More than any RPG in recent memory, Alpha Protocol seems to have cause and effect nailed. This is not an understatement.
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Three main dialogue stances, aggressive, suave and professional, present themselves at the bottom of the screen, all tied to face buttons. A countdown bar quickly evaporates – you only have a couple of seconds to pick what approach you’re going to take with each line of dialogue. As in Mass Effect, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to say – the text you’ve selected only gives an idea of what’s going to be said. Mike and Grigori chat – words flow quickly and smoothly – the countdown ensuring there are no awkward pauses during exchanges, as in so many video games.
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And the story reacts to every decision, too, right up to the endgame. Who you’ve killed, who you’ve let live, who you’ve shagged (yes, Alpha Protocol has sex) – it all has an effect. That’s why reputation is important. That’s why you should care.
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Nathan spends most of his time during this mission crouch walking with a silenced pistol for company. It’s all very Metal Gear Solid – third person camera, cover system, skill-based action and no dice rolls. Passive skills, like weapon stability, and reactive skills, like Evasion, are triggered automatically, and activated skills, like Chain Shot (cue up shots then unleash them in a split second) and Shadow Operative (turn invisible for a short period) are used when combat is unavoidable. Nathan spends most of his time sneaking up on enemies and using melee attacks to down them, but you’ll get experience for leaving enemies alive. This is the stealth way.
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It is at the embassy that Alpha Protocol shows just how reactive it really is. Remember when Nathan was an asshole to Grigori? Well his email warning of your presence has resulted in increased security at the embassy. There’s a hard as nails marine standing outside, ready to break necks at the slightest sign of trouble. If you’d been nice to Grigori, a lame guard would have been blocking the way. Now here’s the interesting part. You’re able to try and talk your way in, which would then align all of the marines inside with you. These marines are great allies, much better than the bog standard guards. So while it seemed at first like scaring the bejesus out of Grigori didn’t benefit you, you have the potential to turn the situation in your favour. Nice.

In this play through it’s all moot, because Nathan’s stealthing it in.​