Alpha Protocol

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 603 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 394 out of 603
  2. Mixed: 131 out of 603
  3. Negative: 78 out of 603
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  1. S0pun
    Oct 20, 2019
    0
    В принципе, неплохая задумка сделать сплинтер целл с элементами РПГ, колесом диалогов и взаимоотношениями, но благодаря криворукости разработчиков получилось забагованное, кривое говно.
  2. danstew
    Feb 15, 2016
    3
    Not recommendedEven though I thought this game sounded quite promising, and I really wanted to like it, I don't. It seems as if there was a lot of potential regarding what they wanted to do, but I don't think it was done well.

    Graphics Yes, the game is from 2010, so keep that in mind. However, I think that, even for 2010, the graphics aren't that good. Character editing (glasses, hat,    Not recommendedEven though I thought this game sounded quite promising, and I really wanted to like it, I don't. It seems as if there was a lot of potential regarding what they wanted to do, but I don't think it was done well.

    Graphics
    Yes, the game is from 2010, so keep that in mind. However, I think that, even for 2010, the graphics aren't that good. Character editing (glasses, hat, hair) looks terrible, same for the movement in combat etc.

    Gameplay
    I usually LIKE stealth games, but this one, I didn't. I am not sure whether it's just a higher difficulty or badly done game mechanics. Trying to sneak up on an enemy to take him out often ends up in frustration, as he notices you. However, it feels like the mechanics are just clunky, it's not some overly high AI or bad playing... I have played several stealth games and usually do ok, but here, I tried to sneak up on an enemy, and sometimes, the silent takedown works, sometimes he suddenly alerts everyone around him.

    AI
    Terrible. On one hand, the second the alarm is raised, they know EXACTLY where you are and shoot at you, which I find HIGHLY unrealistic. I wouldn't mind if they had a general idea quickly and then search for you there, but the second an alarm is raised, it's like they have a hive intelligence and know where you are.
    At the same time, I have seen some moonwalking, and you can just run towards them and take them down with melee

    Combat
    Terrible as well. If there are two obstacles, and you aim between them and aim PERFECTLY at the head of an enemy, you won't hit him. Let me get this straight - two obstacles, you aim between them (yes, there is room between them), and you won't hit him.
    Even when in range, and the dot in your targeting circle is aligned with someones head, you often miss. Having to shoot someone in the head (they wear a mask, or sometimes just a bandana, apparently these items generate a bullet proof forcefield) isn't exactly that realistic either.

    Minigames
    There is lockpicking, disabling alarms and hacking. The first two are... ok. The first one is even fun sometimes (balancing the cylinders of the lock, then releasing your lockpick, with a time limit). The second one is ok. The third one is horrible. Not going into details, the other commenters have commented on how terrible that one is many times.

    Characters
    I didn't like the whole intro, the conversations, the character design. Apart from simply looking odd, I just didn't care for any character, and I didn't like the main character either, who looks like a mix between Shepherd from Mass Effect and some kind of cyborg.

    Overall
    So much potential. I'd have liked to explore the game more and find all the things that those who liked the game praised... the decision-making, the email conversations or whatever.
    However, the intro went on for too long and didn't grab me at all, and the two missions I tried were simply not fun at all. It's not the very outdated (even for a 2010-game!) look, it's the clunky mechanics, bad AI, horrible sneaking mechanics (MGS V and even Sniper Elite 2 and 3 do this SO much better), bad animation, horrible combat/aiming and the minigames.

    It's sad, because I was looking forward to trying this, I was very much willing to give it a chance, but I have no interest at all to continue after these two missions.
    If you can get it on sale (I got it for like 3 or 4 bucks), maybe try it out, but unfortunately, I simply can't recommend it.    … Expand
  3. Lhetre
    Jul 7, 2014
    0
    The game is riddled with mini-games. One of them, hacking computers, is actually impossible if you play with a mouse and keyboard.
    Thousands of complaints on the internet haven't been enough to change this mini-game which was created for consoles.

    Don't buy this game if you haven't a controller. You've been warned.
  4. fludziom
    Jan 5, 2016
    4
    The professional reviewers were right this time. This game is not good. It is an attempt at being a different game that ultimately fails flat due to broken a checkpoint system (can't go back after checkpoint, can't save before buying things), broken stealth mechanic (when fully upgraded), broken dialog system (timed, nonsensical responses). And I almost forgotten annoying mini-games. IThe professional reviewers were right this time. This game is not good. It is an attempt at being a different game that ultimately fails flat due to broken a checkpoint system (can't go back after checkpoint, can't save before buying things), broken stealth mechanic (when fully upgraded), broken dialog system (timed, nonsensical responses). And I almost forgotten annoying mini-games. I can't believe I wasted 25 hours on this. I will never play an Obsidian game again… Expand
  5. sapuman
    Oct 20, 2019
    0
    В принципе, неплохая задумка сделать сплинтер целл с элементами РПГ, колесом диалогов и взаимоотношениями, но благодаря криворукости разработчиков получилось забагованное, кривое говно.
  6. serious76
    Jan 31, 2021
    0
    Repetitive content, poor image quality, boring system, boring fighting,
    The worst
    Unreal Engine
    game
  7. Captainflowers
    Jun 9, 2010
    0
    Bad. just bad. terrible animation, among other things. the plo didn't make a whole lot of sense, and "espionage rpg" was a totally inappropriate name for this game.
  8. ErroneousMonk
    Nov 26, 2010
    4
    I came at this game with high hopes. I am an avid gamer and RPGs are especially close to my heart. However, I was disappointed with this game for several reasons, all of which fit under the umbrella of failed to live up to expectations. A breakdown:
    1. Ability to customize playable character is minimal at best. Cosmetic options are very limited, and the skill trees are drawing from an    I came at this game with high hopes. I am an avid gamer and RPGs are especially close to my heart. However, I was disappointed with this game for several reasons, all of which fit under the umbrella of failed to live up to expectations. A breakdown:
    1. Ability to customize playable character is minimal at best. Cosmetic options are very limited, and the skill trees are drawing from an awfully shallow pool.
    2. The game borrows rather than steals, becoming a reminder of better games rather than developing past greats into something new. The gameplay is *highly* derivative. To say that the game reminds strongly of: Mass Effect, the Hitman series, and the weaker moments of Splinter Cell, hardly seems like criticism; but the versions encountered in Alpha Protocol are watered down and consistently miss the mark. In doing so, they serve not as a presence of ingenious design and engaging gameplay, but as a poor copy that draws attention to its failure to imitate more perfectly. 3. The game does bring to the table a very interesting dialogue system, modeled on the ME radial. On the whole it is reasonably well-written, supports replay, and fits with the tone of the story. 4. That said, because of the cookie-cutter construction of the game, the dialogue comes out of the mouths of puppets who are obviously puppets and at no point flirt with becoming characters. 5. The AI is frequently stupid and occasionally idiotic. 6. Mechanics issues abound. Errors which in another game might be no more than irritations, in a spy game where goals, story tone, skill trees, dialogue structure are all to some extent hung on the notion of the main character being (indeed becoming) a specialist, the utter failure to allow the possibility of precise and deliberate action was, at least for me, a game-breaking flaw and fouled the whole experience.

    In all, the hopes and enthusiasm I had for the game were soundly dashed by poor design decisions and what to all appearances seems to be an astonishing lack of post-production quality control.    … Expand
  9. KJ
    Jun 1, 2010
    2
    You won't want to play Alpha Protocol... Some of the big drawbacks are flaky AI responses, poor story continuity, and use of an engine that is wayyyyy dated. I was hopeful on this one, but this looks to be yet another game under the Sega umbrella that blows chunks, regardless of how great it looks.
  10. TomK.
    Jun 2, 2010
    2
    Do not in anyway purchase this broken and uncomplete excuse for a console port. Abysmal, i gave it two cause I liked the conversation options and how characters interact, too bad the interacting is like it was written by a 11 year old. Bad game.
  11. CashHardy
    Jun 2, 2010
    0
    well, the game was pretty good until i started playing. Production value is just terrible. Movement is clunky and enemies are incredibly dumb. Brought it back saying it could not get past install. I'd encourage others to save yourself the time and dont purchase this one... maybe worth a rent for the consoles but other then that no thank you.
  12. fluitketel
    Sep 24, 2011
    0
    It might have been a good game, but not anymore. SEGA seems to have taken the activation servers offline. There is no change of replaying this game I bought at release. It just won't activate anymore.
    The patch SEGA released to remove the activation also does not work, since it prevents the game from even starting.
    Maybe the Steam version is working better, but I'm not going to buy a    It might have been a good game, but not anymore. SEGA seems to have taken the activation servers offline. There is no change of replaying this game I bought at release. It just won't activate anymore.
    The patch SEGA released to remove the activation also does not work, since it prevents the game from even starting.

    Maybe the Steam version is working better, but I'm not going to buy a game twice. This is SEGA and DRM at their worst. Stay away from this game.    … Expand
  13. BartS
    Jun 6, 2010
    0
    When playing this game my main thought was, How could someone make something this bad in 09/10 It looks ok but they are licensing the unreal engine so cant realy give them any credit for that. as has been stated before, they make guns woafully inacurate to give an excuse to call it an rpg, the lockpicking,hacking,rewiring etc is just copy pasted from older games and suprisingly poorly When playing this game my main thought was, How could someone make something this bad in 09/10 It looks ok but they are licensing the unreal engine so cant realy give them any credit for that. as has been stated before, they make guns woafully inacurate to give an excuse to call it an rpg, the lockpicking,hacking,rewiring etc is just copy pasted from older games and suprisingly poorly implemented. I would serously need to get paid 50$ an hour to play this game through let alone pay for it.… Expand
  14. GarrisonP
    Jun 14, 2010
    1
    Horrible graphics horrible animation horrible story its just a game were your a guy thinking hes james bond this game shoulnt even be a game or a movie.
  15. gizm0steve
    Oct 5, 2011
    3
    I'm glad I only paid $2 for this on steam. Behind the frustrating control and menu interface bugs, it's a crappy port of a half-decent 3PS with some RPG elements. The cover mechanics could use some work and the AI is just terribad for 2010. The plot and level design are the only saving graces here. The variety of characters and relevant storyline are enough to keep you interested, even intrigued.
  16. CraigG
    Jun 13, 2010
    4
    For a game that is supposed to deal in espionage(which one would assume requires stealth and finesse), the controls and "stealth" system were clunky at best. They used the same graphics model with different camouflage skins for multiple firearms, which had some VERY inaccurate stats. I was expecting something on par with Splinter Cell, from all the hype. I was VERY disappointed.
  17. SteenS.
    Jun 6, 2010
    1
    You cannot skip what the characters say, and most of what they say is totally irrelevant for the game story. You can only choose wether to be professional or aggressive, not exactly what to say. The guns are blown off expectations. You just put the enemies within your line of sight and hope for the bullet to hit them. There is absolutely no skill included in this game. Worst game You cannot skip what the characters say, and most of what they say is totally irrelevant for the game story. You can only choose wether to be professional or aggressive, not exactly what to say. The guns are blown off expectations. You just put the enemies within your line of sight and hope for the bullet to hit them. There is absolutely no skill included in this game. Worst game I've ever tried. And I actually expected much from such a game before it was launched. Mass Effect 2 was the best game i've ever played, so how comes this is so bad?… Expand
  18. Daikaze
    Dec 7, 2010
    1
    The game starts off rather well. You learn about combat, and the rest of the games mechanics... The stealth and melee is quite enjoyable, but the guns are rather sub-par and the mini-games are just awful. The mini-games aren't fun and they have no place in an action game.

    The boss fights, oh how horrible they are. They are tedious at best. You fight some enemy with extra health and they    The game starts off rather well. You learn about combat, and the rest of the games mechanics... The stealth and melee is quite enjoyable, but the guns are rather sub-par and the mini-games are just awful. The mini-games aren't fun and they have no place in an action game.

    The boss fights, oh how horrible they are. They are tedious at best. You fight some enemy with extra health and they deal extra damage. If you went melee then you're probably going to get beaten up in a fist fight with any boss. Then, the boss fights get worse as the game goes on. There's no enjoyment is spending that much time on a fight. The story is very cliche and offers limited choices. The bugs really bring the game down, but the annoyances found in the gameplay will draw your attention instead.


    If the game were just about the stealth, melee, and the occasional gun fight then it'd be a real gem... but there's just too much garbage covering up the fun.    … Expand
  19. Likeyou
    Jul 27, 2011
    0
    Do not buy that game! I reinstalled it after month after my first sadness with it at steam to take a look what happened till now.. But really.. Its a huge fail-development and maybe one of the biggest mistakes of obsidian. I never seen much of the story, I never met all the interesting characters and I never decided epic moments cuz one of the mini games in the game ruined all the fun IDo not buy that game! I reinstalled it after month after my first sadness with it at steam to take a look what happened till now.. But really.. Its a huge fail-development and maybe one of the biggest mistakes of obsidian. I never seen much of the story, I never met all the interesting characters and I never decided epic moments cuz one of the mini games in the game ruined all the fun I could have. HACKING is a huge bad portation and the idea to create such an hard mini-game is really sick. AND without a "pad" beyond possibility. My first hack in-game was my very last. I tried it for hours and hours but cuz of the inaccurate mouse-sensitivity I never could log in these randomized keywords. All other mini-games are no match, easy and funny, but hacking is the biggest slur within such public game and a crime against 08-15 gamers. And I wont tell you anything bout aiming, cuz its another joke of the developer. There are no patches to disable Hacking or better aiming since game came out. Do not waste your money like me. The one game I wished I never had bought is Alpha protocol. Buy something better. ;)… Expand
  20. RFMarine
    Jun 14, 2012
    4
    I'll be concentrating on the user interface and the performance. The graphics and story are OK, i'm not picky. Okay. I have a decent system, 4 gigs ram, geforce 560ti, core 2 duo e8200, maybe a little light on the CPU but its ok. I tried all the video options on and also tried the game with them all off. As with most consolitis games, the video options are a bit limitied.

    I see that    I'll be concentrating on the user interface and the performance. The graphics and story are OK, i'm not picky. Okay. I have a decent system, 4 gigs ram, geforce 560ti, core 2 duo e8200, maybe a little light on the CPU but its ok. I tried all the video options on and also tried the game with them all off. As with most consolitis games, the video options are a bit limitied.

    I see that this game suffers from consolitis and lacks polish. The loading times are too long, even for something as simple as loading a checkpoint then dying then reloading the last checkpoint. Loading time is also too long for such simple stuff as opening the map or opening one of the menus such as weapons or gadgets. When loading a save or loading a new level at least there's a spinning AP logo on the screen but otherwise, the game looks like its frozen. Then there are lots of pauses. Example, you are running forwards then make a 90 degree turn to your left to a stair or ramp, after turning a few degrees there is a split second pause then you find yourself turned 270 degrees so you have the stairs behind you and you're face into the wall or sometimes its 180 degrees and you're going back the way you came. The scrolling is horrible in menus. The mouse wheel works but if you have say 2 windows like in the email window, scrolling the mouse wheel only scrolls the list of emails on the left while the message on the right window cannot be controlled by the mouse wheel. You can always click on the scroll up and down buttons but they are soo small. Plus there are pauses scrolling to an email or a weapon that's on the next page of a list

    The menus like the PDA and the weapon menus don't recognize the ESC. So for example in the map to go back to the game you have to mouse click on the "back" button then press TAB. you can only jump from say the weapon to the skill menu only by mouse clicking on a small arrow. You can't use the keyboard shortcut keys. And for exiting those menus going back to the game you can't press ESC, you gotta press the key assigned to it

    Very Very poor interface design. A shame since the RPG system, the story and the combat is OK    … Expand
  21. NK
    Jun 1, 2010
    0
    I'd like to review the game but seeing as the game crashes at the launcher and the .exe file doesn't run to skip the launcher, it gets zero. Another good try Obsidian, here's hoping you don't run Fallout New Vegas into the ground like you did with the KoToR series.
  22. mafiaaa
    Dec 23, 2012
    1
    One of the worst games I've ever played. It pretty much sums up how it would turn out if I suddenly decided to make a Mass Effect clone. And the engine, ugh.... don't even get me started... let's just say it's Unreal Engine 2 (yes, that's two, you read that correctly) and it shows. *ucking everywhere, the graphics, physics, animation, particle effects, audio... This game has been made by aOne of the worst games I've ever played. It pretty much sums up how it would turn out if I suddenly decided to make a Mass Effect clone. And the engine, ugh.... don't even get me started... let's just say it's Unreal Engine 2 (yes, that's two, you read that correctly) and it shows. *ucking everywhere, the graphics, physics, animation, particle effects, audio... This game has been made by a bunch of morons with an Orangutan as the lead programmer.… Expand
  23. DantheMan
    Sep 30, 2011
    3
    I am not what you would call an FPS fan but I kept reading about how this is really an RPG game with shooter elements and that it is vastly underrated. I now think those people are loony. I don't know how good the RPG elements are in this game or anything about replayability because frankly the game is so bad that I never got beyond about 20 minutes in. What's wrong with the game has beenI am not what you would call an FPS fan but I kept reading about how this is really an RPG game with shooter elements and that it is vastly underrated. I now think those people are loony. I don't know how good the RPG elements are in this game or anything about replayability because frankly the game is so bad that I never got beyond about 20 minutes in. What's wrong with the game has been stated in other reviews: bad engine, clunky controls, obvious console port. I got the game when it was for $2 on a Steam sale and thankfully so because if I had paid more I would have been livid. When you read other reviews about how good the story and dialog are in this game be aware you are reading reviews from people who can ignore all the **** to find the diamond. I couldn't do it.… Expand
  24. abasche
    Nov 11, 2013
    3
    Mind-numbing conversation system, HORRIBLE controls that were obviously a failed port and a maddeningly difficult hacking system (which you'll have to engage in often) all make this game more of a bother than it's worth.
  25. Mellow_Online4
    Apr 22, 2016
    3
    Alpha Protocol is a game that I really wanted to like. I tried to look past the flaws that this game had, but I honestly couldn't. The best thing I can say about Alpha Protocol is that it at least tried to be something different, but even if you try to do something different, it doesn't mean that it will always be good.

    Alpha Protocol has a unique concept, an espionage RPG. I was    Alpha Protocol is a game that I really wanted to like. I tried to look past the flaws that this game had, but I honestly couldn't. The best thing I can say about Alpha Protocol is that it at least tried to be something different, but even if you try to do something different, it doesn't mean that it will always be good.

    Alpha Protocol has a unique concept, an espionage RPG. I was surprised to see that this sort of idea, hadn't been done that often in gaming and that is one thing that I respect this game for doing. The main problem with this however is that in my opinion, Alpha Protocol doesn't really use any of the unique ideas it brings to the table that well and the basic stuff that are required to make a good game (like gameplay, playability and graphics) aren't really focused on as they put most of their thought, time and care into trying to implement these ideas to try and live up to it's name "an espionage RPG."

    One of the biggest problems Alpha Protocol has is in it's gameplay. Nearly everything in the gameplay falls flat. While the training section at the beginning of the game, does show off some great ideas for an espionage RPG like sneaking mechanics, combat and gadgets, I didn't feel like I was having any fun playing this or doing any of these ideas for gameplay because in the end, that's what I was thinking they were, just some ideas. I felt like these ideas were only half executed. The ideas are there, but they just stopped after that. Sneaking is basically useless because the AI is really bad. Gun combat feels restricted an the sensitivity never feels right no matter what you set it to. Melee combat, while it's better than gun combat, feels slippery for the majority of the time, but at least it was more controllable than the gun Gadgets are basically useless in combat because you can't really tell where they'll land. There's no targeting ridicule for them so you just need to predict where they'll land.

    Graphics are for the most part good however there are several flaws with them. There is quite a lot of slow loading textures from time to time and the longer I played, the more frequently these occurred. There is also a bit of pop in going on quite a bit. Apart from that there isn't much to say about the graphics. They're decent but they could have gotten more polish before release like the rest of the game.

    The sound seemed to repeatedly cutting out randomly for some reason throughout my play time as well. However, this didn't affect my overall feeling towards the game in any way and I easily ignored it as it wasn't too big of a deal.

    In this review, it might come off like I hate Alpha Protocol and even though that's true, there's still some good ideas that are put into Alpha Protocol, which might have been good if they developed these ideas further. The stuff that is common to see and expect in an RPG is present in Alpha Protocol but these things we have seen done a bunch of times are exactly that. Alpha Protocol does nothing to change the styles that are common in RPGs except for the dialogue options, which is one of the best I've seen.

    Overall, Alpha Protocol is buggy and generic. It barely does anything to stand out from the crowd and when it tries to do this, it usually falls flat. However, it still uses some ideas which I hope to see in RPGs in a future and if the developers of this game were to make a sequel, maybe tweaking the game a bit, I would definitely buy the sequel to see if these ideas are developed more.

    Pros
    + Some good ideas
    + Great concept
    + Good mechanics
    + OK graphics

    Cons
    - Underdeveloped ideas
    - Terrible AI
    - Restricted/slippery combat
    - Slow loading textures    … Expand
  26. Ratingss
    Aug 17, 2022
    4
    A low budget Mass Effect clone that uses the dumb aiming system of the first Deus EX and other equally dumb mechanics to try to pretend to have some depth.
    Every single Obsidian game is like this, a bad game with a decent story that becomes borderline unplayable because of some gimmick that they use as a way to add fake depth since they cant do it properly through actually decent    A low budget Mass Effect clone that uses the dumb aiming system of the first Deus EX and other equally dumb mechanics to try to pretend to have some depth.
    Every single Obsidian game is like this, a bad game with a decent story that becomes borderline unplayable because of some gimmick that they use as a way to add fake depth since they cant do it properly through actually decent gameplay mechanics.
    Its too bad they have some of the best writers in the industry because these people suck ass at making games, their best game is literally just a mod of Fallout 3 that they would never been capable of doing from scratch.    … Expand
  27. Demon2017
    Jun 18, 2022
    4
    Очередное доказательство того, что Obsidian могут писать отличные сценарии, но делать очень посредственный геймплей и в данном случае, геймплей настолько плохой, что даже интересный сюжет не заставил меня проходить дальше.Очередное доказательство того, что Obsidian могут писать отличные сценарии, но делать очень посредственный геймплей и в данном случае, геймплей настолько плохой, что даже интересный сюжет не заставил меня проходить дальше.
  28. Newome
    Jan 17, 2020
    3
    This is an awful game that doesn't allow you to turn off motion blur. The graphics for the time are awful and the gameplay is bad. the only thing good is the fact that your choices matter.
  29. F1_is_WWE
    Aug 14, 2022
    1
    This game is like Hitman Absolution but even more linear and with bogged down dialogue and RPG mecanics. There' s no point playing it unless you really like linear stealth games.

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Best PC Game of 2010
21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
23
#23 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 26
  3. Negative: 1 out of 26
  1. Gaming Age
    May 20, 2024
    80
    It’s a solid spy adventure that deserves to be rediscovered, and it’s a reminder that even the seventh generation’s second- or third-tier games were still pretty exceptional.
    Read full review
  2. CPUGamer
    80
    From the beginning of the game, till the ending, I was relatively pleased with how important and impactful the decisions I made were.
    Read full review
  3. PC PowerPlay
    70
    Mediocre gameplay hides an enjoyable RPG with moments of genius. But it could have been so much more. [Aug 2010, p.56]
See all critic reviews »