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Product Features

Genre
Role Playing
Publisher
Sega
Release Date
May 28, 2010
Available Platforms
PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360

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Alpha Protocol

Tailor your espionage skills and training to your play style and become the world's deadliest rogue agent in Obsidian Entertainment's blockbuster modern day espionage RPG thriller. When a CIA operative is cut off from his own agency, when he no longer has backup, when his ties to the US government are severed, he has one option: the Alpha Protocol. Agent Mike Thorton's investigation led him to a once-in-a-career target, but when the operation gets called off at the last minute, that's when it begins. Plots are in motion in major cities around the world that will change them forever. Thorton has to work against the odds and the most dangerous operators in the spy game if he's going to stop them... and he will have to do it alone. Redefined RPG - Classless system gives players the ability to...

  • Jake Sommers October 04, 2010 360
    ****

    Story:
    Whilst the actual story found in Alpha Protocol is quite weak and hard to follow, the many branching paths gives it some added depth not found in many other games. You play as Michael Thornton, a young spy who joins an organisation called Alpha Protocol at the start of the game. It specialises in covert operations and denies any links to the government. The game first forces you to go to Saudi Arabia, where you learn some dark secrets about Alpha Protocol and a defense contractor called Halbec. You are soon framed as a rogue agent and must work to take down both of the companies that betrayed you. It takes you to 4 locations around the world, allowing for many changes in the scenery. The story quickly becomes convuluted and confused, leading me to konw very little about what was going on at certain points. The game also introduces new characters at a rapid rate, just adding to the confusion. What this does allow though is a number of ways to go through the game, although the overall narrative stays relatively the same. 6/10

    Graphics:
    The graphics are smooth but very inconsistent. There really isn't all that much to comment on here - the different types of scenery make sure the game never falls into the monotonous grey/brown combo plaguing most games of this generation. Despite this, there are frquent bugs and the character movement is rubbish at best. What I particularly liked about the presentation of this game are the in-game menus. They convey masses of information without feeling too convuluted. Other than this, there is nothing particularly good to say about this area. 6/10

    Gameplay:
    There are many aspects to this game that it is hard to know where to start. This game presents itself as a stealth game primarily, except it is easy to find a problem with this - it is near impossible to go stealthily through any parts of a level. The enemies have the biggest field of vision I've ever seen and you can never be sure if you are visible or not. The useless cover system doesn't help either, as you furiously tap A repeatably until you stick to the cover, at wich point you've be seen. Once this happens the game turns into a third-person shooter, but you will soon find this broken too. The guns can't even hit enemies who cover your screen, and anything past around 5 feet ahead of you will take an annoyingly long time to hit. This flaw is made much more obvious by the boss fights, which decide to add in recovering armour, meaning that you have to be able to constantly hit them, but the guns are too inaccurate to do this. The second or third boss battle in the game is actually the most difficult as their armour recovers in about a second, and it makes for an extremely infuriating time. All of these poor design choices add up to a game that is aggrevating to play at times, but there are some glimmers here and there that suggest this game could have been better. The dialogue system uses a timer for you to reply which keeps you gripped during the cutscenes, and the two hacking minigames are pretty fun. The structure of the game, whilst overly simplified, also makes sure that it is split up into easily digestable chunks of playtime. There are just to many odd design choices to make this game any fun to play. 4/10

    Replayability:
    The game isn't too long or too short, and should last a bit beyond the 10 hour mark. As mentioned, you can take various routes through the narrative and make many different decisions that will only change a few areas of the game, which adds some replayability to the title. The achievements require at least three different playthroughs and will triple the playtime for many. Personally, I found the combat too poor to warrant another playthrough, so it is all up to personal choice as to whether you can bear another playthrough. 7/10

    Conclusion:
    There are just too many fundamental errors to really recommend this game to anyone. It shouldn't be worth any more than around £20 and I would still put caution into any purchase. For any areas where the game shines, it completely falls flat in equal measure.

    Final Score: 5.5/10