Dhruin
SasqWatch
This preview of Alpha Protocol from Play.tm at GamesCom expresses some doubts:
More information.There's no arguing with these structural elements, and all were painstakingly highlighted during the (annoyingly non-playable) demo. But therein lies the problem. The majority of the presentation involved delving into the many layers of customisation available to the player whenever Thornton is between missions housed in one of several international safehouse locations. Surrounded by clean but strangely bland environments, the unexpected graphical sterility, atmospheric shortfall and lack of scale was carried over when Thornton left his Moscow safehouse to finally take on a mission.
Specifically, segue cut scenes looked disappointing by the standards of some genre heavyweights - and worryingly there was no exterior exploration or travel to view as Thornton prepared to unleash his heroics. Surely the final game won't simply transfer the player from safehouse to mission and back again... surely that was merely an unexplained demo condition designed to save time? Regardless, it was safehouse-to-segue-to-mission. Done. Exterior gameplay was necessary, and its no-show was a distinct disappointment. Furthermore, as an aesthetic aside, characters were visually lacking in, well... emotion and character, and dialogue animation was particularly undercooked.