If you don't laugh you'll cry
Weapon-based combat is just dire and gets only marginally better once you gain access to better weapons and improve in certain areas. Furthermore, the targeting system is flawed and inaccurate and the cover system – where you hide behind random objects that enemies can shoot through anyway – is an absolute joke. The weak and gltichy one-button melee system is the final nail in the coffin and is yet another indication, in a sea of alarm-ringing technical failures, that the heart must have just fell out of Alpha Protocol during the development process.If you don’t laugh you’d cry at spending money on this, especially when you see enemy A.I run around like headless chickens out in the open with no idea where you are, or watching them do the complete opposite and run at you like gormless zombies. Practically everything in Alpha Protocol leads to frustrating moments, from the dreadful lock-picking and computer hacking mini-games, to the clunky targeting system and glitchy animations.
My reviews are normally longer than this, but I've already wasted too much time with Alpha Protocol. Let's see this sub-genre tackled again, but properly next time. The sad thing is: if Alpha Protocol would have been finished properly this review would have been so different.
