Alpha Protocol excels at bringing new ideas to the table where it lacks polish.
Cons: Annoying boss fights; Ugly graphics; Shallow characters; Controls don't always work as they should; Poor AI; Lots of glitches
Alpha Protocol is a sad game. It's not a tragic game and won't make you want to cry; it's not a pitifully bad game; it's merely a sad game. Playing Alpha Protocol it becomes obvious that the team at Obsidian had grand ambitions, but lacked the resources to pull it off. It's sad because it actually succeeds in some of those ambitions only to falter elsewhere.
In some ways Alpha Protocol feels like Obsidian's response to Mass Effect. Much like Bioware's lauded series, Alpha Protocol combines RPG progression with a more action-oriented approach (in this case, either gunfights or stealth). Although stats have a huge effect on your performance, you ultimately have the final control when all is said and done. There's also a similar emphasis on conversations and decision-making. Both games claim that your decisions will have a large impact.
While Mass Effect often isolates decisions or gives a careful player a way out of tough decisions (not that there's anything wrong with this), Alpha Protocol really nails this aspect. When you make a choice in Alpha Protocol it's going to affect something. There's no having it all or waiting until the third game to get a possible effect (again, not a knock on Mass Effect, which I happened to really enjoy). Decisions and relationships will affect ensuing missions. Bases might be more heavily fortified; an ally could become an enemy and vice versa; characters may die never to be seen again, or the villain might get away. Knowing that your decisions may very well come back to bite you makes for a surprisingly engaging experience in spite of noticeable flaws (more on those later).
The conversation system is also very similar to Mass Effect, though actually better in some ways. The idea is that you are essentially directing your character, not actually telling him what to say. In conversation you select a tone described in at most a few words which guides how your character will speak. Alpha Protocol's interesting twist is that it forces you to decide within a time limit. While this time limit could possibly be bad in other situations, it fits the quick-thinking spy theme of the game. This goes a long way to making conversation more fluid whereas other RPGs might make things feel a little disjointed.
However, beyond these couple elements, the game is rough in all other spots, such as the stories and writing themselves. Alpha Protocol sees you playing as Michael Thorton, a member of the titular agency who is betrayed early on, and searches for an answer in the conspiracy. Along the way you meet various people, make friends and enemies, get involved in various local government dealings and so on.
The framework isn't terrible in itself, but the characters aren't very good. The cast of Alpha Protocol lacks any real solid definition, despite a vast array of dossier info. Though you might get slight hints of personalities from characters, most of them fall into pretty bland clichés. Some lines sound unnatural, making for a couple jarring moments. The only character to turn out interesting is Michael Thorton himself, likely since you'll probably define him well via your actions-and even he has some bad lines.
If you go in knowing the flaws, you can still manage to get caught up in the experience though, which luckily goes for gameplay as well. And boy does gameplay have a lot of flaws. Everything from glitches to controls to AI is covered. Likely pushed out the door before it was ready, Alpha Protocol has several issues like clipping and enemies who get stuck on the environment. I've also had the game crash a couple times, though fortunately this is infrequent.
That unpolished feel extends to the AI, which is among the dumbest I've encountered in a professional game in a while. If you can think of a stupid-looking AI flaw you've ever seen in a game, Alpha Protocol has you covered. Reminded of enemies who blindly rush towards you in gunfire? They're here. Thinking of enemies who can't navigate a straight line to the player properly? Alpha Protocol's got 'em. Reminiscing about enemies who stare at walls, oblivious to their surroundings? Included free of charge.
Even more important to a good game than good AI are good controls. Alpha Protocol also has issues with these. For one, aiming and shooting feel pretty loose and inaccurate. It gets so bad as to make gunplay undesirable for most of the game (luckily there are alternatives, more on that in a bit). Then there's the tendency for Michael to switch from stealthily crouching to loudly running if you exit a wonky cover system the wrong way. And if you're on PC, you have to cope with bonus mini-game controls clearly not tuned to work with a mouse.
Weirdly enough, this didn't stop me from having fun. The game is pretty good about giving you opportunities for gunplay, stealth, and sometimes diplomacy, so you can pick your preferred method. I personally didn't like the feel of gunplay so I stopped shooting. It was okay, the game gave me the alternative of stealth, which I found much more enjoyable. While some forms of gameplay are not optimal, usually there's at least some option for completing a task that's pretty fun.
This rule does not apply to bosses. Occasionally you find a boss that you need to fight. At this point it doesn't matter if you've practiced stealth or speaking, you have no choice in the matter: gunplay it is. While there is a rare boss or two that gives you a choice in the matter, most fights are disappointingly restricted to one method. Factor in some annoyingly high health encounters and bosses quickly become the worst part of the game.
That's a lie. Graphics are probably the worst part of the game. 90% of Alpha Protocol looks like it belongs in the last generation; the other 10% are your safe houses (which actually look nice). Characters and environments alike are lacking in details. Everything feels pretty sterile and fake. Immersion is further harmed by small details like blocky hair and poor animation. I understand how hard it can be to properly animated such a large number of cut scenes, but what's here is simply distracting.
Alpha Protocol just wasn't ready. Its cool ideas and moments of true fun are buried beneath several imperfect and unpolished features. Most people should probably, as a result, not get this game, as they won't get much from the rough experience. However, budding game designers may want to pick this one up, particularly if it goes on sale for super cheap again. Beneath the extremely rough exterior lie a few great ideas worth exploring.