Alpha Protocol is $2 on Steam -- You Should Buy It

[veloper]

Despite the game being very flawed in important areas, like combat, any PC gamer who thinks he can afford to have an opinion on RPGs should have played this game, now that it sells for that kind of change.

AP of all games sofar, has come the closest to this crazy ideal of an interactive story with meaningful consequences in CRPGs.
It's an impossible goal, but I can understand why such a promise may appeal the big story crowd here.

Anyway, this is a game that could have been absolutely stellar with a little more time, effort and common sense with the designers.

 

[Baralak]

It's a great game, totally recommend it. I'd buy it if I hadn't already bought it new for $20 back in May or June on my 360.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Alpha Protocol is a very good game, but it is not without flaws. Most of the egregious bugs have been cleaned up by this point. As usual, Obsidian did a lot of really good things, and as usual, bugs and rough edges took a lot of shine off of what was otherwise a pretty damn solid title. It was a steal at $7 last year during the sale. At $2 it seems to be something of a no brainer for those who enjoy this sort of game.

 

[targren]

Well...the last 5 or so bottles of coke I've bought have been flatter than a pancake...so buying coke is not risk free

I've gone over to Pepsi tbh. I also bought Alpha Protocol. 2?...I could probably make more money if I cleaned my couch.

Nothing is risk free, and it's not a matter of the money. I made more than $2 in the time it took me to read your post. It's a matter of calculating the risk. I know Valve is second only to Blizzard in the legions of blindly trusting fans, but I'm not one of them. There is already precedent for people being locked out of access to the games they bought legally, and Valve never seems to opt to make the standalone downloads available to them (imagine that!).

OTOH, I think I may pick up a bunch of those D&D games on GOG this weekend. Digital Downloads are fine when they're DRM free.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

I already own it so....
Anyway I really like Alpha Protocol and it is worth buying.

 

[Aeriath]

Definitely a flawed game but I enjoyed it. I've heard nothing but praise about the choice system and the consequences of your choices in this thread but I've yet to see a mention of my pet hate with the conversation system - the fact that it uses quick time events. I missed the choice a few times during play as I didn't have enough time to make up my mind and the game decided to speak professionally on my behalf.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to say fuck that hacking minigame.

I was disappointed to hear that Obsidian wouldn't be getting to make a sequel as it would be interesting to see if they could take their concept and polish it up a little. As it is £1.50/$2 it is certainly worth a look at.

 

[number2301]

Thanks for the heads up op, just got this and AvP 2010 for less than £5. Seriously, if I only get half an hour of fun shooting aliens out of that I'm all good.

 

[Nulmas]

Wow. I wasn't aware there was so much love for Alpha Protocol around the interwebs. I was aware of the hatred, though.

Personally, I bought it for 20? and never regreted it

I know the pistol trick. At this point I had sinked all my points in my fists (not knowing those were useless), my stealth and my hacking skills. I had to change to a different hub to get easier missions and more experience points to buy those pistol skills. I still think it is a bad boss fight when the only way to defeat it is a frontal assault in a game that tries to emulate Deus Ex.

I feel your pain, man. I had the exact same problem with Brayko. I didn't go back, though... Somehow, I actually managed to beat him

All in all, I think AP was a decent game that could have been great. You can see some brilliance shining through, but it ultimately falls a bit short.

I loved it, but I'm aware it's mostly due to personal tastes.

Still, it's a shame the sequel got cancelled. I'd love to see a more polished version of this game.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

And off I go to buy that, if only to support Obsidian. Oh, and yeah, I agree with OP, totally worth 2 bucks if you like stealth or cRPGs.

 

[Koroviev]

I already bought Medieval II, but I might have to consider this as well. Despite giving it such a negative evaluation, Yahtzee somehow managed to make me morbidly curious about the game.

Edit: Bought it. Will check it out after knocking off some necessary items on the to-do list.

 

[Stall]

It's a waste of $2 dollars if it's not a game you will enjoy. Looking at this thread, the game is pretty polarising. Some people love it, some hate it. If you hate it, then $2 dollars is a waste, even if it just $2 dollars. If I just went out and wasted $2 dollars everyday it would really add up.

That's why the price point of $2 is so great. There is only one way to find out which camp you are in: you play it. If you like it, then yougot a great game and an awesome price. If you don't like it, then you are just down two dollars, which really isn't that big of a deal.

It is a risk, yeah, but it's a very affordable risk.

 

[SextusMaximus]

All of the "Total War" games are on sale too, seriously, those are much more deserving of your money than alpha protocol

THIS. Never played AP, however I still play Rome to this day. SUCH a fantastic game, may buy it again on Steam cause my PC wont run it anymore, seriously. BUY ROME TOTAL WAR NAAAAAAAAOOOOO.

 

[zombiejoe]

I actually liked this game a lot. People should play it.

In fact, I played it twice, and the second time was rookie, which meant I had no skills at all!

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Edit: IGN gave the game a 6.3, which means its about a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10

IGN pretty much bases it scores on how much its viewers want to see the game perform, so dross like Final Fantasy 13 can get a "great" 8.9 or its inbred twin Dragon Age 2 a 8.5. They occasionally like to throw a game to the wolves when they can get a away with it so they can deflate their absurdly imbalanced score system. They just choose games with minimal advertising, niche fan appeal and ones which they intentionally play like retards to make it look like the game isn't working. Really the best way to get a good score on IGN is to make sure you throw down the advertising dollars and flood them with bullshit "first looks" and news releases to get some loyalty with them.

 

[YuheJi]

WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE SAYING IT'S NOT WORTH IT AT $2.

IT'S TWO BLOODY DOLLARS! There is no concievable situation you could be in where you are able to use the internet, and yet consider spending two dollars on a AAA title not worth your money.

I hate shooters. Sell it to me now.

For the same $2, I could get Crazy Taxi (okay, $2.24). I could get DLC for a Total War game I enjoy more. There are a lot of really good games on the Sega sale list that I would happily buy before a shooter.

Alpha Protocol is not a shooter. I think a lot of people were expecting a shooter, and were severely disappointed when they got an actual RPG.

 

[GrayJester]

Whoa. For me it costs only $1. Totaly buying it.

 

[Dendio]

The first few posts hailed it, so I bought it. Then I saw a post say its a crappier version of Deus Ex HR. Well dammit a crappy version of Deus Ex HR is worth 2 bucks xD

 

[chaosyoshimage]

Yay, it runs on my computer (I wonder what else will?). Don't know when I'll get around to it though...

 

[ThaBenMan]

I've already bought it, my friend. You can't possibly go wrong for only $2.

 

[inquisiti0n]

bought it, but have a huge backlog of games as it is, no idea when ill get around to it