Review: Alpha Protocol

[Ilosia]

All these bugs being mentioned in the reviews really surprise me, playing on the PC the only problems I've noticed is occasionally when up against a wall the textures of it will jump in front of the screen (rectified by moving away from that section), inconsistent AI(sometimes they'll completely ignore the corpse right in front of them other times they'll rush over from the other end of the room and set the entire area on alert and for some reason the invisibility skill doesn't switch off if you use a stealth take-down (if it's intentional that's rather poor game design.

I've never had an occasion where the enemies couldn't spot me if they were looking directly my way which made the auto invisibility 'panic button' a life saver, and it can be fun to just try and ignore them entirely, slipping through the breaks in their patrols.
That said gunplay is horrible and finding sections where they force you to break stealth despite it being otherwise possible to get through using non gun skills only. The AI seems to have been an attempt to avoid the excessively punitive systems that some stealth games have put ended up going too far back.
The game may not have the most polish around but it didn't have the biggest budget around either, with someone like Bioware I wouldn't let this fly but for a more minor company like Obsidian this does get a pass since the game remains enjoyable

 

[templargunman]

I find it amusing that the game that is spamming ads all over the site got a bad review by the site. Also, good job escapist, you have honor.

 

[Actual]

I am playing this on the PC and loving it! No, it is not polished, if minor bugs annoy you give it a miss.

If you love RPGs and story based games play this now.

 

[Remove this account]

Not surprised since Obsidian did a horrible job with KOTOR 2. At least they are a consistently buggy and unimpressive studio.

 

[Deofuta]

Aww. I liked the sound of this game. An RPG that isn't all about wizards. If they patch the bugs maybe I'll rent it, or buy it cheap.

Have you tried Borderlands? Or perhaps Fallout 3?

There are plenty of RPGs not involving fantasy...

 

[Brad Shepard]

Im still going to try it, ssee how the story is and what not.

 

[dalek sec]

Aww. I liked the sound of this game. An RPG that isn't all about wizards. If they patch the bugs maybe I'll rent it, or buy it cheap.

Me too, I was really hoping this game wouldn't suck... guess that's what I get for getting my hopes up.

 

[yoyo13rom]

Dam it! You make it sound a lot better than other sites do.
Now I'm totally on the fence. I can't(or at least I don't know anyone how'd) retail it.
And my budget is not so good at the moment(I can afford one full priced game).
I'd only buy it for the RPG and story, but the gameplay sounded a lot more horrible on other sites.
Arrghh, I think I'll wait this one out...

 

[Yossarian1507]

If it weren't for the bugs, I'd have given the game a 3. It's still only half a game, but there's fun to be had. But given how broken it is, I had to mark it down.

Also, just because I enjoy a game, that doesn't mean the game is good. When reviewing a game, you have to keep the greater audience in mind. Sure, I enjoy that the AI is so stupid they never hear me coming, because I'm really lousy at stealth, but will the typical person looking for a fun spy experience feel the same way? Probably not. And while I might be willing to put up with intermittent control issues because I find the RPG elements to be a hoot, it's unreasonable to expect the same of someone else. All I can do is tell people that these things happen and let them decide how to proceed.

Uhm... Games are supposed to be an enjoyment. So, if you're enjoying the game then yes - it is good. At least for you, despite every bug or bad mechanic you'll encounter. If you're having fun - mission accomplished.

I'm not going to argue that low score anymore even though I completely don't agree with it. Situations like that are the main reason why I think any game scoring should be blasted into space. If I didn't already buy AP right after release, I would probably watch the video supplement first (as always), then after first page my thoughts would be 'ok, as I expected. Game full of bugs, but quite enjoyable, and if the RPG elements are great, that's more than convincing. I should buy this game', and then comes page 2 and 'WHOA WTF? 2 stars? 4/10? How? Damn, I hoped it will be at least slightly enjoyable...'

Every gamer should seek through the words if either the game is good for him or not. Locking the opinion in 5 or 10 or even 100 point scale is sometimes really hurting very interesting releases, like this one, because lazy most people will only look at the mark first, and others will have their opinions colored while reading the review, even if the words in it are not really indicating such a low score.

 

[GuiltBlade]

So basically its obsidian doing their usual job of borrowing another companies system (in this case it looks like the same thing Bioware used for Mass Effect), and then half finish a game on it before releasing it.

First off, a lot of it looks exactly like Mass Effect, pick your background, alter appearance, boost stats (in the same menu system as Mass Effect) modify load out with fifty slightly different ad ons Etc.

Secondly can obsidian please release a game for once which isn't still in the early beta stage? KoTOR 2? Neverwinter Nights 2? No? They can make a good game, as evidenced by the demo's released as full games but they just can't seem to get round to making the game fully functional, or just cut out half the content to save time and so doing ruin the plot line.
This is the reason that people here call them Obsidibug

 

[Darth Jerak]

It is really funny that while I was watching the video, the pop up ads where all for Alpha Protocol. Even the ad spot seems slapped together and half made.

 

[benbenthegamerman]

I was kind of hoping that this would be good, now?

I'll just use any copy of this I get as a $60 coster.

im sorry, i was just going to agree with this when i saw you have the worlds most badass avatar. cinema snob in kickassia ftw.

 

[Actual]

Spoiler: The problem is...

The Konstantin boss fight. Apparently, doing Blow makes you immune to bullets, and a history of carving up unarmed civilians that have been tied down means that he can instantly block and counter every blow from a skilled martial artist? I think I had about four ranks on my pistol at that point and a maxed out Martial Arts tree - I'm not a fan of a game telling me I can choose how to play the game, then shoving me into a situation that I can't talk, stealth or fist fight my way out of when that's what I've specialised in.

Yeaaaaahhhh....there's a lot of that in the game. There's another boss fight (I won't spoil it and say with who) that's even more "are you serious?" You just kind of have to roll your eyes and shrug it off.

Uuuurgh... Tell me it's not in Taipei, I'm there now (wanted to meet up with Scarlet again, doesn't look like that's happening), and I could do with a segment that doesn't have an uber-boss. It utterly destroys the atmosphere the rest of the game builds up.

If I'm being honest, I think Sis was about the perfect power level for bosses in a game that's trying to be realistic. Great use of cover and her guns, but doesn't take too much damage. Of course, I'm also aware that I'm willing to overlook a great many things when it comes to a cute late-teens girl with purple hair, tattoos and just the right number of piercings

Spoiler: The problem is...

The Konstantin boss fight. Apparently, doing Blow makes you immune to bullets, and a history of carving up unarmed civilians that have been tied down means that he can instantly block and counter every blow from a skilled martial artist? I think I had about four ranks on my pistol at that point and a maxed out Martial Arts tree - I'm not a fan of a game telling me I can choose how to play the game, then shoving me into a situation that I can't talk, stealth or fist fight my way out of when that's what I've specialised in.

Spoiler: That's odd...

Maybe it was the fact that I purchased the "Poisoned cocaine" intel piece before the mission, but I had no "Immune to bullets" problem. I just ran around for a bit while Chain Shot cooled down and shot him a second (Okay, fith-through-sixth, but that's being technical, here) time.

Spoiler: Oh, don't get me wrong...

After many, many, many, many, many, many deaths, I eventually ended him with two Chain Shot's to the face. The problem was dodging his menials while I lined up my gun. Eventually I got so used to the numbers that would come out of each side door that I could kill the majority of them before they appeared, but until then? Disproportionately hard and flow-breaking boss.

Also, the order you do missions seems to be pretty important, I'm wondering if I didn't get the Posioned Cocaine intel because I hadn't done another mission - any chance you'd done Rome or Taipei first? I seem to be getting N22-specific stuff in Taipei now I helped them in Moscow...

How!!??

Spoiler

I have the rat intel but it just made him angry and chase me with his knives. I spent two minutes just running away from him when he caught me and sliced me to death in seconds. I think the problem may be that I'm a stealth character and only have the lowest lvl of of chain shot and precision firing. So far in my fight there are no additional enemies, just me and Brayko. But I did stealth in so maybe that's why.

Spoiler: Success!

Once he snorts the poisoned coke I just needed to keep running round the centre obstacle for long enough he eventually has a mini heart attack from the poison giving you a second to line up a headshot and then he's chasing you again. When he started shooting me I ducked behind cover and activated the cloak to pinch another head shot, rinse and repeat till dead. At first look it seemed impossible. I never had any additional enemies during the fight, that would have screwed me.

 

[syndicated44]

Loved the talky bits hated the game.

 

[Rainboq]

I was kind of hoping that this would be good, now?

I'll just use any copy of this I get as a $60 coster.

im sorry, i was just going to agree with this when i saw you have the worlds most badass avatar. cinema snob in kickassia ftw.

Wow, your like the tenth person to say that...

GO CINEMA SNOB!

 

[qwagor]

If it weren't for the bugs, I'd have given the game a 3. It's still only half a game, but there's fun to be had. But given how broken it is, I had to mark it down.

Also, just because I enjoy a game, that doesn't mean the game is good. When reviewing a game, you have to keep the greater audience in mind. Sure, I enjoy that the AI is so stupid they never hear me coming, because I'm really lousy at stealth, but will the typical person looking for a fun spy experience feel the same way? Probably not. And while I might be willing to put up with intermittent control issues because I find the RPG elements to be a hoot, it's unreasonable to expect the same of someone else. All I can do is tell people that these things happen and let them decide how to proceed.

Uhm... Games are supposed to be an enjoyment. So, if you're enjoying the game then yes - it is good. At least for you, despite every bug or bad mechanic you'll encounter. If you're having fun - mission accomplished.

I'm not going to argue that low score anymore even though I completely don't agree with it. Situations like that are the main reason why I think any game scoring should be blasted into space. If I didn't already buy AP right after release, I would probably watch the video supplement first (as always), then after first page my thoughts would be 'ok, as I expected. Game full of bugs, but quite enjoyable, and if the RPG elements are great, that's more than convincing. I should buy this game', and then comes page 2 and 'WHOA WTF? 2 stars? 4/10? How? Damn, I hoped it will be at least slightly enjoyable...'

Every gamer should seek through the words if either the game is good for him or not. Locking the opinion in 5 or 10 or even 100 point scale is sometimes really hurting very interesting releases, like this one, because lazy most people will only look at the mark first, and others will have their opinions colored while reading the review, even if the words in it are not really indicating such a low score.

That is precisely what I hate about most game reviewers. Stop trying to be so bloody objective! Reading between the lines of this review I figured that Susan quite liked the thing but was worried that Joe G Public cannot enjoy what is actually a good game because it's not polished enough.

P.S. I just bought AP based on this review and Susan's reply in the forum, and will be back as soon as it's downloaded + an hour or two of gameplay...

 

[Swifteye]

Sounds like this game needed a lot of polish it didn't get. And I'm not just talking about the gameplay, graphics, and controls. This game looks snore worthy. I mean a spy running around with a machine gun shooting terrorist? Yawn. Something more interesting please?

 

[Seamus8]

Wasn't ever gonna buy this game but... Just wanted to say that for the escapist to tell it like it is on a game that has been a major advertiser is a great bit of integrity. Thanks to all the review staff once again.

 

[pneuma08]

Sigh. Still continuing with the love/hate relationship with Obsidian. They always come so close to making a stellar game...hopefully one of these days they can pull it together and overcome their faults, whatever they are (I'm guessing poor management and overbearing publishers).

Still looking forward to New Vegas though. If they screw that up (which would essentially be taking Fallout 3 and ruining it - it would have to be a spectacular failure), that'll be the end.

That is precisely what I hate about most game reviewers. Stop trying to be so bloody objective! Reading between the lines of this review I figured that Susan quite liked the thing but was worried that Joe G Public cannot enjoy what is actually a good game because it's not polished enough.

There's a difference between lack of polish and brokenness, though.

 

[Susan Arendt]

If it weren't for the bugs, I'd have given the game a 3. It's still only half a game, but there's fun to be had. But given how broken it is, I had to mark it down.

Also, just because I enjoy a game, that doesn't mean the game is good. When reviewing a game, you have to keep the greater audience in mind. Sure, I enjoy that the AI is so stupid they never hear me coming, because I'm really lousy at stealth, but will the typical person looking for a fun spy experience feel the same way? Probably not. And while I might be willing to put up with intermittent control issues because I find the RPG elements to be a hoot, it's unreasonable to expect the same of someone else. All I can do is tell people that these things happen and let them decide how to proceed.

Uhm... Games are supposed to be an enjoyment. So, if you're enjoying the game then yes - it is good. At least for you, despite every bug or bad mechanic you'll encounter. If you're having fun - mission accomplished.


Every gamer should seek through the words if either the game is good for him or not.

I agree completely. The game is enjoyable for me personally, but it's easy to see how others might not share that enjoyment. This is why we have a written review, to try and give you the full picture, and allow you to decide for yourself whether or not the game is worth a shot.