Play Alpha Protocol in San Francisco

[Oner]

He melts into **** chocolate.

That's a bad thing, right?

I wouldn't know.

[Alvin Nelson]

laf

[funcroc]

Alpha Protocol show consequences of decisions

[WorstUsernameEver]

At last, Thorton pulls Al-Shaheed from the burning armored vehicle and interrogates him. Suddenly, the game flashes forward. Thorton is being interrogated by what looks like a higher-up. They ask him what he did with Al-Shaheed, and that answer will determine what he did in the past.

 

This makes more sense than what the other preview said.

[Starwars]

As Thorton blasts and wreaks havoc on the base, an 1980s-style action movie soundtrack pumps through the speakers. Somehow I’m reminded of Commando or Terminator. It rocks.

 

I assume this is the same location that was showcased in the that cam video, and I do agree. As the music revved up, there is a really nice feeling of "let's kick some ass". Stuff like that doesn't succeed often for me in games, but that little snippet was quite awesome.

 

Interesting bit about the interface, it's nice to see some critique that isn't just whining about graphics or Mass Effect. I could see that critique as valid, though I think the action still looks pretty smooth judging from the cam video. Hope there'll be a good hotkey system to solve some of that.

[Enoch]

In the first one, the main character, Michael Thorton, is a ladies man. He

[mrmumbles]

In the first one, the main character, Michael Thorton, is a ladies man. He

[funcroc]

Eurogamer hands-on

[Slowtrain]

Eurogamer hands-on

 

 

Some of that was completely stupid:

 

 

It feels completely wrong at first that shooting at enemies can do little to no damage, or that you have to stay out of cover with your reticule trained on someone for five seconds in order to get a critical hit. Over the course of four hours with the game, though, it did begin to make sense

 

How old are these "reviewers" and when did they start playing games? Last year?

Edited March 20, 2010 by Slowtrain

[Oner]

[WorstUsernameEver]

Where you put your stat points, then, really does determine how you can play the game. Sadly it also means that players will necessarily pigeonhole themselves into a particular approach. It's literally impossible to change tactics for later missions, because your stats won't allow it - you can't suddenly roll out with a shotgun for a level that's giving you trouble if you've been pouring all your points into stealth abilities and pistols.

 

Apparently that's a 'problem' in an RPG.

Wow.

 

Bad preview is bad.

[Sannom]

So Eurogamer is the first one since a long time to have the chance to play a hand-on version of the game? And yet they say non-sense such as the thing WorstUsernameEver quoted. I mean, that's the point of a RPG, and many people were afraid that the run-and-gun scenario would become the default option because of unbalance, that is that going gun-blazing no matter your stats would be a viable scenario. It apparently isn't, and I'm glad for it!

[Starwars]

Most of the stuff they mention in the preview is great news to me, but it's a shame that the tone of the preview overall seems to be negative. The stuff mentioned about the player specializing and thus making the other skills (which have not been leveled up) useless is exactly what I want in a RPG.

 

I also wonder a bit about the alarms. They say here that many times, it's an insta-death if the alarm gets turned on. But I wonder if it really *is* an insta-death (as in a Game Over because you weren't supposed to alert people) or an insta-death in the sense that it's gonna be really damn hard to get yourself out of that situation. I really hope it's the latter, that'd be great.

[Oner]

Earlier interviews said it's the latter.

[Slowtrain]

It's just amazing to me that a game that is skill-based gets a write-up that's somewhat negative because the skill choices you make actually matter and that you can't just ignore your skill choices and do whatever you want with equal effectivenes.

 

*shakes head*

[Oblarg]

The only reasonable criticism I read in that article was the plot being written around the level design, and not vice-versa.

[lord of flies]

The only reasonable criticism I read in that article was the plot being written around the level design, and not vice-versa.

Wrong, that's not a reasonable criticism. In fact, writing a plot around mission design is better than the opposite, since the core of the game is the missions. The reasonable criticism was that Thorton can sound like he's mental if you switch between multiple conversation options.

[Tigranes]

I don't think the reviewer meant to sound as negative as he did, really. That's the problem with eurogamer reviews (and some others) sometimes - they're so concerned with trying to be witty, poetic or personal that they waste the first 300 words on weird exposition and you don't really get a good idea of what the reviewer's ultimate opinion is.

[Slowtrain]

I don't think the reviewer meant to sound as negative as he did, really. That's the problem with eurogamer reviews (and some others) sometimes - they're so concerned with trying to be witty, poetic or personal that they waste the first 300 words on weird exposition and you don't really get a good idea of what the reviewer's ultimate opinion is.

 

 

I kinda thought he was joking around at first, but then I decided he was being serious.

 

I could be wrong either way.

[Sannom]

Most of the stuff they mention in the preview is great news to me, but it's a shame that the tone of the preview overall seems to be negative. The stuff mentioned about the player specializing and thus making the other skills (which have not been leveled up) useless is exactly what I want in a RPG.

 

Same here : many of the things they mention in that preview are good news for me and probably for other people who still had some reservations about the game. For example, I feared that the run-and-gun way of playing would always be a good and easy way of doing things, but apparently it isn't. But the previewer makes them sound as bad things, and that is not good!

 

 

The only reasonable criticism I read in that article was the plot being written around the level design, and not vice-versa.

 

Not even, like LoF said. Avellone and his team, and many people at Obsidian, have already said that they thought story should be weaved as part of the game design and around gameplay and level design, not as the center of a game.

[Raithe]

I like the way they suggest that Mike can sound mental if you keep changing styles of conversation.. I mean, major concept.. a spy who acts differently in circumstances depending on the people he's talking to and how he wants them to react to him.. Yeah, I can reaalllly see why that would make him seem mental..

 

It gave some interesting snippets of information , but it does seem that the guy who wrote that article was expecting something that was more splinter-cell then an rpg...

[Oner]

I like the way they suggest that Mike can sound mental if you keep changing styles of conversation.. I mean, major concept.. a spy who acts differently in circumstances depending on the people he's talking to and how he wants them to react to him.. Yeah, I can reaalllly see why that would make him seem mental..

I think the others (and the previewer of course) meant the constantly changing tone and behavior. A Mike who's periodically switching between nice, gentle tone and agressive,demanding tone would look like a loony.

[Pop]

I also wonder a bit about the alarms. They say here that many times, it's an insta-death if the alarm gets turned on. But I wonder if it really *is* an insta-death (as in a Game Over because you weren't supposed to alert people) or an insta-death in the sense that it's gonna be really damn hard to get yourself out of that situation. I really hope it's the latter, that'd be great.

The way I read it was that it's an insta-death if you've got a character specialized in stealth and unarmed combat. Being swarmed in that case can only reasonably lead to a dire situation.

 

Also Gamesradar preview. They like that you have choice but don't understand the appeal of any choice beyond "shooter". Pretty negative.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Pop

[Starwars]

I think the others (and the previewer of course) meant the constantly changing tone and behavior. A Mike who's periodically switching between nice, gentle tone and agressive,demanding tone would look like a loony.

 

It's still a pretty weird complaint since this is a feature that is present in most RPGs. Most of them do showcase all dialogue options for the player, and allow the player to choose from them regardless of his previous choices in dialogues.

I can see it being a bit more emphasized in AP since everything is voiceacted also, but it's still a pretty stupid complaint. It allows the player the choices to handle things as he sees fit, as it should be.

 

EDIT: From that above preview...

 

On the downside, being rubbish at the hacking, deactivating, safe-cracking and lock-picking mini-games (there's lots of 'em) got sucky pretty quickly. For a while we got stuck in a cycle that followed this pattern: attempt hack, fail hack, trigger alarm, fight men, kill men, attempt hack, fail hack, trigger alarm, fight men, kill men, attempt hack... and so on. Frustrating and annoying.

 

It never occurred to whoever was playing to not dive into all that stuff if they didn't have any skills in it?

 

Playing as a stealthy Thorton certainly worked, but we struggled to see the appeal. Why bother creeping through a mission when you can shoot your way to victory in half the time?

 

Why bother shooting your way to victory if you can creep through a mission silently? Weird logic here.

 

we're not convinced that the characters or plot will keep us hooked for the duration.

 

Er, yeah. We're certainly spoiled by all the thought-proving plots and characters in gaming. Thank the stars we have such story masterpieces like Call of Duty, Mass Effect and Final Fantasy.

 

Stupid stuff aside, it's good to see confirmation that different skill sets will really define how you play the game.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Starwars

[Oner]

It's still a pretty weird complaint since this is a feature that is present in most RPGs. Most of them do showcase all dialogue options for the player, and allow the player to choose from them regardless of his previous choices in dialogues.

I can see it being a bit more emphasized in AP since everything is voiceacted also, but it's still a pretty stupid complaint. It allows the player the choices to handle things as he sees fit, as it should be.

I agree, I was just clarifying.