Game Review: Alpha Protocol

Whenever I see the name Obsidian Entertainment I cringe a little bit but at the same time I am somewhat interested in the game that they are working on. This is because that Obsidian is made of mostly people from the legendary and now defunct Black Isle Studio. Anyone that loves WRPG knows that Black Isle made some of the most influential RPGs on PC such as Planescape Torment and the Fallout series. But anyone who follows Obsidian because of that track record also knows that they have been nothing but disappointment under the Obsidian name, now don't get me wrong they still made a few good games like Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 but they are all generally considered by the public to be the lesser compare to the original done by Bioware.

So if you have done your homework then you will know ever since Black Isle reformed as Obsidian they can't seem to escape the shadow of Bioware. Every miscue and disappointment Obsidian has had some type of excuse for it, whether its because they were rushed by the publisher in the case of Star Wars or wanting to go a different direction only to incite anger from fans with Neverwinter Nights, it is finally time because now they should not have to use these excuses. Sega gave them plenty of time to finish Alpha Protocol and this game has nothing to do with Bioware. Therefore Alpha Protocol should be an intriguing game to say the least. But enough background stories already.
-Story

This should be the strong point of an Obsidian game since they follow so closely to Bioware. But like I said they are trying to get away from Bioware and make a name for themselves, well maybe they should have followed tradition at least on the story part. You play the role of an American spy named Michael Thorton who works for a secret agency called Alpha Protocol, you were sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist missle attack on a passenger plane. As would any story and bigger picture unfolds there and eventually leads you Rome, Taipei and Moscow. The story is very straight forward and...bland, almost like they have taken a page out of a James Bond script. It's your typical overused hollywood spy theme and makes you don't want to care for it, even in the end with a supposed big twist unfolding in front of my eyes I felt nothing. Whats worse is that all the characters feel the same way, they are boring and bland, you don't care for any of them.

-Game Play

Game play is somewhat unique as it is played out in a third person shooter perspective. There are not many of those in the WRPG scene as the genre is usually dominated by high fantasy themed with swords and magic, I would almost go out of my way and say Obsidian is definitely taking a risk and trying something new to get away if it weren't for a little award winning series from Bioware called Mass Effect. But they are trying, and trying is the key word here. The game mechanics are a mess to put it nicely, you have got one of the worst AI in any modern games that I can remember. Enemies are not just dumb but they will do dumb things, they would be shooting at you and suddenly turn around and shoot at the complete opposite direction, or worse they would shoot and all of a sudden decide to climb a latter. Gun mechanics are awful as well, all the guns don't shoot properly and don't do the proper damage when you line up a perfect headshot, its like no one has ever designed a shooter before and this is the first one. And don't even get me started with the usual crap that comes with being an Obsidian game, the frame rate hiccups, the bad animation, and the unending amount of bugs. I mean I understand this is an Obsidian game and you get those bad with it but holy shit the game has only been delayed for a year for them to polish it? This incomplete mess shouldn't even be on the store shelve to begin with that's how bad it is. Now I don't want to be to harsh since the RPG element in the game is somewhat better than the rest of the game. At least you get way more skills in this game to feel like an actual RPG (I'm looking at you Mass Effect 2). Also I like the conversation system that kind of mirrors the Mass Effect wheel but at the same time it is completely different. Instead of choosing that actual context like Mass Effect you pick different tone of voice such as professional, casual or aggressive. Each tone has different effect on different characters at the different juncture of the game. They influence how much a character like you or dislike you but have no moral consequences like Mass Effect. Whatever you choose to say will still have a sizable impact in the game but there is no good or evil.
-Graphics

One word. Bad. We live in an age of HD graphics even on the consoles, and I am playing on my PC with 1080p with everything turned at max and it just looks like shit. character models looks bad, the design is bad, textures are bad and colors are bad, need I say more? I know this game uses Unreal Engine but does it use Unreal Engine 1? Because it looks nothing like Mass Effect 2 which uses Unreal Engine 3.

-Conclusion

In the end one would expect all the bad things I have listed to go along with an Obsidian game because they have built a reputation for those things in their previous games. But despite all the bad what draws people to their games is the story and the the characters, and none of those are even remotely interesting in this half assed attempt in a game. It's a shame that so much potential in a game and never can be realized, its got a famed RPG studio behind it, its got an interesting concept that has been proven to be successful when done right. I just don't know what happened to this game it's like Obsidian finally have what they wanted which is make their own game and not pick up left overs from Bioware and they just can't deliver, maybe its a case of you don't know you had it good until you don't have it anymore, maybe they can still go back to working with Bioware...

All in all Alpha Protocol is another game to add on the long list of disappointments for developer Obsidian, maybe its the biggest of them all. Unless you are a hardcore RPG lover like me or a hardcore Black Isle lover I would recommend stay away from this broken mess, instead go re-install Fallout 2 and reminiscent on what it would be if Black Isle was still around.