MattPlays » Action

Alpha Protocol

Matt — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:14:58 +0000

Here’s a game that has garnered quite conflicted opinions from those who played it. Even more conflicted are those who never played it. While playing Alpha Protocol, I kept thinking about what could’ve been, because it was filled with little moments here and there where a ray of brilliance shone through an otherwise cloudy, murky experience.

For example, the dialogue and story can be, at times, both engrossing and downright silly. The gunplay have its moment of awesome, but largely felt clumsy and stupid. The AI were especially dumb, being both predictable and unpredictable. The duality of Alpha Protocol is the reason for all the conflicted reports.

Obsidian, the developer, obviously weren’t managed properly during the course of the game. There was even a report by a former employee who stated that they had a boss who wanted to throw in a bunch of features and gameplay mechanics with little regard to the fun factor. This is also evident in the performance department, where the game would lock up for a brief second and suddenly your view would be completely reversed without your control. Then you’d end up having to get your bearings in order to move on. These “hiccups” were unrelated to hardware, and is entirely the fault of the game’s engine. Under better management, Alpha Protocol could’ve been a brilliant espionage RPG. As it is, it’s just a reminder that no matter how good the team is, a bad boss can ruin everything.

To be fair, I fairly enjoyed Alpha Protocol for what it did provide. Maybe it was the idea it presented, or the variety of choices you can choose that affects the game’s story, what weapon you’re using, and how to approach and deal with a situation. In fact, I played through and beat the game twice, which I don’t do too often. Oh, what could’ve been ….

Half-Life 2, Super Laser Racer, Fate: Undiscovered Realms