Why Alpha Protocol Doesn’t Have a Female Protagonist

SideQuesting caught up with Obsidian Entertainment’s Matt MacLean during this weekend’s PAX East expo and grilled him about the lack of a female protagonist and homosexual romance in Alpha Protocol. A generous excerpt on why neither was implemented:

When asked about the early stages of development and whether or not they wanted to allow players to create a female protagonist, MacLean replied, (Absolutely.) He continued to explain that if they had the money and resources, they would have wanted to include the option. MacLean discussed the work involved in creating the (painstaking cinematic sequences) in the game and the amount of voice acting that was required for all of the dialog. It turns out that the choice of not allowing the player to create a female lead came down to not having enough money to hire a female voice actor.

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We also asked MacLean about homosexual romance scenes. He told us that they wanted to make Alpha Protocol in such a way that would mimic what you would expect to see when you go see a spy flick. And since we never see James Bond or Jason Bourne get involved in homosexual scenes in their movies, players won’t have full freedom to choose how their sexual exploits go down.