[PC] [360] [PS3] Alpha Protocol

[Nikolai]

http://www.sega.com/alphaprotocol/

Alpha Protocol has adopted a couple of the best design features of Deus Ex. The somewhat malleable plot and the snooping are present. Its plot change is based on the management of relationships with key figures and of decisions. A part of changing the plot is figuring out background information on the people and factions in play.

For example, handling a couple of missions well (no casualties), maintaining the proper attitude and digging up enough of his past will give you the opportunity to flip a major enemy character during the course of the game, either removing him as a threat in the endgame or turning him into an ally. Or, if you irritate him in an earlier conversation, you can kill him early in the game.

This reminded me of dealing with Anne Navarre, for instance, in Deus Ex--the player is given the opportunity to kill her at an early juncture or face her in the latter part of the game, and with careful investigation can discover her killphrase and avoid combat with her entirely.

Alpha Protocol has more built in rewards for investigation and more crossroads (and therefore more plot permutations, if you will) than Deus Ex, but it feels almost too sanitized. In Deus Ex, it was something mind blowing to save Paul, chilling to hear the Triad accuse you of killing their errand boy, and wonderful to discover Morpheus and his conversation. I had to ask myself, "was this meant to happen? how many times could I have played this game and never known this was here? and what are the consequences?" Alpha Protocol's would probably have told you that saving Paul was an option and given you a choice between saving him or getting away clean. It probably would have given you a blurb in the mission summary about the consequences of killing Louis Pan. Alpha Protocol's linear levels would have made it hard to hide Morpheus or MJ12's secret base or any of the other cool things hidden in Deus Ex.

Similarly, Alpha Protocol tells you how complete your information on a subject is with an nifty percentage score. Granted that there are secret dossier entries, it still robs you of the feeling of putting it all together yourself that Deus Ex bestowed.

So I love Alpha Protocol for these elements. While their implementation makes sense and appeals to the completionist in me, I wonder if they would have been better left a little dirty, a little ragged, a little secret so that I would always wonder if there were big secrets and plot twists left undiscovered. 'Cause I still replay Deus Ex just to see how soon I could have figured out who the thief at UNATCO really is, and I still try to break the plot by antagonizing the wrong people or disobeying orders.