Oblarg

You know, in shooters, by the time I've figured out where on the enemy I want to shoot, they've already shot me. I don't want to be rushed into things, dammit. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Are you seriously implying that a game's RPG-ness is dependent on how much you personally like the main character? Har har har. Very funny bud.

It'd be a more legitimate criticism if he could find something to complain about other than graphics and a minigame. The game as a whole is poorly made and combat is awkward and poorly realised. It seems clunky and ham-fisted to me and removes another dash of fun from one aspect of the game. Perhaps I've been spoilt by playing games that are fun from the outset and decently made. But for 40 pounds sterling I think every gamer should expect something more for their pennies. The interaction system simply doesn't flow, I find it lazy to say the least. Quick-time event conversations simply don't work in my opinion. I find myself detached from the whole thing, were as conversations in Mass Effect 1 and 2 flow and you feel you're actually a part of it. Hell some people might think they are basically the same system barring the timer, but AP's version seems cobbled together and a poor relation to other such versions. Movement and so forth is odd and lacks the grace and finesse of other games (as mentioned before) and since one can't help but not loko at the main character since he occupies a good portion of the screen, is as distracting as it is off-putting. The simple fact is this game is not fun, not worth the money paid for it and graphics (say what you will) make a huge impact since they are the first thing anyone lays eyes upon. I must admit I found my interest waning the moment I saw the main menu screen. I wasn't aware I'd been teleported back to the early 1990's as I said in my first post. But on I played hoping for a spark of fun to ignite my interest. As to it being a legit criticism, the mini-game and the graphics are but two pieces of a very sorry puzzle that are indicative of the laziness of the game developers and the people who even approved this as a finished product. As for it being an RPG, I'd say no to that. Mostly down to the fact I found myself not giving a flying fig for the protagonist from the outset. RPG it ain't. A poorly designed shooter with delusions perhaps. RPG. No. These are my opinions. Nothing more, nothing less. Some folks will love this game, some folks will hate it. Other folks such as me will wonder how on earth this ever passed muster and found its way onto the shelves of the local gaming store. Do tell, what makes something an "RPG" in your opinion?

It'd be a more legitimate criticism if he could find something to complain about other than graphics and a minigame. Not sure why. He's not a reviewer, he just somebody posting on the games messageboard. He clearly doesn't like the game and after paying

It'd be a more legitimate criticism if he could find something to complain about other than graphics and a minigame.

I think the important part was that Sega is supposed to handle support, not Obsidian. Head over to their forums, and by all means, if there's no support you can make a big stink.

super wrong...your knowledge is really wrong. If you believe in reviewers you are really a sheep or a tool. Maybe he doesn't want to blow $60 on a game most people are saying is a flawed gem at best. He must be a real tool for trying to wisely spend his money. It may just be that some people want to wait for a price drop before buying a game, in which concept they like, is questionable. That would be a reasonable view. Unfortunately, that isn't what he was saying.

The fact that schools still have dress codes is proof enough. You'd think it'd already have been overturned if it weren't legally sound.

While I don't think AP is a rip-off of ME, you must admit that Obsidian COULD have been inspired by some design choices after Mass Effect came out. To be honest, it's not like Black Isle didn't do that before. Planescape Torment was based on the Infinity Engine, it used the same ruleset etc.. granted, it was a D&D license, but are we sure PS:T would have came out like that without Baldur's Gate? No doubt it was an influence, but it's certainly not as if the folks at Obsidian said "Hey, Mass Effect was fun, let's make it with spies!"

You do realize that AP entered production before ME was released, right?

I did not say use quotes. I said use the quote feature. It's vastly superior in terms of post formatting.

I guarantee that if a school deemed religious icons disruptive and banned them in the dress code, so long as the ban was universal, it would hold up in court.

Unfortunately, I can't read German, but generally if AP is rated 2 points below what ME2 was rated on a German website, I assume that they mean they thought it was almost as good as ME2, bugs or no. That is how ratings work, is it not? As for positive reviews in English... http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3179545 http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=248379 http://xbox-360.nowgamer.com/reviews/xbox-.../alpha-protocol http://free-pc-guides.com/games/new-alpha-...-magazine-01808 None of those seemed to think the plot was bland, or that the game was "broken." Now, if you assume that the plethora of reviews in foreign languages are written by people who aren't idiots and aren't being compelled against their will to give the game a higher score than it deserves, I see no reason to think the game is fundamentally broken.

Never mind the fact that the majority of the reviews we've seen (the European ones) have all given it around an 85.

You're very good at strawmanning. Also, please use the quote feature in the future, it would make your posts much more readable.

You have a right. But not much of one. Promoting illegal activity in a school sponsored event is not the same thing as wearing a cross. No it's not, you have no understanding of the law. You can require a dress code, but you can not prohibit display of religious items. At best they could limit the size or something like that. If your dress code prohibits the display of religious items, it's still a dress code. There's no exception that says "you can only prohibit these certain things in your dress code."

I'm still really baffled at the huge gap between the people who liked it and the people who thought it was terrible. I don't think I've ever seen reviews this polarized before.

For a B-, that 1up reviewer really seemed to like it a lot. It's probably one of the better reviews I've read, actually. As for the gamespot review, I wasn't expecting amazing combat, and that's what most of the criticism was aimed at - clunky shooter mechanics.

Cubans routinely risked their lives to get to Florida, yet the Bay of Pigs was a disaster.

I had DA:O on the PC, and it, too, was buggy as hell.

That would be a pretty stupid thing to do, though.

Going by the past reviews, I predict a 7.5-8.5, praising the complexity of the story and mentioning that the combat takes a while to get used to and the animations are stiff.

Some people have no problem doing it, so I'd hardly call it "broken."

I think it has more to do with where American interests in games are. Most Americans(trust me, I know as I am one) can't sit through a movie if there isn't a crazy action scene, so asking them to play through a game that might take some understanding of the dialogue... As nice as it may be to blame our simplistic minds and our lack of capacity for complexity, I don't buy it. There's something else going on here - why would the European reviewers see the game as pretty damn good, but with outdated graphics while the American reviewers see it as an unplayable trainwreck with monotonous dialogue?

That's pretty much right in the same vein as the rest of the European reviews.