Thanks for posting the positives about the game. Despite the flaws, I too feel like it's a game I'd enjoy. I'm gonna try to hold off for a price drop. I figure it'll be down to at least $35 sometime in the next month.

I'm also glad to see some positive remarks. I'll pick this one up after a price drop as well.

I spent some time with AP and finished the first mission. Gosh these reviewers are so anal minded these days. I had a lot of fun, and it looks to only get better.

I found many of the criticisms to be unfair:

Texture pop-in - yes the game has this, but cmon, you can't wait a freaking two seconds to get the textures? It does nothing to diminish the game.


Poor Graphics - I thought the graphics were just fine, and the death animations are fun to watch.


Poor AI - I didn't notice this. In fact, i watched one enemy duck and cover and then try to circle around behind me! They didn't just stand out in the open like other dummy shooters.


Awful gameplay - It certainly doesn't have the pinpoint accuracy of ME 2, but definitely not a game breaker for me. As my stats improve, I'm sure the shooting will become more fun.


The only issues I really had were:


Your character runs and hunches so retarded like he has a rod up his ass.

The hacking mini games are horrible. There is one where you have 12 secs to find stagnent numbers in a group of fast moving numbers. It gives me a headache and you can't skip it.

The control scheme is too complex. It took me forever just to figure out how to select a grenade.

Finished this last night. Definitely worth playing, despite its numerous problems.

The thing that totally sold me on the game was the boss fight where

I almost didn't get to finish it however. In the ruins stage, the game kept freezing on me. Over and over and over again, never exactly in the same place, but close enough. I tried all the usual nonsense: unplugging from the internet, disconnecting the hard drive... eventually after installing the game to my hard drive AND moving my saves to a memory card I was able to progress.

This is another example that I love 'bad' games. I put a couple of hours in today, and I had a lot of fun. I really like how you have seconds to make a choice, good or bad. Reviews be damned!

Game Revolution, one of the crankiest websites I've ever read gave it a B-
http://www.gamerevolution.com/review...alpha-protocol

Just wanted to chime in and agree with this. I got the game from Gamefly about a week ago and I've been playing it nonstop. Finished my second full playthrough last night, but I've gone through the final section six times now and have seen different endings every single time based on my decisions and responses.

I'd compare it very favorably to the first Mass Effect. Yes, the graphics aren't top notch and there are plenty of minor quibbles, but I got over all of that very quickly. A second playthrough can be like an entirely new story if you play it that way, with unexpected secrets and shades of character being revealed.

Oh, and through all of this I have yet to encounter an actual bug of any sort. Other than the ones planted in the story, that is.

I finally just decided to pay the $30 "Keep" price from Gamefly so I can add it to my permanent collection and play through at least once more.

Wow...I can't believe this game got such bad reviews. I just finished up back to back playthroughs and want to play it again. There are just so many different directions the story can go in and the two endings I got were very different!

I only encountered two minor bugs, graphics were pretty good to me, and the writing and voice acting were excellent. I think its just as good as the Mass Effect franchise and its a shame it bombed.

Original titles fail....lesson is MORE band games and Call of Duty!

Heavy Rain sold 1.5m copies

The negative reviews and ultimately unpolished look and feel of the game were its downfall. Some people can overlook faults like that, others can't.

The voice acting is what ruined it for me. It didn't matter what option I picked in dialogue, the main character showed no emotion and talked in boring monotone. It made the choices not feel different unlike Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

While I agree the main character wasn't the best, he wasn't that bad either.
Certainly no worse than Male Shepherd....

But the whole point WAS why so many negative reviews.... people can overlook graphics and minor bugs all the time if the game is good enough. Did you see the thread for Deadly Premonition?? That game was original and extremely weird, but its graphics, music, and control scheme were a MESS.

Finally snagged this and so far I'm loving it. Next to "Red Dead" it's the most fun I've had with a game this year. There are a few bugs, but the story has sucked me in and I love the options they give you that look like they can drastically change the way things turn out.

i really enjoyed this game - i spent about 14 hours on it. i have no idea where potential threads could have gone based on choices i made, but overall, i felt satisfied with my purchase. IIRC, i basically maxed out and had no real problems getting through the game.

Target has been clearancing both versions and i was a bit hestitAnt to buy it but now i might if it gets to 20 or lower

$12.01 at Amazon! Click Me

Worth it.

Definitely.

$9.95 if you get the PC version.

Though I never had a problem with Male Shephard, his acting was much improved in ME2.

barely a decent game. but id recommend at least one play through just for Steven Heck. that character is F'ing hilarious as well as some of thortons responses to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaun3ZI9c_4

I'm almost at the end of my first playthrough of Alpha Protocol. Despite an irritating glitch with the radial menu (after the first mission, the thumb sticks refuse to work in the radial menu so I have to swtich to keyboard & mouse in order to switch gear and abilities on the fly), I've been having fun. I like the dialogue system (better than the dialogue wheel from the ME series or DAII) and how immediate the effects of your actions are in terms of the missions and story.

I also love how my Michael Thorton banged every girl in the game.

This definitely feels rushed despite all the seemingly endless delays. The stealth system is poorly thought out (either there's no place to hide or your opponents are completely retarded), bosses are only challenging because they are overpowered and/or rely on infinitely spawning henchmen, and Michael barely reacts to some very major last-minute plot twists that it's almost comical.

Still, a fun game for the $6.80 I paid and Steven Heck was awesome. Although I do want a polished sequel to AP (Obsidian claims they want to make one despite Sega saying otherwise), a Steven heck spinoff would be awesome. Definitely a way to give Nolan North another franchise (and with a very different character than Nathan Drake).

Yeah that game is entertaining despite its crazy flaws, which are numerous. Just think how awesome it could have been had they had another 6 months.

That's what I keep thinking while I play it. However, didn't they have a ridiculously long development cycle?

Finished my first playthrough last night. That last three boss fights were a pain. The first being the worst because of a game breaking glitch that happened several times.

I will say that once I figured out how to beat the third boss, I was in the same mood Michael Thorton was at the end. So I must say that, despite its bizarre glitches, I really liked this game and am looking forward to another playthrough.

BTW, which girl did you all end up with?

Anyhoo, I hope Obsidian gets a chance to tackle a sequel but they need to ditch the stat based combat. It's not an issue through most of the game but shows its flaws when dealing with the tougher gurnts during the final mission. There's nothing more ridiculous than shooting someone several times point-blank in the head and have them not die and/or barely take any damage.

my understanding is this game is now 4.99 at gamestop....

If you are looking for one of the most underscored games this generation pick it up.