Alpha Protocol

One of my favourite so called "not very good" games. Loved this back in the day on 360. i never understood the bad reviews.

Completely offensive we'll never see a sequal (considering how much slop is out there).

Alpha Protocool was clearly birthed out of a high concept idea of: what if RPG Mission Impossible? and someone in the back said "Hell yeah!" This game is balls to the wall and contains some of the best permutations in a story in any RPG, and that's not over-exaggeration. What we have here is Obsidian doing what they do best: small, high concept games that allow them to explore interesting mechanics without having to worry about too many bells and whistles. That being said, because they're not worried about too many bells and whistles, this means that the moment to moment gameplay simply doesn't compare to dedicated Espionage games like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, the stealth mechanics are janky and gunplay is wonk but it does get better with time, this is an RPG after all. Even at the peaks of levels and end game builds, the gameplay isn't ever as refined as dedicated spy-shooter games, which is okay, because that's not why you should be playing Alpha Protocool, you should be playing it because of a shorter run time and incredible story variations. You should be playing it because Obsidian has never made a bad game, jank games sure, but Alpha Protocool was a game made in an era of timelessness and big swings, and I am grateful to say that Alpha Protocool is a home run. Side note: This game is also very nostalgic to me, being one of my first RPGs growing up. I love this game!

I love this game, it has it's problems but this was a great game to play through and now that I am older and a bit more observant I am getting even more out of it.

The consensus seems to be that this is a 'flawed classic' and even after just a couple of hours of play I'd say that seems fair. It's very much emblematic of a certain era of action adventure games that tried to mix elements of stealth, gunplay and the like. Imagine exactly the half-way point between True Crime: New York City and the Tomb Raider reboot (which is exactly where this game falls chronologically, even). The main issue is that the moment-to-moment gameplay is actually pretty frustrating; with a constant "oh god, I messed up the stealth and now I'm having to scramble" feeling even when you're not trying to be stealthy! I never once felt like I was very in control of any situation I found myself in. Also this seems very much to be optimised with controllers in mind so everything from navigating the menus to moving the camera during gameplay seems more difficult than it should with a keyboard & mouse. Is it good and worth checking out? Absolutely yes. You will definitely need more patience than I have if you want to play it to completion, though.