Alpha protocol still has the “illusion of choice” approach, but unlike bioware games it is well implemented, the game makes you believe you changed something (usually with dialogue or emails), spoken lines change a lot with choices, the gameplay stays the same no matter what tho

examples of how the gameplay “changes”: VCI mercs get replaced by Sam Fisher fans, same quantity, same weapons, same AI

police agents get replaced by marines wearing armor (again same everything they just take more bullets to die)

a few useless mooks may try to help you, shoot at you or just not appear, they make no difference whatsoever because the AI is pathetic

if you are a jerk you get access to vendors that like you being a jerk, if you are not a jerk you get access to venders that dont like you being a jerk, other vendor sell you in any case (only change is the email where they tell you they like you/are afraid of you), at most the only change is that in one case you get access to smgs and in other to assault rifles and since the change between them is pretty much nil it doesnt matter

if you befriend or not characters (the most important ones which you meet in the Russian mission, either its meant to be the first location or they developed that one first and ran out of time) the only changes are that they offer to be your handlers in 2 or 3 missions or maybe appear for 5 minutes at one point and help you take down 3 mooks you could have killed easily by yourself, only changing a few lines of dialogue and the perks you get (pointless perks that do nothing)

you shouldnt expect anything to change other than the dialogue, that part does change a LOT, its too bad the gameplay or the story arent interesting enough to replay the game, it seems like for everything obsidian did well, they had to screw it up somewhere else, and dialogue is completely chaotic btw, you often dont have a freaking clue what your character is going to say or even what he is going to do, a character asks you to do something, click on the “No Problem” button and your character says “No problem, dickhead. you know what ? your momma is so fat she has to diet to enter the diet clinic” (-1 with x character)

the gameplay is very unbalanced and illogical, enemies usually take 1 shot to the head or 500 to the torso to die, i played it on PC so even in the hardest difficulty its a piece of cake (the pistol’s queue 7 shots in frozen time = 7 enemies dead by the press of a single button), stealth is completely broken (they either see you all the time or never) and for all the features they stole from SC conviction not one is implemented properly, yet the game is strangely fun to play, i guess i like the setting

the story works, but its the most godawful generic story straight out of tvtropes ive ever seen, there is not 1 single twist, its an espionage story with NO TWISTS and the most generic “conspiracy” ever that gets revealed 5 minutes into the game, even worse the game tries to “build up tension” putting scenes of your character talking with “Big Bad”about the “choices” at the end that tension blows up into a big ball of nothing as your character sails into the ocean alone or with the few allies you have left (i let everyone die the first time, none of the characters is likable in any way) after a few AWFUL boss battles (the last level is apparently supposed to change a lot with your choices but i havent played it more than once, im not sure i can take those boss battles again)

speaking about the boss battles, Obsidian apparently confused spliter cell with devil may cry, they all go for melee and are bullet sponges, they take forever to kill (unless you have the deadly pistol and use the skill to queue 7 shots into the boss’s face) and kick your ass all the time even if you know your kung fu

oh and i cant close without mention the minigames … goddamn minigames… cant we let those die already ?

every time i write about this game i keep wondering why i like it, its worth trying, its many many many flaws are still worth tolerating for the dialogue and the parts where you feel like a badass and that just makes me so pissed about the things Obsidian left without polish

@ Zel:

Yeah, there were some bugs but overall I’d say it was less buggy than Fallout 3. AP never crashed to desktop for me. Fallout 3 on the other hand did that all the time.

@ JKjoker:

Yep, I finished it – feel free to spoil away.

JKjoker wrote:

i felt kind of pissed you couldnt fail saving her, if you *accidentally* kill her (like for example with several incendiary overloaded grenades… oops, or by shooting her in the head, oops again) its game over, why is it ok for her to die if you go right but it breaks the game if you go left ?

Huh, I didn’t know that. I was very careful not to kill her the first time around. I assumed she would just die.

have you finished the game ? because my response to this post would be devastatingly spoilerific

i liked the game a lot on my first run (at least until the ending), it went downhill from there (i still think its worth checking out, the bugs and the minigames can be tolerated with some patience), i cant say much without going into details, ill just say the story works to set up the gameplay but for an espionage game where you are expecting at least 30 conspiracies and 100 twists, it feels kind of … simple

about the “let die the woman you can have sex with… or suffer the little statues (and apparently museum visitors youll never see any evidence of)” sadistic choice, actually i found that one quite stupid, if you save her everyone tells you that you made the wrong choice (including her, i didnt sex her up in that playthough tho it might change if you did and retroactively for other chars if you havent met them yet), make the other one and everyone tells you made the right choice (and i mean EVERYONE, not one person vouched for the lady with the long neck during that playthough), also i felt kind of pissed you couldnt fail saving her, if you *accidentally* kill her (like for example with several incendiary overloaded grenades… oops, or by shooting her in the head, oops again) its game over, why is it ok for her to die if you go right but it breaks the game if you go left ?

The Witcher had an interesting take on consequences of your choices, no matter what you choose the game would always tell you you made the wrong one making you want to go back and try the other one, i cant say its the best way to do it but it certainly made me remember them and the consequences attached

and about Albatross’s motivation, during my first walkthough i was the bestestestest of friends with him and i never found out his motivation either, in fact nobody has any plausible motivation in this game and the ones that do, have one so weak you keep expecting a twist that never comes

I’ve considered buying it, but as every other game released by Obsidian Entertainment, I heard it’s quite buggy. I’ll wait for a couple of patches before I try it out, you certainly make it sound like it’s a game I’d enjoy, if only for the story. I hope the game’s poor sales (SEGA announced there won’t be a sequel because they’re too low) won’t delay said patches too much.

From the review I’ve read and comments I’ve heard, the game is really marred by little bugs and annoyances, when will Obsidian ever learn ? You need a big name to get away with releasing a buggy game (Bethesda Softworks…), outsiders need to spend time on polish if they want to avoid the review bashing. It’s not like they had a good reputation or a famous IP to fall back on, they needed good reviews to get the gamer’s interest.