The story plays out more or less like a season of 24, though in this case, you get to decide how you to proceed toward the final hour.Īlpha Protocol's greatest asset is, by far, the complex workings behind its plot progression. Thus, a globe-hopping journey through Russia, Italy, and Taiwan ensues as Mike sifts through the information he gathers and follows the necessary leads. Of course, nothing is ever as it seems, and Mike's first mission ends like it began-with the explosion of a well-aimed missile. Your first mission: travel to Saudi Arabia and investigate the terrorist group responsible for the bombing. Shortly thereafter, you meet the game's protagonist, Michael Thorton, who is being inducted into a top-secret United States government agency known as Alpha Protocol. Taking a cue from our modern political climate, the opening scenes depict a missile colliding with a commercial airliner. The game begins with a bang-or more specifically, a horrific explosion. It's easy to appreciate Alpha Protocol for its high ambitions it's just not that much fun to play it.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's These issues, along with the unreliable cover system and a number of bugs and weapon imbalances, make shooting feel equally clumsy. Terrible AI, a too-close camera angle, and other annoying inconsistencies make the stealth route feel random and unsatisfying. In practice, none of these mechanics work out very well. On paper, Alpha Protocol sounds thrilling: You can go into each mission guns blazing, sneak up on your enemies to take them down before they see you coming, or mix and match methods as you see fit all while hacking computers and picking locks to uncover the enemies' deepest secrets. Sadly, almost every other element has been skimped upon, resulting in an awkward amalgam of half-baked gameplay elements that never come together. This intriguing role-playing game boasts an extraordinarily flexible plot, in which your choices have real consequences both on the story and on the gameplay.

Playing Alpha Protocol is like putting together a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with 500 pieces missing: You get a sense of what the big picture should have been, but the final product is still maddeningly incomplete.

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