Alpha Protocol Review
A game of interesting ideas that is unable to unravel their full potential
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SpectralShock
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When Alpha Protocol was first announced, many gamers were intrigued. A third person espionage RPG isn’t exactly your typical game, and with the proven developer Obsidian Entertainment behind it, things were looking promising. However, it is no secret that Obsidian was also working on other titles, namely Fallout New Vegas, so it’s possible that the studio’s top resources were being drawn elsewhere. Having suffered multiple lengthy delays, Alpha Protocol has finally arrived. While all the promise and ambition of the initial idea is still there, the game suffers from lack of polish, underdeveloped gameplay mechanics, and simply plays like a limited-budget title.
Getting ready for some fireworks
The game’s plot is setup as a modern-day spy drama, and is actually one of the highlights of the game. Players take on the role of Michael Thorton, an agent with a secret government organization that uses “Alpha Protocol”, an operational guideline that allows agents to step outside the boundaries of the law to get the mission done. However, after just a few missions our agent is betrayed, and must go rogue while the whole US government is looking for him. Thorton decides that he will not abandon his country’s interests, and will work against the government if he has to, so that the conspiracy may be uncovered. Along the way, he meets many different characters and organizations with whom the player may choose to cooperate or fight against. The story’s solid enough to see it through to the end, and the dialogue system (discussed later) offers a lot of replay value.
The original appeal of the game was the fresh setting for an RPG game – a spy thriller that lets players choose the fate of various characters seemed appealing and unique. Alpha Protocol does manage to provide a worthwhile story, along with a lot of replay ability options. There are tons of interactive conversations that allow the player to select their response, with dialogue options ranging from angry to professional to even flirtatious. Depending on your conversation selections, your personal relationship with other characters in the game can be affected. If a character likes you, they are more likely to help with information or any other bonuses you need; if they hate you, chances are you won’t even hear from them in tough times. The system sounds good in theory, but in execution the relationship statuses feel like they have little effect on gameplay. For example, after killing all civilian guards in one of the missions, Thorton was completely hated by his main contact in the game, Mina. However, there were absolutely no ill gameplay or conversation changes after the fact.
Some contacts may respond to you in a rougher voice or without exchanging pleasantries, but unless you are hated by everyone (if that’s even possible) there is not much change to the end result. The conversation is often based on responses you select while chatting with characters. There is a timer, which dictates how long you have to make your selection. The problem is, often the timer is set to run out just as the person you are speaking with has finished their line – meaning you often have to guess, rather than actually hear, what the other person has to say – and are forced to make a decision on your response before even hearing out the dialogue.
So hard to choose
As the advertisements claim, your best weapon is your choice. They are correct, but for all the wrong reasons. The basic gameplay in Alpha Protocol feels unpolished, glitchy and at times simply lacking. The game is played from a third-person perspective, allowing the player to see Thorton and his surroundings at all times – but the camera is positioned far too close to the character and suffers from occasionally rough swings. This means the player will be walking into tons of ambushes, bad guys around the corner, and other unpleasantries. The camera problems only add to the very poor stealth gameplay. In the game, the definition of stealth is different from what a player might expect. There are no shadows to hide in, and the main goal is not to be seen or heard by the AI.
The levels are built to allow multiple paths to the main and optional objectives, but stealth is never viable for more than a few moments because of AI’s eagle-like vision, and ability spot you from just about every angle and over large distances. All armor has a sound dampening rating, but this again seems to affect gameplay very little. Let’s say you are crouched in a hallway, wearing above average sound dampening armor. Accidentally, you let go of the crouch button and make just one step while standing. Instantly, all enemies in the hallway – at the far end or even around the far corner – converge on your location and open fire. There is no sound or enemy awareness indicators, which means most of the game is spent in firefights. Similarly, if you are spotted (by an enemy you didn’t see due to the poor camera position), all enemies in the area instantly open fire on your location.
After the first few hours, it seems an obvious choice to select the Commando class for the character since stealth is executed so poorly. Well, the gunplay turns out to be not much better. Initially, when your character’s stat points in weaponry are low, the reticule of your weapons takes up half the screen, leaving no option but to spray and hope the enemy gets hit. Lining up perfect headshots means little until you invest some serious AP points into weapon categories, making the first few hours of the game a frustrating shooting gallery. Later on, the action becomes a bit more bearable, when players are finally able to pull off headshots and quick kills. It seems the developers had the opposite idea from Mass Effect – set player’s shooting ability on their XP points rather than actual skill, which results in many annoyances.
The story relies on player choices, though some outcomes are over-exaggerated
The poor stealth and gunplay could have been forgiven if you were at least up against serious foes. That’s not the case though. AI in Alpha Protocol is very basic, with some very odd behavior programming. For some reason, the default AI reaction seems to be to run to the player to melee him a few times, then run off to find cover and begin firing. Unfortunately for the AI, the melee button in Alpha Protocol might as well be titled “easy mode”. If you can dodge your enemies’ (poor accuracy) shooting, nearly every level can be completed using nothing but your fists. Of course, Bosses and some rare tough enemies manage to make a block or two on your kicks, but the majority of the baddies get taken down in seconds with the hammering of the melee button. There is also a sticky cover system, but it doesn’t work half the time and seems useless when enemies shoot right through the cement blocks you are hiding behind.
The RPG aspect of the game is limited. There is nothing to loot except the occasional weapon upgrades, money drops and ammo resupplies. You can purchase and sell weapons, upgrades and armor, but the inventory system is otherwise very basic. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as the game has a much more streamlined inventory approach, while remaining a bit more complex than something like Mass Effect. The character progression based on experience earned in missions and conversations, which can then be spent to improve various attributes. These attributes range from pistol and rifle skills to increased health and demolition perks. The cost to upgrade each of the categories actually remains static, so upgrading your rifle skill will always cost 6 points, while increasing your health only 4 points, regardless if you are level 1 or 10. The leveling system itself seems to have no impact on the gameplay, other than a milestone for accumulated experience points.
When creating your character, there is a selection of which class you want to play as, and what your background story is. Classes range from commando to spy to rogue and finally engineer. These options will reflect on the skills and special abilities that can be gained through the game. With poor gunplay and even worse AI though, the whole special abilities section seems to matter little as the game simply does not prove to be a challenge for anyone who’s played shooters before. When customizing the main character himself, players are only able to adjust basic visual features such as hair styles and colors, beards and eye color. You can’t change any physical features so Michael will always have the same face. This kind of half-way implementation of a basic RPG feature pretty well defines the whole experience.
The marketplace offers a wide variety of weapons and gadgets
The presentation of the game is not poor, but it is simply bland and uninspired. There is nothing that stands out in terms of art or locations that you visit. Given that the game was originally scheduled to release in early 2009 certainly shows in the final product. The game doesn’t have very high requirements and runs in DirectX 9, meaning most modern machines should have no problem running the game on maximum settings. Even if you can’t, you are not missing out on much – low resolution textures are everywhere, with occasional pop in problems. The detail and facial animation of the main characters are done quite well, but the rest of the people in the game are largely subpar. Animations also look to have taken shortcuts, with just a handful of melee takedowns available. Characters walk oddly, crouch even more so, and the lip-synching is very poor at times. The voice actors are one of the highlights of the presentation, but even their work is dragged down by very generic dialogue lines. The music and sound effects are very stale and rather boring as well, adding nothing to the already struggling presentation.
As such, Alpha Protocol is neither a good RPG, a well-done action game, nor a particularly memorable experience. Some games can be summed up by the notion of the whole product being better than the sum of its individual parts. Alpha Protocol can be considered for that generalization, if only for the few elements that help save the game from complete mediocrity. If you are looking to try a fresh setting for an RPG action game, then Alpha Protocol is still a solid choice. However, anyone hoping for a generally presentable and fun gameplay experience should stay away.