Based on yesterday’s flurry of bad press for Obsidian’s new Spy-PG, I’d decided to contradict myself (when I said I would buy regardless of reviews on account of Chris Avellone’s penmanship) and hold off on Alpha Protocol. After all, I still haven’t finished Final Fantasy XIII or Mass Effect 2 or Metro 2033 or Splinter Cell Conviction or Tropico 3, Dobry just loaned me Bioshock 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 and sooner or later I’ll have to tell him what I think of them, I’ve been meaning to get Alan Wake and Blur, I never returned to the Humble Bundle’s Penumbra: Overture after getting frightened by the title screen, and Gregg recently bullied me into Frozen Synapse because he wants to destroy me and upload my humiliations to YouTube. So I decided to skip it. But you know what? Ignore the title of yesterday’s article. Steam is evil. It must be, because as soon as I realized the goddamn game was just three clicks away, suddenly it was trickling down to my hard drive.
So! What do I think? After two hours of play, and I satisfied with the expenditure of $49.99 and 11 gigabytes of my hard drive?
Yes. No. Sort of. It’s complicated.
Alpha Protocol was originally supposed to ship last October, but someone at Sega leaked an internal memo that basically shredded the game, calling it too hard, too action focused, “barely an RPG,” and other meannesses. Obsidian quickly disavowed any knowledge of these complaints, but Sega nonetheless decided to let the game cook until Summer in order to address the issues. While everyone in the industry knew that it was just a smokescreen to avoid releasing a new IP into the already-crowded holiday season, the fact remains that Alpha Protocol got about eight more months in the oven.
Chris Avellone told me – in October – that “there isn’t much left to do on AP,” that the team had moved on to other projects. It sounded like they were just humoring Sega and had shelved their game, content in the knowledge that it was probably better to release in the summertime anyway. He made it sound like the game was finished and good to go.
Alpha Protocol is IN NO WAY finished. This is without question the most clumsy, buggy, unpolished, careless, sloppy, inept big-studio game I’ve seen since… since… God, probably since Troika’s Vampire Bloodlines. The PC port is dicey at best. They somehow made the Unreal 3 engine look like Unreal 2. Menu items don’t work. Options claim to do one thing then do another. You must hack .ini files to take any kind of granular control over game settings. The controls and interface, while not obnoxious, could really have done with another once-over. I simply cannot imagine that Alpha Protocol was tested or focus-grouped in any substantive way, as the issues with the game are all simple, surface items. Items that could and should have been buffed away, leaving glimmering perfection, since the game got an eight month reprieve. They had eight months to perfect the game; that they didn’t is shocking. Alpha Protocol teeters just millimeters shy of “broken.”
It’s also a hell of a lot of fun, dripping with Avellone’s trademark stellar writing, strong atmosphere, a fun new setting (how come we never see spy games?), and a world that manages to be both caricatured and serious.
The obvious comparisons are to Mass Effect 2, a game that’s very similar mechanically (but far, far more polished). But in many ways this game is a lot smarter. Avellone and the other writers are great at crafting dialogue, and the timed, attitude-based response system is both stressful and engaging. It leaves you kicking yourself often, not because it’s bad but because you spoke without thinking, without considering your audience, and it hurt you in their eyes. Unlike Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age, where you can ponder responses for hours while your conversation partner patiently waits, here you have seconds – literally seconds – to choose a tone of response, and like in a real conversation, most of the time you’ve decided what you’re going to say next before the other person has finished talking. The voice acting (so far) is great; the main character Michael Thorton is a little bit of a dickweed, but he’s far from the most irritating character I’ve ever encountered.
Like most modern western RPGs, this is an on-off-on structure, meaning you fight, then you talk, then you fight again, and so forth. While the graphics are appalling the face work is great, producing some of the most memorable-looking characters I’ve seen, complete with realistic expressions and tics. In addition to the many, many conversations you’ll have, you must spend a fair amount of time digging through emails, perusing intel dossiers, and connecting dots that aren’t always made obvious to you. The more you know, the better prepared you are for whatever’s to come.
Alpha Protocol is sorely in need of a patch. Its interface is so awful. It doesn’t even tell you how to exit a subscreen (right click, FYI). The aforementioned menu options need… well, they need to work, for a start. And the PC port has the annoying habit of stuttering – just a bit – during major action scenes, spinning you around and completely messing up your perspective. While I’ve not experienced any of the nightmares some others have related as regards playing with the mouse and keyboard, it’s very clear that Alpha Protocol was designed for console play. That’s ironic, because it actually plays much better with a mouse-keyboard combo than it would with a gamepad (360 controller support is available on the PC version, though some report that it doesn’t always work).
The only epic fail is the minigames associated with hacking, lockpicking, and… I don’t know, doing something electrifical. And actually of them only the hacking minigame is truly catastrophic. In it, you have to locate two sets of stationary characters on a grid of rapidly changing nonstationary characters.
This is considerably harder than it sounds.
I advise epileptics against playing Alpha Protocol explicitly because of the hacking minigame. Hell, I almost had a seizure the first time I tried it. I’m one of those people who can’t see those 3D paintings no matter how hard he tries, so the old “relax your eyes” adage doesn’t work, particularly since you’re racing against not one but two brutal timers and the minigame controls are both sluggish and nonsensically placed. It’s necessary to invest some skill points early on in buffs that ever-so-slightly reduce hacking difficulty, but overall a patch is really the ideal fix.
In some ways, Alpha Protocol bears similarities to STALKER, in that both are incredibly unpolished gems. If you have low tolerance for outrageously clumsy execution, this is not the game for you. And I do have to admit that my technical experience with the PC version has been way better than some of the horror stories I’ve heard. John Walker over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the game as “unplayable” with a mouse and keyboard, and others are echoing the sentiment. It seems that Alpha Protocol plays nice with some PCs and not so nice with others.
Me? I like it, at least so far. I’m odd, though. I drifted away from Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 but have been almost totally enraptured by Final Fantasy XIII, a game we can all agree barely qualifies as an RPG at all. Story-wise, dialogue-wise, Alpha Protocol really shines. Its technical execution is criminal, though, especially considering they were given eight months to polish and improve it. I simply can’t believe that no one at Obsidian noticed these problems. More likely, they just didn’t care – which concerns me a lot, because that’s the approach Troika took, and we all know what happened to them.
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
As much as I want to just dive into Alpha Protocol based solely on the aforementioned Avellone-factor and on the strength of my love for KOTOR II it seems like waiting may be a good idea. Waiting in the hopes of a patch or even a polished re-release– ala The Witcher– surfacing.
One really has to wonder what Obsidian were doing from October to May? Since the reviews thus far are in unanimous agreement that the game is almost to the point of being broken what on earth were they thinking? They must have a quality assurance department that play tested and thought this is a fail, no?
Well, Obsidian probably doesn’t have a playtest department. Most developers don’t; they tend to pay their publisher to manage that. And that leaked memo may have spawned from actual playtesting at Sega. What’s odd is that the memo didn’t mention lack of polish, which is the easiest catch-all to describe the problems with the game. I mean, heck, that’s what playtesting is for.
As for what the team was doing from October to May, when I last talked to Chris Avellone (well, emailed, actually), he said the AP team had moved on to other projects – Fallout: New Vegas, for one, and a big secret unannounced new IP that everyone’s apparently very excited about over there. They certainly weren’t polishing Alpha Protocol, or if they were, good god, I can’t even imagine what it was like before.
I guess that’s one of the realities of being a smaller developer: you don’t have massive teams working on multiple projects at once. You have a core that moves from game to game.
All my eggs are in Fallout: New Vegas‘ basket.
I hope they patch most of the issues but that’s delaying me getting the game. Or do a rebuild of content ala The Witcher. It sounds pretty dreadful.
Obsidian has done this a few times sadly – xtal, who is to say Fallout: New Vegas won’t have exactly the same issues when they move onto their next project? I hope it won’t, since I enjoyed for the most part Fallout 3, but still…
Being small doesn’t mean you can’t polish anyway. Given Sega gave them more time as well, Matt is right it shouldn’t be this way and you wonder what it really was like all that time ago.
Definitely, Andrew, their size is no excuse, with that I agree. Like you and other hopeful FN:V fans all I have is that: hope. I have confidence though because they are working with Bethesda’s existing engine. While nothing spectacular it at least is already there.
I’m hoping that FN:V is to Fo3 as Fo2 was to Fo1: bigger, deeper, nastier, evil..er?
I snatched an illegitimate copy from the Internet last week and was SHOCKED to see the game looking like a second rate attempt from 2003… I still bought it on Friday because I think Crhis and Obsidian have deserved a little credit. I’m near the end of the third set of missions and… it’s a game with such low production values that even the good ideas in it barely manage to shine through. Rules-wise it’s an interesting proposition with the game actually tracking what you do and altering the gameplay accordingly (the perks that you gain are a direct consequence of your actions – for instance going out of your way not to kill people grants you better stealth) and with the choices you make in conversations actually mattering in terms of the story. I just wish the mechanical part of it was not so clumsy. Shooting/ covertaking is atrocious, melee combat is primitive, sneaking is a fucking laugh. Probably worst of all, the level design is dull. Deus Ex also suffered from many of the same issues but its level design actually made your decisions matter in terms of combat/ sneaking. Here you barely have a choice once in the field. Still, I actually enjoy it quite a lot even though Thorton’s voice actor manages to almost ruin it for me. I love the cheesy story and I like being able to burn a room full of mobsters with but one well placed incendiary grenade…
MEHO BACK! FIRST! (am I? 🙂 )
I… never really… left… did I?
Left…quiet…..same, same. 😀
I had never heard of & so had no intention of buying Vampire: Bloodlines until two days before release. Day One purchase. Loved it until gameplay morphed into a shooter but I was a charming talker, so I had to call upon Godly assistance in order to finish.
So Steerpike, what are your second impressions? Am I going to love this one just the same? Will I need Divine Intervention from the get-go as it’s more shooty than stat-based skills?
I don’t get why it’s so rough. Budget? Apathy? Does credibility mean nothing anymore? Why publish something that, from everything I hear, is stupidly unplayable.
They publish it to hopefully make back some money…probably won’t make back development costs considering the quality though, then again who knows the budget?
xtal; I’ve not played Fallout 2 (going to play Fallout 1 soon) but that’s a funny parallel situation since Fallout 2 was immensely buggy on release and had to be patched to get major game-breaking things sorted (but it was a bigger/different game).
@Yap: I actually played Vampire: Bloodlines years after release so I actually had the pleasure of choosing between two rather competitive patches/mod packs and thankfully only witnessed a handful of problems, but I did the same as you: charming talker, pile of pants in combat. Needless to say, the last half of the game was a royal pain in the arse.
By the sounds of this I’ll be doing the same and waiting in line until the inevitable patches and fixes come along.
But 8 months? That’s a looong time to polish.
I’m putting together a video playthrough of a section and will post here, commenting alongside the game with my usual wit. It’s not unplayable, at least not for me, but it sure does have some problems.
What are the likely chances of a patch in the near future? Before the previews/reviews started coming in, this was one of my most looked forward to games, but from the impressions I’ve read it seems utterly broken and unplayable. If there was a likely chance that it’d be patched somewhere down the line, I’d be happy enough to wait for the inevitable price drop.
Welcome, thelastjunker. To answer your question, I assume a patch is already in the works. AP would be far superior game with just one good, hard patching. However, it’s possible (unlikely, but possible) that Sega’s finished funding it and Obsidian is on to other projects. Patches cost money in the form of manpower and time, so if they don’t think the cost-benefit ratio fits, they won’t do it.
I will likely never play this game, but I am a fan of the blonde woman in the beret and shades carrying the big machine gun.
Hubba-hubba!
I haven’t paid much attention to this game till now. I just read a thread on another board and they seemed to think it had fewer problems than they had expected. The mention of Thief and Hitman makes me more interested. It sounds like the game can be played without a lot of shooting but rather sneaking and and some quiet taking out of the enemy.
You wish. I actually started out playing along those lines, stupidly imagining that light stepping and smooth talking will take me far. I emphasised those skills at my initial character-creation. Half an hour later I was charging rooms full of dumb AI and mowing down everything that breathes with an assault rifle. Stealth is pretty much not an option here. Sure, you can sneak around for a while, and even evade/ disable some of the human opposition and disable some of the electronic surveiilance devices. There’s a bunch of skills AND gadgets obviously created for stealth play. But you literally never know when someone will see you either through a wall or just, you know, with their back turned on you and then it’s bye-bye stealth. Every single enemy in that section instantly becomes aware of your position and they all lob grenades at yo’ ass even though there’s a risk they’ll take out their buddies who are at the same time sprinting towards you in an attempt to make out with you until you pass out from the excitement. There are no smart ways to avoid them like in Thief/ Hitman/ Splinter Cell, because level design is so rigid, there are no smart ways to tell when you are possibly exposed (no minimap, no cones of vision like in MGS), their cooldown times are absurdly long and seem to be depending on you being in several rooms away, there is no light/ dark mechanic. All in all, once you are spotted you WILL shoot your way out. Or in my case, run up to everyone and bitchslap them to oblivion… My martial arts skill is so high that the game stopped allowing me to level it up out of sheer protest at one point, no explanation given. I also got a skill with the assault rifle that I knew I didn’t buy and assumed it was a result of a perk I gained along the way and tyhen I reloaded the game and it disappeared.
I am not sure just patching it would do the trick. A lot of it is just a result of really dirty cheap design – for instance, the camera position sucks, because it’s too close to Michael but were it positioned better, the game might be too easy. Also, the engine loads hi-res textures so reluctantly that you’d think someone in Obsidian has to pay every single time you turn a corner in this game. I mean, this is Unreal 3 for Allah’s sake, it shouldn’t wait for 5 seconds before it loads hi-res textures during a conversation, dammit.
I’m afraid Meho’s on the money regarding the stealth option, Pokey. I try to be stealthy, but it’s almost impossible to actually get through the game that way. The AI is too unpredictable, the cover system is too messed up, and the mechanics are too broken. It’s – at best – a shooter where you can use stealth, but nothing like a Thief or Splinter Cell.
I’m still finding it worthwhile to play, though. It’s fun despite the breaks.
Meho, have you experienced the bug where your inventory and upgrade screens turn white and all the text descriptions disappear? I’m still trying to figure out how to get around that.
Darn. Well scratch that idea. I was going by some player comments that sounded like they were using stealth with some success. I knew it wasn’t a Thief, but maybe a kinda-sneaker. I’ll wait a while and read some reviews. I do like stealth games, but I hear even Splinter Cell is becoming more of a shooter. Wonder if there will be a new Hitman game. I’m thankful for the many Thief fan missions I can still play. Thanks for the input.
Steerpike: no, haven’t had that bug, but I am playing the PS3 version. It could be that the PC version is – as usual – the most temperamental one when it comes to the bugs…
Pokey: actually, I just completed my single player run through Splinter Cell Conviction some ten days ago and coming from that game to Alpha Protocol I was shocked at how primitive AP feels in comparison. SCC is a shooter, no mistake about it, but its stealth is well designed and complements the shooting mechanic. In AP, once you’re spotted – that’s it. Shoot everyone in vicinity.
There are occassionally flashes of intelligence, just a couple of minutes ago I completed a mission in a villa in Rome. I was supposed to escape the villa and there was a yardful of goons with guns AND turrets between me and the gate. Also, a first floor gallery with snipers. So I first cleaned the ground floor, found the security control room, hacked the turrets so that they don’t see me, then climbed the first floor, incapacitated the snipers and then took a sniper rifle and shot everyone in the yard. Then it was just a matter of walking to the gate.
So, yeah, that felt kinda satisfactory, but it’s still inferior to Hitman Blood Money or, you know, Deus Ex that was made a decade and some spare change ago. If I didn’t know this was made by Obsidian, I would be sure this is some small European studio’s effort.
That mission in Rome sounds like fun, so I’ll be watching the game and probably get it eventually. I will be getting Splinter Cell Conviction as soon as it drops in price a bit. My favorite SC was Chaos theory and for the Hitman series, it was Silent Assassin.
[…] Honorable Mention: Alpha Protocol was it as bad as originally thought? Sort of? Maybe? […]
[…] Honorable Mention: Alpha Protocol was it as bad as originally thought? Sort of? Maybe? […]
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[…] Honorable Mention: Alpha Protocol was it as bad as originally thought? Sort of? Maybe? […]
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