Cl_Flushentityhero

Well, I'd say the primary role of army combatives these days is to build confidence and a willingness to engage the enemy (which would be the primary reason they still include knife/bayonet fighting at all I think). Secondary is to be able to subdue an uncooperative target alive (and perhaps unharmed). Tertiary would be actually killing people up close on the battlefield. Even special forces mostly just shoot people in a war situation. That doesn't mean the stuff sucks, my experience with the MACP (modern army combatives program) has been mostly a positive one. That said, I don't think they're so worried about their deadly CQC secrets being publicly available. In general, the components of the military program were already floating around out there and just got condensed into a training manual. Keep in mind that the WW2 combatives that are still popular to this day were in part a result of Applegate and Fairbairn looking at civilian violence. In addition to going to martial arts schools, they looked to police and criminals for how to design their deadly military program. Not surprisingly, cops have a whole lot more experience using CQC in real situations than most soldiers. So, in effect, a lot of the uber deadly commando moves you see in military manuals are distilled from the stuff that happened during peace and information already available outside the military.

Has there ever been a spy game without crates?

I'm just glad we curbed the off-topic discussion of ME and KOTOR in order to return to what's really important.

A towel can be used defensively, though I question its killing power. *Maybe* you could use it like a garrote to do an artery choke (I honestly haven't tried), but you can choke somebody empty-handed as well. Also, if you were ridiculously good at popping towels, you might be able to use one for a preemptive strike to the face (distracting at least).

Agree 100%. Good game /= popular game though. Basically, I just want AP to be popular enough to become a franchise and release a sequel. Beyond that, meh.

It would certainly help, since gamers in general and critics particularly tend to be superficial. I mean, when was the last time the critics mostly agreed that a game was pretty yet utterly devoid of other positive qualities? Crysis was a tech demo on steroids and it got a metacritic of 91, for crying out loud. Mass Effect got away with having good character/weapon models and blocky environments though, so maybe AP can follow in that regard.

I think an overhaul would be necessary to make it look comparable to Killzone 2, Uncharted, Gears, MGS4, CoD 5, Splinter Cell: Double Agent . . . etc., which is what some people expect out of what they perceive to be a "shooter." Is it a fair expectation from a RPG that dabbles in shooting? Hell no.

It was a good game, and palatable without any aspect standing out in the typical Bioware fashion.

Amen. Obsidian is trying to do enough with the genre already, no vehicle sections please.

I think that guy's face looks great. The rest of the game might need some work As for improvement, it's hard to say. I honestly have trouble imagining a huge revamp before release, but I'm a little bit cynical. Probably just sharper textures and finessing of a polygon here and there. By my own personal standards, the current level of graphics is totally adequate. By the standards of people who expect Gears of War or MGS4 visuals from every new title, it could be rough.

Except that is not at all how you phrased your supposedly insightful "zinger." It was rude, which is why I called you out on it. It was also, contrary to your claims, neither clever nor funny based on the original post.

Hey, you obviously cared enough about Alpha Protocol to register on the site...ironically to tell us that you don't care. I don't think that was what he meant at all. If you're going to zing somebody, at least do it right. Cooper's point is a valid one. I rabidly enjoyed KOTOR2 and NWN2, but the rest of the world did not share my enthusiasm. They also had the momentum of already-popular franchises going for them, whereas AP has to generate its own popularity.

I think DA will fail the accolade of being "the successor to BG2." What it *will* be is another decent Bioware RPG; no more, no less. I am a little concerned at how rampant stereotypes appear to be so far. Combat seems to be about 8 foot tall manly men in full armor and sickly-looking wizards hiding in back. the NPCs (?) shown so far look pretty generic, and while some companies would use that as a chance to create characters that look shallow and are actually deep, I doubt Bioware is one of them.

Nobody has mentioned Bon Jovi or Boston? Just saying . . .

Yeah, the recommended reading thread has turned into a free for all on movies and games as well.

A close second would be to have him lower his gun and yell "Damnit!"

Joseph Bullock doesn't use dialogue options, he does takedowns. The poll didn't include the "draw gun" option. Other than that, I'll most likely favor pro on my first playthrough. Hopefully the decisions will be largely situational. Obviously, I hope to eventually canvas the entire range of dialogue stances. I come from a PnP & PW background, so I have a habit of fleshing out a character to the degree I would need to handle him in "free play," then fitting him to the confines of the game I'm in. Kind of overkill, but it entertains me and allows me to revisit even the same choices from a different perspective.

In other news, the nade toss in this trailer is becoming iconic on GT, both in the way it oddly bounces around and also because the enemy AI doesn't dive out of the way.

Gimmicky, I like it. Not sure to what degree it will sway the editors, but it's definitely a new approach.

Persona 4 and Riddick: AoDA currently. I've been meaning to get back to Fallout 3 and Mount & Blade, though the lukewarm reception of The Pitt and the upcoming expansion for M&B have me hesitating.

Actually, Hugo Weaving had a very memorable pattern of speech *and* a certain rolling growl to his voice that made the character stand out. I wouldn't call his performance monotone (and indeed, if you listen closely, the pitch of his voice often changes within a single line).

Obviously I can't actually answer your question, though I get the impression that AP will be kind of a lighthearted and mostly decontextualized version of the real world. Even so, I think Obsidian will tap into some 'real' issues through the veil of fiction. It wouldn't surprise me if specific real-world events inspired certain portions of the game.

I have a slightly buzzed Saturday night theory on voice acting. A good lead must either be emotive and have a dynamic range in their delivery or their voice must have some kind of interesting texture (like an accent or gravelly monotone characteristic of badasses). Obviously both is a plus. A voice that is crystal clear and devoid of expression isn't interesting to listen to, and that's kind of what MT sounds like so far. That said, if he goes on to speak in 7 different languages perfectly and takes on different accents during every mission, I'll cut him some slack.

Or the fact that every time they talk about the arms dealer, it's that military guy (from which country I wonder? Iraq? For some reason that's what the red beret reminds me of) that is shown. But even then, i can't be sure. And it's unimportant. After all, I think the main reason we've been given so little dialogue footage is to keep the plot as "secret" as possible. Tomato, tomahto

You didn't like the movie Pitch Black? *shock* That's pretty much the only reason I like Vin Diesel, so I don't consider it very anomalous.