[Zack]

I pre-ordered the game last week when I went to Gamestop to get a new X-Box game. Believe it or not, that was the first time I ever did that. I had always been used to buying the game I was really looking forward to, at least a week or two after it came to stores.

Anyway, you might be asking me, why did I pre-order Alpha Protocol? The answer is that I love action-rpg's, and this one is made by Obsidian, the people who made Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, which is one of my favorite games. The gameplay for Alpha Protocol looks cool, and I like the way how you can develop your spy. You can have him be a smooth and suave James Bond type spy, a vicious fighter like Jason Bourne, or a roguish spy, like Jack Bauer from 24, a show that I've watched a couple of times.

That's what I understood, from the previews I read. But, anyway, this is the next game I'm buying in June, and I can't wait.

[Niko]

Guess what droped on my mat this afternoon ?.......Alpha Protocol!!!

[Crunchy in milk]

I picked it up for ~$40 AUS at gamersgate.co.uk
So much for $70US ($82 AUS) on Steam.

The average AU price on EBAY = $50 AUS
The average publisher set price in bricks and mortar stores = $70-$88

@#$% you steam and @#$% you whoever publishes this game in Australia.

[Crunchy in milk]

finally got this installed, about to try it out.

For those interested, there's a wikia up

http://alphaprotocol.wikia.com

The manual that ships with the game is the usual sad affair.

[Lucien21]

This game has virtually NO reviews out at the moment. Yet you can buy the game in stores from today.

Not a good sign of quality.

My guess is that it is that bad they need to sneak it out.

[Periglo]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

This game has virtually NO reviews out at the moment.

Games Master magazine awarded Alpha Protocol 84% in its UK review.

dynamic shooting, insane levels of customisation and a thumping near-future dose of espionage and sinister conspiracy.

Yep, looks reeeeeal bad.

[Roper Klacks]

Joystick and Destructoid reviews are really worrying. Destructoid gave it a 2/10!

However, they seem isolated, the rest say its a good but flawed game, and giving scores of 7 and 8.

[booB]

That Destructoid review is horse crap. The guy actually spends two full paragraphs doing nothing but slinging insults. That's no way to write a review.

[booB]

BTW, here is a page with a bunch of other AP reviews:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/9805...l-reviews.html

[Niko]

Well, like most RPG games(Oblivion etc) i can never decide on my character
i have played all the Saudi missions about 5-6 times now trying to get a character i like. happily i have decided to stick with one now, and got past those Saudi missions.

I have gone for a sneaky martial arts orientated character, with sabotage on the side. so far i am enjoying Alpha Protocol, the characters & story are interesting, although with limited character physical personilastion. the 3rd person action is good, but obviously the story & characters come first.

the decisions we make via conversations means there is allot of replayability through different story twists & turns. i think after this character, i am going to go for either a cocky git or a cigar chomping kick ass rough neck

i havent played to the end, but so far so good. i hope they make another one, with some added improvements.

[RLacey]

Despite the mixed reviews, I'm looking forward to playing this. When CD Wow finally decides to dispatch my preorder, that is...

[booB]

It seems like most of the negative remarks have to do with the poor enemy AI, and some graphical bugs. I'd imagine that these are aspects they can and will probably patch at some point. I don't know if they can make the NPCs more interesting, but that's probably not nearly as important as the other things. I'll buy it at some point, I'm sure -- but I'll probably wait until it goes down in price, because I won't get to play it right away, anyway.

One of my favorite games, The Witcher, was originally released with tons of bugs and problems -- now look how successful THAT game is. Fact is, in this day and age, it's easier than ever for a developer to tweak a game after its release, now that everybody's on the internet.

[Crunchy in milk]

Its a rough diamond that relies on you looking at it in the right light, thats for sure. It definitely needs a patch to give it some polish.

The gameplay for the most part squarely targets the average gamer who wants to enjoy a spy themed game, but its that very target audience that's going to gripe at every rough edge likes its a stain on their new carpet. As an example, there's already a lot of angst over the hacking mini game. Two points in sabotage makes it a cakewalk, you can even buy emp devices to skip the hacking game entirely. Still lots of complaints about it...

Hardcore stealth gamers who enjoy stealth games BECAUSE they employ harsh limitations that dictate how to play 'right', won't get their fix here either. Certain missions require you to be willing and able to use alternatives to stealth (usually guns). Despite the training levels and early missions that do a good job mimicking early splinter cell titles, this is absolutely a movie watchers spy game.

Come at like that and its a lot of fun. Pick your sides, pick your guns, pick your handlers, pick your missions. Trying to play it like a hardcore stealth title will only have you picking out flaws. Be more Bond or xXx.

[Roper Klacks]

Originally Posted by booB

One of my favorite games, The Witcher, was originally released with tons of bugs and problems -- now look how successful THAT game is. Fact is, in this day and age, it's easier than ever for a developer to tweak a game after its release, now that everybody's on the internet.

Dont expect Obsidian to patch Alpha Protocol, at least the same way as CDProjekt did with The Witcher. Obsidian forgot about the huge problems about KOTOR 2, so i'm not holding my breath. Thoes patches and fixes will come from the community through mods, not the developers. Hope i'm wrong obviously.

[Niko]

i come into this RPG with the following order of expectations, 1. the story 2.the characters 3. the gameplay/visuals. the visual aspect of the game doesnt bother me, i wasnt expecting a game looking like or acting like Splinter Cell. the first two are living up to what i expected, and i am really enjoying the story & the characters within the world.


Sure there are some problems with the AI etc, but for me, as i use an ATI graphics card, is the bug where you cannot see the conversation options if you have your AA & AF 3d settings to a custom spec. so i have to change them to use the applications setting to see the conversations & the tutorial messages popping up. i actually thought to begin with the game was meant to be like that, as i choose a high difficulty

i think there is potential here for a series of games.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Roper Klacks

Dont expect Obsidian to patch Alpha Protocol, at least the same way as CDProjekt did with The Witcher. Obsidian forgot about the huge problems about KOTOR 2, so i'm not holding my breath. Thoes patches and fixes will come from the community through mods, not the developers. Hope i'm wrong obviously.

I suspect that this is more of a publisher issue. Obsidian have patched Neverwinter Nights 2 quite a lot, for example.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Niko

as i use an ATI graphics card, is the bug where you cannot see the conversation options if you have your AA & AF 3d settings to a custom spec. so i have to change them to use the applications setting to see the conversations & the tutorial messages popping up.

Did you edit your APengine.ini to enable ati specific texture filtering?

DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=True (change to false?) Nividia shader tweaks are also disabled by default in the APengine.ini. It seems like many Unreal 3 engine games are disabling anti aliasing by default, lately.

No idea if the above tweak will help you, I don't own an ATI card, but there's lots of fun to be had tweaking APEngine to either up your framerate or your AF levels etc. APInput is unfortunately overwritten by the game whenever you make manual changes, you have to change the default input ini file located in the game install folder if you want to add custom, or tweak existing binds.

[Niko]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

Did you edit your APengine.ini to enable ati specific texture filtering?

DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=True (change to false?) Nividia shader tweaks are also disabled by default in the APengine.ini. It seems like many Unreal 3 engine games are disabling anti aliasing by default, lately.

No idea if the above tweak will help you, I don't own an ATI card, but there's lots of fun to be had tweaking APEngine to either up your framerate or your AF levels etc. APInput is unfortunately overwritten by the game whenever you make manual changes, you have to change the default input ini file located in the game install folder if you want to add custom, or tweak existing binds.

No i didnt, but thanks for the tip. i only changed the control centre options, which got the game to work at least. i am not really one for tweaking files, so as long as it plays, which i am enjoying it as it is i dont think i will tempt fate and touch anything atm. hopefully they will fix it in a patch at some stage. i notice they are advertising the game on t.v here in the U.K, which i dont always see for games, so hopefully they dont spend all their budget on advertising instead of on the Devs to patch it.

[SamandMax]

This is such a frustrating game to play because there are some things it does so well and some things it does so abysmally. The story is fun, I think they capture the right tone, and the way you impact the narrative is fantastic - I actually think they do it better than Mass Effect 2. The problem is that the actual game plays like a very clunky PS2 game from 10 years ago. The gun combat is incredibly finnicky because the RPG stuff means you have no accuracy unless you really level a certain gun up, and the cover system is so useless that you just end up charging the bad guys head on. You can go the stealth route but because the A.I. is so random, it's hard to pull off. Sometimes the bad guys will walk right in front of you, other times they'll somehow notice you when you're hiding behind a crate and instantly sound the alarm. It's good they give you a choice for how you want to play the game, but even then they'll sometimes just force you to go the straight action route. There are some boss battles in here that are unbelievably awful because you're expected to play them like an actual action game and it's pretty much impossible because the fundamentals of the gameplay are so out of whack. And those are just the problems when the game is actually working perfectly, the countless bugs and glitches you come across just add to the problem.

Despite all of the problems though, I think if you're a huge fan of the spy genre and own all seasons of 24 on DVD, you can probably have some fun if you're willing to stomach the numerous problems the game has. If there is a sequel, and I hope there is, Obsidian better deliver on the potential that is glimpsed here.

[D.C.]

Originally Posted by SamandMax

The problem is that the actual game plays like a very clunky PS2 game from 10 years ago.

That's something I thought while playing too. Definitely brought back memories of old school action adventures, the ones that came long before Uncharted and Arkham Asylum.