Alpha Protocol E3 Previews
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The first preview is at NowGamer:
After an entertaining interchange between Thornton and Sie - Alpha Protocol's script is written by the same chap behind classic PC RPG Planescape Torment the super spy proceeded to take out an onslaught of tracksuit-wearing Russian gangsters. While the game's experience point system lets you purchase upgrades and new moves, combat in Alpha Protocol is skill-based, so you have to make use of Gear of War-style cover and a steady-aim if you want to survive.
The second is at Digital Chumps:Another portion of the demo we saw was much less about action, and more about the dialogue system. I should mention also that for dialogue, during player responses, there is a default answer and a timer bar that pops up that lasts about five seconds. Once the bar expires, the default answer will be used, but players can of course just press the corresponding face button to the response they want to say right away (and not have to wait). So for this second sequence we were shown, our protagonist is talking to an old man in a bar. This old man has vital information and even has the ability to sell you weapons too, if you're nice enough. We were shown two paths for this particular sequence: the negative path, which had our player slamming the old man's head against the bar, and the lighter path where you simply talked nicely. The former path got reactions from the other NPCs in the game and even a phone call from a contact of the old man, who tells you that she is not pleased that you mistreated him. You actually lose some reputation with her if you do it this way. However, if you play it nice, the old man contacts you with a weapons offer and can even sway what you do at the end of the earlier Moscow trainyard mission I was talking about. Additionally, the game changes if you decide to talk to the old man before going to the trainyard.
The third is at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:Your decisions, while never attempting to orientate you on a moral spectrum, have both short and long-term consequences. At the beginning of the level there's a conversation with a Germanic mercenary woman called Z. The conversation options are time-limited, forcing you to pick your approach in just a couple of seconds. Talk aggressively to her and she'll take a shine to you. Demonstrate a lack of balls and you'll lose favour. However, the key decision comes when she offers her support. Accept it and she'll fight alongside you for the mission, clearly to your advantage. Refuse it and she'll be furious with you, and storm off. So there's your short-term. Long-term consequences shape the future of your game. If you sided with her, we're told there's opportunities for romance further down the line. Refuse her and she's a boss-fight-to-come.
And the fourth is at Giant Bomb:Obviously, there's more to Alpha Protocol than just hitting the talky talky buttons. Large stretches of the demo I saw looked like a third-person shooter with cover mechanics, with only a few hints of the dice rolls and role-playing elements that await you on the service record menu screen. You'll be able to trigger abilities in combat, such as Room Sweep, which makes you fire your shotgun twice as fast for a short period of time. You'll also gain experience that can be funneled into a number of different statistics, such as stealth or weapon-specific skills. Yes, even the shooting is governed by these systems--as you dump more points into a type of weapon, your accuracy with that style of weapon becomes better, and is illustrated by the size of the on-screen reticle. That'll probably be a tricky balance, considering how actiony a lot of the game looks. In games with a lot of shooting, I tend to get frustrated when I put the center of a reticle on someone's head and pull the trigger only to be rewarded with a miss.
