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- Posted Jul 7, 2008 11:45 am PT
- 56 comments
This past week, Sega put on a conference call to give gaming outlets an opportunity to hear Obsidian discuss their forthcoming modern espionage role-playing game, Alpha Protocol. We sat in on the call as members of the development team talked story, combat, dialog, and how exactly you place an RPG in a modern spy setting. From the sound of things, it's shaping up to be a promising take on the malleable, character-driven storylines of recent Western RPGs with a bit of international espionage flair.
Story and Setting
"Alpha Protocol" is a term used to describe what happens when a covert agent's ties to the government are cut--not on his own accord, but by the agency itself. This contrasts with the plotline of the Bourne trilogy where the assassin protagonist has a change of heart and decides to go rogue on his own volition. Alpha Protocol stars Michael Thorton as the agent who's been sent out to sea (so to speak) by the government he once called his employer.
The setting will take Thorton all over the world. You build a vast list of contacts who will give you missions in various international locales. There's no hub city in which you spend the majority of your time. Instead, you're a nomad who doesn't stay in any one area for any length of time. The general aesthetic of the game is said to be highly influenced by the 2005 movie Syriana, a film that used gritty, terse storytelling to weave a plotline featuring mature political themes as shown in several international settings. But as a way of keeping things from getting too dry, Obsidian says this modern setting will offer plenty of visual flourishes, effects and general camera trickery.
Character Customization
The character you play is, first and foremost, Michael Thorton. So when you get to designing the look of your character at the game's outset, you'll be limited to modest alterations like facial hair and so forth. If you're looking to create a freakish medical oddity pulled directly from the Mass Effect character creation system, you're more than likely out of luck.
The character you design will have ten skills that can be upgraded throughout the course of the game. You can select predesigned "backgrounds" for Thorton that act as a skill template, but you can also adjust them manually at the beginning. These skills include elements such as weapon abilities, computer hacking, resistance to damage and lock-picking.
One of the biggest focuses for Obsidian is to avoid the pitfalls of sticking Michael Thorton into one of the "three J.B." roles prominent in espionage games--James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne. Rather than forcing you to play as a suave ladykiller, a torture-prone tough guy, or an amnesiac with otherworldly melee skills, you'll be able to craft your version of Michael Thorton through the game's skill system and dialog options. Speaking of which...
Dialog and Character Interactions
Just like with Obsidian's previous work, dialog will play a large role in Alpha Protocol. The system at work is called the "Dialog Stance" system. With this, the focus is on choosing a general emotional stance on a particular issue. From there, Thorton will decide what sort of lines to use. Obsidian says this system looks a lot like the Mass Effect interface, but in terms of implementation it doesn't circle back around as much when you discuss matters that have already been talked about. But much like Mass Effect (and the two sequels to previous BioWare games Obsidian has worked on, Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2) dialog will be a critical force in shaping the world around you. Your contacts are critical to the storyline, and what you say to them, and wind up doing as a result, will prove a big factor in what happens during the plotline and the new broadcasts played out in-game.
Combat and Weapons
It seems most of the role-playing elements in Alpha Protocol are focused on the character development, because combat is firmly rooted in the third-person shooter genre. You can still upgrade various gun skills to determine how well your character can shoot and achieve critical hits, but there's no D-20 system running under the hood. It's almost entirely up to you and your twitch reflexes. But it's not that straightforward; Thorton can unlock super-charged special abilities like the bullet time-inspired "chain shot" despite the fact that the setting is mostly rooted in reality.
The guns in the game are loosely based on real-life models, but they can be heavily customized with various modifications and ammo upgrades. In fact, Obsidian says that upgrades are a good way to counterbalance a lack of gun skills. If your version of Thorton is a lock-picking wizard who excels in stealth, you can compensate for the fact that he might be a terrible shot by upgrading your gun to high heaven.
Of course, you don't have to run around with guns blazing if you don't want to. Characters who specialize in skills like hacking and gadget use can affect the environment in such a way as to minimize the amount of combat they'll need to do. It's entirely within the realm of possibility to sneak around and perform stealth takedowns if that's what you'd like to go with.
Wrapping It Up
We're pretty excited to see what Alpha Protocol has to offer when we get a chance to see it in person. All these conceptual details sound intriguing, and the fact that Obsidian has worked on critically acclaimed games in the past lends credibility to all the early talk. An RPG taking place in a modern espionage setting sounds too interesting to pass up, so we'll be sure to keep you updated on Alpha Protocol as more details arrive.
Story and Setting
"Alpha Protocol" is a term used to describe what happens when a covert agent's ties to the government are cut--not on his own accord, but by the agency itself. This contrasts with the plotline of the Bourne trilogy where the assassin protagonist has a change of heart and decides to go rogue on his own volition. Alpha Protocol stars Michael Thorton as the agent who's been sent out to sea (so to speak) by the government he once called his employer.
The setting will take Thorton all over the world. You build a vast list of contacts who will give you missions in various international locales. There's no hub city in which you spend the majority of your time. Instead, you're a nomad who doesn't stay in any one area for any length of time. The general aesthetic of the game is said to be highly influenced by the 2005 movie Syriana, a film that used gritty, terse storytelling to weave a plotline featuring mature political themes as shown in several international settings. But as a way of keeping things from getting too dry, Obsidian says this modern setting will offer plenty of visual flourishes, effects and general camera trickery.
Character Customization
The character you play is, first and foremost, Michael Thorton. So when you get to designing the look of your character at the game's outset, you'll be limited to modest alterations like facial hair and so forth. If you're looking to create a freakish medical oddity pulled directly from the Mass Effect character creation system, you're more than likely out of luck.
The character you design will have ten skills that can be upgraded throughout the course of the game. You can select predesigned "backgrounds" for Thorton that act as a skill template, but you can also adjust them manually at the beginning. These skills include elements such as weapon abilities, computer hacking, resistance to damage and lock-picking.
One of the biggest focuses for Obsidian is to avoid the pitfalls of sticking Michael Thorton into one of the "three J.B." roles prominent in espionage games--James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne. Rather than forcing you to play as a suave ladykiller, a torture-prone tough guy, or an amnesiac with otherworldly melee skills, you'll be able to craft your version of Michael Thorton through the game's skill system and dialog options. Speaking of which...
Dialog and Character Interactions
Just like with Obsidian's previous work, dialog will play a large role in Alpha Protocol. The system at work is called the "Dialog Stance" system. With this, the focus is on choosing a general emotional stance on a particular issue. From there, Thorton will decide what sort of lines to use. Obsidian says this system looks a lot like the Mass Effect interface, but in terms of implementation it doesn't circle back around as much when you discuss matters that have already been talked about. But much like Mass Effect (and the two sequels to previous BioWare games Obsidian has worked on, Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2) dialog will be a critical force in shaping the world around you. Your contacts are critical to the storyline, and what you say to them, and wind up doing as a result, will prove a big factor in what happens during the plotline and the new broadcasts played out in-game.
Combat and Weapons
It seems most of the role-playing elements in Alpha Protocol are focused on the character development, because combat is firmly rooted in the third-person shooter genre. You can still upgrade various gun skills to determine how well your character can shoot and achieve critical hits, but there's no D-20 system running under the hood. It's almost entirely up to you and your twitch reflexes. But it's not that straightforward; Thorton can unlock super-charged special abilities like the bullet time-inspired "chain shot" despite the fact that the setting is mostly rooted in reality.
The guns in the game are loosely based on real-life models, but they can be heavily customized with various modifications and ammo upgrades. In fact, Obsidian says that upgrades are a good way to counterbalance a lack of gun skills. If your version of Thorton is a lock-picking wizard who excels in stealth, you can compensate for the fact that he might be a terrible shot by upgrading your gun to high heaven.
Of course, you don't have to run around with guns blazing if you don't want to. Characters who specialize in skills like hacking and gadget use can affect the environment in such a way as to minimize the amount of combat they'll need to do. It's entirely within the realm of possibility to sneak around and perform stealth takedowns if that's what you'd like to go with.
Wrapping It Up
We're pretty excited to see what Alpha Protocol has to offer when we get a chance to see it in person. All these conceptual details sound intriguing, and the fact that Obsidian has worked on critically acclaimed games in the past lends credibility to all the early talk. An RPG taking place in a modern espionage setting sounds too interesting to pass up, so we'll be sure to keep you updated on Alpha Protocol as more details arrive.
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