Alpha Protocol is hardly worth playing due to how unpolished and awkward it is.
GAMEPLAY - You can tell that the developers were really striving for a James Bond experience with this game. You've got a lot of skills and weapons to choose from that are reminiscent of the original Deus Ex, and you're part of a secret organization named Alpha Protocol that sends you on missions around the world. I liked that you can choose a background for your character, whether it be a soldier, a genius, a lowly recruit, etc. Once you start playing though, you really want the tutorial level to be over with. After trudging through it, I didn't even get the trophy for completing it. Not sure if this is a wide-spread problem, but it's something I experienced. Then you get sent on your first mission, and you think it starts to get good. Unfortunately you soon see that the best approach in a mission is to run in and shoot everything up since stealth elements are so difficult that you won't be able to use that as an option until you're trained more in that area. Hacking and lockpicking are challenging, as they should be, but it's almost impossible to get away with doing them early on with an alarm triggering in the instance you fail. I realize that this makes the game more challenging, but it also makes the game unrealistic that you can sneak in, get in the middle of a firefight, then shut down the alarm like nothing happened.
Then there are the dialogue options, which are clearly defined, but don't always do what you expect them to. Even though you may want to be professional with what you say, you may not say anything like you would expect to say. So between the combat and the dialogue, this game just feels really awkward and unpolished. I could get used to the idea of not being a master at all the different skills right away, but it just feels really unrealistic that you can still walk right into an enemy compound and manage to be so easily forgiven for being so inexperienced. If this really were a spy RPG/shooter, you think that you would at least be competent enough to play the way you would like to from the beginning. That's why Deus Ex worked so well and this didn't. The gameplay just comes off being tedious and totally unrealistic. Two things I really don't care for in a game. - 3/10
STORY - The story here isn't too bad. As I said before, you're a new operative in Alpha Protocol, and you get to play the international super-spy role. The characters are pretty believable also, aside from Michael Thorton himself, anyway. Kind of odd how the one character you control is the most underdeveloped and unbelievable. - 8/10
GRAPHICS - I actually wasn't bothered by the graphics so much as the animations in this game. The graphics are passable, but the animations are PS2 quality. I didn't think this was too terribly bad, but it's hard to ignore at times. - 5/10
SOUND - The voice acting is actually really good while everything else is about average. You can tell that they wanted to make dialogue a big part of this game, but like I said earlier, it just doesn't come across as well as it should. - 7/10
LENGTH/REPLAY VALUE - I'm not sure how long this game is, but the replay value is definitely here if you enjoyed it the first time through. There are many different ways to play, and I think that is something that could be appealing to someone who enjoys this. - 8/10
BOTTOM LINE - Alpha Protocol is a game that you really want to like, but unfortunately it just doesn't feel as good and natural as it should. Between the incompetence of the character you play as, the disappointing visual presentation, and the misleading dialogue options, this game is in need of some serious revision. If you can overlook the shortcomings of this game, then perhaps you'll enjoy it. I just found the gameplay to be a chore and so much more tedious than it really needed to be. Lockpicking and hacking should be difficult, but not nearly impossible in the beginning. I think that this is a game that you'll either love or hate, and unfortunately I was one who felt the latter. - 6/10