Alpha Protocol
I dig spies, I love role playing games, and I think Obsidian Entertainment's portfolio- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords; Neverwinter Nights 2; the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas-is relatively impressive. Hence, the Santa Ana, California studio's new "espionage RPG" Alpha Protocol, released Tuesday for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC, was a game for which I held high hopes.
And it delivered.
At least for the first few minutes.
Its story concerns Mike Thorton, a newcomer in a super secret government organization who takes on high risk, action-packed missions to fight terrorism and ends up going up against a massive and corrupt defence contractor. Thorton likes to talk to both friends and foes, and we guide his conversations via an excellent dialogue system that lets players alter the flow of a discussion by changing our protagonist's posture. Depending on the situation, we can choose from such dispositions as aggressive, suave, professional, and suggestive. When talking with our handlers we can choose to learn more about various characters and organizations and respond to their comments in various ways to control the general temperament of the relationship, and when we're speaking with enemies we can try to lie, pursuade, stall for time, or just stop the chat with a bullet. It's just the sort of system that folks who enjoyed conversations in games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age ought to cue to.
What's more, your choices in dialogue will have a marked impact on the story by changing mission parameters, the sort of aid you'll receive from allies, and even whether some characters live or die. You'll feel like you're a dynamic force on the narrative; a rare experience, even in most RPGs.
I liked the character and equipment upgrade system as well. We earn experience points and level up frequently, and we can apply ability points to nine different skills, including stealth, martial arts, various weapon types, and overall toughness. Each skill ladder has milestones that will add various passive and active abilities and traits, such as increased health, improved aiming, and more effecive melee attacks in close-quarters. Weapons, meanwhile, can be equipped with a wide variety attachments found in the field or purchased from a store.
There's no doubt that the foundation for a deep and compelling action RPG is present. Sadly, what Obsidian has built on that foundation is something less than engaging.
Great modern RPGs make us care about their characters through scripts that delve into personal histories, motivations, and desires, and they hire voice actors that bring these personalities to life with charisma and quirky mannerisms.
In contrast, Alpha Protocol's writing is competent but dull; the characters are much more interested in simply getting down to politics and business than discussing anything personal. There are a few scenes with flirtation and personal rivalry, but such moments are rare. If I'm going to listen to hours of game dialogue I want to hear some human stories and watch relationships develop and collapse, not just listen to a lot of information about missions, enemies, and secret organizations.
The actors, meanwhile, lack spark and chemistry. Though not nearly as wooden as most video game performers, they speak their lines matter-of-factly and often with little emotion. Thorton, voiced by veteran game actor Josh Gilman, hasn't any verve or nuance. He's believable, but employs a dull and persistent cynicism that makes him difficult to like.
An even bigger problem-at least for those who think actions speak louder than words-is that the third-person combat isn't much fun.
Gunfights are just plain frustrating. Most weapons are pretty useless until you've upgraded their attachments and your character's skills (make sure to level up to the first "Focused Aim" perk in the assault rifle skill ladder sooner rather than later; I didn't and I kicked myself for not doing it earlier once I realized how effective it was), and even then there are still some annoying restrictions. Pistols, for example, have a very short and ill-defined range; try to shoot someone outside of it and you're just wasting ammunition.
You may think the poor gunplay just makes for a good reason to keep a lower profile and stay in the shadows. This is, after all, a spy game. Problem is, effective sneaking is pretty much impossible until you reach the higher levels of stealth and unlock abilities like "Shadow Operative" (invisibility) and "Silent Running," which lets you move without making noise. Far off enemies would often see me when I was completely obscured and motionless taking cover behind a wall or crate (though, oddly, I could usually zipline right over their heads without them issuing so much as a "huh?").
Once I was spotted the bad guys would usually start throwing grenades and charging at me rather taking cover and protecting themselves, forcing an immediate and intense confrontation that usually ended with me holstering my weapons and jamming on the attack button to beat them up with canned melee attacks. The problem with these direct assaults is that navigation is a pain. Thorton gets stuck on boxes, makes annoyingly wide turns, and can get trapped carrying out melee animations as his enemies slowly step back, take aim, and riddle him with bullets.
Thankfully, it's not all firefights and fisticuffs. A few tech puzzles are thrown in for breaking into safes, disarming alarms, and hacking computers. Sadly, one of these three-a game in which we identify winding circuit paths on a board-is too easy, while another-hacking into a computer by trying to find strings of digits and letters in a Matrix-like sea of modulating characters, then clumsily overlapping them with matching strings-is too difficult.
Toss in some drab environments and character models, plus technical gaffes such as rampant screen tearing during quick camera turns and texture pop-in (surfaces that start off blank and are slowly coated with layers of detail), and you have a game that seems to be doing its best to keep you from remaining immersed and having fun.
Alpha Protocol isn't a complete disaster, but it's not far off. Perhaps there were budget or schedule problems, maybe Obsidian just bit off a little more than it could chew for its first game based on an original intellectual property. Regardless, it's not a serious competitor for most gamers' money in a year that has seen a tidal wave of bar-raising action and role-playing games.
Alpha Protocol
Platforms: PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, Windows PC
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Sega
ESRB: Mature
Score: 5/10
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