Alpha Protocol
When every choice matters.
After a long series of setbacks and a couple of delays, we were curious to know what was going on with a project as ambitious as Alpha Protocol. Anounced as an action game with all the main elements of an RPG, in principle it sounds very interesting... But in this kind of experiment there's always the risk of not being able to satisfy the fans of either genre. It was a risky bet but we believe they have, and by far, overcomed the challenge.
The (proposal?) made by Alpha Protocol may seem similar to that of other titles, but it is in the way this surprising and maleable adventure takes place where it finds it's own identity. While it will not dazzle us with exeptional graphics nor with impeccable technique, after overcoming the first stages we will be completely trapped in its excelent story, where everything's in our hands and no one is what it seems.
Basicaly, this is an action game with abundant dialogue and puzzle like elements in which the protagonist and the weaponry can be tuned to our tastes. This is nothing new, but it is on the interaction with the other characters where we will discover a game in which every choice changes the way the plot develops and all posterior actions. This is possible thanks to a complex and open story with more than 120 hours of recorded dialogue and more than 30 secondary characters that, depending on our choices, can be enemies, allies, or, why not, just business partners. Lies, missions, suspicions, betrayals... all of them are threads forming a great (skein? Maybe Hank? That thingie) we will have to unravel to stop world war from erupting. And the possibilities are so immense and varied the game has the outrageous amount of 32 diferent endings.
Think fast and act
In Alpha Protocol vital choices must be made each moment and in no more than seconds. While talking to other characters, with whom a good or bad relationship would be developing based on our answers and actions, everything is decided in less than four seconds and affects the rest of the story. Excesive? Possibly, but in such way the plot is maintained in constant tension and total uncertainty. So, for example, it will be in our hands the final choice of detaining, executing, or letting go free a dangerous international criminal... and the just or right thing may be the worst options. In the begining it may be somewhat stressful, but it is an acquired taste and later we will be waiting for those moments to come so we can try to reach a truth that seems buried below a mountain of personal interests and lies.
Inmersed in this confusion, we will raise up to two challenges: To model our character to face the diferent situations and give him the best equipment and equipment we can get. While there aren't (cut and dried classes?) we can go for a gameplay style more action like, if we prefer to resolve problems the commando way, or more technical if we prefer infiltration and espionage. That's the most RPGish element of the game and it can be modified through the game if we choose to use our experience points in several skills and powers. The most advisable approach is to keep to zero the characteristics not corresponding to our style of play.
Action is intense, full of cool moments and, while the enemies aren't really bright, the game has a good dificulty that goes along raising itself intelligently. And while the control setup for the character and the guns initially raised some doubts, the available upgrades for the abilities are effective and in an acceptable level.
What has no excuse is the absence of a multiplayer mode, nor any other netplay option. Given the structure and dimensions of the scenery many diferent things could have been done with this. Surely it was a problem with the release dates.
