My Alpha Protocol review:
Alpha Protocol is an espionage action roleplaying game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Sega. Obsidian cut there teeth developing sequels to the hit RPGs Never Winter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Alpha Protocol – their first original endeavor – was released in 2010 to mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Unfortunately this means that the IP was never renewed for a sequel – on the flip side it means that it can be found for cheap in the value bin.
Critics universally claimed the game was buggy, featured lack-luster graphics, and slow gameplay. I have now played once through the game and I believe that critics missed the mark on this title. There are a few animation glitches (mostly fixable on the PC if you know how to edit an INI file) and a bit of texture pop-in – but this game generally looks like any other third-person action game from 2010. It uses the Unreal3 engine with generous amounts of shaders applied – giving a cohesive cinematic style in both the gameplay and cutscenes. The texture work is generally good and the levels are modelled to scale with accuracy – the texture pop-in and some wonky animations/physics can distract from this, but if this game had been released two or three years earlier it wouldn’t have been an issue. In the 30 hours it took me to finish the campaign I never encountered one game-stopping bug or any crashes.
The environments are varied taking you from the middle east to Taiwan, Moscow, and Rome as the game progresses. Each mission area is based on real life locations including military bases, museums, subway stations, warehouses, etc.
You play as Michael Thorton and at the beginning of the game you get to decide his past before you join Alpha Protocol. The game introduces some of the main characters and plot lines right away but leaves some guess work as to the motives of each character and the objective of the mission. As the plot progresses surprise twists will crop up all the way through until the final scene. The story is interesting to follow as it changes depending on which choices are made – giving the game plenty of re-playability. The actual presentation for the storyline is reminiscent of television dramas like 24 and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Missions are broken up into two types. One mission type is an interactive cutscene which will have you visiting and engaging in conversations with various characters. You participate by choosing one of three-to-four dialog options such as
Sarcastic or
Professional as you talk with whomever. A conversation can take you down several different paths dependent on the choices you make. Being aggressive, diplomatic, apathetic, greedy, etc. – choices that may seem irrelevant at the time can come to play a bigger focus down the line.
The core missions have you infiltrating areas, taking down guards, and completing mission objectives such as disabling bombs, hacking computers, gathering intel, etc. The action in Alpha Protocol is excellent once you step back and realize you are playing an RPG and not Splinter Cell. Alpha Protocol is a skill based RPG – as you play you earn experience points and spend them on the skills you want to level up. During my play through I focused on stealth, pistols, and martial arts though there are plenty of other skills for more action-orientated gameplay. I played utilizing silent non-lethal take downs with tranquilizer darts and knock outs. This made the game somewhat more difficult during a few of the more action-packed boss sequences.
Time in between missions are spent at a safe house with access to email, an online black market storefront, and the ability to change appearances as well as upgrade your arsenal. Each core mission ends with an earned income which can be used to buy upgrades or extra mission intel.
Alpha Protocol is a little rough around the edges by todays standards but there are no glaring negative aspects making it not worth the money. I had so much fun during my first play through that I am definitely going to give it a few more tries to see how different choices affect the outcome. If this were 2001-2005 this game would be getting a near perfect score in spite of the few technical issues. In 2011 it is at least worth a high eight.
8.5/10