Meet Michael Thorton, expert in the field of your choice. After being drugged and taken away, he finds himself in a strange new place called The Graybox, the center of operations for a secret American project known as Alpha Protocol. After going through several trials, he is asked to join Alpha Protocol as a field agent. His first mission takes him to Saudi Arabia in search of stolen missiles. Unfortunately, things are not so simple.
Alpha Protocol prides itself on being the 'first ever modern espionage RPG', which may as well be true. However, I could just mix together a sandwich and a bagel and claim the patent on 'Bagewich' - but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Obsidian, however, believes it's a big deal, going as far as to mention it twice on the box cover alone.
Let me explain this whole espionage thing. In a sense, Alpha Protocol is a mix of Splinter Cell (Double Agent) and Fahrenheit (although the combat reminds me more of The Bourne Identity). While you probably come to the conclusion that stealth and combat are important elements that serve as the game's infrastructure, that is not all. Being an agent also involves coming in contact with possible allies (and hostiles) who you can strike deals with or spit in the face of as you see fit.
During conversations you are given three options: aggressive, sarcastic and proffessional. This is where the game truly shines, as your interactions really do affect the gameplay. While your actions won't affect the main character's personality, gaining allies can give you access to additional perks or affect future missions. If you feel like a douchebag you can always just execute some of them straight away.
The stealth mechanics reminds me a lot of Splinter Cell - without the acrobatics and night vission goggles. The AI have the mindset of an ant, as can be expected, but they also seem to be very blind - especially the female strippers. They can, however, react to sound as well, and will be alarmed if they find corpses - which is somewhat irritating since you cannot move bodies.
I found the firefights in the game to be quite fun, mostly because there is no quickscoping or headshooting from across the globe involved. No matter what gun - be it pistol, rifle or shotgun - have to be carefully aimed to even score a single hit. Who would've thought that?
There is a satisfactorily number of customaztions you can carry out on your guns. Everything from scopes to extra magazines or lighter stocks are availible - for a price, of course.
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| At times I find it hard to believe this game is from 2010. |
Completing objectives throughout missions will reward you with funds and experience points you can use on weapon upgrades and skills - which makes me think of Deus Ex. The skills are diverted into many categories, ranging from technology to several weapon masteries. Obsidian lets the player himself choose whatever style he prefers. Or so I would like to think.
The things I find the most annoying about the game are the balance issues. Let me elaborate. I specialized myself in stealth, which allowed me to become completely invisible for up to 22 seconds. During this time I could do whatever I wanted with any guards patrolling nearby (however, it wouldn't work on cameras or sentries). One by one I took them out with melee attacks until the entire room was cleared. I was thinking the challenges would become even harder from there on. In a sense I was right.Then came the bossfights, usually hardened men who seemed to have replaced their skin with bulletproof vests. Of course, stealth is useless against bosses, since they can take up to five clips in the head before going down - and this is on normal difficulty. So I had to reload an earlier save and pump up my rifle mastery to stand a chance. Even then I still struggled against a certain knife-wielding punk rocker - until he decided to stand perfectly still while I ventilated his skull. Nice!
I understand Obsidian's ambitions. They wanted to merge interactive storytelling with varied gameplay, but only partially succeeded. It's obvious that a lot of work has been put into the making of the game, but it is clearly not enough. The horrid balance issues, the at times disgusting visuals, the AI glitches and a confusing story all weighs down a title that could have been so much more than it is. I want to be nice to Alpha Protocol. I really do. I enjoyed the game for what it was, and I will probably play it again for a different ending, but I simply could not ignore simple facts: this is not a complete game.
+: Consequences
+: Customization
+: Realistic weapon recoil
+: Clever tech minigames
-: Ridiculously hard boss fights
-: Below average graphics
-: Some severly overpowered skills
-: Sometimes broken AI behaviour
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