This is truely... an awful game.

[HoonDing]

Know what, these *****ing minigames are the worst I have ever come across in any game. Hacking makes even the one from Fallout 3 seem like fun. I don't know how I even managed to pass the one in the tutorial... the block on the right moves by itself, for crying out loud. Hilarious.

 

As for dialogue stances, by the time I'm ready to go and pick something, I'm usually out of time. I don't want to be rushed into doing things, dammit.

Edited May 29, 2010 by virumor

[Oblarg]

Know what, these *****ing minigames are the worst I have ever come across in any game. Hacking makes even the one from Fallout 3 seem like fun. I don't know how I even managed to pass the one in the tutorial... the block on the right moves by itself, for crying out loud. Hilarious.

 

As for dialogue stances, by the time I'm ready to go and pick something, I'm usually out of time. I don't want to be rushed into doing things, dammit.

 

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.

[Alpha]

LOL i never bought Saw game for that...and a lot of friends told me is good.

[HoonDing]

A big reason for why I'm running out of time with dialogues is because for some inexplicable reason, subtitles do not appear on screen in complete sentences, but are fractured.

 

This

makes it harder

for someone

with bad English

skills.

 

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.

Chain Shot FTW.

[Oblarg]

A big reason for why I'm running out of time with dialogues is because for some inexplicable reason, subtitles do not appear on screen in complete sentences, but are fractured.

 

This

makes it harder

for someone

with bad English

skills.

 

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.

Chain Shot FTW.

 

I lol'd. That was clever, good sir.

[Libertarian]

I disagree.

 

Alpha Protocol certainly has its fair share of faults, no doubt. However, it's nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. The gameplay isn't its highlight. It has a certain degree of jank to it. But it's still very playable and even a bit fun. And even though the A.I. is lacking in a few brain cells, it's still a challenging game at times, especially since many of the bad guys just rush you and grenade spam. Sure, this could be bad game design overall, but at least it provides a bit of challenge.

 

Also, I don't think the visuals are as bad as they're made out to be.

 

Here's what sucks about the overall presentation:

 

1. A good amount of screen tear.

 

2. Texture pop-in (although I've gotten used to this in games using the Unreal Engine 3...)

 

3. Some environments seem to be missing a few textures.

 

4. Some framerate dips.

 

With that said, I think there's some well done character models. I think some levels have some very nice lighting. And I also think many parts of the game, visually speaking, get the job done.

 

It could've been a much more polished product with all the extra time they had, but still, even with its warts, I find Alpha Protocol to be an enjoyable Action/RPG.

 

I look at it the same way I looked at Mass Effect 1 on Xbox 360. That game had bad texture pop-in, a lot of slowdown, and a high degree of jank to it. That was put out in 2007, so yes, it's nearly 3 years after that game came out, but most of us still love it despite its faults -- and they were in the many.

 

Bioware certainly fixed the technical shortcomings with the sequel. I think Obsidian could do the same with Alpha Protocol since the groundwork is laid. However, I sincerely doubt we'll ever see that and it's sad.

 

This is a solid first attempt for this style of RPG. It has issues that should've been polished up before release, but it's still not a bad game.

 

And btw, I'm a Bioware fanboy.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Libertarian

[Tigranes]

Oddly enough, my comp's not the best around and I'm not getting any texture pops or anything. I think I had a mild version of the mouse smoothing issue (looking round 360 degrees was jerky) and the frame rate fix did it.

 

I'm now in Taipei and again, it's not that hard to get the dialogue response on time - and it does make it interesting because it does raelly make you think quickly. I think it really adds to the characterisation because you're scanning their faces and lines for what they might like or what might work with them.

[Libertarian]

Well, I bought it for console due to the fact that I was afraid the PC version would be a bad port.

 

I'm glad this isn't the case.

 

I'll be picking up the PC version sometime down the road.

 

However, I don't find most of the texture pop-in to be that bad. It's certainly better than Mass Effect 1. That game had some really bad pop-in.

[ThulsaDooom]

You can't compare this to a Bioware or Rockstar game. Those companies, I'm assuming, have much, much larger budgets for their games than Obsidian. Does RDR look great? It sure does. Is it filled to the brim with glitches, screen tearing, slowdown, etc. You bet, it IS a Rockstar game.

 

Alpha Protocol is not an awful game. It's not a great game either but it is a fun, good game which is all that matters to me.

Edited May 29, 2010 by ThulsaDooom

[Humodour]

bleh

Edited May 29, 2010 by Krezack

[lockload]

OK firstly playing on xbox360

 

The game is far from truly terrible, it not great either

 

Eurogamers 7/10 seems about right to me so far

 

I understand that when i see that recticle and i fire im not expecting precision unless i upgrage that skill, its an rpg after all.

 

Im actually enjoying it but struggle with the the hacking aswell as i find it hard for my eyes to find the static letters

[Dermi]

Do tell, what makes something an "RPG" in your opinion?

 

You need more than the ability to assign dots to skills, the ability to select from several tenuous backgrounds and the chance to change the look of the man you'll watch mince across the screen.

Are you saying that Fallouts (first two) and Planescape:Torment aren't RPGs, since they don't have features you mentioned above?

[Reg1.1]

Guys let me bring in some logic here. RPG's in general never were games to break the graphical boundries of their day and age, only in the past few years, have RPG's become graphical monsters, rivalling shooters and other games. The way the game looks on the maximum settings is still very beautiful, true it does not break any new ground, but it looks good, period. And it has some very good facial animations and lip-synching, to be honest I don't know were reviewers are pulling their facts out of, but the game looks good. As for the hacking minigame, well at first I agree, it was bad the first few times. When I found out that righ clicking gave me a second chance I was happy, this meant that I could train myself. And so I did and became good at it, now I can hack anything in the game with ease. All you need to do is lean towards the screen, and start looking for lack of movement, all the while moving both lines of code across the screen so that they can be closer to the target line. This game is good, not perfect, no ME2 but still good, get your heads out of your asses and stop listening to reviews.

[dantivirus]

Actually, I'm enjoying it (perks to having a cousin in the UK). Yeah it has its faults but all games do. I would have thought it would be a bit more polished since it was delayed for a longer development time. Though I have had not one crash, game breaker, or such. That's a good thing.

 

Yes, hacking takes a bit getting use to but abort is your friend. Also a save in game and not at certain points would be nice.

 

There is nothing here that cannot be fixed with patches. Hopefully, those will come shortly.

 

As to awful..well that's the OP's opinion and they're entitled to it. I can name a lot of games that fall into the awful category, so far AP is not one of them. It's not perfect and does need some patch lovin but once that's done, things should be as they should have been.

 

I am wondering why there's not more dev responses here, I do find that odd.

Edited May 29, 2010 by dantivirus

[tr1pod]

I played it again this morning and it did improve. However it is still way too flawed to be a good game. I don't pay top price for a game to be OK if you have nothing else to play.

 

The A.I is horrendous. They run on the spot because they're facing a wall. You don't hide the bodies of the enemies you kill they simply disappear over time. I mean come on, Thief had this ability about 10 years ago.

 

I love RPGs, but these elements have to work with the game style. You cannot be 2 foot away from an enemy and shoot him in the face 6 times and he is still coming at you. It just looks really silly, and more importantly, it becmes frustrating. Is this a shooter or RPG? For the 2 elements to work they have to be well done like Mass Effect 2. Use auto aim or something, as you increase skills the AA gets better, Anything has to be beter than this.

 

The hacking as mentioned in every comment is ****e. I feel like somone has pulled my eyeballs out and urinated in the sockets.

 

I also find it really hard to know where I am supposed to be going. Pressing select, going into intel seems to take way too long to access. Couldn't we have a mini map?

 

But, to be fair it did get a bit more enjoyable. The opening tutorial will put most people off because it's real bad.

[Jokerman89]

What is so bad about the hacking mini game? its really easy and straight forward....just look for the still letters and ur there I life this more than Mass effect 2s hacking minigame.

[edgarcuk]

So far the complains are with regards of graphics and mini games. As I agree that graphics could be improved, perhaps more a la Batman Arkham than ME2, the current graphics are not that bad, in Xbox version.

 

The hacking mini game is challenging for me since I need to use my glasses due to my astigmatism prob, but I agree that it should be enhanced.

 

But in terms of RPG, and I believe this is a RPG game, this game does what a RPG game should do, taking from wikipedia: "The player in RPGs controls one or several adventuring party members fulfilling one or many quests. The major similarities with pen-and-paper games involve developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replayability and immersion.". No, character development is not limited to make a female and put her in a mini skirt, it is related to add skills and perks in order to develop it. As a RPG player for years, combats are more a consequence than a feature of a RPG. As I agree the combat mechanics should be better, a la ME2, I like the fact to develop the character skills as the game evolve, no pistol training no hitting... when I see this feature, I understand why many people are complaining bitterly... but this is a RPG, not a shooter. I like ME2 but the RPG elements, (i.e. narrative, character development, complexity, immersion) are very bad implemented compared with AP.

 

When the OP claims about conversation flow, so far the conversation keeps flowing... depending on your response, the only time the conversation is not flowing is when... you kill your counterpart...

Edited May 29, 2010 by edgarcuk