90

Just get over the technical flaws and play this game!

Picked this game up on the cheap. Very surprised. WELL worth it to me. Many people felt there were quirks with it, but once you figure it out it gets pretty fun pretty fast.

Any game that makes you think twice about killing, and later regret it needs to be played by any and all gamers. The stealth is in the top lists, character variety is awesome. And if you really like looking deep into something, you'll see an underlying philosophical theme of loyalty, orders, and "the mission".

The choices and consequences in this game are very well done which gives this game a great amount of replay values. I personally think this game is the best game Obsidian ever made. if you values the choices and consequences in the RPG and good story telling in video games, this is a game you must play.

97

Punisher's Creed RPG

Yeap...that's what exactly it looks like to me.A mix of Punisher gameplay,AC's storyline and RPG elements.It's just awesome game.During the playtime you pick up a lot of choice from which depends end of the mission,reputation with people,etc.You can gather intel and sell it to the blackmarket...There is just a lot of stuff in it.You gonna like the game.

76

Fun, Unique Action RPG

While I can't say this game is mind blowing in any way, Alpha Protocol is a very fun game. It blends third person action/shooting with RPG elements (things like skill trees, multiple choices in dialog, etc). The graphics may be a little dated, but still look good enough. Overall, I'd give it a recommendation to most fans of action/thrillers.

85

A Game Of Twists And Turns, Lies And Slivers Of Truth

Alpha Protocol is Obsidian's spy themed RPG, taking a few cues from stealth based games such as Deus Ex and Metal Gear. Originally released to mixed reviews over two years ago, I have had the pleasure of playing it for the first time this week and would like to try and set the record straight about this game.

The story is a very intricate plot with many threads, and it's unlikely you'll see the whole picture in only play through it all. Yes, even if you search for every file you can and do your best to squeeze information out of people, there will still be mysteries to discover. That's part of the charm of this game though and makes it feels more like a spy or mystery game than other games of its ilk. The game gives you a few subtle hints if you look closely, but it relies more on your intuition to drive the story and what parts of the mystery are unraveled. The colorful and varied cast of characters is everywhere, but fade in and out of actual importance depending on how you want to drive the story. Like the Mass Effect games, you get to talk to many people and your choices carry over throughout the story, but unlike its reliance on morality, Alpha Protocol is more ambiguous what the right choice. It manages to be realistic in that, even with the scraps of clues you uncover about your targets and contacts, you'll never be quite sure what the repercussions of your actions will be. Some characters may be fought, while others can be avoided with clever manipulation. Even early choices will have some sort of an impact towards the later part of the game, making every decision matter.

For all the praise I give the story, I do have to comment on the weaker side of the game: the combat. For my play through, I was attempting to be a stealthy martial pacifist where I would use hand to hand combat along with tranquilizer darts from the pistol. To the game's credit, hand to hand combat works fairly well on regular bad guys and mini-bosses if you can break their block. Unfortunately, this is less effective against boss characters. That is where a lot of the problem comes into play because generally, you will want to use a gun against a boss rather than your fists. The problem? Guns tend to be inaccurate outside of short range, even with accuracy upgrades. When you think you've scored a head shot, you'll see the bullet whiz by and your cover is blown. While an offensively built character won't care that much about blowing their cover, for stealthy classes that are using silencers and rely on accurate shots, this is a letdown. It's not completely broken, but this could have been done better.

Speaking of built characters, this game is an RPG and hence, your actions and completing missions will earn you experience points to give your agent skills. The system takes a lot of inspiration from Mass Effect, relying on a table you can put ability points into for various combat, tech, stealth, and defensive skills. In addition, powers are occasionally awarded for investing enough into a certain skill. For example, investing a lot of points in Stealth will offer powers to cloak you from enemy sight, making it far easier to dispatch enemies with your stealthy knockout/kill move. Oddly, there is also some inspiration from The Elder Scrolls series where you can get certain perks if you use certain skills or perform certain actions often enough. While it's not as ridiculous as jumping off cliffs over and over to increase an acrobatic skill from that title, Alpha Protocol does adapt to your style of play, whether you focus on hacking defenses, stealthy pacifism, or loud gunning.

As for the world you'll be playing in, it looks fairly good. The graphics run on the Unreal Engine so you'll notice a similar style in character structure and graphic design as other games that use it. Sadly, this does mean that several characters and locations look rather homogenized. To their credit, the developers did include some colorful characters and moments to spice things up, such as the shootout in a Russian mobster's mansion who is obsessed with 80's American culture. The music matches this trend, filling the role it's given, but doesn't stand out very often.

Thankfully, despite some issues with the combat and the limitations of the Unreal Engine, Alpha Protocol's strong story and characters help drive the game along. It's a game that makes you want to play again, just to see what you missed by siding with one character or making another hate you, and so on. For the price, you're getting several hours of entertainment, and best of all, it surprises you and adapts to your style. Obsidian once again proves it knows how to write an engaging narrative within a game, and makes Alpha Protocol a must-play for anyone who appreciates RPGs.

65

A missed opportunity

There are games you can love or hate, but can't pass near it without a word and Alpha Protocol is definitely one of them. It's a game which would be great, but something presumably went wrong during the development. As a role playing spy game Alpha Protocol is a unique game with a great and detailed story to tell, with interesting decisions to make where each of them have a real cause and effect for the rest of the game. But unfortunately as a stealthy action game, which is the other part of Alpha Protocol, it fails thanks to the poor AI, the clunky controls and the bugs that with you'll encounter sooner or later. The game isn't bad, and if there would be a huge patch to fix the glitches, to polish the graphics, the animations, the gameplay, it would be great and a classic in the genre - and if you focus on the story and consider Alpha Protocol as a story centric game where the gameplay is mostly a secondary element, you'll definitey enjoy it. But as the game is more than a story to tell, an RPG where you have to play, sneak and fight with poor controls, due to the average / below average execution, the game is definitely a missed opportunity. I can recommend it only for those who love spy stories and have greater patience for buggy games.

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