Review RPG Codex Review: Alpha Protocol

[RK47]

I'm playing right now and I don't understand why people think it's the worst game evahhhhhhh. So far it seems on par with Deus Ex HR. Nothing amazing but still decent fun.

 

[Metro]

So far it seems on par with Deus Ex HR. Nothing amazing but still decent fun.

I hope you're viewing that as a whole as opposed to "the shooting and stealth are on par with HR" which would be ridiculous. You're likely to bump into some pointlessly frustrating parts later on. I suspect those who dislike it the most started off playing on recruit/hard which makes pretty much everything pointlessly frustrating.

I did recruit but on normal because I had heard certain builds could make the game frustrating. So far I've dumped enough points into stealth to grab that six second invisibility and a couple of points in sabotage. Now just deciding if I want to do pistols or assault rifle.

I'm sure the criticisms of the review will be apparent later (and I can already tell stealth will be overpowered) but, again, most of them seem to echo the criticisms of Deus Ex HR (tedious combat, mini-games, annoying boss fights, some console-ish mechanics, etc). At least the C&C seems a bit better. As to the stealth in HR I didn't find it particularly amazing. I beat the game on my first go on 'Deux Ex/Hard' difficulty doing a 99% pacifist run (I shot the guards in the opening vignette where you don't have your super powers yet) with little difficulty.

 

[Roguey]

I did recruit but on normal because I had heard certain builds could make the game frustrating. So far I've dumped enough points into stealth to grab that six second invisibility and a couple of points in sabotage. Now just deciding if I want to do pistols or assault rifle.

Assault rifles are pretty good for bosses and killing enemies at long range, pistols are overpowered. I don't know why more people don't avoid the "certain builds make the game frustrating" thing by choosing the freelance option, putting all their points into maxing out a gun skill and two ranks of sabotage and then just go on building up their stealth like a recruit would.

As to the stealth in HR I didn't find it particularly amazing. I beat the game on my first go on 'Deux Ex/Hard' difficulty doing a 99% pacifist run (I shot the guards in the opening vignette where you don't have your super powers yet) with little difficulty.

It's not really a question of difficulty. HR has levels that were built for stealth from the start, more feedback (i.e. it isn't a guessing game to determine how far their line of sight or hearing range extends), and preferable stealth AI (someone sees or hears you at a distance, you're alerted via a sound effect, then he comes over to investigate; in AP getting spotted makes an enemy immediately hostile unless you purchase an ability that gives you a few seconds of invisibility to run away)

 

[Roguey]

If any point of time someone finds AP hard, I would say that they are probably too retarded to play Me3 on RPG mode.

There are people on this very forum who got mad at boss fights and those places where you have to fight a bunch of respawning enemies (Russian embassy [they forgot/didn't know about the sniper drop], Rome ruins). Also those who played on hard have a good reason to hate Marburg's mansion where you start off having a mandatory fistfight with two guys regardless of your martial arts skill.

 

[Roguey]

And if they didn't put points in pistols? You can't avoid bosses or those respawn-places when they're on the crit path.

 

[Metro]

It is pretty moronic that they go insta-hostile in AP versus an 'alert' status. Guess I'll be going pistols, too. Shame they are a bit OP but it makes more sense for a stealth approach since I can use silencers and whatnot.

 

[tuluse]

Why do you defend this game so much Roguey? No comprende.

 

[Brayko]

It's really not a bad game.

There's incline, there's decline, and there's Obsidian, which is a warped combo of the two.

 

[Metro]

Why do you defend this game so much Roguey? No comprende.

IMO, it's probably one of the better games Obsidian has put out in the last several years. Not that that's saying much.

 

[Alex]

There's incline, there's decline, and there's Obsidian, which is decline, but faster!

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

 

[Brayko]

I guess you haven't played a Bioware or Bethesda game in the past few years. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

 

[Alex]

To be honest, no, I haven't. Last Bioware game I played was DA, and then, only for about an hour. But my post was mostly a Simpsons reference rather than a real observation.

 

[Roguey]

It is pretty moronic that they go insta-hostile in AP versus an 'alert' status.

It's strange because using the sound generator shows that enemies do have a "go search for the noise" behavior, though if I remember right, they go hostile seconds after they approach where you aimed it, which might explain why it doesn't happen normally. It's a tool you use to lead people into traps or in a place where you can knock them out without anyone else noticing, not so much for ghosting.

Guess I'll be going pistols, too. Shame they are a bit OP but it makes more sense for a stealth approach since I can use silencers and whatnot.

ARs have subsonic ammo but it's not as reliable as tranqs or silencers since it shoots in a burst of three no matter what and if you don't put all of them in the head you're likely to get an alert. The AR power is also the most boring since the auto-aim centers on the torso instead of the head and it's clearly a power designed for imprecise thumb-stick aiming and not nearly as awesome as unlimited bullets, insta-crits, or massive damage. I completed one playthrough using ARs as a primary weapon but they work best as a back-up to deal with long-range enemies since pistols, shotguns, and smgs all cover short-to-medium range.

Why do you defend this game so much Roguey? No comprende.

I think it's inexcusably awful, but I like underdogs and the potential for something that could have been fun-with-few-reservations is there.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Yeah, I played AP on recruit and after that, veteran. The stealth is broken, but some C&C, main villain - Leland, and hot wymyn were enough for me . We need more spy-espionage stuff made with proper stealth system.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

It's a p. fun game. Still less flawed than VTMB.

Eh, how so? I mean, Bloodlines has crappy combat and all, but still isn't nearly as bad as AP's main gameplay. Also, Bloodlines has the benefit that it is actually fun to play...

VTMB starts as a pretty mix of genres and ends up being a shitty shooter somewhere before the Chinatown (but if you manage to put some points in combat training, then you got your ass covered).
Alpha Protocol starts as a piece of shit and ends up being an enjoyable game with shitty stealth/combat mechanics.
Deux Ex: Human Revolution starts as something so epic that your ass is gonna blow and ends up being a 'not bad' game with shitty ending and overly crappy bossfights.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I'm playing right now and I don't understand why people think it's the worst game evahhhhhhh. So far it seems on par with Deus Ex HR. Nothing amazing but still decent fun.

True, but don't expect the game as a whole to be great. Instead, I'd put it as a must-play, simply because amongst all the shitty gameplay decisions there are some excellent ideas that deserve wider implementation. In particular the C+C system is among the best ever implemented (it goes WELL beyond the obvious 'choose path A or B' / 'red soldiers v blue soldiers' that you get most levels).

 

[Brayko]

To be honest, no, I haven't. Last Bioware game I played was DA, and then, only for about an hour. But my post was mostly a Simpsons reference rather than a real observation.

Yeah, I'm getting old. By a "few years" I mean 10+.

 

[Alex]

To be honest, no, I haven't. Last Bioware game I played was DA, and then, only for about an hour. But my post was mostly a Simpsons reference rather than a real observation.

Yeah, I'm getting old. By a "few years" I mean 10+.

Eh, I dunno. While I didn't like Dragon Age at all, I still think it was on par of the awfulness level in AP. Then again, maybe I really shouldn't be comparing games I played less than 25% of.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Shit review for shit game!

Shit poster for shit thread!

 

[Metro]

True, but don't expect the game as a whole to be great. Instead, I'd put it as a must-play, simply because amongst all the shitty gameplay decisions there are some excellent ideas that deserve wider implementation. In particular the C+C system is among the best ever implemented (it goes WELL beyond the obvious 'choose path A or B' / 'red soldiers v blue soldiers' that you get most levels).

This is the way my opinion is gravitating after another six or so hours of playing. The C&C is well done (for a game of this type) but the gameplay gets fairly repetitive and suffers from a lot of technical/design issues like the AI and -- unlike Deus Ex -- there aren't really multiple ways of tackling levels. Stealth, in particular, is fundamentally screwed up as I guess the way they countered the 'insta-hostile' response is by adding overpowered talents like Shadow Operative. But two poorly implemented extremes don't necessarily make for good balance or challenge.

Although it would be nice to go back and replay it to see a few of the C&C differences the gameplay would prevent me from doing so. Still, I think most Codexians should play it through once.

 

[Brocken Jr.]

AP's gameplay is tolerable if you 1. use a gamepad, and 2. use a Soldier build. It's never actually good, but this way it's livable and you can plow through for the C&C without ripping your fingernails out.

 

[racofer]

tl;dr It should have been a visual novel.

tl;dr Obsidian simply cannot into satisfying gameplay. They might be great at writing, but writing alone does not make a game enjoyable. I'm quite sure they would greatly benefit from less ambitious presentation in their games (their continuous attempts at making AAA games is retarded), and using simpler game engines with simplified graphics and game mechanics. They suck at these things, plain and simple. I'm confident even a game made in RPG Maker would be good enough with their writing skills.

Fuck your slam dunks, Feargus. Your over ambitious delusions of grandeur are wasting the skills of a good rpg team into shitty triple A wannabe games.

 

[Infinitron]

tl;dr It should have been a visual novel.

tl;dr Obsidian simply cannot into satisfying gameplay. They might be great at writing, but writing alone does not make a game enjoyable. I'm quite sure they would greatly benefit from less ambitious presentation in their games (their continuous attempts at making AAA games is retarded), and using simpler game engines with simplified graphics and game mechanics. They suck at these things, plain and simple. I'm confident even a game made in RPG Maker would be good enough with their writing skills.

Fuck your slam dunks, Feargus. Your over ambitious delusions of grandeur are wasting the skills of a good rpg team into shitty triple A wannabe games.

Thread Incliner Necromancer

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hammer & Sickle is probably more of an espionage game than Alpha Protocol, anyway.
Oh,

 

[Mangoose]

Hammer & Sickle is probably more of an espionage game than Alpha Protocol, anyway.

They're on par in bugs though! :D