Alpha Protocol - Obsidian's new RPG

[Rake]

I hate how so many reviewers now automatically slam stat-based shooting; I personally love it. It gives me a sense of progression and feels like my character is actually growing. I'm not much of a shooter fan (unless it's an RPG shooter or with friends), so I wasn't a fan of the Mass Effect 2 shooting or progression.

 

I only have one concern about this game: So far nearly everyone that has it has said the game took them around 10-12 hours to complete, can anyone confirm this? Seems like that is way too short for an RPG to tell a good story or for immersion.

[DarthParametric]

I just finished it. Hurrah for having a game before the Yanks for a change!

 

I can't really give an accurate figure on my playthrough time, as AP doesn't seem to list it anywhere. I think the main variation will come from how many side missions people do and whether they take a head-on, guns blazing shooter approach, or a more leisurely skulking-in-the-shadows, stealth approach. I went with stealth, figuring that was the more "spy" type thing to do, focusing on the pistol as my main weapon. Going that route, and doing the few extra side missions, I'd say that you would get a good 20-25 hours at least out of it, maybe more. The levels are fairly short and linear for the most part though.

 

My general impressions of it are that it is a pretty sloppy PC port. The controls are ropey and the general feel of it is that a lot of concessions were made for the consoles. The graphics aren't exactly Crysis-level, but are perfectly adequate. Certainly not as bad as some have made out. My biggest gripes are with the mechanics, and that will apply across all platforms.

 

Shooting is terrible. Even with the pistol skill maxed out, Mike couldn't hit a barn door at 20 paces. At the highest level, a critical shot with a pistol takes 1.5 seconds to "lock on". Given that the best pistol you can buy is a apparently a Nerf gun (judging by how many point-blank, non-critical shots some enemies can seem to absorb from it), critical head-shots are the only way to go. That means you are screwed in cases where the game tosses you into non-stealthable levels and you get swarmed by multiple opponents. A case of Bloodlines-itis methinks. I'm trying a second run through as a more head-on soldier type specialising in sub-machine guns and shotguns, so we'll see if that is any different. In some respects the gunplay is similar to Mass Effect 1, although worse. That was why Bioware scraped their system in ME2 - the skill-based concept just doesn't work very well in practice.

 

The mini-games are a mixed bag. The lockpicking one is fine. The circuit bypass one is OK, although you definitely need to be good at spotting patterns at higher levels. The computer hacking one is horrible though. Plus there is the question of why a stats-based RPG is even using mini-games in the first place - the same gripe I had with ME.

 

Onto the story and dialogue. The timer for the "stance" system was less aggravating than I expected. For the most part you get enough time to consider your options, but in a couple of cases you have a very limited time to choose. The story for the most part was fine, although I'm not sure on the delivery style. I don't think the flashback thing was the way to go. It gives stuff away earlier than it should. Some of the characters were great, and it was a shame they didn't get more screen time. I'm interested to see in subsequent playthroughs if certain characters get more exposure with higher standing. I also want to try really pissing someone off, as I didn't have anyone below neutral I think the first time through. Speaking of the whole standing system, it does seem a bit too easy to get everybody on-side. There is rarely any penalty for just telling people what they want to hear, and there are only a few cases where pleasing one person pisses off another, which seems contrary to what we were told by devs beforehand. Perhaps the only way to really experience that is to stick to a single stance the whole game, come hell or high water.

 

Overall I'd say it was a good game marred by some design faults and poor QC. Hopefully some of the bugs at least can be fixed in a patch, but I think the main problems are too systemic to resolve. In some respects AP is a lot like Vampire Bloodlines. The faults don't make it unplayable, but they make you wonder how good the game could have been if it was done right.

[Miltiades]

I never put much value in reviews since I've seen the love letters written about Oblivion and Fallout 3 and recently Mass Effect 2. Maybe it's me, but it just doesn't stroke with how I experience these games.

 

Having said that, when reviewers start talking about characters with cartboard personalities and boring voice actors in an Obsidian game, suddenly I'm feeling uneasy. For me, Obsidian's whole reputation stands with their excellent written characters, portraited by good voice actors. And while I am pretty lenient when it comes to gameplay if the story's good enough to keep me hooked, it still needs to work properly. If this is a badly ported version, which I would've never expected from Obsidian, then that's a downer.

 

Also, I think it's time Obsidian evaluates how they track and eliminate bugs in their games or use a realistic timetable to make their games or whatever. A polished game should be a given for every game. Though, as I have experienced in the past (with KotOR 2, for one), I rarely encounter the major crashes and bugs that reviews mention.

 

In any case, I'm holding off on buying this game. I doubt, at this point, it's worth spending €50 on. Maybe later. And hopefully, Obsidian can redeem themselves with New Vegas.

[Ztalker]

In any case, I'm holding off on buying this game. I doubt, at this point, it's worth spending €50 on. Maybe later. And hopefully, Obsidian can redeem themselves with New Vegas.

 

Hmmm...sad but true, I feel the same way.

I was quite pumped for this (still am) but now that I read Obisidian delivered yet another non-complete game I'm disapointed.

I remember having Kotor 2 as one of the first people. That version was...terrible. Bugs, crashes, swoop game unplayable.

 

I don't wish to go through that again if I can pick up a perfect Dragon Age expansion (Awakening rocks, btw. Epic humor as well, Baldurs Gate nostalgia. Not a hamster this time though....).

 

However, Kotor 2 proved to be excellent by story and theme. With this however, a new IP I honestly don't know if it's possible to ignore the bad stuff when playing it.

[DarthParametric]

AP is a different animal than TSL. At least in the sense that it doesn't just end abruptly in a completely unsatisfactory manner. It's somewhat more akin to Vampire Bloodlines in that the last act becomes a straight shoot 'em up with little room for subtlety or alternative tactics. The real problem with AP is that its mechanics are flawed, which wasn't the issue with TSL.

[Sabretooth]

New trailer.

 

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

[jrrtoken]

Just got my copy, got about two hours into it. Some impressions:

 

- Stealth mechanics are much more prehensile than what I anticipated; during the tutorial mission, I was repeatedly noticed for simply crouching behind a two-foot-high countertop. The enemies also don't usually "give up"; when they see you, they pursue you until either one of you is dead.

 

- The minigames can be somewhat challenging, particularity hacking, but it's a good sort of challenge. Minigames don't become clicking chores; they actually require you to think before you interact.

 

- The writing is good. Characters aren't run-in-the-mill archetypes, but they don't feel misplaced and out-of-setting either. There's more than what meets the eye; some come-off as professional, humorless androids, but as you progress, they reveal their other side. Dialogue is smooth and fluid; there's no "Hi, I'll take twenty minutes out of my busy work schedule just to explain the intricacies of opening and closing doors!" Think of Bloodlines, not TSL; it's different, but nevertheless excellent.

 

- Combat is a mixed bag. I've never liked cover systems in general, but this implementation is the least annoying that I've seen. Having to zoom in just to shoot is irksome, but having a skill-governed reticule doesn't make it a run-'n-gun.

 

- Interactivity seems to be well-implemented, and this is probably the most impressive dialogue system that I've seen so far. Actions feel meaningful, not just from a cinematic or emotional level, but also gameplay wise; even the smallest choices have some effect in the short-run, and from speculation, in the long-run, as well. The timer also isn't much of a hazard, though some might feel otherwise.

 

- Music is awesome. It's the best OST that I've heard in years, so mich that I'd say that it's almost as good as Deus Ex. Almost.

 

- The graphics are good. Even on the lowest settings, the game looked as good as HL2:EP2 on max; and that's outputting <60 FPS. There's no need to gripe, here.

 

- Bugs... there's barely any. Not counting wonky AI and timing issues, I've encountered none. The game also loads and runs very smoothly, and compared to Mass Effect's PC port, it's very bug-free. Other than the occassional stuttering (Which, IMO, is less periodic than Mass Effect or Mirror's Edge) Either people have grossly exaggerated the issues; or I'm just lucky. But, really, I haven't seen any showstoppers like in TSL or Bloodlines, so there's no need to fret when it comes to the possibility of buying a work-in-progress beta.

 

- The AI is, also, a mixed bag. Some enemies spotted me from 20m away, crouched behind a dumpster at night. Others couldn't see me hiding behind a bench that was right in front of them. Either way, the AI is a good sort of stupid, a stupidity that one can exploit to their pleasure. It's very much comparable to Deus Ex, but more improved than that.

 

- Level design is excellent... well, at least for this age. It's not a non-linear jungle gym like Deus Ex, but it certainly isn't the obstacle course that Mass Effect was. However, no matter what your preference is, you're sure to find pleasure.

 

 

Go buy this game. AP can't be compared to neither Deus Ex nor Mass Effect, because comparisons don't do this game justice. AP most certainly isn't the greatest game that you'll play, however, I will say that this seems to be the most innovative example of an RPG in quite some time, in terms of actual role-playing rather than simply "gaming" the system.

[mimartin]

Just got my copy, got about two hours into it. Some impressions:[/Quote] I’m about the same place.

- Stealth mechanics are much more prehensile than what I anticipated; during the tutorial mission, I was repeatedly noticed for simply crouching behind a two-foot-high countertop. The enemies also don't usually "give up"; when they see you, they pursue you until either one of you is dead.[/Quote] Totally agree. I’ve been pleasantly surprised especially after reading some of the earlier post.

- The minigames can be somewhat challenging, particularity hacking, but it's a good sort of challenge. Minigames don't become clicking chores; they actually require you to think before you interact.[/Quote] Disagree here. The minigames are crap in my opinion. Haven't really found the minigames that difficult just find the Electronic Bypass kind of juvenile. It has that back in nursery school feel to it.

 

I’m not far enough into the game to judge the writing yet, but as first impressions go it seems rather good.

 

Agree with you on the music and the graphics are decent for a game released 5 years ago, but that may be because I’m playing the 360 version. Graphics are not as good as ME and look prehistoric compared to ME2.

 

Have not seen any bugs in the 360 version thus far. Of course I bought the 360 version out of fears of the bugs I’ve read about in the PC version of the game.

 

I’m holding off judgment on the rest until I get further along. It has been alright, but so far it hasn’t been a game that makes me want to stay up all-night playing it.

[Rake]

Like mimartin said, I'm enjoying the game so far but it's not like one of those books or games that keeps you up all night, right at the edge of your seat. The graphics are ok on the 360; I've ran into a couple bugs, but they were minor and insignificant. The dialogue is great most of the time, but some of Thorton's lines are just way too corny. Speaking of Thorton, sometimes his voice actor nails the line, but most of the time he just mumbles and keeps the same exact muddled tone of inflection.

 

As for the story, I really hope it takes off soon because the first 2 hours really haven't captured my interest. One thing I absolutely love so far though--the characters. Just in 2 hours and I already love them, they each have a unique personality, and all behave like real life likable/hate-able characters.

[Astor]

- The minigames can be somewhat challenging, particularity hacking, but it's a good sort of challenge. Minigames don't become clicking chores; they actually require you to think before you interact.

 

Like mim, I have to disagree with that. I've enjoyed all of them except the hacking game - it's awful. I've been finding it near impossible to locate the numbers because it all moves so fast. I find nothing 'good' about having to do the same frustrating minigame four times before I can proceed. And before you say 'think', by the time i've done that the time limit has expired or it resets.

[DarthParametric]

There's no thinking involved in any of the minigames. The computer hacking and circuit bypass one are visual acuity/pattern recognition based. The lockpicking one is dexterity/hand-to-eye co-ordination based.

[igyman]

Finished the game last night and the overall impression wasn't very good. The game had some good moments and some utterly predictable ones. The biggest gripe about this "Espionage RPG" is that it didn't really feel like an RPG, even less like an espionage type. It actually felt like Splinter Cell Conviction (which was a disappointment with the whole genre switching from a sneaking game to a shooter), but with some RPG elements.

 

I'll try to elaborate on some of the more important aspects of this game:

 

Gameplay - while it's not bad per se, it's not what I've come to expect from today's RPGs. It's all divided into missions, for which you get briefings and can purchase additional info. The missions themselves, like I mentioned above, feel like SC Conviction. You'll shoot, or possibly punch/kick your way through most of the time, with some occasional silent takedowns. Heck, the pistols specialization actually has an ability that can work in a similar manner to Conviction's Mark and Execute system. I press a button, time slows down and depending on the level of the ability and enemy positions I can mark up to five people and BAM - five instant kills (providing you target their heads, which isn't that hard considering the time stop).

 

Characters - they are well thought-up, but most of them have little to no screen time and those that do will communicate with you via the big plasma TV for briefing/debriefing purposes. This means that you'll probably meet a character face-to-face only once or twice during your gameplay. E-mails don't really count as character interaction, because you can't even answer to most of those.

 

Dialog system - the whole dialog stances instead of actual lines thing doesn't bother me that much, since it fits well with the game's basic idea, however the fact that you only have a few seconds to choose an answer type annoys the hell out of me. I guess they thought it would add realism and it does, but I'm not sure that sort of realism was necessary - it's a game after all, it's supposed to be fun and relaxing and that aspect of the dialog system felt like it was more trouble than worth.

 

Story - not much to say about this without bringing spoilers into the picture. I'll simply say that while it has some good moments, the story is mostly predictable and you'll know what it's all about as early as the first third of the game.

 

Performance - being a PC gamer, I obviously played the game on my PC (duh) and I can say that it really needs a lot of work. Considering the extremely dated graphics you would expect a machine that runs ME2 smoothly with maxed out details and resolution to have no problem running this game, but then you get a fat and unpleasant surprise. The frame rate isn't low, but the game suffers from very, very frequent hick-ups. The worst part of it is that every time a hick-up occurs, the camera goes wild and you lose your sense of orientation, which has proven to be extremely annoying during enemy encounters and has sometimes cost me one or more checkpoint reloads.

 

Overall, I'd say the idea of an espionage RPG sounds very interesting, but the realization in the form of Alpha Protocol wasn't very satisfying. Still, I hope another developer decides to try a similar idea one day, hopefully with a very different gameplay style, 'cause spies, after all, are not athletic SWAT types, they are (at least in my opinion) people who are good at being inconspicuous and whose greatest weapon is their mind, not their trigger finger.

[Pho3nix]

I like how you guys were pretty much orgasming over this game for a couple of years and it turned out to be a big disappointment D:

[jrrtoken]

There's no thinking involved in any of the minigames. The computer hacking and circuit bypass one are visual acuity/pattern recognition based. The lockpicking one is dexterity/hand-to-eye co-ordination based.

Yes, but at least it involves some sort of finesse, unlike other iterations of minigames. For example, System Shock 2 had a "hacking" minigame which involved skill-governed tic-tac-toe... the thing is, there was little need for strategy, since the dice roll determined everything; consequentially, it became a game of chance rather than skill. I'm not saying I particularly like the concept of minigames replacing skill-checks in RPGs, but Alpha Protocol has one of the better implementations that I've seen.

 

 

Impressions, con't:

 

- Level design in more non-linear than what one would think; while the overall design of every mission is an objective-based obstacle course, there are multiple paths for overcoming each challenge. For example, the first mission that I embarked on required me to bypass a checkpoint booth. I could have easily walked right up to the gate and hacked the keypad to open it, but then my actions would been made privy to all of the guards. However, I found at least three other paths to bypass the checkpoint, either directly or indirectly, that involved a variety of stealth, technical, and combat-oriented principles. Indeed, I found that almost anyone, regardless of aptitude, profession, or whim, could advance through the mission in any way that they wanted to. It's not a Deus Exian sandbox, but it's also not the monorail that is every Mass Effect mission.

 

- The AI actually used grenades on me. When I'm hiding behind a wall of crates, the AI actually stops and thinks "Hey, constantly shooting him when he's totally out of the line-of-fire isn't going to work; how 'bout I smoke him out of his burrow?" I was a bit surprised when I had two lobbed grenades bounce right next to my right foot; it something completely unexpected. Enemies will also try to sneak up behind you when crouched to bludgeon you to death. Frankly, I'm more pleased than what I first thought.

 

- Encountered my first real "bug", more like a glitch. You see, once you kill someone, thier corpse goes into ragdoll mode, which is affected by any physics interaction, including bullets. Naturally, when a corpse gets stuck in the path of a doorway, it gets sandwiched by the door, causing it to spaz out.

[DarthParametric]

The AI actually used grenades on me. When I'm hiding behind a wall of crates, the AI actually stops and thinks "Hey, constantly shooting him when he's totally out of the line-of-fire isn't going to work; how 'bout I smoke him out of his burrow?"

There's no "intelligence" or conditional thinking there - the AI uses grenades constantly regardless of if you are in cover or not if they have them equipped.

[jrrtoken]

There's no "intelligence" or conditional thinking there - the AI uses grenades constantly regardless of if you are in cover or not if they have them equipped.

Bull. The only instances where grenades were thrown at me was when I was either crouching or peeking up for a brief few seconds. I never had grenades thrown when I was standing in plain sight, only when leaning out to fire while under cover. If it's not "intelligence", as you claim it to be, then it's still a damn good script, or something else that's not "intelligent".

[DarthParametric]

I'm on my 3rd playthrough. I've had plenty thrown at me while in the open.

[Jeff]

The computer hacking minigame sucks, one of the worst minigames I've ever seen. I failed the first one like 6 times before giving up. I only played for like 20 minutes but overall impression is that combat is garbage.

[Ztalker]

Hmmmm....reading all these comments...dang.

 

And most people here survived Kotor 2.

I guess it's up to how much you can take before you get annoyed.

 

If you get stuck at a MINI-game (like Jeff said) and combat is sluggish, I think everyone would be annoyed in an instance. I have to go to a town nearby in a few minutes. Still doubting to get it....I could play it this evening...hmm.

 

EDIT: Who gives a sh*t...I'm buying it now. BRB *poof*

[mimartin]

The computer hacking minigame sucks, one of the worst minigames I've ever seen. I failed the first one like 6 times before giving up. I only played for like 20 minutes but overall impression is that combat is garbage.

 

Jeff pretty much sums up my assessment of Alpha Protocol last night. I played for roughly 2 hours 20 minutes before becoming overly frustrated with the minigames and giving up. I’ll go back later, but I’m dealing with some personal issues the past week and I wanted something to help me relax and take my mind off the death of my uncle. All Alpha Protocol did was add to the frustration. So I played Fallout 3 before calling it a night. Even with all its problems (especially on Window 7) Fallout 3 was a welcome change over Alpha Protocol. Have to remember to go back to AP later though, I hated TSL starting out and it became my favorite game.

[jrrtoken]

For all those that feel that Saudi Arabia is quite the drag, let met say that the game becomes considerably more interesting in the final Saudi mission (Think of Deus Ex ) and beyond; the missions become very varied. Rome, for example, showcases many results of your actions in Saudi Arabia, affecting mission structure entirely. Besides dialogue-oriented meet-'n-greets, there's also a fun Lee Harvey Oswald simulation. So, yes, if you're bored with Saudi Arabia, don't give up; trust me.

 

I am finding the shooting mechanics to be increasingly irksome; the skill-governed reticule is fine, in concept, but it's fairly frustrating how broad the firing radius is sometimes. Really, the base accuracy only needs to be a tad more constrained, and it would resolve the issue entirely. However, I did discover that all of the scripts containing weapon attributes, AI routines, stealth mechanics, and HUD elements are all located in .ini files in the savegame directory. Theoretically, one would have to edit the values just to make the game exponentially less irksome.

[Rake]

I don't get all the hate on the computer hacking minigame, just scan until you see non-spinning letters, it really isn't that hard. So far, I like all the minigames except lockpicking; while fairly easy, I hate having to hold the right trigger at such a delicate little crevice, just feels weird.

 

I got into my first real mission and I was absolutely bored to tears. I love the dialogue and the customization so far, but man, the gameplay just straight up sucks. All I did was sneak around hitting B the whole time, all the enemies react the same way, and this particular level was extremely small and linear. It doesn't help that the environment was pretty bland too, hope the level design/mission diversity fun factor picks up.

[DarthParametric]

Rome, for example, showcases many results of your actions in Saudi Arabia, affecting mission structure entirely.

No, the mission structure is exactly the same. The only difference is what bonus intel is available which has some minor effects like dossier completion and one or two lines of conversation. Nothing of consequence. In other words, it's like every other RPG that makes big claims about choice and consequence - it's all an illusion. Whatever you do, the outcome is the same.

 

I don't get all the hate on the computer hacking minigame, just scan until you see non-spinning letters, it really isn't that hard. So far, I like all the minigames except lockpicking; while fairly easy, I hate having to hold the right trigger at such a delicate little crevice, just feels weird.

Well part of it is obviously you are playing the console version - the PC version adds a delightfully retarded control scheme to it. Aside from that, the thing just makes my eyes bleed.

[Jeff]

Aside from the computer hacking minigame just being terrible in concept, it controls like absolute ****. Once I spot where I need to match the letters, I can never move them fast enough before it resets, and especially the one controlled by the mouse, why wouldn't it just replace the cursor? It doesn't move 1-to-1 speed with my mouse, so I have to move the cursor all the way to the edge of the screen and then adjust my mouse and drag it some more, and when I do get it there, its so sensitive that many times it has slipped 1 spot over and I click at the wrong spot.

 

That explanation alone makes this the worst minigame ever created, but what's worse is that since I fail virtually every time I try to hack, it sets off the alarm system and rather than being able to stealth take guys down which can be somewhat enjoyable, I have to go through the god awful cover combat. It makes absolutely no sense that you have to stand there for like 2 seconds targeting an enemy before you can get a critical. I definitely understand wanting to make the combat system skill point based so that it's not just based on how good you are at pointing the mouse / controller, but it's just so poorly executed.

 

Luckily I do enjoy the dialog system so I'm hoping the narrative will be enough to keep me going through this. Probably going to drop down to easy difficulty because combat is just not fun at all how it is now.

[DarthParametric]

Always carry some EMP grenades with you and use them to disable computers without having to invoke the hacking minigame. You can only carry 2 per device slot (unless/until you get the Electronic Warfare perk), so you may want to fill at least two slots with them. Off the top of my head I'm pretty sure there's no computer in the game that you can't bypass via EMP.