The Reviews

[MoldyCheese]

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

 

READ the reviews... It's a broken mess. The western reviews have actually put down a decent analysis of the game. If you want to waste your money on it, have fun.

[juncaj8]

Prototype got a 7.5 and that game was challenging, but fun as all hell, even if it had those terrible graphics and punishing checkpoints.

 

@moldycheese:

 

What are you still doing here if you no longer want to buy the game?

Edited May 28, 2010 by juncaj8

[fuZZ]

I wouldn't call AP buggy. More like a bit glitchy. Nothing gamebreaking.

 

Agreed

 

 

7.5 is typically a crap game.

 

 

super wrong...your knowledge is really wrong.

 

or a lemming

[Alpha]

READ the reviews... It's a broken mess. The western reviews have actually put down a decent analysis of the game. If you want to waste your money on it, have fun.

 

At least, i am not wasting my time in a Forum game that i am not interested.

[Oblarg]

READ the reviews... It's a broken mess. The western reviews have actually put down a decent analysis of the game. If you want to waste your money on it, have fun.

 

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.

[Cloaker]

My reference is DAO reviews, anyone who gave it 8+ and trash AP is out of consideration, it just showed bias at the lowest. I have DAO on Xbox and it is plagued with bugs...

 

If there's some "professional" review that trashed DAO as well as AP, then I would give some credit.

 

But the tendency is evident, US reviews trashing and European reviews praising.

 

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

 

There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working...

 

Yes.... when all else fails, blame BioWare and accuse them of bribery. DA:O was buggy (and boring) but by western RPG standards it was fairly well polished. The console versions were hammered fairly.

 

AP is unpolished and buggy and I can see why it's getting a bad reception. The combat and AI is last gen, the visuals are bland and outdated, the story and writing and branching paths is as good as I expected but Thorton is a lame protagonist with some really poorly delivered lines, the plot twists are kinda predictable, hacking minigames every 3 minutes, the "stealth" in this Espionage RPG is a joke, the boss battles are absurd, very limited enemy variety, the game is short.. at first I thought this would be a disappointing mess, then when they started releasing more trailers and videos it looked like it might actually be great, and now I can say I agree with the scathing reviews.... this is easily Obsidian/BlackIsle's worst game. It just isn't very fun in the end and I feel so let down for actually changing my mind and preordering awhile ago.

 

What I can say is I really liked the timed dialogue. I watched the PAX panel and heard Chris Avellone say he wasnt sure how it would be received, and I just want to say I really loved how it works and hope more RPGs use it. It makes dialogue flow naturally and really makes certain situations very tense.

 

This game doesn't change my mind about New Vegas though, I'm sure that will be great. But yeah....AP is very, VERY disappointing. Just an opinion.

[qaz123]

7.5 is typically a crap game.

 

 

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.

[MoldyCheese]

READ the reviews... It's a broken mess. The western reviews have actually put down a decent analysis of the game. If you want to waste your money on it, have fun.

 

At least, i am not wasting my time in a Forum game that i am not interested.

 

You're absolutely right. What's the point in arguing with a bunch of blind fanboys? You've brought me back to reality. People are idiots, and will believe whatever they want to believe. No matter the evidince that slaps them in the face repeatedly. Go ahead, punish yourself and waste your time. I'm outta here.

Edited May 28, 2010 by SteveThaiBinh
To remove a direct insult to another community member.

[funcroc]

GR.

[Volourn]

"RPG's usually have sub-par combat,"

 

Not true. Not the good ones.

 

Even ME2's combat which I felt was dumbed down had at least adequate combat. The KOTORs hasd simple combat but at least was fun. TOEE, a game I overall dislike, had a great combat system. The FO combat swere a blast. The IE combat was fun as heck. Etc., etc.

 

This myth is simply not true.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Volourn

[entrerix]

my decision to wait until they patch the drm out of the game seems like a wise one, maybe by then they'll have patched some of the bugs and optimized a bit more.

 

nwn2 on release v nwn2 2 years later is a totally different experience thanks to all the patching

 

also: i agree with volourns above post. combat in rpgs is often quite fun. its not fun the same way as it is in half life, but it often is fun for different reasons.

Edited May 28, 2010 by entrerix

[Volourn]

"Others have said decisions here are actually meaningful unlike say, Mass Effect where it's the same thing, the only choice is how nice you say it, which is nice"

 

ME has lots of meaningful choices that effect outcomes.

 

 

"AP should be reviewed as the unique RPG that it is..."

 

Except it isn't really unique.

 

 

"The only thing the majority of reviewers are doing is praising other Devs instead of Obsidian."

 

It may not be nice to Obsidian; but it's fiar since Obsidian largely brought it on themselves with their goal to be BIO Jr from making sequels to popular BIO games and even AP which *should* be its own game is basically a rip off of ME. (shrug*

 

That said, it's simple, if you like Obsidian you'll like AP. I'm sure I'll like it fine when I finally play it.

[juncaj8]

I'm going to wait a month or two until the game drops in price, because I don't want to drop $60 on a game that could be great but it could be terrible.

[Oblarg]

"Others have said decisions here are actually meaningful unlike say, Mass Effect where it's the same thing, the only choice is how nice you say it, which is nice"

 

ME has lots of meaningful choices that effect outcomes.

 

 

"AP should be reviewed as the unique RPG that it is..."

 

Except it isn't really unique.

 

 

"The only thing the majority of reviewers are doing is praising other Devs instead of Obsidian."

 

It may not be nice to Obsidian; but it's fiar since Obsidian largely brought it on themselves with their goal to be BIO Jr from making sequels to popular BIO games and even AP which *should* be its own game is basically a rip off of ME. (shrug*

 

That said, it's simple, if you like Obsidian you'll like AP. I'm sure I'll like it fine when I finally play it.

 

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

[lasthearth]

How about this, "realtime combat in RPGs are usually subpar".

[WorstUsernameEver]

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

 

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?

[Morgoth]

Both AP and ME use the Unreal Engine 3. By the time Bio and Obsidian licensed it, Gears of War was the only UE3 game available. So it's logical for both to use it's similar take-cover/shoot-people-in-the-face mechanics. It was the new **** some years ago.

[Oblarg]

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

 

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!"

[Alpha]

You're absolutely right. What's the point in arguing with a bunch of blind fanboys? You've brought me back to reality. People(being you) are idiots, and will believe whatever they want to believe. No matter the evidince that slaps them in the face repeatedly. Go ahead, punish yourself and waste your time. I'm outta here.

LOL i am not a fan boy maybe you are a Bioware fan or Bethesda fan...the fact is that i love Bioware / Bethesda RPG's but that doesn't make a blind idiot to not enjoy another RPG made for other devs.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Alpha

[qaz123]

My reference is DAO reviews, anyone who gave it 8+ and trash AP is out of consideration, it just showed bias at the lowest. I have DAO on Xbox and it is plagued with bugs...

 

If there's some "professional" review that trashed DAO as well as AP, then I would give some credit.

 

But the tendency is evident, US reviews trashing and European reviews praising.

 

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

 

There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working...

 

Yes.... when all else fails, blame BioWare and accuse them of bribery. DA:O was buggy (and boring) but by western RPG standards it was fairly well polished. The console versions were hammered fairly.

 

AP is unpolished and buggy and I can see why it's getting a bad reception. The combat and AI is last gen, the visuals are bland and outdated, the story and writing and branching paths is as good as I expected but Thorton is a lame protagonist with some really poorly delivered lines, the plot twists are kinda predictable, hacking minigames every 3 minutes, the "stealth" in this Espionage RPG is a joke, the boss battles are absurd, very limited enemy variety, the game is short.. at first I thought this would be a disappointing mess, then when they started releasing more trailers and videos it looked like it might actually be great, and now I can say I agree with the scathing reviews.... this is easily Obsidian/BlackIsle's worst game. It just isn't very fun in the end and I feel so let down for actually changing my mind and preordering awhile ago.

 

This game doesn't change my mind about New Vegas though, I'm sure that will be great. But yeah....AP is very, VERY disappointing. Just an opinion.

 

 

Exactly, I don't understand why people here are making excuses for this game being recieved poorly. This game sounds awesome on paper, but in motion it easily looks like obs worst game. There's a good rpg in the mix of this mess, but I might wait for a price drop.

[Alpha]

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's ok but bashing exaggeratedly a game without played it not.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Alpha

[Volourn]

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

 

You do realize that ME was released 2-3 years ago right? Heck, ME's sequel came out before AP. No doubt that ME has influence on AP. The interviewes, and previews even suggest it. Even Obsidian themseves have compared the two games in the past.

 

There'sa m reason when AP was first annoucned pretty much everyone went, "Oh, that was ME influenced!" It's beyond obvious. Nothing wrong with that on itself since ME itself is hevailyn influenced by multiple sources. *shrug*

 

Don't take it too personally.

 

The point is, I can't feel that sorry for Obsidian when people mention other games and developers when they themselvess have basically pushed the comparisons.

[Oblarg]

7.5 is typically a crap game.

 

 

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.

[juncaj8]

My reference is DAO reviews, anyone who gave it 8+ and trash AP is out of consideration, it just showed bias at the lowest. I have DAO on Xbox and it is plagued with bugs...

 

If there's some "professional" review that trashed DAO as well as AP, then I would give some credit.

 

But the tendency is evident, US reviews trashing and European reviews praising.

 

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

 

There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working...

 

Yes.... when all else fails, blame BioWare and accuse them of bribery. DA:O was buggy (and boring) but by western RPG standards it was fairly well polished. The console versions were hammered fairly.

 

AP is unpolished and buggy and I can see why it's getting a bad reception. The combat and AI is last gen, the visuals are bland and outdated, the story and writing and branching paths is as good as I expected but Thorton is a lame protagonist with some really poorly delivered lines, the plot twists are kinda predictable, hacking minigames every 3 minutes, the "stealth" in this Espionage RPG is a joke, the boss battles are absurd, very limited enemy variety, the game is short.. at first I thought this would be a disappointing mess, then when they started releasing more trailers and videos it looked like it might actually be great, and now I can say I agree with the scathing reviews.... this is easily Obsidian/BlackIsle's worst game. It just isn't very fun in the end and I feel so let down for actually changing my mind and preordering awhile ago.

 

This game doesn't change my mind about New Vegas though, I'm sure that will be great. But yeah....AP is very, VERY disappointing. Just an opinion.

 

 

Exactly, I don't understand why people here are making excuses for this game being recieved poorly. This game sounds awesome on paper, but in motion it easily looks like obs worst game. There's a good rpg in the mix of this mess, but I might wait for a price drop.

 

People are making excuses because this is the game they've had to wait for through countless delays and can't seem to grasp the idea that it didn't come out too well.

[Volourn]

"LOL i am not a fan boy maybe you are a Bioware fan or Bethesda fan...the fact is that i love Bioware / Bethesda RPG's but that doesn't make a blind idiot to not enjoy another RPG made for other devs. "

 

Your comment doesn't make sense. You accuse him of being a BIO or BETH fanboy 'cause he bashes an Obsidian game then claim that you yourself love BIO/BETH yet enjoy Obsidian games. That's a rather poor accusation as it's illogical. The fact he may be a fan of BIO/BETH is irrelevant as your existence proves.

 

For the record, I am a BIo fan, a Beth hater yet I like Obsidian just fine.