Alpha Protocol

By Tom Price 
 

The spy game genre is one that generally falls into two categories. There’s the Metal Gear/Splinter Cell side, consisting of lurking around in shadows and covertly accomplishing missions. And then there is the James Bond side, a shooter with a spy skin thrown over it. But consider that large portions of any good James Bond movie has just as much talking as it does sneaking and straight up action. The same goes for Alpha Protocol, with a mix of action and intrigue to mix up missions and keep the story fresh. Unfortunately it’s also riddled with many other problems that drag down a potentially good game, turning it into an exercise in patience.

The basic story goes like this. You’re Michael Thorton, a spy recently recruited to the top secret Alpha Protocol, an organization so secret it doesn’t officially exist. Thorton’s first mission is to track down a terrorist that shot down an airliner. Eventually Thorton ends up working on his own in a tangled web that always leads back to the arms company  Haliburton Halbech. If we haven’t hit all the standard spy clichés yet, don’t worry, Alpha Protocol nails nearly all of them, while still being entertaining.

Missions vary from five minutes to half-an-hour. There’s the traditional sneak into a mansion/secret facility/enemy camp to complete various different objectives using stealth and shooting, while other are simply going to a bar to persuade or beat information out of an informant. The latter keep the game fresh, allowing you to do something short and sweet when you’re not in the mood to jump into a longer mission.

  Unfortunately any of those missions where any kind of shooting is required the game falls apart. Alpha Protocol falls into the same problem the original Mass Effect did: trying to hit anything with a gun you haven’t leveled up is impossible. Apparently Thorton was good enough to be a secret agent without ever firing a weapon before. Leveling up a weapon skill doesn’t increase your accuracy enough to turn the game into a real shooter. It does allow you to hold your reticule over an enemy for a more accurate shot, but it’s annoying when your enemies don’t need to follow the same rules. It basically boils down to this: the game is an RPG, not a shooter. Any time you fire at an enemy, whether or not you hit comes down to dice rolls. A very unsatisfying way to fight when the game looks so much like a first person shooter.
The second option is to play Alpha Protocol as a stealth game, essentially turning it into the first Metal Gear Solid. Very old fashioned stealth mechanics, aren’t bad, but don’t expect Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid 4. This is the way I played the game, and while it still wasn’t as fun as newer stealth games, not having to deal as much shooting was a welcome change. 
 
  Alpha Protocol has different skills you can level up and allows you to pick different classes when starting the campaign, ranging from tech specialist, stealthy spy and the guns blazing military guy. In reality, though, all this determines is how your starting skills are allocated. Aside from that, there isn’t really any difference between any classes. And the skills the talents unlock are often at odds with the games realistic presentation. One allowed me to be invisible at will, allowing me to literally run around for a short time, and silently take down as many people as I could get my hands on. No story justification or anything, just invisible. Apparently the enemies in Alpha Protocol are totally OK with a phantom knife taking out their buddies. They rarely react to seeing their friend collapse to the ground for no reason.
The strength of Alpha Protocol is really in its relationship system. There are a number of different organizations that Thorton uses to accomplish his goals and the shifting allegiances is the brightspot of the game. Depending on whether or not someone likes, trust or dislikes you, a variety of options open up.  Because of my good standing in the G-22 organization, they often provided support on missions. One heavily guarded room I ran into sent my mind spinning with how I would possibly sneak by without turning into a lead pin cushion. Before that could happen, another group of G-22 secret agents came through a window in the back, set of some explosions and started firing on the guards. Things like this went a long way to make me take the time to consider the result of most conversations, rather then just picking the one option that I thought was funniest. 
 
  Alpha Protocol is a game that is normally more frustrating than fun. Despite all the game’s problems, I did actually enjoy playing it, despite its constant attempts to convince me otherwise. It’s a good first step into making a great globe trotting spy game, maybe a sequel would help Obsidian, the game’s developer, iron out many of the issues. If you’re on the fence about it, my only advice is that if you choose to give it a shot, be prepared to put up with a lot of poor shooting and antiquated stealth and pure frustration. There is a great game buried somewhere in Alpha Protocol, under a pile of half baked ideas.
Grade- C 
 
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