Alpha Protocol

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Alpha Protocol
AP logo.jpg
Studio Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher Sega
Senior Developer Chris Parker (Project Director)
Chris Avellone (Lead Designer)
Raymond Holmes (Lead Designer)
composer Jason Graves
Rod Abernethy
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 AustraliaAustraliaMay 27, 2010 May 28, 2010 June 1, 2010
European UnionEuropean Union
North AmericaNorth America
platform Windows , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360
Game engine Unreal Engine 3
genre Action RPG
Game mode Single player
control Mouse and keyboard, gamepad
system advantages
preconditions
medium DVD-ROM , download
language Multilingual
Current version 1.1 (September 15, 2010)
Age rating
USK approved from 16
PEGI from 18

Alpha Protocol is a third-person - role-playing game in an agent scenario . The main character is US secret agent Michael Thorton, whose role the player takes on. The game was released on May 28, 2010 in Europe after several postponements.

action

Arab terrorists from the fictional terrorist organization Al-Samad use guided missiles to destroy a passenger plane. The also fictional American secret service Alpha Protocol is therefore sending its new agent Michael Thorton to Saudi Arabia to eliminate or arrest the perpetrators of the attack. As an officially non-existent organization, Alpha Protocol can act at its own discretion. Since the service works without the knowledge of the democratic institutions and has no ties to the government, the agents are completely on their own and cannot hope for official support if they fail.

In his search for the masterminds of the attack, Michael Thorton comes across links between the terrorists and the American arms company Halbech and Alpha Protocol itself. After finding the leader of Al-Samad and uncovering indications of major terrorist involvement, Thorton himself almost falls victim to what appears to be one of Alpha Protocol outbound missile attack. Thorton narrowly escapes the attack, but then finds his name on the Most Wanted lists of the CIA , FBI and other secret services - he is wanted worldwide as a terrorist and traitor.

As a renegade secret agent, Thorton continues to pursue the masterminds and looks for clues in the locations Taipei ( Taiwan ), Rome ( Italy ) and Moscow ( Russia ). There he investigates the Halbech Group's relationship with various criminal and terrorist organizations that are responsible for the destabilization of political systems and the threat of war around the world. The interests, goals and connections of the various secret societies and criminal organizations form an information network that is difficult to understand and that unfolds differently depending on the decision of the player. After Thorton was able to get an overview of the global extent of terrorist activities in this way, it comes to the showdown in the Alpha Protocol headquarters in the USA. The actual outcome of the game is largely determined by the player himself through his previous appearance in dialogues and the choice of his allies.

Gameplay

Alpha Protocol tries playfully to create a balancing act between the role-playing and action genre. The player should have the opportunity to create an individual character with different talents according to his own taste. The successful application of these talents does not only depend on the player's ability to react and coordinate when using the input device, according to the role-playing principles via the level system. The action-packed staging of the fights or the dialogue system, on the other hand, should break up the sometimes leisurely course of the game of common role-playing games and appeal to inexperienced and non-genre players through the simplified action options. In the way it plays and the way it is presented, it has similarities to BioWare's commercially successful role-playing game Mass Effect .

In contrast to Mass Effect , the role-playing aspects and character development are staged a little more strongly and are always noticeable in the course of the game. The player has to make a selection of the equipment that should be available to him before starting the mission. For example, a specific weapon can only be taken from two of the four weapon systems. The choice of these weapons cannot be changed during the course of the mission. As a result, the player is more bound to his decisions before the start of the mission than in Mass Effect and is encouraged to regularly deal with the selection and composition of his equipment. On the other hand, the effort is limited by the restriction to a single character without an escort team.

In addition to character development, the player is essentially active on two levels. Starting from his hiding place at one of the three main locations (Moscow, Rome, Taipei) he decides on a tactical overview map which mission he wants to carry out next. There are often several missions to choose from, the timing of which the player can choose himself. You can also switch between the three locations at any time. Successfully completed missions usually unlock further follow-up missions. In some cases, the choice of mission or the course of a mission can change due to decisions made by the player. This creates the impression of a non-linear game structure.

The missions in themselves consist of linearly structured levels. At some points the player is given the opportunity to vary the accompanying events or the final outcome. By purchasing certain information or making payments in advance of the mission, e.g. B. tactical information can be acquired or the strength of the enemy troops reduced. The course of action can be changed mainly via dialogue options, for example by killing or releasing the target person. In addition, there are small side missions with decision-making options, such as forwarding an arms shipment to an arms dealer (combined with additional purchase options as the game progresses) or using it for your own purposes. The actual course of the mission is only changed marginally. The decisions have an impact on the factions or main characters of the game and thus on their future behavior in the course of the plot.

All playful decisions ultimately influence the course of the final act and the outcome of the action in the credits.

Combat system

You control your character from a third-person perspective , the battles take place in real time. In combat, Thorton draws on an arsenal of weapons with different properties, grenades, espionage tools or his melee talents. For defeated opponents you get experience points, which you can use to upgrade ten skills. These skills improve Thorton's handling of weapons, his talent in close combat or his understanding of technology. Some talents are automatically activated by the system when the opportunity arises, others have to be specifically called up. After using it, there is a cooldown depending on the talent and talent level before it can be used again. In the course of the missions, Thorton collects money with which he can purchase not only information but also more powerful weapons or modifications to improve his equipment.

In the game doors and safes can or must be cracked, alarm systems switched off and computers hacked. The player has to line up vertically moving bolts, select branched cables and discover two groups of characters on a constantly changing monitor display. These actions must take place within a short period of time; the game and any attacks are not interrupted.

Dialogues

As is common in many role-playing games, you can decide what or how the character should answer. Instead of a selection of fully formulated answer options, the game is based on a shortened dialogue system that was previously introduced in Mass Effect , both visually and in terms of content . Only three to four directions are given, from which the player can choose. The selection consists of, for example, “Aggressive”, “Joking” or “Information”. Unlike in Mass Effect , however, the player only has a short time window available for the selection, otherwise a preselected standard answer is used. This avoids interruptions in the flow of conversation and enhances the cinematic impression. In doing so, serious decisions can also be made via the dialog window, such as: B. “sparing” or “executing” persons relevant to the action. The decisions directly influence the further course of the conversation or the entire game. So the relationship with other characters and factions can improve or deteriorate.

development

The developers used the so-called "three JB" s: James Bond , Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne as models for the game's agent theme . However, the scenario also has features of the Mission Impossible series. Producer Ryan Rudcinski also cited the political thriller Syriana as one of the main influences. The sometimes violent options for action in dialogues are based on the behavior of Jack Bauer; one of the influences of the Bourne films is the integration of martial arts into the combat system. A main requirement of the game was the integration of cinematic cutscenes. Obsidian used the Unreal graphics engine in version 3 as the technical basis .

The time limits within the dialogue system is a takeover of work on a discontinued game in the Alien universe. Here the time limit was originally intended to underline the feeling of impending danger and thus maintain the tension. For Alpha Protocol , the system was finally adopted based on the hectic staging of 24. Studies of brain currents in test subjects showed that the dialogue system had similar affects on the player as, for example, combat positions. For lead designer Chris Avellone this also represented an accounting with meaningless dialogue trees in computer role-playing games. The choice of answers should have unchangeable and noticeable consequences for the action of the game and thus simulate real conversation situations.

The four years of development proved difficult for Obsidian. There was no binding target agreement internally, which led to uncertainty among the developers. Obsidan boss Feargus Urquhart described the situation as "meandering" between a shooter, an RPG, a stealth game and all three genres at once. There was also no clear target group definition.

reception

The game received mixed ratings from testers. The release of the game was postponed by eight months, which meant that the game only came onto the market after Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction , which , according to developers, were clearly superior to Alpha Protocol in terms of cinematic presentation and stealth mechanics. Was criticized by the trade press u. a. the poor graphics performance for Unreal III standards , the poor AI and poor quality control. On the other hand, the exciting staged plot and the numerous decision options that have a noticeable influence on the course of the plot were praised. It was noticeable that there were large differences in evaluation between the European and US specialist press. The game performed significantly better in European assessments than in the American press. In German-speaking countries, the average rating in the trade press is 78% to 79%, depending on the platform, and between 63% (Xbox 360) and 72% (PC) worldwide. According to Obsidian, the bad ratings of the trade press were countered by many positive customer comments, even in the long term. The game developed into an insider tip.

According to the quarterly report of the publisher Sega for the 1st quarter of the 2011 financial year, Alpha Protocol had sold around 700,000 times by June 30th. In an interview with the English game magazine CVG, Sega's Western President Mike Hayes said that the game could not meet sales expectations. Despite a good concept, bad ratings and high competitive pressure would have prevented success. Therefore one does not strive for a continuation. An expansion of the game with downloadable content was already suspended in the run-up to the release, although initial plans for the creation of new additional missions existed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Alpha Protocol Has Gone Gold! . In: SEGA America Blog . Sega Corporation. May 4, 2010. Archived from the original on May 8, 2010. Retrieved on November 8, 2010.
  2. ↑ Alpha Protocol: Sega postpones the action role-playing game again. In: GamersGlobal.de , February 8, 2010. Accessed August 22, 2010.
  3. ↑ Tracey John: Producer: 'Alpha Protocol' Similar But Different From 'Mass Effect' ( English ) In: MTV Multiplayer . MTV . July 25, 2008. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  4. ↑ Will Porter: Alpha Protocol - first look ( English ) In: GamesRadar . Future plc. April 22, 2010. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b c Will Ooi: An Interview with Chris Avellone - game designer, writer, and former 'unlucky schlep' ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM TechWeb. September 25, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  6. ^ A b Vince D. "Vault Dweller" Weller: Alpha Protocol design interview with Chris Avellone & Co ( English ) In: Official forum . Iron Tower Studio. April 8, 2010. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved on September 30, 2011.
  7. ↑ Chris Avellone: ​​A Man Of Many Words ( English ) gamesTM. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on March 26, 2013. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
  8. ↑ David Wildgoose: RPG Designer Hates RPGs ( English ) In: Kotaku . May 1, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  9. ↑ a b Jason Schreier: The Knights of New Vegas: How Obsidian Survived Countless Catastrophes And Made Some Of The Coolest Role-Playing Games Ever ( English ) In: Kotaku . December 17, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  10. ^ Benjamin Jakobs: Test: Alpha Protocol In: Eurogamer.de , May 28, 2010. Accessed August 22, 2010.
  11. ↑ Jörg Langer: Test: Alpha Protocol In: GamersGlobal.de , May 28, 2010. Retrieved on August 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ Vlad Andrici: Difference of Opinions: Alpha Protocol EU vs. US Reviews - who's right and who's wrong? In: free-pc-guides.com , June 4, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  13. ^ Critify.de , accessed on August 22, 2010.
  14. ↑ Metacritic : Average rating of the Windows version , based on 25 articles. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  15. ↑ Metacritic : Average rating of the Xbox version , based on 68 articles. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  16. ↑ Metacritic : Average rating of the PS3 version , based on 49 articles. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  17. ↑ Sega Sammy: Quarterly Report Q1 Fiscal Year 2011 ( Memento from August 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf; 110 kB), July 30, 2010, accessed on September 1, 2010.
  18. ↑ Tim Ingham: Interview: Sega's Mike Hayes ( Memento July 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Computer and Video Games , July 13, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  19. ↑ Andresito: Entrevista con Chris Avellone ( English ) In: El Pixel Ilustre . August 18, 2011. Archived from the original on October 30, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2011.