The hype and the expectation, that here- finally- is a modern rpg focusing on espionage, is but only appearances.
Alpha Protocol had the potential of being the game that many had expected it should have been. However, fell short in almost every aspect of anticipation and promise.
You play as the extremely bleak, Michael Thorton who apparently has little to no background in field operations, weapons handling or self-defence training, but looks good on paper. Sadly, I'm sure that this is not what a spy is, or is it? Alpha Protocol, which apparently is one of the most secretive and intangible organisations in the U.S. An organisation that considers its employers expendable in the event that its location or to some extent itself is exposed. However, that same organisation seems to think they can take a risk in the recruitment of Michael Thorton. But throughout the game you will find that Alpha Protocol is not as enigmatic as you are originally led to think.
Because the character has no formidable background in any of the previous mentioned attributes, you and and your character make yourself accustomed to the tutorial training program, and then your off onto your first mission to Saudi Arabia. You start off in search of advanced missiles which terrorists have used to take down a plane. You then track down these terrorists and just as your making some progress, you're betrayed/uncovered by a mole in the organisation you were recruited by. The bulk of the story is encompassed by this unwelcomed act, hence, you are driven underground and forced to go rogue, and personally decide to avoid a possible international disaster. The story seems promising, but falls short with the handful of characters that seem obscure and the often annoying/confusing flash-forwards, that send you thinking, "huh, wait. Was that...?".
The choices you make whilst socialising with the other characters is at first fun, and sends you guessing, "which one's for friendship; which one's for personal benefit, and which one's the badass routine". Hate to disapoint, but this element, which is indeed the most 'focused on' aspect of the game, falls short too. The dialogue is bland and extremely long; filled with corny lines that are accompanied by the typical cliches you would expect. Sadly this is where the games' replay value plummets, it is far too tedious to go through the same dialogue over again, even thought the fast forward feature is there, it doesn't help. As previously mentioned, there is an element of guessing in the dialogue choices. Some of the choices you make don't seem to eventuate as you predicted and leave you with an undesired outcome.
The games' action is befitting a spy who was recruited with the background experience that Mike Thorton derived from. The action is accompanied by sluggish controls, and an even worse weapons system. It is far more fun to sneak up behind your foe and take him out quickly and brutally with your knife or use the less-lethal option, than going in guns blazing, or even using your weapons at all. Conventional weapons are far too unaccurate, especially with pistol firearms. The only effective way to use any of the firearms is to aim for the enemy's head. Which is logical, however, in order to make that shot happen you need settle the crosshair for a critical shot that in turn makes the shot more accurate and powerful, but to achieve this takes an unwelcomed amount of time. Try that underfire. In most cases, it seemed to be more effective and accurate blind-firing from around the corner. Where it worked, the CQC fighting seemed favourable, but is simply the matter of just repeatedly hitting the actioned button, however still felt fun to kick some butt Jason Bourne style.
The ultra sluggish mechanics, ridiculously sharp and unrealistic character movements, is teamed up with atrocious AI, exactly the kind that has a designated path with some of the most horrific patrol patterns- which the AI seems to go straight back to after evading an alert. Humorously, the enemy AI seem to be walking on invisible treadmills whilst conducting their unco-ordinated patrols, hey what better way to stay fit, aye?
The RPG element isn't missing, but isn't really there either. Upgrading your characters attributes seems pointless, there are some cool skills such as the chain shot - the ability to line up a few shots whilst time is slowed down to a crawl. But the RPG element has very limited innovation and reward, so you almost feel that your rewarding Mike Thorton for his early/begging incompetence, rather than yourself.
Level design is linear and for the most part quite small. Leaving all the available pick-ups in each level quite easy to find. But is accompanied by some fairly decent music and a story that might intrigue some but not the diehard. Therefore, for a game that promised something new, it in effect offered nothing new .
6.5/10