Alpha Protocol

My opinions so far of Alpha Protocol are: 1) it's a lot like Mass Effect - almost like it was intentional - and 2) somewhat to my surprise, it's not terrible.

First off, let me throw in my two cents about the game's alleged bugginess -- yeah. It is buggy. The enemy AI is a little baffling, the mouse is beyond the comprehension of most of the game's menus, and I've already had to reload a save file because I got stuck in a wall. But you know? I can't really say that it's worse than any Bethesda or BioWare game. It's not an excuse for Obsidian, but I hate that the internet gives some developers a pass for these same technical shortcomings.

ANYWAY! Clearly, Alpha Protocol isn't a great game. Its brazen imitation of many Mass Effect elements - the hacking minigames, the dialog wheel, the character progression system, even the level design - is a bit disappointing, and the narrative, with all its player-choice twists and foibles, is interesting but comes across as incomplete. Nevertheless, it is pretty cool how open-ended the mission structure is -- how each part of a level is open to gung-ho gunmanship, or stealth, or sabotage, or any combination thereof.

At its best, it has a cool, James Bond feel to it, although some spotty cover and a general vagueness about enemy line-of-sight can occasionally turn a stealth run into an unexpected shootout.

Progress: Just left Saudi Arabia