The Reviews

[Jaesun]

Anyone who reads and makes a decision to buy a game or not from the main stream (biased) gaming sites, need to open their eyes a bit.

[fuZZ]

Anyone who reads and makes a decision to buy a game or not from the main stream (biased) gaming sites, need to open their eyes a bit.

 

agreed

[Starwars]

Is there any review yet that has even mentioned what bugs can occur? Like I said, based on the early parts of the game I certainly didn't notice much of what I would call bugs. There is a slight camera wonkyness when the game loads something but that's pretty much it from my experience with Saudi Arabia. Others have mentioned that reloading the beginning of a mission can lead to soldiers immediately noticing you. Now that is a bug to be sure, but other than that? What exactly are these bugs?

 

That german review looks level-headed though. Though I only found hacking to be annoying, the other two worked well on the PC though, like with Mass Effect 2, they are so easy that they really feel like a minor nuisance rather than a challenge of any kind.

 

As far as whether the game would've had a better reception if it had been released before ME2. I don't know, maybe a little bit. But I always got a feeling ever since the game was announced that it would not a be a "hit", the skepticism was always there.

 

I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting though. I know in the missions I had a lot more fun with AP than with ME2 because it simply feels more dynamic. I think the guns feel good to use, I got a lot of use out of stealth in Saudi Arabia. In hindsight, one thing about the AI is that I wish they were more aggressive when you're triggering an alarm. They seem to go to the place where you were spotted but if you manage to hide, they really don't search as aggressively as I would like. I wonder how different the game will feel on Hard vs Normal.

 

Isn't Steam version up yet? Gah.

 

EDIT:

Obs probably could have had a better game if they weren't trying to make rambo tactics as effective as stealth, for example.

 

This is something I might be inclined to agree with. People seem to be feeling that guns blazing is really easy which is a valid complaint. I applaud the effort of rewarding different playstyles but I think the context of a spy-game set in the present-day is not the best fit for rambo playthrough.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Starwars

[Kaiser Wilson]

I found a new Review by Den of Geek which gave the game a 2/5. One thing interesting is its written by the same guy who did the bit-tech review. Why would someone write two reviews for the same game?

 

http://www.denofgeek.com/games/493991/alph...360_review.html

[zkylon]

I just beat the first mission of Saudi Arabia and i haven't found any gamebreaking bugs. I do think the game's too linear for my taste so far, though some open areas are very cool. And i like my safehouse and all, but i miss towns

 

The most annoying thing so far is how long does it take to buy equipement. You buy grenades one at a time and it hangs about 5 seconds every time i buy something or just want to look at the next item. It's just the shop menu that feels unoptimized, because the other menus run beautifully. It's a pity because i'm considering ditching Tech Specialist for something that involves less menu browsing (and because i pretty much just love to sneak in the game anyways).

 

About the Bit-Tech guy, maybe he has a grudge against someone at Obsidian or something. Stiff characters? Overlong dialogue? Has this guy ever played an RPG before? So far i'm surprised by how likeable i found Mina and Darcy.

Edited May 28, 2010 by zkylon

[Oblarg]

I found a new Review by Den of Geek which gave the game a 2/5. One thing interesting is its written by the same guy who did the bit-tech review. Why would someone write two reviews for the same game?

 

http://www.denofgeek.com/games/493991/alph...360_review.html

 

Because he *really* wants his opinion heard?

 

Though I get the feeling from his reviews that he has some personal vendetta against the game rather than just a normal dislike for it.

[WorstUsernameEver]

His feelings about the game are fine, it's not like a reviewer can't dislike a game, especially if he explains why, but going by the comments on this forum, it simply sounds like he's bad at it.

Also, doing two reviews for two different sites sounds indeed strange, though I'm not an expert on this kind of things.

[Pinken]

Just got the game for 360 yesterday and suppose I wanted to add a little to things people have said ...

 

I think Alpha Protocol is getting a bit of a bad rep in some ways from being compared to other games strengths. I'm enjoying it. Negative points do exist, but they can summarised as follows:

 

- Jumping and climbing is motivated by icons which let you perform certain actions. People complain it isn't Assasins Creed but lots of the jumps and moves are placed in locations that keep flow in my game. IE I jump through a roof for a dramatic entrance or zip line through a bad guy.

- Special abilities aren't particularly special (it isn't Mass Effect 2) and some are of questionable use

- Alarms are a bit ... odd. You can mostly just ignore their existence

- There are some polygons which don't have backs which results in see thru mouths and other such randomness

- The depth of field effect is ridiculous and looks somewhat like a 40 point gaussian blur

- Enemies don't die particularly cinematically

- Levels can feel sparse

- With a well constructed assault character you simply won't even realise you have medikits to use ... gonna crank my difficulty on next play thru!

- Martials arts is mostly spammy punchy mess but it works in a mechanics way since without any training it takes a while to kill someone

- Assault rifles are equally good long and short range ... pistols can't be used to ambush making them rather pointless ... There's nothing a pistol can do that an assault rifle can't do faster but the concept was good

- Some gadgets are a bit blah

- Hacking games I liked but yet to have any wow moments like Deus Ex with it

 

 

So yes, it's not Assasins Creed, MW2, Mass Effect, or Splinter Cell ...

 

However, in the above games I felt a lot of the story was pretty linear - even in MW2. Dragons Age is a good example of the roleplaying, but some days I just don't want to be juggling numbers and fighting goblins.

 

It feels nice to play as a Bourne style character and have my throw away dialogue actually produce results. I have people who dislike me, and can see immediate results from things my character says. Plus killing/extorting people etc ... feels much more organic than say Bioshock or similar titles.

 

It's kind of like Deus Ex light and Deus Ex IMO had *terrible* combat and AI. The only other thing I would say is sometimes its a bit too easy to use every single strategy - ie hack cameras, kill everyone, fire giant gun, set trap all in one go. It doesn't feel special always. Though I will say I haven't played a single mission that felt like a generic sub quest.

 

So yes it doesn't do anything perfectly, but it does a lot of things each of the regular A-grade titles don't in one game, and I do enjoy it and find it refreshing.

 

Anyone that *needs* A-grade action, hasn't fought their way through a buggy but genius title (arcanum etc ...) or skips every single line of dialogue in Mass Effect will hate it.

 

It'll be the usual suspects that find it enjoyable. The Masquerade crowd et all ... The vampire games always felt empty, but I got a kick out of the choices and freedoms afforded that just aren't in A-grade titles.

[zkylon]

Well, in Deus Ex, a silenced sniper rifle was way overpowered too. No game is perfectly balanced.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I have the feeling that this could be the Vampire : Bloodlines of Obsidian and I'd be quite happy if it wasn't for the fact that.. well.. Bloodlines meant death for Troika.

Well, I doubt Obsidian will die for Alpha Protocol, considering first sales seems to be decent and they have Fallout : New Vegas in the work, but it could seriously cripple Obsidian, and destroy their possibilities for working on new IPs for a long time if it was really that flawed and unsuccessful.

[edgarcuk]

From the "professional" reviews, it seems that everyone was expecting a shooter game rather than a RPG game, reason why they complain about the combat system and AI. Those guys talked about some "RPG elements", which they don't give any reference of such "RPG elements", after years of playing RPG's games, I think some of the characteristics of a RPG game are narrative, character development, replayability and immersion, among others. So far, from the descriptions and reviews from the members of this forums, AP does have character development, replayability and narrative...

 

There complains about the AI, merely from a combat point of view. If it is similar to ME2 AI, I know what to expect (I spent half of the combat repositioning my companions). IMO, the best AI is in Demon's Souls, foes are unforgiving and very very hard to kill, but again, many people do not like that and find the game frustrating.

 

The eurogamer preview pointed out that if you want to play a la Rambo (storming and killing everything that moves) you need to invest in those gun skills... so far, none of the reviews said anything about max the guns skills and experience terrible combat mechanics , in terms of shooting... many members here mentioned that the stealth approach is working fine.

[Starwars]

I have the feeling that this could be the Vampire : Bloodlines of Obsidian and I'd be quite happy if it wasn't for the fact that.. well.. Bloodlines meant death for Troika

 

I don't think it'll mean the death for OEI (though it will hurt their reputation as you say). But mark my words, 5 years from now we'll start seeing the occasional retrospective articles on Alpha Protocol as with Bloodlines.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I have the feeling that this could be the Vampire : Bloodlines of Obsidian and I'd be quite happy if it wasn't for the fact that.. well.. Bloodlines meant death for Troika

 

I don't think it'll mean the death for OEI (though it will hurt their reputation as you say). But mark my words, 5 years from now we'll start seeing the occasional retrospective articles on Alpha Protocol as with Bloodlines.

 

Let's hope they're still alive 5 years from now, then.

[Tigranes]

- Enemies don't die particularly cinematically

 

Woohoo! This is great.

[HoonDing]

I think I'll wait buying the game until a few patches are out. I'm playing some other games atm anyway.

[Ayreon2084]

First video review has been out from Gladriel! (7.5/10)

Should be 9/10 imho! Fantastic story!

 

http://bit.ly/bIhUQJ

[Sannom]

The guy who made the review for the french magazine Canard PC spoiled the score to us : 9 out of 10. The review won't be out before I get the game, so there is no more details, but still, that score is nice

[WorstUsernameEver]

The guy who made the review for the french magazine Canard PC spoiled the score to us : 9 out of 10. The review won't be out before I get the game, so there is no more details, but still, that score is nice

 

Wow, that's an high score indeed, something to compare it to (from Canard PC reviews obviously) ?

[funcroc]

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/sh...p;postcount=535

80 in Meristation.com (Spain)

85 in Hobby Consolas (Spain)

 

http://twitter.com/eurogamer_net/status/14893806601

For everyone asking about Alpha Protocol reviews, we're embargoed until 2pm... -TomB

Edited May 28, 2010 by funcroc

[Starwars]

Canard PC seems really respectable judging from what little I can remember. I know they were kinda critical towards F3 while everyone else was overlooking the flaws. That's good news.

[funcroc]

Gamestar (Germany) - 83%

[funcroc]

Official Playstation Magazine (Spain) - 89%

[Bendu]

Gamestar (Germany) - 83%

A more detailed look at the rating.

[Bendu]

Eurogamer (Germany): 8/10

[Kaiser Wilson]

Sounds like this may have been one of the situations to where the review embargo actually hurt the game since the negative voices were the first ones to be heard for quite some time.