Alpha Protocol
A Spy Thriller, Mass Effect Style
Posted August 13, 2010
With presentation-heavy franchises like the Splinter Cell series, it’s probably tough for a new spy thriller to break through and become wildly popular. Obsidian is attempting to do that with their action RPG-style title Alpha Protocol. Straight of a cheesy Robert Ludlum novel, the story is molded around Michael Thorton, a Jack Bauer style of character that’s not directly linked to the United States government, but operates with in best interest through a covert organization called Alpha Protocol. As the story unfolds, Thorton learns of a plot against the U.S. by an evil defense contractor called Halbech. Thorton has to travel from the Middle East, Rome, Moscow and Taipei to resolve the situation before it becomes a devastating international incident. The presentation is polished and the narrative is a wonderful tapestry of player choices that affect the outcome of the story.
If you have played Mass Effect, you will immediately notice the design and structure of the conversations. Players have the choice of gaining information through other operatives in the field through coercion, kindness, threats or simply avoiding all conversation in favor of pumping bullets into the enemy. The amount of conversation choices is darn impressive and, taking it to yet another level, the intelligence information that Thorton collects during a mission can increase the number of conservation responses. If you are a meticulous collector of objects in games, it’s highly possible to talk your way out of nearly every situation.
Unfortunately, the impressive story is hampered by consistently poor artificial intelligence that makes sneaking around like Sam Fisher impossible as well as poor collision detection when it comes to firing weapons. There were times when I could sneak by a guard standing right next to me and other times when they saw me coming from a mile away while their back was turned. As for hitting enemies from a distance, either accuracy is pitiful from a normal range or Thorton is the world’s first blind covert agent. Pretending that you are Superman and charging enemy positions is one of the only strategies that works all the time. Using the cover system only makes the enemies start chucking grenades at you.
As Thorton progresses through the levels, there’s a skill set tree that you can upgrade. The player can choose to upgrade Thorton’s ability with specific weapons, martial arts training, general stats and stealth ability. Adding abilities helps with the poor stealth detention on the AI, but it seems like a secret agent should already have those skills. With the money found in the game, Thorton can also purchase defensive and offensive enhancements like scopes, armor and tranq darts. He can purchase maps of the facilities or bribe the higher-ups to reduce security around the joint. The skill tree and upgrade is a deep inclusion with the game and often leads to variety in enemy confrontations.
The developers also toss in a variety of mini-challenges to proceed throughout a level; lock picking, hacking and disarming. In order to unlock a door, you have to use the triggers on the controller to slowly push pins around inside the lock. It can be frustrating in the later stages of the game, especially when trying to avoid an alarm. Hacking was much easier for me, basically a puzzle of codes to decipher. Disarming is time-based and requires quick thinking to plug wires into the correct places. I had more fun with the mini-games in Bioshock that Alpha Protocol. The achievement set is nearly all story based and you can knock out the majority of them on the first playthrough. Achieving all of them, like romancing all the women in the game or turning all your enemies into allies can be difficult without specifically playing a certain way.
It’s frustrating to see a game with such an amazing story and intricate level of decisions that affect the outcome of relationships to be hampered by poor gameplay, a lacking graphical engine and clichéd characters. The main campaign roughly takes 14 to 18 hours, dependent on the amount of time you spend scouring the levels for intel. I would recommend renting it first to see if the story is enough to capture your attention, despite the rest of the problems in the game.
Discuss This Game on Our Official Forum Thread Here
If you have played Mass Effect, you will immediately notice the design and structure of the conversations. Players have the choice of gaining information through other operatives in the field through coercion, kindness, threats or simply avoiding all conversation in favor of pumping bullets into the enemy. The amount of conversation choices is darn impressive and, taking it to yet another level, the intelligence information that Thorton collects during a mission can increase the number of conservation responses. If you are a meticulous collector of objects in games, it’s highly possible to talk your way out of nearly every situation.
Unfortunately, the impressive story is hampered by consistently poor artificial intelligence that makes sneaking around like Sam Fisher impossible as well as poor collision detection when it comes to firing weapons. There were times when I could sneak by a guard standing right next to me and other times when they saw me coming from a mile away while their back was turned. As for hitting enemies from a distance, either accuracy is pitiful from a normal range or Thorton is the world’s first blind covert agent. Pretending that you are Superman and charging enemy positions is one of the only strategies that works all the time. Using the cover system only makes the enemies start chucking grenades at you.
As Thorton progresses through the levels, there’s a skill set tree that you can upgrade. The player can choose to upgrade Thorton’s ability with specific weapons, martial arts training, general stats and stealth ability. Adding abilities helps with the poor stealth detention on the AI, but it seems like a secret agent should already have those skills. With the money found in the game, Thorton can also purchase defensive and offensive enhancements like scopes, armor and tranq darts. He can purchase maps of the facilities or bribe the higher-ups to reduce security around the joint. The skill tree and upgrade is a deep inclusion with the game and often leads to variety in enemy confrontations.
The developers also toss in a variety of mini-challenges to proceed throughout a level; lock picking, hacking and disarming. In order to unlock a door, you have to use the triggers on the controller to slowly push pins around inside the lock. It can be frustrating in the later stages of the game, especially when trying to avoid an alarm. Hacking was much easier for me, basically a puzzle of codes to decipher. Disarming is time-based and requires quick thinking to plug wires into the correct places. I had more fun with the mini-games in Bioshock that Alpha Protocol. The achievement set is nearly all story based and you can knock out the majority of them on the first playthrough. Achieving all of them, like romancing all the women in the game or turning all your enemies into allies can be difficult without specifically playing a certain way.
Graphics
- This is one of the ugliest games I’ve seen released on the Xbox 360 in 2010. It seems like it was created in the first generation of Xbox 360 games and little was improved since then. Textures are bland, repetitive and dreary. The character models, while more detailed, are stiff and the animations were ridiculous at times.
- There’s also a variety of clipping and loading issues. I ran into several points in the game where textures were still loading and the frame rate dropped noticeably. The bugs in the graphic engine are shockingly high for a title this late in the life cycle of the 360. I’m curious how much QA they put this title through.
Audio
- I did enjoy the voice acting in the game. The majority of the characters have quality actors behind them. The soundtrack seems non-existent though. Unfortunate, seeing hos this is a movie-style game that could use a sweeping, emotional score to accent the highs in the story.
Conclusion
It’s frustrating to see a game with such an amazing story and intricate level of decisions that affect the outcome of relationships to be hampered by poor gameplay, a lacking graphical engine and clichéd characters. The main campaign roughly takes 14 to 18 hours, dependent on the amount of time you spend scouring the levels for intel. I would recommend renting it first to see if the story is enough to capture your attention, despite the rest of the problems in the game.
Discuss This Game on Our Official Forum Thread Here