The sad state of game critics
Then about a week before release, the reviews started rolling in. Horrible graphics they said, glitches that render the game almost unplayable they said, frustrating control scheme. Almost everything that could be wrong with a game was listed as being wrong with this game, and obviously I was disheartened.
I eventually passed on this game during launch day and started looking for the next great RPG, which had me waiting for Fallout New Vegas basically, but after a week or so of waiting, I came across an Alpha Protocol review here.
The reviewer, another RPG fan like myself, pointed out that reviews from "mainstream" game sites like IGN and Gamespot, are often not only biased, but different features weigh more heavily to them then to the average gamer. For example, games with "amazing graphics", like God of War III tend to end up with high scores no matter how dull, short and repetitive the rest of the game happens to be. Yet on the other hand, things like depth and plot don't seem to count for anything in the mainstream game critic world.
I also get the feeling that certain games are given artificially good scores based on how much hype is surrounding that particular game. Perfect 10 for Grand Theft Auto IV? REALLY? I mean, the game was good, but aside from the improved graphics, it was a step BACKWARDS from GTA San Andreas in every way.
Anyways, enough of my rambling about the game review industry and on to the actual game. Basically let me put it this way, if you like a good RPG story and the freedom to make choices that dramatically effect how the story plays out, then this is your game. Period. Anything you may have heard regarding glitches, bugs, bad controls, AI, whatever, it's not enough to take the wind out of this one feature. Every choice I've made in the game so far, (I'm probably a good 6 hours in), and I'm already dying to know how it would've turned out if I made one of the other multiple decisions. (And yes, I even reset the game a couple times just to check.)
As far as gameplay goes, just remember this one little fact about the game and you won't be disappointed at all. THIS IS NOT A SHOOTER. Don't play this game like Gears of War, this is more a realtime RPG combat system than anything else. Train your weapon of choice up to a respectable level and you should have no problems taking out 80% of the guys in the game. I will admit that boss fights are rather tough if you don't have a little bit of assault rifle, but they're nowhere near impossible. Just might take you a couple tries to do it with a different weapon.
However, if you're one of those graphics perfection who flips out and returns a game just because they saw one tiny bit of clipping or texture popping, this game clearly is not for you. The graphics are probably, at best 3 years old in terms of quality and texture popping is somewhat normal. Even so, it's hardly enough to take away from your enjoyment of the game or make it unplayable.
I guess in closing I just wanted to say I felt this game got a bad wrap. This game delivers on exactly what it promises and has exceeded my expectations. This is what Mass Effect 2 SHOULD have been, but instead, the boys at Bioware seemed to bow to the trends and make their game into more of a shooter than an RPG. Good for them I guess, but props to Obsidian and Sega of America for keeping this one much closer to the RPG genre than the shooter genre.