Alpha Protocol Preview

Hooked Gamers is the latest website to dish up a preview of Alpha Protocol after seeing the game firsthand during this year's Game Developers Conference.  On skills and locations: 
A welcome addition to the use of weapons and cool thingamabobs are the ten separate skills that can be acquired and used as you move along through the game. You will be given advancement points that can be obtained on your journey in order boost your abilities and select new skills. Skills are free to utilize there is a cool down period that prohibits you from using it too fast after the previous time. One of Thornton's possible skills is the ability to scan a group of enemies from cover and then pop out of cover with the advantage of foreknowledge about where each individual target is situated.

Joining "The Alpha Protocol" means that Thornton can take advantage of its considerable resources. The job advert read "Willing to travel" as one of the requirements and they weren't kidding: you will find yourself in a variety of places ranging from Saudi Arabia to Rome, Moscow and Taipei. There are safe houses in each of these cities where he can change clothes, access telephones and lockers. Safe houses also provide a good location to purchase new weapons and act as a base of operations for getting and undertaking new missions. Some assignments will be more crucial to story development than others, the latter giving you a choice to beef up your experience outside of the original plot.