Alpha Protocol

Play it on: PS3, Xbox 360, Windows (Steam Deck: YMMV)
Current goal: Figure out stealth

I hadn’t played Alpha Protocol since its release in 2010. I’ve honestly forgotten the entire thing, other than a really clear visual memory of the Saudi hotel room. A few years back, I wanted to give it another play, which is how I discovered its mysterious absence. But now it’s back from years in the misery of licensing limbo, and last week returned on Steam, so I installed it right away.

Wow, the stealth sucks. I’m amazed how decent the game still looks, especially running at 1440p. It came out in that sweet spot, when ears were almost round, and glasses could sit on a character’s face, rather than be part of it, and that era has lasted nicely. But it is so monstrously unforgiving when it comes to sneaking my way around the mission-based RPG’s enemy bases. This isn’t helped by a really terrible checkpoint save system, where the save points are always right before I have to complete the hacking game to unlock a door that leads to a long corridor, before a ladder that goes down to the crates where the psychic enemy keeps spotting me.

Still, the acting’s great, and it’s often a lot of fun to approach it like an im-sim and allow chaos to reign when things go wrong, and just try to shoot your way out of trouble. — John Walker