The game was flawed but the ending was sweet!
Seriously, I loved the ending to this game. Despite all of it's issues I truly, truly dug the ending to this game.
I don't mean the "hahaha, the game's over and I don't have to play it anymore" sort of thing. I mean the actual ending to the game was pretty awesome.
You play as Super Secret Agent Michael Thorton. Well, not really super secret, most people seem to know who you are, or do they? Whatever the case may be, you work for Alpha Protocol who actually is a secret agency and does things that go under the radar. After your first real set of missions though, you find your self burned with out a home and you need to find out why and what's actually going on.
It's this that I recommend buying this game for, the story and all the different ways it can come to an end. The story was great, like an episode of 24, maybe a bit of Jason Bourne. The dialogue with characters is great (Steve Heck rules!) and the fact that you can just outright shoot some one, be a jerk or even flirtatious makes the story all the better for me.
What I won't recommend buying this game for... is the gameplay. Moments of it are pretty sweet, nothing like turning invisible and just stabbing people in the face, hacking computers, using an EMP grenade to open safes. No really, you can do that with an EMP Grenade, it doesn't seem like what it should be used for but okay. Also missing almost every shot with your pistol is awesome!! Oh.. wait, no, really it's not awesome, in fact it sucks and is frustrating.
I made my character a total stealth dude that would make Sam Fisher jealous (okay, probably not) but I can turn invisible at will (once the cool down is over) and I'm a great shot with the pistol! As long as my target doesn't move or I'm using my little quick shot ability that slows down time so I can get some sweet head shots. When guys do move though, it usually results in a miss and an alarm.. and well, that's all really annoying. I hated that I have to keep the reticle over some one for a few seconds for the kill shot that's needed in games like this. And for the instances where close up kills are needed I had a shotgun for back-up, thinking "yay instant death if you get to close!" only to realize that... it doesn't matter! They could stand next to me but if I didn't let the reticle turn red, it didn't matter!
Also the graphics and some animations needed more work, a little more time in the oven maybe? I don't know. Some characters look decent enough, most of the female characters I think actually look pretty. And some of Thortons armor looks suitably bad-ass for higher end gear, but the enviroments, the stiff animations and Thortons goofy duck-like walk ruin these slight positives.
It's not a great game, there are some awesome things here though, Obsidian Entertainment did a great job with the story and for the most part the voice acting is pretty great (Nolan North FTW!) but I would only recommend getting this game for the story and the different outcomes. If things like this interest you, get it when it's cheaper in the $30-$20 range, otherwise keep moving and maybe if there is a sequel they can fix up some of the problems.
