Obsidian Entertainment - Alpha Protocol Revealed

Dhruin

Dhruin

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It seems the April edition of GameInformer reveals one of Obsidian's new projects - an espioniage/spy action/RPG titled Alpha Protocol. This comes via a poster at NeoGAF, so we'll have to wait until GameInformer hits the streets to check the details but the description sounds plausible. So, courtesy of the NeoGAF poster:
Alpha Protocol

(1 player action/RPG)

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Publisher: Sega
Release: Spring 2009

"A modern day espionage focused action/RPG that takes you on a suspenseful ride in the vein of James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne. Take a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn agent up through the ranks to become a bona-fide super spy."

-Main character is Michael Thorton, a fully trained but inexperienced young operative who has the world turned upside down when a mission goes wrong.

-Title "Alpha Protocol" is a phrase that is used when operatives go underground to work off the grid. Usually reserved for senior agents.

-Battle system is similar to Mass Effect but have more in common with Uncharted. It revolves around real time combat with an emphasis on gun play and high tech gadgets.

-Third person perspective, action orientated gameplay

-Close quarters combat can be a last resort or primary method of fighting depending on how you spend skill points you have earned.

-Skill system is based most closely on Fallout. It's classless, you have 10 skills and 10 ranks in each skill. Skills don't simply improve things like accuracy, they improve the way your character will perceive situations.

-The game will suit all play styles from the run and gunner to the stealth assassin.

-Extremely in depth dialog system that is a mix of Mass Effect and Indigo Prophecy. Once conversations happen, that's it, no revisiting the NPC to try to talk again and again. System is named the Dialog Stance System. You dictate your characters tone in a conversation by pressing a corresponding face button. Options can be cool and suave others can be brash/impatient.

-You can have multiple active missions in different countries and travel freely between them.

-Lots of girls and romance subplots. You'll meet tons of different girls on missions and yes you can bag them all.

-Current control scheme for selecting powers and weapons is similar to Bioshock.
Click to expand...
Thanks to dowon on our forums for the heads-up.
More information.
 
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Fantastic to see something outside of the standard fantasy and scifi genres and surely this subject matter really lends itself to good dialogue and multiple solutions.

Fingers crossed.
 
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Lots of girls and romance subplots. You'll meet tons of different girls on missions and yes you can bag them all.
Click to expand...
... written like a true GAF-fer ... ;)

I think this sounds good, but I'm sure we'll have the 'gender limitations' discussions if you are really limited to male-only. If so that is a bit of a bummer, as I tend to like when game offer both options. But hey, either way I am very likely to give it a go!
 
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Sounds cool. :p
+ Bothe Chriss Avellone and Brian Mitsoda are working on this project as Lead Designer and Creative Lead, so the writing in this game should be really good. :) If someone would scan pictures and post them here I would be more than happy ;)
 
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Very interesting infos; they seem trying to introduce something new into crpg genre.

What about the Alien rpg? Hope they are still working on it.
 
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They are working on both (and probably have more stuff in earlier stages, if they are smart).
 
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Sounds promising. Whether it'll actually deliver on those promises remains to be seen, but I certainly wouldn't mind a Jack Bauer-style game.
 
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beloid said:
unfortunately it's password protected :(
Click to expand...

it's amazing i downloaded it yesterday and it wasn't password protected then.
I can upload it somewhere if you folks would like to see it. :)
 
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As interesting as it would be, I don´t think it´s right to spread a portfolio. If the author considers it private it should remain private.
 
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I don't know about those Obsidian guys. They obviously have talent, but they remind me too much of Troika.

To date, they haven't released a product which I consider thoroughly good. Granted, they've only done 2 games and an expansion, but they've all suffered from numerous problems, at least to my mind.

They have yet to prove themselves, and they should REALLY hire some technical guys who know what they're doing. That seems to be their biggest problem, along with the inability to finish games properly and have proper endings.

I know several of them worked on past classics and were part of legends like Black Isle, but apparently they failed to bring along the pragmatic people.
 
...Jack Bauer... ...Mass Effect... ...Mass Effect... ...bagging girls...
Click to expand...

The only thing missing is a statement that they're using the ME engine for this.

Oh, and cue "collar grabbing" jokes.
 
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Gorath said:
As interesting as it would be, I don´t think it´s right to spread a portfolio. If the author considers it private it should remain private.
Click to expand...

OK. I agree with You :)

DArtagnan said:
I don't know about those Obsidian guys. They obviously have talent, but they remind me too much of Troika.

To date, they haven't released a product which I consider thoroughly good. Granted, they've only done 2 games and an expansion, but they've all suffered from numerous problems, at least to my mind.(...)
Click to expand...

So far I enjoyed very much all games by both companies. They are badly optimised and have many bugs, but still they all were most of the best Roleplaying games released in the last few years. And I find their last game/addon "Mask of The Betrayer" to be absolutely brilliant.
 
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Their engines always sucked. That's sad but true. They dropped Torn during the BIS times because of engine problems, KotOR2 was buggy and NWN2 first release was quite an adventure, not to mention the patches that always needed a onfollowing Hotfix itself to work properly. There really need some better results with their programmers.
But in oposite to Troika they managed to get NWN2 relatively stable. It shows what a studio can do if the publisher is willing to pay for it. Atari seemed to be willing and so the result is now quite satisfying. Mask of the BEtrayer was quite stable and besides some design decisions a great game. In the end I liked the BIS / Obsidian games more than the BioWare games, which seemed to me pretty generic and mainstreamed. On a high level, but not that interesting to me.

As towards their new announcement... ATM I'm not getting overly excited. I love Metal Gear Solid, but I think it is the only game in this genre, that fits to my scope. Maybe Thief, but not another Jason Bourne. For me, Alien is the more interesting project at the moment.
 
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As with all things, there's no accounting for taste.

That said, I think Bioware have come up with some excellent stories in their time, including the original KoTOR, BG2 (not sure if this was entirely Bioware though), and Mass Effect. I will concede that they do tend to feel more generic overall, and they've been responsible for some truly bland campaigns, like the OC in Neverwinter Nights.

Obsidian, on the other hand, always go for the less obvious kinda story, and that's fine. But lately, I've gotten the feeling that they're doing weird characters and off-the-hook plots for the sake of those things. Not because they have terribly original ideas, but because they just don't want to appear generic. That, to me, is often worse. Maybe it's because I'm more pragmatic as a person, but I need to see a good reason for things before I can truly appreciate them.

MotB was fine, though I never managed to complete it. I despised the lack of control in certain situations, but that's naturally a 100% personal observation. My GF seemed to enjoy it all the way through, even though she expressed supreme annoyance with the mechanic from time to time.

However, I don't think they've done anything sufficiently competent to excuse their atrocious technical standards. I know NWN2 is working fine now, but it was horribly slow and buggy upon release. KoTOR 2 is infamous for how incomplete it was, and I generally just don't have much respect for their ability to actually finish a product.

I'm a gigantic fan of the Aliens universe, though, and even if I don't acknowledge their talents as much as most around here, I'm genuinely excited to see what they come up with.
 
I must say that I'm intrigued by this title. It's nice to see RPG's in non-typical settings. One thing though that irritates me a bit is all the comparisons with successful titles. I know it may be one persons option expressed here to put things into perspective but no need to create hype like fallout meets CIA.
 
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Points for getting outside the fantasy/dnd box, but have to say this theme is way outside my area of interest. I've been waiting a long time though for Obsidian to make their breakthrough game--if this is it, and it is an example of that team living up to their full potential, I'll be playing it.
 
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