Always dreamed of being James Bond or Solid Snake? This is your change. Will it suck you in or is it mission impossible?
You play as agent Mike Thorton, working for a organization called "Alpha Protocol". The organization comes in action when operations need to be done the government can Denny. After a attack on a civilian airliner Alpha Protocol puts the newly recruit Thorton on the assignment. But things go wrong and you find yourself being marked as a rogue agent. Now hunted by those you worked for while you try to uncover what happened.
How the story will develop all depends on you and your choices and actions. There isn't a straight path from A to B. For example, during a mission you are faced with a situation where you either killing someone or let him alive. You can easily kill him but that would mean he won't provide you with information later in the story. Information that could have been of great use to you. But also actions as killing civilians will have influence on how people look at you. So people could begin to hate you and decide not to help you anymore or worse. Every person you meet is different and needs a different approach for them to like you. Some like it when you have humor, others like to be flirted with or you acting like a professional.
The strength of the game is how deep it goes. During missions objectives can change, the actions you commit during a mission have influence on the future of your story and how people look at you. You can customize your agent Thorton a bit but with looks there isn't much to choose from. A few hair cuts and beards, some hats, eye color and eye wear.
Sadly the game has some very annoying and pretty big down parts. The camera is terrible, when you are in a small room or hall way it sometimes has no idea where to position itself so you lose the sense of control, having no clue anymore whats left or right. You can adjust the camera with your mouse but it feels a bit jumpy making you lose control over it easily.
Also the combat is worked out poorly. I know its a spy RPG, but mass effect is a RPG as well and there the shooting works fine. In Alpha Protocol you don't necessary shoot at what you aim at. I mean your crosshair can be nicely placed between the eyes and you still miss cause of a dice decided you missed as said in the gamespot review. This is anoying and could have been solved. That it is a rpg doesn't mean it has to have a dice based combat system. Especially not if the dice harms the gameplay.
The one thing they did understand well enough about a RPG is how to build out your character. As you progress trough the game you earn exp from killing/taking out enemies, hack computers, pick up packages and intell. Once enough exp you level up and get to spend your skill point among different skills.
Alpha Protocol by all means isn't a bad game. Not as bad you might think when seeing the scores on different game sites. The problem is the game has to get a grip on you, cause only than you can see trough the weak spots and see the deep exciting game behind it.
The good:
- Deep story
- Huge replay value cause of the different paths you follow in the story
- Influence on the game, you and your buddy with both play a different game
The bad:
- Camera work could been better
- Combat, especially shooting is worked out poorly
- Bugs
Closing comments:
If you like spy games and a good story than this is your game. But only if you can look trough some annoying bugs and crappy camera in small areas. And about the bugs, well i'm sure there will be patches in the future to fix them.
Reviewed on: PC