[funcroc]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253567

Game Informer April Issue - Alpha Protocol Cover Story (Obsidian's New Action RPG)
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Alpha Protocol

(1 player action/RPG)

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Publisher: Sega
Release: Spring 2009

"A modern day espionage focused action/RPG that takes you on a suspenseful ride in the vein of James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne. Take a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn agent up through the ranks to become a bona-fide super spy."

-Main character is Michael Thorton, a fully trained but inexperienced young operative who has the world turned upside down when a mission goes wrong.

-Title "Alpha Protocol" is a phrase that is used when operatives go underground to work off the grid. Usually reserved for senior agents.

-Battle system is similar to Mass Effect but have more in common with Uncharted. It revolves around real time combat with an emphasis on gun play and high tech gadgets.

-Third person perspective, action orientated gameplay

-Close quarters combat can be a last resort or primary method of fighting depending on how you spend skill points you have earned.

-Skill system is based most closely on Fallout. It's classless, you have 10 skills and 10 ranks in each skill. Skills don't simply improve things like accuracy, they improve the way your character will perceive situations.

-The game will suit all play styles from the run and gunner to the stealth assassin.

-Extremely in depth dialog system that is a mix of Mass Effect and Indigo Prophecy. Once conversations happen, that's it, no revisiting the NPC to try to talk again and again. System is named the Dialog Stance System. You dictate your characters tone in a conversation by pressing a corresponding face button. Options can be cool and suave others can be brash/impatient.

-You can have multiple active missions in different countries and travel freely between them.

-Lots of girls and romance subplots. You'll meet tons of different girls on missions and yes you can bag them all.

-Current control scheme for selecting powers and weapons is similar to Bioshock.

The lead designer on Alpha Protocol is Chris Avellone (Planescape Torment, KotOR2: The Sith Lords) and the creative lead/lead writer is Brian Mitsoda (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)

[ozzie]

What?
Obsidian Entertainment is doing an original IP? Now I'm interested!

I'm a bit of a fan of Planescape: Torment. It's the first RPG I played. I'm still not through it, though.
It's just too long so that you would be able to play through it mostly undistracted, ignoring your real life.

I hope I will be able to finish it soon, though. It may have some very annoying bugs, but it's very intriguing.
So, it's nice to hear that Chris Avellone is designing this new game!

[Drunken Irishman]

"The lead designer on Alpha Protocol is Chris Avellone (Planescape Torment, KotOR2: The Sith Lords) and the creative lead/lead writer is Brian Mitsoda (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)."

Oh my God! Two of my most favorite designers/writers in the world working on one game. The creator of Nameless One and the creator of Stop Sign...

*dies of heart attack*

[D.C.]

http://au.media.pc.ign.com/media/794/794750/imgs_1.html

Alpha Protocol screenshots. They're the same as the ones in the magazine reveal.

[Shiny]

Originally Posted by Drunken Irishman

"The lead designer on Alpha Protocol is Chris Avellone (Planescape Torment, KotOR2: The Sith Lords) and the creative lead/lead writer is Brian Mitsoda (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)."

Oh my God! Two of my most favorite designers/writers in the world working on one game. The creator of Nameless One and the creator of Stop Sign...

*dies of heart attack*

Brian Mitsoda?! You’re kidding me. I had a love/hate relationship will Obsidian’s past efforts. I was mildly intrigued by the Game Informer cover story on this (say “Jason Bourne” enough times and I’m there.) But if Brian's writing this than I’m in -- VTMB is the one game I cannot stop playing, no matter how hard I try, almost solely for the writing.

[TangentBlack]

Looks interesting! Keep us updated on this one.

[D.C.]

GameSpot has posted some new Alpha Protocol screenshots. I'm really looking forward to this game. These new screenshots are more impressive than the first batch I think. (Although still not as graphically nice as Mass Effect... ) Sega seems to be giving Obsidian plenty of time to develop this too. (Same goes for their Alien RPG.)

[RLacey]

There's a preview in the latest issue of Edge that made me rather excited .

[Ninja Dodo]

Looking forward to this. I've always found the intrigue the more interesting aspect of spy stories though I don't mind some good action. If this manages to combine the action of Bond/Bourne with the substance of Spy Game without trying too hard to be 'cinematic', I'm in.

Ran across an interesting set of article/interviews with Avellone and others recently:

Setting - Story - Characters

They mention the game as well. Colour me intrigued.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

If this manages to combine the action of Bond/Bourne with the substance of Spy Game without trying too hard to be 'cinematic', I'm in.

This is off-topic, but while the Bourne franchise is rightly acclaimed for its action pieces, I thought it was exceptionally written, especially the last film. There may not be a lot of "substance", but what there is is dealt with in a both mature* and smart** way.

*Not a single character felt to me like a carboard cut-out put there just to drive the plot forward, for example.
**The sudden recontextualizing a scene from one of the previous films gets - no spoilers! - caught me completely by surprise, and is my most jaw-dropping moment in any 2007 film.

So, to pretend the above wasn't off-topic after all , if Alpha Protocol is anything like The Bourne Ultimatum (and with lead designers like these, it easily could be), I am buying it, even if that means it favours action over intrigue.

[Ninja Dodo]

I only ever saw the first Bourne film so I can't speak for the sequels but I found the first an entertaining action-romp with a serviceable but hardly mindblowing story...

[AFGNCAAP]

Watch the sequels. I wasn't exactly blown away by Bourne Identity, either, but this is the one series where each next film is better than the last. IMO, of course.

[TiAgUh]

Alpha Protocol E3 Interview HD

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/3...l#comments_top

[D.C.]

Has anyone been keeping up with Alpha Protocol? Obsidian has posted quite a few Developer Diaries over the past few weeks. I don't know about you guys, but every video I watch gets me just that little bit more excited about the game. I love the look of the dialogue system and the fact you only have one shot to do a conversation. Make the right impression or deal with the freakin' consequences. Also the graphics are beginning to look a whole lot more polished than the earlier screenshots, which was to be expected. It definately looks like it's shaping up to have a Jade Empire-like system for leveling up too. Expect to see more of the game at E3 this year according to Sega. Good times!

[booB]

Anyone else still geeked up for this game? It's supposed to be finally coming out in June, and it looks great! The gameplay/dialogue/leveling system makes it look a lot like Mass Effect.

[DomStLeger]

I was looking forward to this game, but the DRM on the PC sounds dodgy - they're using Uniloc again which caused havoc when used with Football Manager. Hope it comes out on Steam!

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by DomStLeger

Hope it comes out on Steam!

You can already pre-order it on Steam... Its due out there 27th of may.

http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/34010/

Looking forward to this, and Obsidian getting it out the door finally. Gotta be crunch time on New Vegas with a Fall 2010 eta.

Unfortunately its succumbed to region pricing, for lowly Aussies its a ludicrous $70 USD down here. No one with two brain cells to rub together is going to cop that on the chin. Not when its perfectly legal to import a copy for less than the US retail price. Forgetting the very popular (gee I wonder why) illegal options...

[Niko]

I've almost finished Splinter cell conviction, and i am looking forward to moulding my own secret agent in the near future

[D.C.]

I've been looking forward to this game for a long time, but I'm not a fan of the DRM. Possibly might get the 360 version instead. I really would've liked to play this on the PC, though.

[booB]

If/when I buy it, it'll probably be on Steam.