Stolen Pixels #205: The Bullet Massage
Man, the bosses in Alpha Protocol are just so inconsiderate.
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Man, the bosses in Alpha Protocol are just so inconsiderate.
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Stolen Pixels #205: The Bullet Massage
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
lolz hate it when a game does this. Just like MMO's and their single player quest chain into a force GROUP quest!
This is a pet peeve of mine in many games pretend to accommodate stealth game play - I've been falling for this same trick since System Shock 2 (sure it SOUNDS cool to specialize in hacking and research - oh wait, now I'm bottle-necked through a room with endlessly regenerating splicer ladies and floating death-ray jellyfish? Where's a vending machine when you need it?).
Ug. That games sounds horridly imbalanced. All that freedom in gameplay, only to have it render your chosen playstyle useless in the end.
In some defense of the game, it is possible to stealth kill that first boss on the bridge, yuo just have to careful about when you make your move. Or just play as a veteran and use Stealth Operative expert. If he does see you though it's easier to just beat him to death instead of shooting him.
Hey whoa! Needless Serious Sam bashing much? I get what you're saying, "this game feels more like a frantic shoot-em-up than a stealther", but it read like you were taking a shot at one of the best FPS games to grace the gaming public. I mean, at least compare it to something like Prototype (which had equally horrible boss fights, and just final half of the game in general).
What a ridiculous thing to overlook. I wouldn't actually mind forced boss battles, as long as you had ways to take them out using the gameplay skills you have increased thus far. It's this kind of thing that pissed me off at the end of Assassin's Creed.
And I was so looking forward to this game.
And I was so looking forward to this game.
"This plan fell apart about three hours in when I met the first boss fight and realized the game expected me to fight a guy in the open, on a bridge, surrounded by henchmen, in broad daylight, with no possibility for a surprise attack."
This is wrong. You can defeat the first boss by sneaking up on him, there's even an extra 350 EXP for doing so.
As for Omen Deng, he barely takes any damage from bodyshots, but headshots take care of him quickly. Using the armor-piercing ammo type of your preferred weapon also helps (phosphor for shotgun, APD for assault rifle, steel core for pistol, high velocity for SMGs).
"This could have been the next Deus Ex, but it feels Serious Sam."
Shamus, I have a lot of respect for you. But you either wear oversized nostalgia goggles right now or you're making a misleading statement deliberately to get more attention. I'll give you the benefit of doubt and guess it's the former.
The bosses in Deus Ex had a load of health as well and you couldn't sneak past any of them. You could run away from one of them and defeat another one before combat started by an alternate method (which required you to take the right choice in a sequence that happened much earlier, though). So your point that AP isn't a worthy spiritual Deus Ex successor because of forced bosses that can take a large amount of punishment simply doesn't hold up. Because Deus Ex did exactly the same thing.
On a more general note, I don't see why people rip on the imbalanced skills in AP so much. Sure, it would have been better if shotgun was actually a viable weapon on hard difficulty, but I can't think of any other game with RPG-elements where you can't screw yourself over (or at least make the game considerably harder) by picking the wrong skills.
This is wrong. You can defeat the first boss by sneaking up on him, there's even an extra 350 EXP for doing so.
As for Omen Deng, he barely takes any damage from bodyshots, but headshots take care of him quickly. Using the armor-piercing ammo type of your preferred weapon also helps (phosphor for shotgun, APD for assault rifle, steel core for pistol, high velocity for SMGs).
"This could have been the next Deus Ex, but it feels Serious Sam."
Shamus, I have a lot of respect for you. But you either wear oversized nostalgia goggles right now or you're making a misleading statement deliberately to get more attention. I'll give you the benefit of doubt and guess it's the former.
The bosses in Deus Ex had a load of health as well and you couldn't sneak past any of them. You could run away from one of them and defeat another one before combat started by an alternate method (which required you to take the right choice in a sequence that happened much earlier, though). So your point that AP isn't a worthy spiritual Deus Ex successor because of forced bosses that can take a large amount of punishment simply doesn't hold up. Because Deus Ex did exactly the same thing.
On a more general note, I don't see why people rip on the imbalanced skills in AP so much. Sure, it would have been better if shotgun was actually a viable weapon on hard difficulty, but I can't think of any other game with RPG-elements where you can't screw yourself over (or at least make the game considerably harder) by picking the wrong skills.
In my opinion, it's only "that bad" if you try to play it as a shooter rather than an RPG. I'm playing stealth/electronics/pistols with a bit of hand to hand on the side and having a blast going all Jason Borne on their asses.Lord_Gremlin said:
As for both the fights referenced above, with a little thought and time put into watching the guards movements in the first fight I was able to take him down with a stealth hand to hand kill. The Omen Deng fight I managed to use the 'bullet time' special ability to line up critical hits and wear him down until he got close, then beat him up when he did close until he vanished again.
Honestly, I really don't get all of the bashing. The graphics are dated (personally don't care), but I've yet to run into a bug on my 360 and am enjoying the game.
The best part of the game is generally not going to be appriciated by action junkies, and that is the spegetti coded interaction and how it colors the game play. You can play VERY different games in two playthroughs simply by chosing to change how you approach a situation.
Anyway, a lot of people do not agree with me obviously, but I have not regretted my purchase at all.
Ah. Alpha Protocol.
You don't actually mention anywhere in the comic or the sidebar what game it is you're playing. I know the type though; if you're going to give me a stealth option, I'm _going_ to take it, so please make sure its at least somewhat viable...
You don't actually mention anywhere in the comic or the sidebar what game it is you're playing. I know the type though; if you're going to give me a stealth option, I'm _going_ to take it, so please make sure its at least somewhat viable...