Despite the low score, I sincerely hope to see a sequel. Thorton brings more Bond than any Bond title on the market.

User Rating: 6 | Alpha Protocol PC
I anxiously awaited Alpha Protocol, but I was thankful for second thoughts that I didn't preorder. AP is a disasterous product from Obsidian, who's given us brilliant titles like Fallout 3 and SWTOR 2. The performance is miserable, frequently launching players into enemy fire before fully loading textures, leaving the player to search for cover with a spastic camera, which would be lethal for the game's protagonist if the AI was even remotely capable. Terrible controls, dialogue options that are unnecessarily vague, and that comical sneak animation... Terrible from start to finish.

But beneath the glaring flaws, there's a lot of successful elements. Thorton's globe-trotting adventure involves a lot of tough choices that impact the storyline throughout the game, both challenging players to choose their allies as well as encouraging replay. Players have a great deal of freedom in tailoring Thorton's performance through skill advancement and gear customization, even if Thorton's appearance is only slightly adjustable. The story isn't very complex - not as deep as the first Deus Ex but more satisfying than a comic strip - and the dialogue is better and more entertaining than most Bond-esque films and games. The puzzles are challenging and fair, and all of this creates mulitple dimensions that keep things reasonably fresh.

The only reason I ended up picking this title up was the $2 price-tag from Steam. I would have been mad if I paid a premium price for this one (like I did for Homefront, a complete waste of cash), but after spending 30 hours on this bargain title, I can say with all honesty that I hope to see a second Alpha Protocol... but with the same functionality and visual quality of the AAA-titles we've come to expect from Sega and Obsidian.