Alpha Protocol, a game that was hyped up by many and after it’s released disappointed many. I myself actually did not hear much of the game or rather, was unaware of it (not sure if it is good or bad). From some researching it seems as the situation is that the game is under development for quite some years, around the year 2006 or so. Long development means better game? Perhaps, perhaps. Anyways, back to the review. This review is based on experience playing through the PC version. Do note that the game is out for the X360 and the PS3 as well. Without further ado, let us move on to the review.(p.s the review is pretty long. scroll all the way down for the round-up of the pros and cons)

Storyline

You play as Michael Thorton, or Mike like many of the in-game characters call him, a field agent for the secret United States Government agency named “Alpha Protocol”. The plot begins as soon as you are sent to your first convert mission in Saudi Arabia. Things did not go the way it ought to go and soon you find yourself figuring out the reason and cause of a huge global conspiracy.

That is the gist of the whole story within the game. Not too bad, I mean even if it is like the ordinary hero saves the day kind of story, it does have its moments through the plot twists and turns along the way. The story is one of the stronger parts of the game. Storytelling is believable with characters with character and personality that are convincing to the player. It is as though you can understand and know one character after a few dialogues or so. There are several characters within the game, good and bad. Interaction with these characters is important and the way as to how you go talking and treating them results in different paths within the game.

The story cannot be said to be linear. I mean yes it seem as though you have to play through the same few missions go through the same few things but the thing is you have multiple paths and routes to take. Each route taken might eventually lead to the same outcome but it is worthy to note that there are other endings and conclusion as well. According to your actions and your approach to the different missions and characters, the story seems to effectively evolve around your character, making each of your decision count. You might regret later on not doing this or that, but that is the beauty of the game. One play-through is never enough, at least for the story.

Gameplay

I first have to admit that some of the gameplay concepts and mechanics implemented are rather unpolished and unbalance and I guess that is what hurts the game the most (as noted by several other reviewers). The overall gameplay works almost like Mass Effect 1. The similarities are quite obvious in the sense that after completing a mission, you go back to your headquarters and you move on from there. This cycle repeats itself within Alpha Protocol as it does in Mass Effect (completed mission, spaceship, mission, spaceship, you get the idea). You have the ability to purchase new weapons and stock items required before proceeding on. All in all it is not too bad, it makes the game a little more structured and easier to follow.

Mission selection is done simply by your own will. After the starting Saudi Arabia mission, you get to choose from 3 different locations with a choice of different missions within each location. Which and how you want to complete each individual mission is up to you. This comes one of the flaws of the game, the difficulty. The game itself is not very hard but some missions and bosses are. The very fact that enemies within the game do not scale with your level means that if you approached a harder boss at the start of the game, you are practically going to suffer and cry. If that really happens to you, do go for another mission first before returning back. I do know that some missions are relatively much easier than others and it is advisable to start from the easier ones.

Intel – Yay or Nay?

This brings us to the next flaw of the game, or rather one of the unpolished aspects of the game. There is intel within the game that you can buy or find. There are three types, one on characters, one on the different organizations and another one for missions. The intel acquired for characters and organizations helps unlock different routes and choices to make upon meeting some of the characters. For example knowing some of the facts about one character opens a dialogue option at a stipulated meeting and time. Intel for characters are the most valuable of all, as in it seem to have the most impact and effects on your game. Intel for organizations on the other hand is merely there for you to understand and know the background of the story better (at least for me, I mean I did not find much difference with knowing more or less). Intel for missions is almost unnecessary as it does not help you much. I tried buying some intel before proceeding on to a mission and then completing the mission without it, there is not much difference in terms of difficulty or story wise. Yes some of these intel bought allows you to have different takes on the mission but none really affect your overall story or gameplay much.

Weapons and Firefights

It is nice to have such an aspect (intel) but I hope to see more impact on the gameplay as it is simply as if it is not there at all. Speaking of completing missions, there are mainly two ways to complete one mission. One is killing them all and two is to sneak your way through, grab what you want and leave. Both approaches give you a different experience as well as outcome but both have some rather dubious and weak gameplay elements to it. First the gunplay is rather inconsistent and imbalance. There are 4 types of guns and only one of them works best (assault rifle). The others like pistol, shotgun and the sub-machine gun are as if they were not needed. Yes shotgun works better closer range, sub-machine gun good for spraying but when compared to the assault rifle they are practically useless. Pistol is great only for stealth as you can use a silencer with it, but other than that it is just the assault rifle.

The balance within the weapons is a must to encourage players to take different approaches. Those wanting a challenge can go for other weapon types but the thing is not with what approach you want to take, instead it is how these approaches work. It is similar to that of a class system within the game without obviously stating it but if one class is a huge ass monster and the others small tiny ants, who would want to try the others? Yes you might but it simply does not feel as if you have been fairly treated. A balance is greatly required for an impact to be seen within the game. There are also gadgets within the game such as radio interceptors to trick enemy into shutting off alarms, the usually grenades and stuff like that. Not really required as you can complete missions with or without them.

Stealth – Hardly seen or felt

Stealth within the game is yet another unpolished aspect. There are basically no ordinary stealth elements like hiding within the shadows and stuff. All you do is use a skill, make yourself invisible and then go kill somebody head on. The only stealth element, besides the skill to make you invisible or run without noise, is sneaking behind the enemy’s back. Other than that there is not much else to do. You cannot drag bodies, dispose bodies to prevent enemies from alerting etc, none of that. You do however have the ability to use certain objects to create distraction or so but it is definitely a hit and miss for most players. It simply does not work well enough as it is way too simple and forgettable.

Minigames

There are 3 different types of minigames within the game. One a lock picking minigame, two differently styled a hacking minigame (one is matching numbers with numbers and the other selecting numbers in sequence). The minigames are a nice addition to the game and it makes the game setting and atmosphere a little more believable. With you being a secret agent, you do have to do some computer decryption, hacking and stuff like that right? The rewards of completing minigames are rather insignificant except for the ones where they give you intel or so. Of course there are the compulsory ones where you have to complete in order to complete your objective.

Stupid Enemies – The Case of Terrible AI

The next and major let down to the game is the enemy AI. With poor or rather terrible AI, stealth already being disappoint becomes even worse. Enemies move and fight as if they dropped their contact lenses. One moment they engage in a firefight and the next you see them running around in circles for no particular reason. Some even start climbing ladders and let you openly shoot them. Boss fights seem to have certain perhaps glitches or exploits which allows you to easily kill even the hardest ones. The most irritating of all is how you can simply wait in one corner as you alert the enemy and see them flowing in through the door letting you shoot them down one by one. There are times when the enemy is smart (like throwing a grenade into the room if you are hiding there) but they are simply too far and few in between. The AI being inconsistent and horrible for most of the time makes the fight a little more unsatisfying.

Character Development and Skills

Character development within the game is alright. You get to choose from different active and passive skills from different categories. There are some skills that are much more useful than others and some not having much justification to even have them there in the first place. The sense that your character is growing more powerful as you progress is there as the skills given at the later stages are rather powerful. Hit critical shots and do damage as you active some of the skills make players feel the sense of achievement towards the end of the stage. It is as though you play through the life of the character, growing and learning together with him. This growth results in him becoming one of the best agent within the game, and the ability to able to identify this growth is certainly satisfying.

Dialogue System and Reputation

The dialogue system is pleasing and great. It really helps in the storytelling and exploration of the different paths. There is basically a timer that comes up with choices for you to choose from. Choices differ by the way and style you wish to reply to the character you are talking with. For example you can reply in a “suave” manner or “aggressive” whichever fits your style. You can also choose according to the personality of the character you are talking to. Choosing the right and acceptable manner to reply will result in the other character liking you more. There is a timer which makes it kind of more realistic since you do not take 10 over minutes just to reply to one question. The problem with this however is that sometimes non native language speakers find it hard to choose. The good side is the smooth transitions between dialogues and with that it continues to uphold the high quality storytelling.

Reputation within the game is gained or lost mainly by the way you talk to the different characters as well as the way you carry out your missions. Killing civilians will result in a loss of reputation with a particular handler while replying in an aggressive manner gets some people to like you even more. Sneak your way through missions and gain the liking of those that loves the low profile style of action. The reputation system rewards users with perks within different missions. Missions also vary accordingly to whomever you are friends and ally with.

Graphics & Sound

I decided not to separate both because I only have one comment on the graphics: dated. Textures and animations in the game are one of its weaker points. Considering the length of development, I believe more details should be done. The sound effects, music and voice acting helps to lift the game up. Atmosphere and setting is made even more believable with the music and firefights being already quite frustrating is made slightly better with the believable sound effects such as gun fires and explosions. The voice acting makes the storytelling enjoyable and seriously the story is what drives the game through.

Value

The game story alone is worthy to be played at least once. Playing more times results in more surprises as you find out the different consequences that come from the different decisions you make.  Once you get through the horrible AI and imbalance aspects of the game, the game is really not that bad.

Conclusion

Rent it or buy it, whichever it is at least try it. The gameplay mechanics might put off some, but for me it was not great but passable. It is sad to see a game of such great potential under the guidance from a rather reputable developer go to waste. I mean it is average when it could have been a lot better. As to which version to grab, choose whichever you are comfortable with.

Pros

• Great storytelling with believable characters
• Choices play a part in the ending and your gameplay experience
• Dialogue system is fantastically smooth for me, might require lengthening of time though
• Character development feels personal and grows onto you
• Story has multiple routes depending on choices. Makes it rewarding to have a second play-through.

Cons

• Unrefined weapons and skills result in some being totally omitted
• Stealth mechanics unpolished and not satisfying
• Terrible AI results in a game about secret agents and stuff a little less believable. Results in poor firefights and stealth
• Dated graphics

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I’ve just recently found out about the new Downloadable Content (DLC) for Fifa 09, the Ultimate Team mode, through my brother. Haven’t been in touch with gaming news and stuff because of the tremendous amount of school work I’ve gotten. Anyways, after purchasing it, a price tage of around $14 SGD I believe, I finally found the time to try it out. The Ultimate Team mode was most probably inspired and based around Fifa Online 2 (FO2: the free alternative of Online Gameplay for Fifa). The whole game basically revolves around the normal matches and cards. Yes, cards determine whether your players are improving, whether they will improve and of course how great your Team will be. Almost everything is based on cards, which is something new I would say (besides the concept appearing in FO2).

I would gladly say the Ultimate Team mode is an upgrade from the free alternative FO2. Instead of the terrible (my opinion anyways) match engine in FO2, Ultimate Team allows you to have the same game concept as FO2 but with the Fifa 09′s match engine, the smooth and sleek version which caught me by surprise how fantastic it was. Of course with that it means that it comes with a price tag. Nevertheless I believe Fifa fans would appreciate the thought put into providing more gameplay and replay value into Fifa 09 before Fifa 10 gets released.

Overview

Basically Ultimate Team puts you into the owner of a whole new club. You can choose and come up with the club’s name, and create a star player as well. This player would be and should be your best player at the early stages. Of course he can become godly as well if upgrading/training cards are spent on him. The creating player stage is rather simple; you choose how your player looks like and his position. With that, you get your first deck of cards which gives you players to play with. Don’t expect Cristiano Ronaldo or Peter Cech to be in your team at the start. You’ll most probably have players whom you have the slightest hint of who they are. But that is the whole point of the game! To build your own ultimate team from scratch!

Upon creating your team, selecting your first few players etc, you’ll be greeted with the main screen of the mode. From there on, you can choose to adjust your team, buy cards, set the options so on and so forth. I’ll be looking into several additions and the core gameplay concepts and functions in this mode. Firstly would be the buying of cards. Cards come in packets which can be purchased using real money or in-game coins. There are 3 category of packets, bronze, silver and gold. Bronze being the most basic and Gold giving you a glimmer of hope of getting a star player like Ronaldinho. As soon as you purchase a set, you get to “open” the pack and see what cards you got. From there, you can select the cards you like and discard/add to your collection. There is a limit of player cards you can have concurrently and therefore there is the need to discard them by the different various methods available.

Types of Cards

There are different types of cards you can receive. I basically categorized them as “Player”, “Power-ups”, “Staff”, “Training” and “Misc” cards. Of course in the game itself they have their own specific category name but that is the way I’ll like to generalized them and group the cards. Player – The people you are going to have in your team playing in the field. Power-ups – Gameplay modifiers that can give you a significant boost in your match with your opponents. For example there are strict referee cards and when used, will cause referee to be extremely strict with the opponent so much so as to give the red card on the slightest touch. Staff – Manager, coaches etc. All these people give you bonuses in terms of extra points whenever a training card is used etc. Training – Cards that increases your players attributes for example their pace, passing etc. Misc – Other cards such as club logo, club jersey and everything else. Sometimes you might even get an extra free deck if you’re lucky.

Trading Cards

There is a function within the game which allows players to sell their cards in an auction based manner. Players who would like to sell their cards, must first set the starting price for bidding. From then on they can choose whether to or not to place a BNP (Buy Now Price) as well as the duration for the auction. The card will then automatically be placed publically for everyone to view, allowing them to bid if they feel like getting the card. Players can browse through the available cards up for bidding by just a simple button press. They have the ability to filter out cards that they don’t want through the selection of the different filters present for them. Through this trading of cards, players can finally build the dream team they always wanted.

Matches

There are two main category of type of matches. From those two, you can sub-categorized them further into Online and Offline. The first type of match is like your any other normal matches. That is you get matched up with some random guy over the net or with a CPU team, and you basically play over 90 in-game minutes with you having a chance to win, lose or draw (There is no extra time nor penalties in this mode). If you win, you get more skill points as well as in-game coins. Draw or lose and you will still receive some, but not as much. The other match would be a tournament knock-off style where you and several other players would be competing for the championship trophy. It is same as of the normal matches, just that you participate using Skill Points in the different level of trophies and if you win, you proceed to the next round. The way the tournament works is fun and quick. In other words there is no waiting for a particular set of players to finish their matches to proceed. It works in the manner that when you win the first round, you will proceed to the second immediately, allowing you to compete with a pool of players who are in the second round to proceed further. As such, tournaments can be completed within an hour or so.

Bugs and Unbalanced Teams

Whenever you play online whether is it the normal matches or the tournament, your opponents are randomly picked. When I say random I really mean random. The system does not match you will opponents of same calibre in terms of their teams and sometimes you will face matches of Manchester United against Oxford United or rather in local context Singapore against Spain. Many will emphasize that the player own skills matter the most but still, a kid who just started playing using a 5 star team would have a greater advantage over a veteran who is using a 2 star team. This isn’t much of a problem since you can choose to not match up with that person simply by backing out of the match before it starts. However, due to the fact that the most basic tournament that supposedly caters for the newer and lousier teams are filled with 5 star teams, it is almost impossible for one to win the cup with a team lower than 4 stars. I really suggest that EA put in place a level system or team requirement system whereby it kicks out all those 5 star teams. Come on using Barcelona winning a Coca Cola League 2 team isn’t honourable or anything.

P.S I won a 5 star team with a 2 and a half star team just today. Extremely funny, felt like mocking that person but I think I should stay humble.

Bugs and errors are present in the game. If it is out to be sold to the public I expect the fundamentals to be done right. Yup most of the gameplay is working smoothly but some minor defects make it irritating. For example there are no benefits in winning a 5 star team with a 1 star team. You expect the team difference modifier to be higher but no, it remains at 1.00, giving you no incentives for winning those people who get a kick of their triumph over the weak. I suppose that function would be up sooner or later, but till then I won’t be wasting my cards on totally uneven matches. Another irritating thing would be the game freezing. I just experienced it once when I tried to use a power card in-game. Upon selecting it, the whole game freezes and I had to restart my PS3. EA, fix it please, it isn’t funny when you’re in the finals of a tournament and you’re winning a team filled with Messi, C.Ronaldo, Fabregas, John Terry, Cech.

Conclusion

Besides the unbalanced gameplay as well as the frequent freezes, I would say that for a price tag of $14 SGD would keep the game alive till Fifa 2010 is released. I would not say that the concept is extremely new or does it have the wow factor, but still having to build a team and trashing those bullies gives players a sense of achievement. I don’t really like how they allow cards to be bought using real life money for those rich kids would definitely have a head start in the game. But of course the game is developed by EA and EA are known for their money making techniques so what can I say? I would recommend the DLC to avid fifa fans as well as people getting tired of the online ranked matches. The DLC would definitely increase the fun factor as well as allow people to realise their dreams of playing the world’s best players together.

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[All images taken from official site. None are the properties of Swift World]

Fifa 09 for the PC was rubbish. However, Fifa 09 for the consoles simply blooms with class and greatness. For once I felt that EA Sports had done a little something more to change the game for the better. The overall gameplay feels so much smoother and fun. Passing never felt this good before. Crossing becomes a greater asset for people who know how to make full use of it. Battles for the ball in air felt much less locked up and jostling is practically important if you want to win the header. In the previous series, Fifa 08 for example, I find myself spamming the button in order to head the ball. I had no idea how the heading system works and concluded that heading is based almost purely on luck. However, Fifa 09 changed my concept and understanding of challenging the ball whenever it is in the air. You first move your player to the correct position (whether is it in front or behind the opposing challenger), keep that position by preventing the opponent from pushing you away, and you hit the button (whether is it a shot or a pass) with the directional key pressed and there you go, you successfully won the challenge.

The passing, whether it is a direct or a through pass, feels as if there is more freedom given. Of course if you select the manual way of passing, you would have almost all the freedom in the world. However, if you are a semi-assisted/assisted user like me, you will definitely find the new way of passing much more delightful and fun to play with. In this year’s game, the passing displays a power bar (like those when you are shooting) and it does affect where the ball goes to some way or another. It works in the same way as it does in Fifa 08; hold onto the button longer the further the pass is. However, the developers seem to have tweaked and refined the mechanics a little so as to make passing much smoother and sweeter. I don’t know what went on backend but it just feels better. However, what I am sure of is that with the new passing, through passes becomes much more awesome. In the past, creating through passes that slice through the defense were rare and almost impossible. Now, it is different. With the correct power and position of the players on both ends, you can often make such beautiful passes. Soccer simulation has simply become much more wonderful in Fifa 09.

Other features, like the Adidas Live Season, add the finishing touches to the game making it wholesomely fun. You would eagerly anticipate for the next update as you watch your team destroy another in real life. For when the team plays well in the real world, they would as well in the virtual realm. Collision detection seems to be working really well. Players feel as if they really touch the ball to kick it. Sliding is as useful but dangerous at the same time for referees are much stricter and will show no hesitation when producing the red card. However, with so much positive comments on the game, there definitely are some parts which irk the players and fans alike.

The goalkeeper is still as stupid as ever. When the ball rolls by him (Let us say going out for a corner. Therefore it would be smart of the goalkeeper if he would approach it and pick it up), even if the ball is moving at snail speed, he would watch the ball roll by. Yes, you will see him turning his body as the ball rolls by. Bugs and exploits such as bouncing balls would beat the keeper, keeper moving backwards instead of taking the ball allowing a striker to run forward to take the ball and so on.

Players seem to have a weird bug of walking backwards when the ball approaches them. This happens frequently and sometimes frustrates the players, especially when they are losing. Invisible players happen often when playing online. And others you might face but isn’t as frequent as those I listed. Nonetheless all these bugs and irritating keeper AI shouldn’t stop you from purchasing the game and enjoy the tweaked to near perfection (yet) gameplay.

Here are some screenshots using the in-game screen shot capture mechanism. Quality is rather bad and do not depict the real and true potential of the game.

EDIT: Took some screenshots through camera. Gallery right below.

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