Alpha Protocol

I need the music, gimme some more

This game is a solid 4/5. It has a very good story and RPG elements, entertaining characters and ok (needs a little time to properly learn) gameplay. Now to be fair...there are some minor graphics and gameplay issues but nothing game breaking and the story more than makes up for it. If you like espionage and RPG you will enjoy this game and you will most likely be interested in playing the story multiple times to get all possible scenarios and achievements. I recommend it.

Story and characters are quite good, and the same goes for the dialog system. Gunplay and melee combat are okay-ish, but could've been a lot better. Stealth kinda works (except when enemies can see you through walls), but the maps aren't really designed with stealth in mind. Even the original "Deus Ex" (a game released 10 years prior) was way better in this respect. And then we have the timers. Not just the hacking and lockpicking minigames are infested with timers, but the dialog is as well. While I would agree that from a narrative perspective it does make sense to have a time limit on some dialogue that doesn't mean every line of dialogue has to be selected on a timer. Not to mention that the timers tend to be rather short (ridiculously so for the hacking minigame). This is compounded by the save system, which is checkpoint-based, meaning if something (like, say, a hacking minigame) goes wrong you'll have to start over from the last checkpoint instead of just re-doing the minigame (or dialogue for that matter). I wish Obsidian would do a remaster or remake with better graphics, better combat, a proper save system and significantly less timers.

Alpha Protocol is unfinished, unbalanced, and unpolished. It's also one of the most fascinating games ever made, with a deep commitment to reactive storytelling which remains, imo, completely unmatched even to this day. The characters are all unique, memorable, and always have more to them than meets the eye. The only problem is that actually *playing* the game bounces between the experience of a slapstick comedy and the experience of dental surgery without anestesia. Still, if you can tolerate the layers of jank and bugs, it's absolutely worth playing, and you will not forget it.

While the game does show its age, particularly in some of the writing and in the graphics department. I find the game to be charming and with a interesting and unique take on the RPG genre. In my opinion the game is definitely of the era of the Mass Effect series with a lot less of the polish of those bioware titles. I can't think of very many other games that are of the loose action-rpg variety. While not the deepest game mechanics, I'm having fun with the Narrative and the dialogue interaction choices. *Disclaimer* I have yet to finish a full playthrough of the game so I dont know how deep the impact of your choices go, but I'm assuming given that its made by Obsidian there should be enough to entice players that enjoy these sorts of RPGs to do at least 2 playthroughs to see more of the content and how the story beats play out with different selections. I have a soft spot for these types of games, and I am happy that I am able to experience them even if their heydey is in the past. I would suggest this to anyone who is okay with 360/PS3 era games who might have missed out on this and can overlook some of the dated visuals and possibly some lighter depth than games of the more hardcore crpg variety.