Better than expected
Alpha protocol is just like Mass Effect 2.
The two games are blindingly similar. It's almost uncanny. The same critiques can be levied towards both games - the high notes are a bit different, but AP is ME2 - on crack.
The basic plot in both games is trite and sterile. Maybe more so in AP than in ME2, but neither is something to write home about. The story of AP is completely run-of-the-mill stuff, but - just like ME2 - the game is saved by well written and interesting characters. Your avatar is Mike Thorton - a good manly name if any - you get to choose whether you want to be professional, angry or just an asshole. That's one more choice than you get in ME2! Mike is a vessel for the childhood traumas of the player, so by design he is empty and to filled by the imagination of the player. The supporting group of characters vary from a caricature to another- from the ultra professional, sexually frustrated woman coworker to the near-psychotic CIA operative. It's everything you expect from a spy story, but the characters never seem to fray far from the set path of the genre.
The game is ugly as hell. While the characters do have great dialog and genially interesting backstories and histories, the graphical design is horrible. Dress code, if you can call it one, seems to be "moronic". Environments that you navigate through during the missions are just as bad as the characters that inhabit them. In this sense, the ultra-sleek plastic world of ME2 is a revelation of inspiration and craftsmanship. It's real shame.
Now, the worst part of AP is - just like ME2 - the part where you actually play the game. The action parts are terrible, with poor combat and worse stealth action. Hilariously bad animations, while chuckle worthy at first, becomes shorthand for the whole combat system of AP. It's like no one at Obsidian had played an action game before, and no one bothered to think about things through. I'm being cruel. Then again, the lack of polish does warrant cruelty.
With all it's faults, AP is great fun. It's just that the fun doesn't come from the parts where you actually play the game. So, it's just like ME2.
