Rewind…
Fortunately for us, however, we can enjoy it a political fiction product with a quite intriguing story, comfortably seated on our favorite sofa or on the chairs in front of the computer monitor. But what am I talking about? Obviously of Alpha Protocol, new game developed by Obsidian Entertainment in collaboration with Sega. The game in question dresses us in the tight-fitting suit of Michael Thorton, a veteran of the National Security Agency (NSA), committed to unraveling a large-scale global political plot. Fortunately for us, we will control a secret agent worth as much as 007, Jason Bourne and Sam Fisher together: capable of acting both in stealth mode and in mode, kill everything that comes before your eyes. Alpha Protocol is a game that focuses heavily on the RPG genre, with marked sequences in which words will make a large contribution even more so than the action or purely silent sequences.
The gameplay of the game is set on the third person, this good choice perfectly follows the fashion of the latest action games on the market, in fact even Alpha Protocol sports its beautiful sequences in which it will be possible to hide by shooting from behind a wall or to bother some enemies with some nice special moves in the melee. Before you rocket though, you need to choose with what membership class we want to leave, just like it happens in any self-respecting RPG. Having made this choice among the various options supplied, we can immediately jump into the fray, obviously after facing the usual tutorial disguised as a base camp.
WE TRAVEL THE WORLD
The story behind the game is long and complex and will see us leave for many cities in the world such as Saudi Arabia, Asia, Moscow and we will even make a trip to Rome. - the elements accompanying the narrative are many and I am sure that the most attentive will notice numerous ideas from the most sought-after political or spy fiction genre in the film industry. In the world of videogames instead, this Alpha Protocol gives a breath of fresh air to the usual meatloaf textures and, most importantly, the use of dialogue is absolutely essential for the game. Responding aggressively or deliberately will really turn the tables on a mission: among other things, unlike other RPGs, here the answers will have to be chosen quickly, following a time limit which will give the player a feeling of suspense always present.
But how the gameplay of the title actually works. At the base we will have the opportunity to control the player in the third person (also moving the camera between right and left), as happens in every new 3D action in the sector. We will have way, in the fighting with weapons to take shelter behind the walls and in hand-to-hand combat to make certain moves to stun or kill. As we perform actions, skill points will be unlocked which we can then spend to enhance skills accompanying our class. For example, if you have chosen to use firearms well, know that if you do not level up in those skills, they will be less lethal. Ditto for the hand-to-hand combat or the more reasoned action, higher score in the fight, it will mean greater speed in hand-to-hand fights and so on. Simple and intuitive. Nothing new under the sun, of course, but at least the purely RPG part is well thought out and functional.
Another important element will be the missions. Usually, when starting a map, we will start from a base camp or from a roofing apartment. Within it we can take a few minutes to ponder our equipment and on a possible discussion with our coordinator who, again through a dialogue, will provide us with good or bad solutions regarding the mission. The only flaw of the dialogues to report is that sometimes, understanding the attitude to engage is cumbersome for the purpose of discussion and when perhaps a positive response is expected, the exact opposite will be reached.
TECHNICAL MAGAGNE
So far so good but the positive things of the game, clearly end with story and RPG sections.
Let's now move on to the real sore points of the title in question. First of all, I bring to light the constant coldness in coping the missions - linear beyond belief and totally devoid of exploratory phases. I understand that running a spy game doesn't have to be easy but putting such visible invisible walls becomes unnerving and annoying even and especially for people novice with the genre. Those who already have a good gaming experience halfway between action and RPG, you will find on your hands a very poor title from this point of view which will make us regret productions like Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age. Another irritating and not a little thing, it is the design of some environments, where in fact the eye perceives a wall in which to hide or a ravine where to reside to ponder on the next steps, the programmers had the nice idea of not letting us access because it does not recall the structure of the action from them thought: disgusting and not even a little. Another technical flaw is the impossibility of protruding from the walls, unthinkable in such a game. However, we will be able to shoot blindly but the function is clearly different from leaning out which instead would have been less mechanical.
Still with regards to missions and action, I point out one of the most irritating artificial stupidity in history. But it is possible that in such a game, we still have to see men who run at us like crazy or people who do not notice our presence even under heavy attack? Killing some bots is particularly simple, just as they don't dream of having coordinated tactics when their number is greater than the three elements. If you stay low during gun fights and hide behind a wall, trust that in a few seconds and with good aim, you will dry out everyone in front of you. The only thing that changes a tad bit are perhaps the hand-to-hand fights but even there, two or three blows are enough to knock down more opponents at the same time.. I didn't expect a hard beating but not even having such ease and I'm talking about a high level of difficulty.
Even on the purely technical side, the work done by Obsidian, leaves enough to be desired.
The engine chosen is the famous Unreal Engine but a few times I have seen general modeling or animations so woody and coarse. The same means accompanying some environments leave nothing short of wanting and it seems to have a production of one or two years past on your hands that not a game of 2010. Also the textures that really live their worst moment in the open spaces are fluctuating. Terrible display of mountains or contour elements. Never above average even the interiors, where there is too much copy and paste constant and without particular imagination. Among the other technical flaws, we find a fairly bad PC conversion, with obvious clipping and pop-up problems when using cameras between the first and third floors. Special effects that are passable and technically heavy to say the least. They are also noticeable curious slowdowns too evident on a test machine equipped with quadruple processor and 4GB of ram with 1GB video card. In short, perhaps it is better to ponder for the choice of the game on the console, where it seems to me that things are going better, at least as regards the camera. Technically, the game remains at medium-low levels and it doesn't rain there.
PASSABLE PROTOCCLE
Ultimately, Alpha Protocol should be perfectly framed in this perspective: if you were expecting a great role-playing game with a spy story of the Madonna and a very in-depth choice of speeches, here you will have bread for your teeth at the cost of giving up some really too obvious technical flaws. I think the Obsidians wanted to push the accelerator out of the shops too much but in the end you find yourself on your hands. the unpleasant feeling of a troubled but not 100% complete game. Even the purely sound or musical sector, he lives in the limbo of "I'd like to dare" but maybe it's better if I shut up and gives some approach to 007, without really trespassing on his work, indeed, perhaps it is even better if you put the music with the sound on zero. Another thing of undoubted choice is the total absence of any multiplayer component: I'm not saying anything innovative but also playing the missions with a friend, could be seen in a different way.
Ah, lastly I didn't speak of stealth sections or the possibility to face some conundrum such as cracking passwords or alarm systems, just as I have not mentioned the possibility to change the physical appearance of the character (only man though). Why didn't I do it? Because even I would really spread a pitiful veil on them.
Final grade: 7.3 / 10
