Alpha Protocol E3 Preview from AtomicGamer

The guys at AtomicGamer seem to think that Alpha Protocol is heavily influenced by Mass Effect, as revealed in their new E3 preview.

Written by Jeff Buckland, 6/16/2009

Of all the video games you wish you could someday see, I’m pretty sure that “modern day spy-themed action-RPG in the style of Mass Effect” wasn’t near the top your list. Hell, it probably wasn’t even on your list at all – it certainly wasn’t on mine. So when I walked into the E3 demo for Obsidian Entertainment’s Alpha Protocol, I was admittedly a little skeptical and didn’t really know what to expect.

At first, the Mass Effect connection wasn’t apparent. The game has you playing as Mike Thorton, a spy with a, shall we say, flexible set of morals and a soft spot for the ladies. Ok, he’s no James Bond in that department, but at least he does get the chance to woo a few tough chicks he comes across. Anyway, Thorton must traverse the plot-heavy RPG with care, as conversational choices can quickly turn friends into enemies (and vice versa) and turn a powerful organization against you if you let it happen. As the developers put it, the dialog has a quality of tension that has you thinking on your feet and always wondering if you chose the right path the last time you talked to a character – this is heightened by the fact that you have a limited time to make a choice for everything you say. You also won’t be able to have the same conversation over and over like with most RPGs, so if you choose the wrong thing to say, you won’t be able to go back and fix it so easily.

But there aren’t a lot of truly wrong answers for the many characters in Alpha Protocol, as you can play a real jerk if you like and still get through the game. While there’s no tracking of how good or evil you are – it seems like Thorton almost has no notion of what those two words really even mean – your actions will enamor you with the “wrong” people if you continue to choose to act like the bad guy. You’ll have different problems at different times, too, because your choices for who to befriend and who to betray will affect mission outcomes, the existence of boss battles at certain times, and the amount and types of gear you’ll get.

This is around the time that it became clear that Mass Effect was a huge influence for the guys at Obsidian. Not only does Thorton have a very similar leveling and advancement system, but he can also add upgrades to his weapons and armor that have effects similar to Bioware’s latest sci-fi extravaganza. But Obsidian promises to take these systems to the next level, not only giving you new perks with levels, but new abilities with certain weapons and many more customization options as well.

The mission that we got to see involved getting through quite a few enemies in a trainyard to locate a shipment of weapons. Thorton in this run relied heavily on his assault rifle and remote mines (as in, grenades with a manually-controlled detonation – no more waiting for the grenade’s timer as the enemy flees), and also picked up a shotgun with some pretty lethal power. Overall this mission wasn’t particularly fantastic – the visuals were decent but not exceptional, the action felt a little too similar to so many shooters over the last few years, and the cover system given here makes mid-range sniper shots with even the assault rifle ridiculously easy. But it’s the choices made in getting through the mission interesting, as Thorton had the option of sweet-talking a rival commando (and all-around hottie) into helping him take out the enemies in the yard, and even got to pick a fight with her afterwards. Thorton also was able to fulfill the mission objectives by destroying the weapon shipment, but also had the opportunity to keep them for himself to either add to his own armory or sell on the black market.

All of this adds up to an intriguing game that, for now, does seem to have a rather glaring big downside. All of these RPG elements, dialog choices, and gear to upgrade is no good if the basic shooter mechanics aren’t damn solid, and for now it seems like that last part is the area they need to work on the most. Tight, entertaining missions that allow Thorton the full use of his abilities, including the chance to sneak around or use hand-to-hand combat often can do wonders for the game, but from the stealth side of things, all of this will need to work with a balanced AI that allows you to sneak around but can still use a few brain cells when Thorton gets too cocky. If they can polish their missions and make the whole experience a little more rewarding for a shooter fan, I think that Obsidian and Sega have a hit on their hands. Alpha Protocol is set for release this fall on PC, 360, and PS3.