Alpha Protocol - June 1st 2010 - New Trailer

[TheDirtyHobo]

To be fair, Jim Sterling (Destructoid's reviews editor) is a pretty terrible source for reviews unless your preference in games exactly mirrors his. He reviews games entirely based on how much he, as a person, enjoyed them, instead of from a more professional lens of 'How well is this game crafted, will people be able to oversee its basic flaws to enjoy the game, and will the target audience like this game'. He has a great eye for picking out problems and saying why things don't work, but he also tends to get in a mode where he spends more time trying to looks for problems than trying to enjoy the game.

[nitsuj]

if you want people to make their own opinions on the game maybe you should be honest and tell us what problems you think the game has, rather than pretend it doesn't have any, or worse that players are doing something wrong in encountering/not being able to see past them

There are some issues with the game, for sure. I've seen quite a few in my play through. But I don't want to publicly pick out any of my coworkers work, because I have nothing but the utmost respect for the people I work with, you know?

[Atreides]

well that's great and everything, but we don't know your coworkers so that sentiment is lost on us

[Vandole]

so are yall going to patch some glitches?

[Odesseiron]

Not to rain on anyones parade, but anyone they really enjoyed Kotor 2 knew there was more than a planet cut from the game. That group that was working on restoring the content for the PC version did a pretty good job, but some stuff just can't be restored.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cut_c...The_Sith_Lords

Again not blaming the dev here. I think Lucasarts was pushing to get a sequel out as soon as possible, but the amount of content cut on there borders on the ridiculous.

Question for you Nitsuj. You say it's up to Sega for patches. Is that because they're the publisher and you can't spend any money on it as a developer to patch it? Companies like Gearbox and Bioware, etc always seem to be able to patch stuff without the Publisher. Just curious about how it works, if you can go into it.

-Edit: Also after reading more reviews, it seems to be one of those "mediocre" score games, where everyone is like 6-7.5. I do have some credit at GS, so maybe I will pick it up. Seems like the Dialogue stuff might be fun. Lord knows I've bought some shitty games before, and this aside from some gameplay bugs doesn't look bad.

[TheDirtyHobo]

Seems like the Dialogue stuff might be fun.

Honestly, that's probably one of the worst systems in the game so far. Most of the dialogue comes off as stiff and unnatural, and I'm not one to really complain about voice actors. The stance system is annoying because the Jack Bauer 'aggressive' stance usually makes you sound like an asshole, James Bond 'suave' stance makes you sound like a jackass, and Jason Bourne 'professional' makes you seem like a kiss-ass (and seems to be the only way to get people to like you the majority of the time).

[Atreides]

I think I'm just burned on games like this after Rise of the Argonauts, but this looks a hell of a lot better lol

[TheDirtyHobo]

Getting further along into the game, I'm not sure I like the way the story is laid out. I like the actual story so far, but telling it through constant flash-forwards I don't like. Finished as much as I can from Moscow side, just started on Rome now. Haven't touched Taipei.

Sis is pretty awesome. Hot, young, emo, and most importantly, mute. The perfect woman, really. Except the whole G22 business, I don't like the way things are going with them, and sure as fuck don't trust them. I didn't like Mina at first, but she's starting to grow on me, so Mar-something threatening her really pissed me off. I also get the slight feeling that she may betray me somewhere down the line. Molotov Cocktea--erm, SIE is a bitch, I trust her, but definitely don't like her. Just got, uh, Madison(?) from Rome, but haven't done enough with her to know if I like her or not. Haven't done Taipei so I haven't talked to Ginger chick outside of the airplane scene.

The boss fights so far are fucking stupid. Sis was utter bullshit since I had put most of my points into stealth so far, my guns weren't good enough to take her on in a dual, and I hadn't levelled up martial arts enough to get the guard break skill, so I eventually had to win by just bullrushing her, getting in a string or two before she starts perma-blocking, then running back to cover and letting my shields recharge, hoping I whittle down her health slightly faster than she does mine. The Russian 80's guy (Byorvak? Something with a B, y, and k) was a really awesome fight for about 30 seconds untill he started the dance floor light blinding pattern bullshit. Of the 3 stages, only one of them is actually vulnerable, and a few seconds at the end of his coke rush. It just turned into a massive stall fight again.

[Arnwulf]

All the reviews I've read say the story is forgettable and faceless....I think I'll pass on this one for now, not paying full price that's for sure.

[Wintermute]

I've been pleasantly surprised with the game. Did go in not knowing shit though.
It's got a "Mass Effect meets Metal Gear"-lite sort of vibe to me. Can't help but feel I've played this game/story before though.

The dialogue system does have its hiccups as mentioned, sometimes the pacing is fucked due to the timing or it just seems forced.

Wondering what the replay value is like considering the dialogue and the plot decisions you make.

Been clearing the levels with the pistol too. That ability that slows time and lets you pick targets is broken as fuck with a stack of Pistol levels considering the Crit ability you get leveling pistols kicks in while you aim. Took out Sis with one volley of 5 shots and made mince out of the other bosses with a few volleys from the pistol.

[Maxxthepenguin]

To be fair, Jim Sterling (Destructoid's reviews editor) is a pretty terrible source for reviews unless your preference in games exactly mirrors his. He reviews games entirely based on how much he, as a person, enjoyed them, instead of from a more professional lens of 'How well is this game crafted, will people be able to oversee its basic flaws to enjoy the game, and will the target audience like this game'. He has a great eye for picking out problems and saying why things don't work, but he also tends to get in a mode where he spends more time trying to looks for problems than trying to enjoy the game.

In other words, he's far too honest about how good of a time a game is. He would have never given GTAIV an undeserved 10/10, like most reviewers did. Ignoring hype is a good thing, always.

I agree with his DP review, I had a 10/10 experience. I haven't played his other 'oh so controversial' reviews. I'm still willing to give AP a shot though, I can tolerate a lot of substandard crap if it remains playable and interesting. I mean, shit, we all played FFXI, we should be tolerant motherfuckers.

[TheDirtyHobo]

In other words, he's far too honest about how good of a time a game is. He would have never given GTAIV an undeserved 10/10, like most reviewers did. Ignoring hype is a good thing, always.

I agree with his DP review, I had a 10/10 experience. I haven't played his other 'oh so controversial' reviews. I'm still willing to give AP a shot though, I can tolerate a lot of substandard crap if it remains playable and interesting. I mean, shit, we all played FFXI, we should be tolerant motherfuckers.

No, I'm sayig you shouldn't put all your stock into his reviews. The fact that you're saying "He gave it a 2 but I'm still a little interested in trying this" means you don't value it much either. Just because your score lined up with his on a few reviews doesn't mean the review itself was good and credible, I enjoyed DP as well and thought AC2 was pretty meh, but I still know it wasn't because his reviews were professional and honest, our two opinions just happened to coincide.

[Maxxthepenguin]

No, I'm sayig you shouldn't put all your stock into his reviews. The fact that you're saying "He gave it a 2 but I'm still a little interested in trying this" means you don't value it much either. Just because your score lined up with his on a few reviews doesn't mean the review itself was good and credible, I enjoyed DP as well and thought AC2 was pretty meh, but I still know it wasn't because his reviews were professional and honest, our two opinions just happened to coincide.

Find a "professional" or "honest" review that did happen to coincide with your opinion on AC2. A "pretty meh" review certainly isn't the 80%+ that 60/62 reviewers on gamerankings gave it, but somehow only 2/62 actually gave it under that. Chances are more than 3.2% of people agree with you and Jim Sterling and yet no other reviewers are giving those reviews. So, ask yourself, who is being professional and honest, the guys who make sure they're within a standard deviation of the mean score or the guys, like Jim Sterling and the rest of the Dtoid crew, who actually honestly tell you how they enjoyed the game, hype be damned. He's as credible as a reviewer can be. Games aren't fact sheets with checkboxes for graphics and features, they're experiences, they should be reviewed as such.

I don't put my full stock into any reviewer's reviews, but when I see a score above a 9 on IGN, I couldn't care less and when I see a score above a 9 on Dtoid, I take notice.

[Arelian]

I honestly could not do the hacking sequence. It almost made me motion sick. =(

[Brill Weave]

Yeah this is definitely a Gamefly moment.

[BRP]

Jim Sterling sux

[Kiarax]

Jim Sterling is probably slightly worse than the holocaust.

[Kyo]

Jim Sterling is worse than Hillary Goldstein, who also is probably slightly worse than the holocaust.

[Akucaen]

I want to know why this game freaks the fuck out of my nvidia drivers and windows decides to uninstall my GTX260 anytime I alt tab from the game. My GPU will not display again until I power down, kill the charge (push power button while unplugged), and then reboot.

Fucking weird error, only AP is doing this.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Right now, Jim Sterling is clasping his hands together and saying 'excellent'