Alpha Protocol - Review Mini Roundup

A couple of Alpha Protocol reviews have hit the net, although it's hard to tell the quality of the articles.  Bit-tech systematically pulls the game apart, criticising almost everything you could imagine.  While they do acknowledge some good ideas, they clearly don't like the overall presentation and basic gameplay.  There are several references to "the opening portions", which did leave me wondering how much they played.  The score is 5/10 and here's a snip:

Ostensibly an RPG at heart, Alpha Protocol also suffers a bit from the way it attempts to fuse this structure onto a shooter frame. It wants to be a new Deus Ex, but poor balancing and over-simplified mechanics mean it feels more like Invisible War at best.

The RPG-side of the game isn’t all that well presented or interesting either – basically a case of dropping a point into weapon skills to get an accuracy boost or recoil adjustment. All out action characters will unlock a range of bullet-time abilities, while those who want to be a bit sneaky are lumbered with endless minigames and terrible pistols.

A site called Gladriel has a very short article, with a score of 7.5/10:

Still, there are some saving graces in this game: the role-playing and storyline are both excellent. We can level up our spy the way we want, just like in Mass Effect, or other good RPGs. There’s a plethora of specializations and special skills to develop and it’s really fun to use the latter on the missions. The story is top-notch, with well-drawn characters, exciting missions, double crossings, back stabbings, and many other surprises as well. So should we buy Alpha Protocol? Well, if you are itching for a good spy thriller with tons of customizations and a cool story, and if you can pass by its glaring design faults, then this game is clearly for you.

Gamespot has a score of 6/10 up, but the link to the review currently just circles back to the summary page.  The review summary is up, though, and says "Alpha Protocol's astounding intricacies are tarnished by bugs, clumsy gameplay mechanics, and rough production values."

Finally, CVG reports one of their magazines called Gamemaster has a review in the latest edition.  The score is 84%, though we can only read their summary:

The mag's awarded Sega's espionage RPG a very respectable 84% thanks to its, "dynamic shooting, insane levels of customisation and a thumping near-future dose of espionage and sinister conspiracy."