Review RPG Codex Review: Alpha Protocol

[jagged-jimmy]

A review by another Codexer who thinks "gamplay" means "combat"! Cool.

Whatever, AP was great, for a shit game. Better than VTMB, which had a shitty world with bad combat, crap writing, and extremely clumsy, deliberate C&C. At least this one excited my imagination -- I still remember the characters and had a huge number of "wow" moments. Good shit.

 

[crawlkill]

felt exactly the same way. wanted to love it, gameplay just wasn't there for me. even then, I would've been able to cope with it if it'd just had a save-as-you-go system instead of the agonizing checkpoint setup. going for never-once-being-seen nonlethal playthroughs of games just gets to be a misery if you need to replay an entire sequence after fuckup up on your last target. instead, I've given it a shot maybe four or five times and never had the energy to get past the last China mish, even when just cheating like a bitch to be next to invisible and just crashing through the game for the dialogue.


but it just did ssssoooo mmmuuuchhhh so well =( or, like, it did a few things really well that most games don't even care they're doing badly. I was very fond of the characters, even the fucking hero, which is practically a first for me and named-protagonist CRPGs. and I loved the way that executing a mission just right or sloppily could really end up with the game acknowledging what you'd done (to an extent that I've heard becomes even more apparent as the story progresses further?).

it's onea those games I wish were getting the kind of love Bloodlines is. y'know, still getting fan patches a decade after release. but alas.

 

[TNO]

Sup peeps. I'll have a DX:HR review written up soonish too, for those who can't get enough of my ARPG reviewing skills.

 

[Roguey]

Eh, how so? I mean, Bloodlines has crappy combat and all, but still isn't nearly as bad as AP's main gameplay.

I wrote about this here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-multi-headed-dick.44481/page-38#post-2439446

Also, Bloodlines has the benefit that it is actually fun to play...

Only if you think walking through hubs is the height of fun, as many people on the Codex do.

 

[Konjad]

Sup peeps. I'll have a DX:HR review written up soonish too, for those who can't get enough of my ARPG reviewing skills.

Nice. I was thinking of doing quickie, but I changed my mind, after all most of the codexers know it. I'd rather review games of lesser popularity.

 

[handup]

My problem with AP is not the fact that the combat and stealth are shit. I can live with that. It's the fact that the game feels the need to shove them down your throat. The majority of missions are of "get inside some building, kill people/sneak past them and kill them", contrast that with Bloodlines where the most quest chains only had one combat encounter, the rest of it being talking to people and investigating, with only the occasional infiltration of a multi-room building (the last 1/5 of the game non-withstanding) Maybe they should have made more missions ala gelato man, instead of making shooting galleries.
Also, the camera is shit.

 

[Alex]

Eh, how so? I mean, Bloodlines has crappy combat and all, but still isn't nearly as bad as AP's main gameplay.

I wrote about this here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-multi-headed-dick.44481/page-38#post-2439446

Also, Bloodlines has the benefit that it is actually fun to play...

Only if you think walking through hubs is the height of fun, as many people on the Codex do.

I saw your post there. I just completely disagree with you.

 

[Roguey]

My problem with AP is not the fact that the combat and stealth are shit. I can live with that. It's the fact that the game feels the need to shove them down your throat. The majority of missions are of "get inside some building, kill people/sneak past them and kill them", contrast that with Bloodlines where the most quest chains only had one combat encounter, the rest of it being talking to people and investigating, with only the occasional infiltration of a multi-room building (the last 1/5 of the game non-withstanding) Maybe they should have made more missions ala gelato man, instead of making shooting galleries.
Also, the camera is shit.

"Bloodlines is better because you do a lot more walking" is what you're saying.

 

[handup]

My problem with AP is not the fact that the combat and stealth are shit. I can live with that. It's the fact that the game feels the need to shove them down your throat. The majority of missions are of "get inside some building, kill people/sneak past them and kill them", contrast that with Bloodlines where the most quest chains only had one combat encounter, the rest of it being talking to people and investigating, with only the occasional infiltration of a multi-room building (the last 1/5 of the game non-withstanding) Maybe they should have made more missions ala gelato man, instead of making shooting galleries.
Also, the camera is shit.

"Bloodlines is better because you do a lot more walking" is what you're saying.

I mean that Bloodlines had more variety imo. Variety from which AP might have benefited. I don't know about you, but I found the that the most enjoyable parts of the game were the dialogue cutscenes and hanging around in your crib clicking on shit to hear Mike talk about stuff, or indeed anything beside the missions themselves. I do not mean to imply that walking around the city in itself added to the experience, but rather that AP could have gained from the "Let's look in the dinner for clues. Oh.. keys to a car. To the parking lot" elements. There are only so many times you can do a "Infiltrate warehouse, retrieve macguffin, get out.", before it starts getting tiresome.

 

[villain of the story]

My problem with AP is not the fact that the combat and stealth are shit. I can live with that. It's the fact that the game feels the need to shove them down your throat. The majority of missions are of "get inside some building, kill people/sneak past them and kill them", contrast that with Bloodlines where the most quest chains only had one combat encounter, the rest of it being talking to people and investigating, with only the occasional infiltration of a multi-room building (the last 1/5 of the game non-withstanding) Maybe they should have made more missions ala gelato man, instead of making shooting galleries.
Also, the camera is shit.

"Bloodlines is better because you do a lot more walking" is what you're saying.

Bloodlines presents you small and self contained hubs where a lot of things happen but don't necessarily restrict you to a linear path. "A lot of walking" is hyperbole. Locations are very small to begin with. Most importantly, it's oozing atmosphere and is full of interesting characters who aren't mandatory but add to the game a lot.

Alpha Popamole? "Hubs" aren't even hubs. Safehouses are glorified game menus and missions are linear shoot-em-up sneak-em-up segments with nothing interesting whatsoever. There is no personality, no atmosphere, nothing. When you visit Isaac or "Voermans" or Strauss or Nines, you see them in their own environment, full of details, personality mood, periphery characters with stuff to say and satellite quests. Then quests, some optional, take you to different places that are interesting.

Alpha Popamole? Nothing. It's all just shitty emails or shitty Biowarian cutscenes. It's almost tragic that Obsidian worked so hard to make a game full of nothing. Even writing isn't that good. It's very inconsistent and only occassionaly merely good at best.

 

[Volourn]

Anyone who believes that AP is better than BL in any way are stupid. Plain and simple.

 

[Cassidy]

Anyone who believes that AP is better than BL in any way are stupid. Plain and simple.

Even a broken clock is right twice every day

 

[Hellraiser]

The hubs in Bloodlines, as small as they were, at least gave you a reason to explore and discover something. Sometimes it was just loot, sometimes a sidequest. On the other hand you have Alpha Popamole which dumbed that part down to the game telling you "yo, sidequest available. Wanna do it bro?". No effort from the player required, everything was handed to him the second it was available. That's even worse than a quest compass and quest giver indicators above NPC heads visible from kilometers away.

 

[Excidium]

Well, Thorton is a special agent, what you want him to do? Walk around the city looking for a job or golden ak-47 hidden under a table?

 

[J_C]

Everytime I read that the minigames or the combat were frustrating in AP I wonder, either I am a pr0 (beating the game easily, without a problem), or these people suck at AP big time.
And I rolled a stealth character. You can't ghost through the game (it is not designed that way), but if you use some kind of combat (gun, rifle, melee) and some tech skills, the game is not difficult.

 

[villain of the story]

Assassin's Creed series are better espionage games. You stalk people, you impersonate people, you gather information, you steal stuff, you chase people, run away from people and the best, you can end up doing all of these in varying orders during the same assignment and it's all very organic. Apart from the lame area locking but even that beats the shitty stereotypical generic shooter levels of AP.

 

[Alex]

Everytime I read that the minigames or the combat were frustrating in AP I wonder, either I am a pr0 (beating the game easily, without a problem), or these people suck at AP big time.
And I rolled a stealth character. You can't ghost through the game (it is not designed that way), but if you use some kind of combat (gun, rifle, melee) and some tech skills, the game is not difficult.

They are frustrating because they aren't fun, not because they are hard.

Well, Thorton is a special agent, what you want him to do? Walk around the city looking for a job or golden ak-47 hidden under a table?

Well, it could be less of a series of corridors, for a start, so this kind of stuff would be found and acted upon, instead of being thrust onto you.

 

[J_C]

Everytime I read that the minigames or the combat were frustrating in AP I wonder, either I am a pr0 (beating the game easily, without a problem), or these people suck at AP big time.
And I rolled a stealth character. You can't ghost through the game (it is not designed that way), but if you use some kind of combat (gun, rifle, melee) and some tech skills, the game is not difficult.

They are frustrating because they aren't fun, not because they are hard.

Well being fun or not is highly subjective. I found the minigames challenging and fun.

 

[Gord]

I think AP would have been much better, had they really committed to the C&C aspect.
Instead of doing all the missions in one playthrough (well, potentially, of course some were optional, but they were all available), some missions should have opened/closed according to your previous choices.
The action parts are clearly the weakest part of the game. Doing less of them, therefore shortening the game and giving a higher incentive to replay would help a lot.

 

[Lancehead]

The minigames are nothing to write home about, although I do like the lockpicking one, and they're not especially frustrating because there aren't a ton of them. The only frustrating thing about them is the mouse part of the hacking minigame. The mouse look/movement in general is messed up in the game.

 

[Infinitron]

tl;dr It should have been a visual novel.

 

[Roguey]

Bloodlines presents you small and self contained hubs where a lot of things happen but don't necessarily restrict you to a linear path. "A lot of walking" is hyperbole. Locations are very small to begin with. Most importantly, it's oozing atmosphere and is full of interesting characters who aren't mandatory but add to the game a lot.

This makes better gameplay, how? Atmosphere isn't gameplay.

tl;dr It should have been a visual novel.

No, more like they should have had a freaking design document explaining who it was for and what features it was going to have instead of bungling around like headless chickens for a couple of years.

 

[Brayko]

Another flawed gem from Obsidian. This one has some really memorable characters though.

 

[St. Toxic]

Bloodlines presents you small and self contained hubs where a lot of things happen but don't necessarily restrict you to a linear path. "A lot of walking" is hyperbole. Locations are very small to begin with. Most importantly, it's oozing atmosphere and is full of interesting characters who aren't mandatory but add to the game a lot.

This makes better gameplay, how? Atmosphere isn't gameplay.

Meaning, what, that if you string a bunch of combat-missions together with some non-interactive cutscenes the same effect can be achieved and core gameplay remains unaltered? I mean, anything to avoid walking, right, we wouldn't want to inadvertently insult a bunch of fat people. And having to find things rather than just having them pointed out to you is so inconsiderate to human vegetables, while really adding nothing of value to the game.

But actually, you did do a lot of investigative prep-work in BL; hunting for clues, hacking computers, talking to people. Had a real noire detective-vibe to it. There was always the option of slugging it out with nothing but combat, but I can't imagine that being particularly fun, kind of like AP just, well, wasn't.

 

[Malpercio]

I wish AP would start on my PC!

 

[villain of the story]

I think AP would have been much better, had they really committed to the C&C aspect.
Instead of doing all the missions in one playthrough (well, potentially, of course some were optional, but they were all available), some missions should have opened/closed according to your previous choices.
The action parts are clearly the weakest part of the game. Doing less of them, therefore shortening the game and giving a higher incentive to replay would help a lot.

Parts of the game open or close depending on your choices. There are parts of the game you don't ever see because they don't open due to your choices.

Regardless, it all felt very insignificant.