New preview

[Tigranes]

Wait, there are no settlements? Man, all I remember from finishing FO3 is "wait, I can't get the bloody mutant/zombie to do it WTF". My bad - in that case I have no idea what the hundreds of endings was about.

 

New preview sounds pretty positive, we already knew you can't really make a totally different Mike.

[Ausir]

Wait, there are no settlements? Man, all I remember from finishing FO3 is "wait, I can't get the bloody mutant/zombie to do it WTF". My bad - in that case I have no idea what the hundreds of endings was about.

 

The hundreds of endings are only there if you count e.g. your appearance changing based on the gender and race in one of the slides, etc.

[Baeus]

So all the different Alpha Protocol endings, will it just be a series of slides showing how many times you headslammed Gregori?

[Tigranes]

It should be an ending where al the characters come out and have a dance-off, and Brayko steals the show.

[Baeus]

Mike Thorton trailer I don't think has been posted up before

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/uk-micha...-protocol/65045

[Sannom]

New preview at a French magazine (Canard PC, literally "Duck PC". Don't ask), really, really enthusiastic and positive, except where we know the game lacks, notably graphics and animation.

 

It's also interesting because it helps shed some lights on those comment a few months back on "the initial levels were too challenging for the player and that the game didn't feel like a RPG". Apparently, it was all true : the initial level are really, really difficult, almost unfair, to the player not yet accustomed to the game and whose character is completely under-equipped. And the RPG comment apparently stems from the fact that the tutorial is terrible, putting emphasis on useless thing and forget to talk about the important thing, the RPG-ness of the game. No wonder the evaluator has those words...

[Starwars]

Thanks for the info, sounds strange about the tutorial.

 

What do the positive comments focus on? Also, is there any other mention of game difficulty overall?

[Sannom]

Yeah, I know about the tutorial, I was surprised too. We will see...

No mention of the overall difficulty, sorry. But he didn't complain about it.

 

The positive focused on many things :

- although he didn't expand on the subject in the preview, he liked the hand-to-hand combat.

- because it's nearly impossible to predict what will be the results of our action, the player feels a lot more compelled to play a role, instead of being opportunistic to get the best result.

- the writing. He found it it fresh, often humorous, always credible, even when totally clich

Edited May 5, 2010 by Sannom

[Starwars]

I think people not getting what the game really is is definitely a strong point (and has been since it was first released really) against Alpha Protocol and the potential success. A shame if the tutorial doesn't successfully "showcase" the game so to speak.

 

Thanks for checking the info though, Canard PC always seemed like a really good magazine judging from when people translate stuff from it on the Internet and such, they seem to go a bit deeper.

[Sannom]

I'm just going to assume you're the same guy than this guy at Iron Tower, but that Czech guy charged of the official translation in his language seemed to like the game. A lot.

[WorstUsernameEver]

"I have finished the game with seven different ending already and still haven't seen them all."

 

A promising comment.... he's finished the game with seven endings?

He has time to finish the game with seven endings??!!

Wow, if only translation were done with the same dedication here in Italy...

[Starwars]

I'm just going to assume you're the same guy than this guy at Iron Tower, but that Czech guy charged of the official translation in his language seemed to like the game. A lot.

 

Same guy, and yep... That guy sure seemed pretty excited, hehe.

[Sannom]

I think I already expressed my view on how having the game relatively short was good design when you focused so much on reactivity and replayability.

[Oblarg]

Just saw an ad for AP while watching Zero Punctuation. Finally, some advertising!

[Oner]

Here is the first review BTW.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Here is the first review BTW.

 

LOL. Am I a horrible person for finding this funny?

[Oner]

It's funny in the "this doesn't make a slightest sense" way.

[Starwars]

Another fairly level-headed preview: http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/alpha_pr...eview-2332.html

 

Mentions that ME2 sorta casts a shadow over AP in a way, and that some parts of the game (graphics for example) would've been more warmly received if it had been released earlier. He also mentions that the gunplay isn't as satisfying as ME2, but considering how much he praises the ME2 combat here (seriously, it wasn't that good man), I'll dismiss him as a bit of a loony.

 

On the other hand, he feels the strengths of AP really are in the choices, whether that's in combat or stealth or in gathering intel and how you handle NPCs. He seems to feel those areas are really strong in the game.

[Oner]

I don't particularly care about the ME 2 gunplay comparisons. ME 2 is the second game in it's series, AP is the first.

ME 1 had cover based shooting, and it was ****ty as hell, the sooner you ignored cover the better off you were. Even then, combat in ME boiled down to using your weapon skill (marksman and friends) then hold the Shoot button down. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

There were much better cover systems before it too, like Gears of War or Killswitch (2003!), yet ME's managed to be crap anyway.

So if anyone wants to compare ME and AP combat, they can stick it someplace.

 

Good preview btw.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Oner

[Raithe]

Well the

There are other cool tricks you can do here too, like arranging for a sniper rifle to be conveniently left in a nice spot at the location you

[Sannom]

I think sniper rifles are one-time weapons that are used for specifics missions. In that case, I think we can assassinate a Taiwanese candidate for the presidency...

[ginji]

Mentions that ME2 sorta casts a shadow over AP in a way, and that some parts of the game (graphics for example) would've been more warmly received if it had been released earlier.

 

Hmmm, "earlier" the game was much worse in the graphic department.

Just look at this old video, around 2:00. The enviroment reminds of the first Splinter Cell without his shadow engine, actually is horrible. The game started to look pretty just recently (with, finally, some decent textures and lightning), I don't think I would have received THAT graphics more "warmly" before

 

Nice preview, I want this game so badly!

[WorstUsernameEver]

Mentions that ME2 sorta casts a shadow over AP in a way, and that some parts of the game (graphics for example) would've been more warmly received if it had been released earlier.

 

Hmmm, "earlier" the game was much worse in the graphic department.

Just look at this old video, around 2:00. The enviroment reminds of the first Splinter Cell without his shadow engine, actually is horrible. The game started to look pretty just recently (with, finally, some decent textures and lightning), I don't think I would have received THAT graphics more "warmly" before

 

Nice preview, I want this game so badly!

 

The video is from april though, I honestly must say that I don't see that much difference from recent footage and the one they released in October.

[ginji]

Characters and other things are more or less the same. I'm talking mostly about the enviroments, that snowy stage (around 2:00) was clearly from the PS2 era, and even inside the building there were few polygons and flat textures.

I don't know how this enviroment is now, but the videos they released more recently showed levels with a little more detail.

[Starwars]

http://www.gamersdailynews.com/article-244...eview-X360.html

 

This one is very positive overall. Thinks the gameplay is great overall and cites the stealth bits as being well done. On the other hand, he finds the story to be clich