Where do you people manage the find the "good writing" in AP when the protagonist punk inserts internet memes and pretentious jokes into every single thing he says and yet, the other party is usually completely oblivious to it and keeps on the serious buziness façade as if he's in a monologue? "Good writing" has come a long way since PST, obviously. If this shit was in any other game, it would be written off as fan-fic. And in fact, it was: DA:O. Occasionally there is good writing, usually uttered by a few of the other characters, but the quality of exchanges leaves it high and dry.
Or the "good level design" where as soon as you unsuspectingly go through a door, previous parts of the level is immediately cut off and for no apparent reason at all either? Or NPCs evil guys (hard to refer to cannon fodder as NPCs) that materialize out of thin air in the next room? The "good level design" that dwells in console hell with "action spots"? Mmm where have I seen that: oh right, almost exclusively in console shooters! Splinter Cell or Hitman series has better level design and hands more freedom to the player.
When Molyneux announced that he'd turn game menus into playable 3D areas, everyone here laughed their asses off but I guess it's cool when Obsidian does it, renaming overglorified 3D menus into "safehouses" without any purpose or freedom.
This is not even an espionage game. This is a "choose your corridor" shooter game. You jump between mission areas. That's it. And the way the missions are self-contained is just way too sterile. Where are the established hallmarks of espionage in popular culture?
Where is the "stalk and observe the target" mission? Oh, there is the looking at a 3D screensaver from a fixed position and playing popamole with a sniper rifle part. You know, I remember the same from a dozen action games. Yeah, that's usually an action game staple but even those do it better. NOLF, anyone? That's how that shit is made. Now that I think about it, even Thief had a rather well-made stalking mission.
Where is the "safehouse is compromised, escape through the roofs and streets" mission? Where's the "gain information and locate target" where you'd stroll through many locales, talk to many peoples without having to sneak or shoot anybody unless you asked the wrong people? Where are those airport / train station / subway / on the plane / on the train / in the subway missions where you meet strangers, exchange information, maybe do it with the wrong strangers, etc. etc. everything that one normally thinks of when hearing the words espionage or spy thriller?
Alpha Protocol has NONE. Do I hear someone say "down with the clichés!"? Well, then I guess good riddance because AP is straight a shooter with some other stuff thrown in; it manages to sidestep almost every single thing that should have been in an espionage game and yet claims the title. It has nothing to do with espionage. Instead, it has missions full of bad guys where you may get +5 or -5 bad guys or this or that gun depending on your resource management. Here's a hint: many console shooters already do a number of these.
No, Alpha Protocol is a very badly mediocre console shooter with a very few but quality highs. I'm constantly amazed how some of you manage to make it more than it is. Do you ever play any other games? I mean, like, at all? If you think AP is good, be assured that there are much better fish in the pond and you are missing a world of wonders. On the other hand, does Obsidian devs (ever play any other games)? One would think that they would have all the right kind of material in the world to make an awesome espionage RPG, however short, instead of trolling us with a corridor shooter.
Funnily enough, New Vegas feels much more like a proper espionage RPG at times because the game actually has a basically working system with stealth and even disguises and even an open game world to support all of that! AP is pathetic.
