha Protocol, I had some good times with the game, unfortunately getting to these pieces of the required suffering through some of the poorly developed aspects. The story and dialogue options are excellent and often lead towards compelling as you often feel as though the world is in the balance and your words will influence the survival of those around you. The gameplay however will try your patience now and again, but never becomes annoying enough to be called unplayable. For those of you willing to take the leap and play Alpha Protocol, you'll certainly find reward in the games branching plot, but it's hard to say that it will leave you wanting to go through a second play through to explore different outcomes.

Alpha Protocol isn't perfect, but a rather significant number of hardcore RPG fans are going to fall head-over-heels in love with it. It's distinctive, bold and quite exceptionally well-written, and more so than any RPG yet made, demands more than one playthrough; if only to witness the full extent of its often awe-inspiring scope. Those who are willing to put in the hours are destined to reap some pretty significant rewards, and the game's approach to dynamic branching dialogue should (hopefully) prove to be seriously influential. Regardless, those simply looking for some rousing action definitely shouldn't overlook it either.

There is some great stuff to see in this game, but you're going to have to decide whether it's worth it after the first time you see an enemy with no graphical texture run at you at full speed as you empty a clip into the space around his body. If you're curious, rent the title and stumble and sneak your way through it in a weekend.

There is a lot to like in Alpha Protocol as it relates to the story and the way that there are legitimate consequences to your actions. If you visit a city but don't bother to (check in) with some people then it might make life more difficult for you. If you do decide to make contacts before you starting wreaking havoc though, you might get a very useful ally. One person in particular thanked me for coming to see him first because otherwise he would have tried to take me out. For this reason alone you might want to go through the game a couple of times to try and find all of the story arcs that you missed the first time. It is a shame that most people won't do that because the gameplay is so screwed up. As I progressed throughout the game I started to get better with the control scheme and I was able to compensate somewhat. The fact that I had to do that though is a huge failure on the part of Obsidian and Sega. I hope we get to see Alpha Protocol 2 because, hopefully, they will have all of the bugs ironed out for it. This could turn out to be a great series if it was given the proper attention and care by both publisher and developer. As it stands right now though I can't really recommend that anyone buy this game. Wait a couple of months until the price drops and then try it out if you are still curious. If you don't want to wait that long you could always rent it to see what you think about Alpha Protocol. There are some really good things about this game. Unfortunately they are marred by other aspects of the game which are a technical mess.

Ultimately after all that's (technically) wrong with the game it still boils down to how fun the game really is. Alpha Protocol is certainly an entertaining and uniquely deep experience once you understand how important the setup is and how carefully you need to craft your own agent Thorton. With every decision you make you'll be left hoping that you won't regret those actions later, and it's that facet that will keep you more and more involved as the story progresses. In the world of espionage there is always a choice to be made. So let's hope you make the right one.

What Alpha Protocol brings to the table is a brilliantly imagined RPG, exceptional writing, and a dialog system full of urgency and excitement. Everything about the game's script and consequence system is outstanding, down to the email communications and the dirty politics. What sadly drags the game down are last-gen graphics and controls. If you're the kind of gamer who appreciates an admirable effort and a story well told, you'll find a lot to enjoy from Alpha Protocol, and likely will want to replay it experience the myriad of branching consequences. If you're a thrill-seeker looking for the same satisfying experience of hybrid shooter/RPG's like Mass Effect 2 or Borderlands, you'll find nothing but frustration.

There definitely feels like underneath the broken shards of gameplay that there's a good game here. In a parallel universe somewhere, Fallout: New Vegas gets picked up by another studio, and Sega makes the very wise decision to push this game back again for six months, and then maybe you possibly could have salvaged something here. But unfortunately, like me, you're stuck in this universe, and this is the game you're going to get.

In a nutshell one can easily discern where Obsidian spent a considerable amount of time making sure Alpha Protocol was well polished most notably in the dialog system, the story, and the deep customization options. Unfortunately however the game falls flat when it comes to the combat and gameplay and terrible character animations just plague the entire experience. Regardless the game manages to keep your interest for the excellent dialogue system and intriguing storyline. While I can't recommend Alpha Protocol to everyone I think those who can appreciate a good story and solid RPG elements while looking past the gameplay pitfalls will find a lot of love about Alpha Protocol.

Played out as a straight up shooter, RPG, or both, the game features a stellar upgrade system allowing you to tweak everything from your weaponry right through to resilience and stealth. And yet despite the myriad options, Alpha Protocol's failings begin to steadily emerge once you engage in combat. AI can be atrocious, the cover system feels sticky, firefights ultimately end up as monotonous bullet-spraying affairs, and boss brawls can seem like they're built on a bedrock of pad-smashing frustration. But like we say, effort reaps rewards, and should you be prepared to forgo the faults, Obsidian's bumpy but appeasing spy ride might just win some of you over.

Alpha Protocol is no Mass Effect and that's ok. Those looking for a earth based equivalent to BioWare's space epic will surely be disappointed; those who can lower their expectations will enjoy this title for what it is a solid espionage game with a lot of unique characters and conversation trees and a surprising amount of replay value - will get much more out of the experience.

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