GamesMaster's verdict on Alpha Protocol is in and it's a favourable one at that.
The mag's awarded Sega's espionage RPG a very respectable 84% thanks to its, "dynamic shooting, insane levels of customisation and a thumping near-future dose of espionage and sinister conspiracy."
One of the standout features of Alpha Protocol is its smooth RPG conversation system. GamesMaster says, "Obsidian may not be the best when it comes to graphic engines, but when it comes to dialogue this team pulls out all the stops."
"There's no black and white here - just so many shades of grey, which means learning to trust your gut becomes vital."
Although Alpha Protocol lacks something visually and may not be the slickest shooter to hit our screens, it's apparently "gratifying and multifaceted" with GamesMaster ultimately finding the whole experience, "gripping, innovative and deserving of both success and a sequel".
Should be receiving this in the post tomorrow I really like the work Obsidian did on KOTOR2 even if Lucasarts didn't allow them to finish it, as well as many of them working on Fallout 1 and 2 so this has some heritage behind it at least.
Tempted to get this but from what Ive watched on the web, the voice recording sounds like they recorded peoples voices in a tunnel. Ill wait for the cvg review and see if this was just WIP or if it was included in the main game
I am keeping one eye on this, it does look like it could be very interesting, however, I am always worried when a game releases without any (ok, so this review is out the day before it releases) reviews prior to release.....
A lot of people who got the game through Steam are really praising the game highly. They say the game is on the ugly side, though it's far uglier on the consoles and you can force options through the gfx driver's options, but the game is very, very enjoyable, deep and satisfying.
It seems Obsidian really hit it this time and I agree, this may be the sleeper hit of the year easily.
Thanks to SEGA's new DRM Uniloc system I won't be getting Alpha Protocol for the PC (which is the platform I want to play it on). At best that now means a potential second-hand purchase of the console version once it comes way down in price. Well done SEGA!
First the author says that the AI is so dumb that you can walk right up to the enemy and they won't notice you. A few paragraphs later, he says the AI is so sensitive, that it's impossible to sneak past the enemy.
AI that on one hand acts dumb and then suddenly in other areas is omnipotent? Sounds like dodgy AI to me. At least Bit-Tech openly states that reviews are not measured by a universal gaming standard and are actually willing to give a 5 out of 10 for a game that appears, and by the sounds of it depending on which reviews you prefer, plays like an average game. I find their review more trustworthy than many others these days I'm sad to say.
Regardless, it will be a second hand purchase for the Xbox 360 if at all. SEGA has only itself to blame.
First the author says that the AI is so dumb that you can walk right up to the enemy and they won't notice you. A few paragraphs later, he says the AI is so sensitive, that it's impossible to sneak past the enemy.
I've never been steered wrongly by Bittech before. Um. And the review never claims the AI ignores you.
Here's the AI section of the review:
Alpha Protocol’s AI isn’t great, with guards sometimes refusing to notice you when you approach them from the side, yet able to hear you crawl up behind them. Sometimes they’ll use machine guns at point blank range, while others will abandon their cover to run up and punch you.
Setting off an alarm is what really highlights this though, with enemies going back to their normal behaviours when you turn off any triggered alarms, gunshots or no.
It seems weird to me you'd choose to make up stuff when anyone can just go and read the thing. Meh, whatever.
I got the game yesterday, and have plyed through the training and first couple of missions. So far Its pretty good, there has been a single occasion where the enemywalked right upto me withoutappearing to see anything, but on the whole if i have not been carefull, i get spotted, and take some serious damage. It only cost me £22 for the PC and if it continues I think it will be well worth it.
i picked this up on monday along with blur and am really enjoying it. yes the graphics are well crap thats the nice way of putting it. the colors are so over saturated everything looks so over colored it makes my eyes want to explode in a flood of blood!!!
the thing thats bugging me the most though is the aiming. i know its a RPG there for they need stats and stuff to determine your skills but what the f**k is the point of aiming if your still going to miss the guy? i have lost count the amount of times i have taken cover like literally 30cm away from a enemy, line up a head shot fire and i miss every single time. what the f**k is the point of aiming if im still going to miss?
the AI is so f**king oversensitive, the enemy has its back to me, i sneak behind a wall and he somehow sees me. he has eyes on the back of his head does he? he can see through solid rock can he? not to mention the AI is dumb as bat s**t! throw a grenade under a enemy and he just sits there like a stunned mullet!!!
the puzzles are so f**king infuriating too, never has something in a video game p**sed me off as much as the puzzles in alpha protocol. one of the puzzles is a circuit board the nodes are numbered you have to line up each node with its circuit in numerical order and your only given 20 seconds to do this. they start off with 3 if memory serves me you get 20 seconds easy, than it moves up to 4, again 20 seconds a little , than it moves up to 5 20 seconds now it starts to really hard, than it moves up to 6 again only 20 seconds now its really really hard, than up to 7 again only 20 seconds really really REALLY! hard. i mean it takes like a second to scan across and find the node in order, let alone follow the track, let alone move the cursor over the correct track. so thats 7 seconds out of 20 just wasted finding the correct nodes, now you have 13 to follow the track, find the correct slot, move cursor to correct slot and select all of them. hard enough? why developers have to make things as f**king frustrating as humanely possible? honestly they could not of made it more frustrating if the fate of the universe depended on it!!!!!!
not to mention the find a word styled puzzles. you have to find 2 words in a grid of moving letters, you have to look for non moving letters thats where one of the 2 words will be, move your cursor over the correct word select it and do it again for the other word. and again do all this in like 10 seconds otherwise the words move and you have to start again, if 20 passes than a alarm goes off and enemies cum running. again ill ask why do developers have to make things as frustrating as humanly possible???
I got the game yesterday, and have plyed through the training and first couple of missions. So far Its pretty good, there has been a single occasion where the enemywalked right upto me withoutappearing to see anything, but on the whole if i have not been carefull, i get spotted, and take some serious damage. It only cost me £22 for the PC and if it continues I think it will be well worth it.
The PC retail version of Alpha Protocol can be had for 17.99 Pounds on Amazon.co.uk. Not that it helps you now unfortunately, but perhaps other readers whom want to purchase the PC version may benefit from this bit of info.
What's the score, eh, GameSpot? Alpha protocol score at Gamespot LOOOL
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I really like the work Obsidian did on KOTOR2 even if Lucasarts didn't allow them to finish it, as well as many of them working on Fallout 1 and 2 so this has some heritage behind it at least.
