There are missions where you go to meet someone and you talk to them. And that's the entire mission. Almost everything you do and say in Alpha Protocol has some sort of consequence. In a truly brilliant fashion, Alpha Protocol eschews not only good or bad choices, but right or wrong. It doesn't punish you for being bad and it doesn't reward you for being good. There's simply some type of repercussions. I would say it is the best realized choice/consequence system yet.
Such a system does a terrific job in engaging the player. Sometimes the choices are small, sometimes big, but there's always some way to affect how the game plays out. Do not misunderstand, it's not just in the dialogue/story, it's gameplay as well. How much intel you have prior to going on a mission will yield different results, each mission handler will provide different bonuses, playing a certain way will influence your reputation. Alpha Protocol manages to empower the player in truly interesting and varied ways.
Alpha Protocol revolves around Michael Thorton, an agent working for a top secret government agency. The agency deals with the types of missions which if they go wrong, the US government has absolute deniability. Barely anyone is aware of its existence, even the likes of CIA and NSA. I don't want to go into detail, but suffice it to say that it's an intriguing, down-to-Earth story about weapon contractors, terrorism, espionage and corruption that will see you visit locales such as Saudi Arabia, Rome, Taipei and Moscow.
The level design is very good, there are often multiple ways through a level or at least multiple ways to complete a mission. Alpha Protocol offers plenty of loot (armor, weaponry, gadgets) and there are lots of skills and abilities to upgrade. You will also receive various perks determined by your playstyIe.
These are the things the game excels at and why it's more than worth playing.
However, the game has some major issues. To say that Alpha Protocol lacks polish would be an understatement. It runs very poorly with continuous framerate drops, the animations are terrible, the AI is braindead, the graphics subpar and most of the mechanics are under-developed. In a lot of these areas, Alpha Protocol comes off as clumsy and antiquated, if not flat-out unfinished. It's a damn shame because this game could've been so much more.
As it stands, sometimes you have to endure the crap to be able to enjoy the good stuff. If you manage to do that, you'll find something truly worth your time.