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Inside The Alpha Protocol

Michael Thorton is a professional dude. Or is he suave? Aggressive? Regardless of that, he's sorry about your "wodka."

Choose wisely.
Choose wisely.
You know, I'm probably too clumsy to be the suave, James Bond sort of spy. I'd probably be a little more forward and violent, with more neck snaps and a whole lot of shooting. Or maybe I'd just be The Spy Who Slept In. The nice thing about Obsidian's Alpha Protocol is that it looks like it'll let you play the spy role in a lot of different ways (though I doubt you could be the sleepy spy who missed the mission entirely).

You star as Michael Thorton, a CIA operative who hits the field on a number of different missions. While a lot of the action appears to be focused on shooting dudes, the game also has a lot of dialogue sequences and Mass Effect-like dialogue trees that let you make an impact on how things proceed. Actually, the dialogue stuff was one of the coolest parts about the game. The options I saw looked a lot more complicated than the obvious "this answer is the Good answer, this answer is the Evil answer" stuff you see in a lot of other games. That's because the responses are broken up more by tone. So you can respond professionally, aggressively, or suavely in most cases. Different characters react differently to your tone, so the crazy Russian chick that you just had a gun battle with might be way more into your aggressive style, but might want to just go right back to shooting if you roll up on her with one of the other types of responses. If you get aggressive on an old Russian guy, that may lead to you slamming his head down onto the bar and busted a bottle of vodka over his old head. He... might not want to sell you any weapons after you do that, though. As you interact with different characters, you'll fill out a dossier on each one, giving you some hints on how to push their buttons.

The other cool dialogue trick is that the game attempts to have a naturally flowing conversation. Your speech options show up before your response needs to be given, but a small bar starts draining almost immediately. You need to select your response before that bar runs out. It'll default to whatever tone your last response was in.

Obviously, there's more to Alpha Protocol than just hitting the talky talky buttons. Large stretches of the demo I saw looked like a third-person shooter with cover mechanics, with only a few hints of the dice rolls and role-playing elements that await you on the service record menu screen. You'll be able to trigger abilities in combat, such as Room Sweep, which makes you fire your shotgun twice as fast for a short period of time. You'll also gain experience that can be funneled into a number of different statistics, such as stealth or weapon-specific skills. Yes, even the shooting is governed by these systems--as you dump more points into a type of weapon, your accuracy with that style of weapon becomes better, and is illustrated by the size of the on-screen reticle. That'll probably be a tricky balance, considering how actiony a lot of the game looks. In games with a lot of shooting, I tend to get frustrated when I put the center of a reticle on someone's head and pull the trigger only to be rewarded with a miss.

But the game looks like it'll strike a good, solid balance between shooting people in the face and shaking them down during a dialogue sequence. With the game's customization options allowing you to change Michael's look and some interesting choices ahead, the end result could be absolutely thrilling in a way that most other spy-themed games totally ignore. It'll be interesting to see how it ends up after its release later this year.
Colinon June 11, 2009 at 6:41 p.m.
Sounds hot.
toruson June 11, 2009 at 6:43 p.m.
The guy in that picture has an incredibly hairy chest.
Voxelon June 11, 2009 at 6:43 p.m.
I guess this looks cool...
Hyuzenon June 11, 2009 at 6:45 p.m.
Looks crazy awesome. i really need to play more games like this...
ImperiousRixon June 11, 2009 at 7:02 p.m.

Damn, I want to play it now.  RIGHT NOW

Undeadpoolon June 11, 2009 at 7:03 p.m.

As long as we can get choices more complex than SAINTLY GOOD and DEMONICALLY EVIL, I think I'll throw my support in.

Satuneon June 11, 2009 at 7:04 p.m.
The dialogue just looks great!
RedSox8933on June 11, 2009 at 7:06 p.m.
Mass Effect + Spies - Space = Awesome.
teh_destroyeron June 11, 2009 at 7:19 p.m.
If thy let you sleep in and completely miss a mission, I will pick this game up opening night.
graf1kon June 11, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Alpha Protocol has had my interest piqued for a while now, but I agree with Jeff about the shooting. That was one of the very few things about Fallout 3 that annoyed me. I understand there isn't much point to an RPG if you can't level something up, but I was hoping rather than giving you a better dice roll, you'd just use XP in this game to level up the power or abilities of your weapons and gear and leave aiming to skill, kind of like Infamous seems to do, even if that isn't an RPG. Oh well, at least you can crack a Ruskies' head on the bar.
Jackel2072on June 11, 2009 at 7:38 p.m.
so far im not sold on the shooting aspect of the game. the videos i have seen look meh. Thats not to say how ever, that im not looking forward to seeing more of the. the dialog stuff does sound cool. If its more like what mass effect 1 promised (interprupting people, interaction (like the voka bottle)) then that sounds pretty sweet.

EDIT:
Jeff, could you be so kind as to comment on weather or not you can change the way the main charters face looks? or can you only change his cloths...
Redon June 11, 2009 at 7:39 p.m.
I think they'll do accuracy in a way similarily to Mass Effect--the higher your accuracy, the steadier your weapons will be.
SeymourBewtyon June 11, 2009 at 7:50 p.m.
I too want to know if there will be character customization.  The dude they always show looks way too generic.  It will ruin the whole thing for me if that's the only option I have.
Brackynewson June 11, 2009 at 8:28 p.m.
I-fayd-I-haffa-grenayd-in-ma-mowff!!
Claudeon June 11, 2009 at 8:34 p.m.
Yeah this sounds pretty cool in a Deus Ex, Splinter Cell talkin' BioWare kind of way.
Spiritofon June 11, 2009 at 9:51 p.m.
Put "Tom Clancy", "Spy", "Metal Gear", "Duty", or "Protocol" in the title of your video game and you've already got my attention.

Call your game "Tom Clancy's Metal Gear Spy Protocol of Duty" and I'll have your babies...and I'm not even physically able to have babies.
N2NOtheron June 11, 2009 at 9:54 p.m.
I've been anxiously awaiting this game since I read about it Game Informer WAY back in January of 2008.
Stephen_Von_Cloudon June 11, 2009 at 9:56 p.m.
Gameplay still looks lackluster but I like everything outside that (sounds kinda bad but could still be an enjoyable game)
freezerron June 11, 2009 at 10:02 p.m.
Woo Alpha Protocol!

These guys are definitely ambitious, trying to have a full-fledged RPG talky-factions story with guns-blazing action and full stealth capability.
Bubahulaon June 11, 2009 at 10:03 p.m.
thats awesome the dialogue in mass effect was awesome

Dig Deeper into Alpha Protocol

Alpha Protocol is a third-person action-RPG from Obsidian Entertainment in which the player controls field agent Michael Thorton, who is trying to unearth a conspiracy that could have international consequences. Think Mass Effect, but with spies.

US Release Date: June 1, 2010

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