Alpha Protocol
On paper, Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol is the spy action role-playing game that we always wanted. It featured deep levels of customization and a branching espionage narrative in which players could make meaningful decisions of genuine consequence. Few games pull off this balance so deftly, and virtually none have the same Splinter Cell-like thematic setting.
Unfortunately, where Alpha Protocol did earn praise for its uniqueness, it failed to impress critics with inconsistent AI and poorly executed gameplay. On a fundamental level, Alpha Protocol’s gameplay feels broken in its early stages before characters are leveled up sufficiently. Its presentation, too, wasn’t up to Obsidian’s usual standards at the time, especially when compared to epics such as Neverwinter Nights.
It was, however, doing something completely unique, moving away from the swords and sorcery premise that virtually every other RPG had copied. On that basis alone, Alpha Protocol piqued the interest of many gamers, and for those that persisted through its ungainly features, they were rewarded with a game that provided near infinite replayability. The sheer number of ways the story can branch and the extent to which your decisions affect the way missions play out is still accomplished by today’s standards. Even if Alpha Protocol feels a bit half baked in most departments, there’s an x-factor here that keeps it interesting if you can get over the lack of polish.
