RPGWatch Forums - Alpha Protocol - Preview @ Hooked Gamers

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Alpha Protocol - Preview @ Hooked Gamers

Hooked Gamers has put together a preview of Alpha Protocol, covering familiar territory:

Quote:

Much of the game will involve dialogue trees. Within any given dialogue, the player may decide to model his approach to emulate the J.B. of his choice: Jack Bauer (aggressive), James Bond (suave) or Jason Bourne (professional). It should be noted that Obsidian pointedly does NOT use these labels. But if it “walks like a duck and talks like a duck… However, you had better get the conversation right the first time, because you will NOT be able to re–initiate any given dialogue tree as you can in many other games. NPC reactions to you now will be influenced by what they have seen of you earlier. Personally, I think this is the aspect of the game that will stand out most favorably; the rest of the game will most likely play as you would expect a third–person Action game to play out. Bodies to the left of me; bodies to the right. NPCs learn about Darwin the hard way.

More information.

I guess I just need to view this title with less RPG-ness. It's like Deus Ex—a little less so tactically compared to Deus Ex's gun combat, but still in that vein. So in that regard I guess it seem pretty interesting and probably pretty fun. I still have my reservations, and their media blitz isn't exactly impressive by any standards.

The previewer's reservations are pretty amusing. Compared to the orgasmic coverage in Fallout 3/Oblivion previews, this thing sounds almost negative. They portray the Obsidian developers as no-names, mock their past efforts, and joke about how they can't ship a game on time. Not all invalid concerns but still, the contrast is rather glaring.

I think someone at Obsidian doesn't know how to pitch a game properly. I haven't seen a single preview that would grab any type of player by the balls and get them interested; I only care as a BIS/Obsidian/Avellone fanboy. They need a evil Hinesean PR genius over there.

I can't really understand why is everyone so disappointed with the previews of this game. For me it looks like a game that is going to be great fun to play. The only reason I can imagine for this is that Black Isle fans think "Why are the last major developers that can make a true RPG wasting time on an action title". But hey, why would one think that Obsidian are that kind of people? Yes, Feargus and Avellone are there, but there are other people too, and some management above. And both games Obsidian made were "satisfactory", nowhere near Black Isle greatness. So maybe turning to the likes of action with RPG elements is really for the better. After all it actually matters that we have fun games to play, not that some standards of roleplaying perfection are fulfilled.

@pnutz: Or perhaps the game is utter crap, they're just unwilling to put it that way…

Perhaps, but these are previews, so that shouldn't matter. It's all about the presentation, the staging, and tactically releasing information to build interest, not about how good the game is. That's why it seems someone isn't very good at their job. This is game journalism; previews are never negative.