Alpha Protocol Review

Those of us waiting to get our hands on Alpha Protocol may have some cause for concern, as Bit-tech has just handed out a score of 5/10 to the espionage RPG. Linearity, unbalanced gameplay, “rambling speeches”, and unpleasant combat are cited:

To be fair, there are still a few things that Alpha Protocol does really well and there are definitely some truly brilliant ideas presented within it, like the notion of collecting dossiers on allies by asking the right questions or following bonus objectives. The perks system too is worthy of praise, as it works alongside the dossier feature in the way it encourages you to interact with characters and consider your actions.

Sadly though, those few ideas which do work well are buried by a multitude of issues which systematically tear down and destroy the huge potential that could have been afforded by Obsidian’s choice of setting and approach. The poor balancing, the rambling speeches, the linearity and the simple fact that the combat doesn’t feel pleasant? These are just the highlights.

Alpha Protocol still works in the strictest sense and there’s still doses of fun to be metered out from individual kills, accomplishments and a few standout moments but on the whole it doesn’t have the focus or quality you’d expect of a modern day RPG. We’re willing to overlook specific weaknesses based on the merits of the experience as a whole to cite it again, we still love Deus Ex despite the terrible graphics and stiff combat, but Alpha Protocol frankly doesn’t have enough strengths to qualify.

Honestly, I wouldn’t care if the score was a 1/10. I’ll make up my own mind when I play it in a couple of days.