Three
years ago I heard of a game which the press was salivating over. A
Spy Thriller RPG. Now those words are to me what chocolate and peanut
butter are to most everyone else, delicious. Two of my favorite
things now mixed together! What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty.
The game was mired by an indecisive production on one side and an
impatient publisher on the other. One could hardly call it rushed
because it had already taken four years to make, but in it's state
the gaming press was justifiably not amused. Jim Stearling (a critic
I like) gave it a 2/10 saying “It's disgusting that a game in
this forsaken a state is asking for a single thin dime, let alone
sixty bucks. Even if it was free I wouldn't recommend it.”
Games are expensive, and I pride myself on paying close attention to
a wide variety of reviews before making a purchase, suffice to say
words like those struck AP off my list for several years.
But then
a few months back I was looking for something on the cheap and
stumbled across message boards about the most underrated games of
this console generation and this came up more than any other. But
how could that be?! It was a disaster, so many critics said so... I
was still resolute in not giving this game the time of day.
But Joysiq.com had found something. In their article “AlphaProtocol is the new Deus Ex” they claimed that the original ideas it
presented were fully realized in spite of its technical shortcomings.
It was a good read and it gave me a figurative craving for Reeses.
Steam had it for $15 and I'll admit it was late, I was bored, and
pretty intoxicated. But I should probably talk about the game now
shouldn’t I?
The
critics were absolutely right...initially. The game put's its worst
foot forward, not once, but several times. The first forth of the
game is it's worst by a mile and paradoxically the tutorial chapter
is only fun after you've already beaten the game, its weird but true.
In fact after I died during the very first real mission the game
glitched and all the enemies had disappeared. Enemies are kind of
important for those little things a spy thriller needs like tension
and conflict.
 |
| The stealth walk is hilarious...the stealth skills are hilariously awesome. |
You also
can't simply point a gun and shoot it. You need to invest skill
points in a corresponding weapon's tree to actually have a chance of
hitting something. The enemy’s intelligence is also frighteningly
bizarre as well as erratic and they all look like they're walking
against an invisible treadmill. So after the first few hours I had a
really sour taste in my mouth, I was only playing the game because I
felt I had to, and by gum I was going to get my money’s worth.
Thankfully
things changed, the minutia of the the previously irritating shooting
system began to make sense every gun had strange gimmick attached.
Pistols could fire precision shot from behind cover, holding your aim
with a shotgun gave it a bigger knockdown effect, holding a rifle
shot still charged a kill shot, and so on.Then I
started paying closer attention. Passable characters began developing
into compelling ones, the skill trees started bearing delicious
fruit, and my Taipei secret base was AWESOME. I wasn’t having fun
in spite of myself, I was actually having fun.
 |
| Mmmmarburrrrg! |
There
are several wonderful things about AP that other critics either
failed to mention or misrepresented. In most games you have all the
time you need to respond to characters during dialogue. Obsidian
invented the dialogue timer. You have seconds to decide whether to
execute an arms dealing warlord or to back stab a trusted handler. It
gives immediacy and weight to otherwise over calculated and cold
decisions. And everyone has an opinion of you, especially the
villains. Towards the end a secondary antagonist was bragging
about how little I had thought through the assault on his compound.
But I hadn't. I ran through my reasons and tactics exposing how
little he actually knew of my plans. Every step I had outplayed him
my reputation meter ticked up out of his begrudging respect for my
actions. A more perfect tandem of game mechanics and story telling I
have never seen.
The long
and short of it is this is a diamond in the rough for anyone who
loves video games and espionage as much as I do. If you can forgive
it's budget and harebrained mechanics, this is the interactive spy
novel you never knew you wanted.
I'll play myself out.
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