So I was going through my Steam library looking for a game that I really thoroughly enjoy. I don’t mean those random games that you buy and play through and convince yourself that they were worth the money. I mean the kind of game that you play three times because it’s just a blast. Oftentimes these games are found in the most unexpected places. Which is how when my mouse was scrolling down the 517 games that I’ve never played, it stopped on one that I’ve played many times: Alpha Protocol My brain decreed: “Go forth and play it again.” And so I did.
Alpha Protocol is self described as an “Espionage RPG” (you know, in case you couldn’t read the banner image.) I’d say it really fills more of an action/stealth RPG. Which I guess is what an “espionage RPG” is. Anyways, when it first came out it got really bad reviews. I picked it up for $20 on Direct2Drive when that was still around, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really couldn’t figure out why it got such a bad rating, and so while I was replaying it, I thought I’d give it a review.
Really diggin' the shades, man.
Now before I get to the meat, here’s what I played it on:
System:
- Intel i5 3570k @ 4.6ghz
- Gigabyte Z77X UD4H
- Nvidia GTX 660 Ti SC
- 8 GB DDR3 1600
- 1080p Monitor
Performance was a steady 60fps except when turning the camera. Then, and probably because of culling or something to that effect, the game has to re-render all the things you weren’t facing, and you get a bit of a dip. So the bottleneck is in the software, and as a result any modern rig should be able to play this just fine.
Presentation:
The first thing I’m gonna cover is presentation. This is easily the biggest flaw in Alpha Protocol, as well as many PC games. Why? Because Alpha Protocol features a fully fledged console UI and control scheme. It has a radial menu design, terrible, no, terribad mouse precision, and some of the worst camera angles I’ve ever seen in a PC game.
Yet it’s not all bad in the presentation. The game feels professional and well done; just not intended for PC. And it does something not many games can pull off, and that’s make the UI really fit the theme of the game. You get this cool, suave, uber-spy feeling from the UI, the way it’s animated, and the noises it makes. Overall the whole game presents itself in a way very befitting to the content. I have to give it marks in that category, it certainly helps with the immersion of the game. The game also has very nicely done cutscenes, which give a cinematic feel, again, helping the immersion.
It can really play like a movie at times.
Gameplay:
There’s no nice way to go about reviewing the gameplay. It leaves a lot to be desired. The combat itself is pretty terrible, at least at first. Alpha Protocol takes on a lot of different roles, and it ends up committing the worst sin of all: Not knowing what it wants to be. For the first few levels, the combat is downright awful. Since the game likes to pretend it’s an RPG, it incorporates a skill system. When the game sets up and you choose your background, it assigns you some very basic skills, but they aren’t enough to get you off the ground, and you end up facing situations where you need to shoot someone far away, but your accuracy isn’t good enough, yet if you try and sneak up, your stealth isn’t good enough to get close. As a result, the first few levels are a very frustrating experience. Once you start to level up, the combat actually gets kind of fun. The more you level up each trait, the better you become at it, and it actually begins to work. You can also unlock multiple perks for each trait, and if you spend your experience points wisely, a combination of the traits and perks can create an overall pretty good build for the mid to late game. For instance, you can put points into your stealth, martial arts, and pistol to make an overall good stealth build, or you can focus on shotgun, martial arts, and toughness for a brawling build, etc.
I was just out for a walk looking at these gorgeous desert rocks when this jerk tried to blow my head off.
However, even after you get going, the combat in Alpha Protocol still feels a lot like an afterthought. It’s your basic "sit behind cover in third person, blindfire into the enemy with a gun that you never really run out of ammo for while doing absolutely no damage each time you hit them" kind of combat. One thing I’ll give the game credit for is not throwing useless enemies at you. It keeps their numbers and encounters in enough moderation to make it feel somewhat convincing, instead of just having you kill hordes and hordes of enemies. It also keeps your options somewhat open. You can affect the combat by purchasing upgrades for your armor, pimping it out with cool add-ons, as well as by doing the same thing to your guns. You can also use explosives and other handy gadgets to mix things up. However, the combat never leaves you feeling that great. Even at it’s peak, it’s really just adequate. Hence why I much prefer to sneak past people, which is something the game actually does half decently.
I won’t lie; the stealth in Alpha Protocol also leaves a lot to be desired. However, it’s much more satisfying than the combat system. You can actually get through levels without being detected, and to me that’s a much harder challenge than mindlessly shooting at people from behind cover. You can outright sneak past people, you can use silenced weapons or hand to hand takedowns to knock them out, or you can explore and do some hacking to find alternate routes. If they do discover you, you have an option to act quickly and take them out before they reach the alarm system, or even reset the alarm. There’s also your usual stuff like security cameras that can detect you. The game isn’t Splinter Cell, but it leaves you with enough options and challenges to make stealth a worthwhile option. While I’m on stealth I might as well cover the hacking minigames.
Whoever invented this should be forced to eat an entire bag of popcorn kernels.
They blow.
Plot & Setting:
So if the game is a shoddy console port, and the gameplay’s not that great, then why on earth have I played it so many times? Well, because the plot and setting are so damned compelling. I really can only draw comparison to one game, and that’s the original Deus Ex. The actual storyline of the game is really good. It’s dynamic, and it depends on the choices you make, the people you meet, your relationships with them (which also depend upon the choices you make) and how these all relate to each other. I won’t spoil it since it’s really the greatest reason to play the game, but I do want to talk a bit about how they all work.
The plot in and of itself is really well done. The game goes after the secret agent dude motif and it captures it perfectly with the plot, which really feels like a cross between Mission Impossible and James Bond. You play as an agent for some top secret organization working for the US government. Surprise surprise, they betray you and leave for dead, and with the help of an inside mole, you become hell bent on taking them down. While this all unfolds, you travel to safe houses around the world as you search for clues and track down leads. What you find out and do not find out is heavily dependent on the characters, factions, and how you interact with them.
You really have to play it to understand this screenshot...
Over the course of the game, you will frequently encounter conversation with characters. The characters in the game are really well done. They all have a consistent personality, yet they aren’t stupidly stereotyped. Each character has a relationship with you, and the way you talk to them, and the things that you do for them (no, not those things) affect it. Yet the relationship arc in Alpha Protocol isn’t linear like it easily could be. Whether or not a character likes or dislikes you isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. It simply leads to a certain outcome, which may or may not be desirable. And the characters are well done as well. Some are funny, some are ridiculous, some are really convincing, even overly convincing, just to stab you in the back. Certain characters are also parts of factions, and these factions and your relationships with them come into play. There are many times throughout the game where you can choose to include a specific faction, or avoid it altogether, and this really increases the game’s replayability.
The mafia lord formerly known as "Sergei"
Finally, the last point I want to cover is how the game approaches all this, because this is where the game truly shines. The game is very linear in how it actually plays out, but it’s very sandbox in approach. Each mission is centered in a hub, and before you go to do what you’re there to do, there’s several leads to investigate and side missions to do. These offer many opportunities, such as acquiring money, intelligence, allies, reinforcing relationships, getting cool gear, and the like. Then, what you do and don’t do has a direct effect. At the end of each mission it shows you a list of the positive, neutral, and negative effects of your actions. These typically play out in the final mission of that hub, or if it’s the final mission, in the end of the game. There’s so many dynamic aspects to the approach of this game that it’s really endless in combinations and offerings, and also completely convincing. Obsidian did a great job with this portion, and this is what makes it really fun.
Conclusion:
While Alpha Protocol doesn’t look amazing, or feel amazing, and has many faults in its gameplay, it’s really tough to dislike this game. The whole thing plays like a really cool espionage movie, and it offers endless possibilities. Your actions both with situations and people have real consequences in how the story is told, and the plot is intriguing with enough conspiracies and twists to keep you playing, and also rather funny as it peppers itself with humorous situations and enough one liners to keep you chuckling. In the end, you forget the sub-par combat, the terrible hacking minigames, and every other bad aspect as all the complex relationships between the characters, factions, and your own character culminate in one amazing and complicated finish. All the elements of the game, even the bad ones, just somehow end up coming together and working just great for an experience that’s really a lot of fun.
Also be sure to check out the Let's Play videos I'm doing on Alpha Protocol:
http://youtu.be/V7jxB2TNJ8E?t=1s
Any feeback's appreciated, I enjoy writing as a hobby and I'm always open to self improvement.