Alpha Protocol

Alpha Protocol is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. Players assume control of Michael Thorton, a secret agent who must travel around the world as he unravels a conspiracy that threatens his safety. At the start of the game, players can choose Thorton's agent history; options include Soldiers—which focuses on using heavy firearms, Tech Specialists—which have an arsenal of gadgets to use, and Field Agents—which encourages the use of stealth. There are also Freelancer, Recruit, and Veteran options, in which players custom-build their own class. Players can customize elements of Thorton's appearance, including his hair, eye color, costumes, and accessories including hats and glasses.

Missions typically start at a safe house, which serves as a hub for players. In the hub, players can select missions, access the black market to buy weapons and intelligence, and use the weapon locker. Weapons can be extensively customized; options include the addition of a scope to improve shooting accuracy and the use of phosphorus ammunition to burn enemies. In missions, players can approach their objectives in a variety of ways; they can directly confront enemies using the four weapon classes—submachine guns, pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns—and use gadgets such as grenades, flashbangs, and detonated mines.

The main and playable character of Alpha Protocol is Michael Thorton (Josh Gilman), a highly skilled secret agent newly recruited into a clandestine United States agency called Alpha Protocol, which has unlimited resources to conduct covert operations on behalf of the government. Thorton's colleagues are his handler Mina Tang (Adrienne Wilkinson), superior Yancy Westridge (Gary Anthony Williams), and veteran Alpha Protocol advisors Alan Parker (Michael Bell) and Sean Darcy (Andre Sogliuzzo).

Alpha Protocol is a highly classified black ops agency whose existence remains unknown to many—even those in the highest echelons of the United States government—as a means to operate outside of the confines of government oversight. Recent inductee Agent Michael Thorton is given his first assignment; the assassination of Sheikh Ali Shaheed, the leader of the Saudi Arabia-based terrorist group Al-Samad, which used American-made missiles to shoot down a civilian airliner. When confronted, Shaheed claims Halbech, an American defense contractor, provided him with the weapons and target. Thorton neutralizes Shaheed and recovers his intel, but his position is struck by missiles and Thorton is presumed dead. Thorton survives with the aid of his handler Mina Tang, who warns him of the attack and that the agency has been infiltrated by Halbech operatives.

The development of Alpha Protocol began around March 2006. In late 2005, developer Obsidian Entertainment was finishing work on their video game Neverwinter Nights 2, during which the studio received a call from publisher Sega about making a new role-playing game for them. Around this time, Obsidian was busy with other projects and had no employees to spare for another game. Obsidian agreed with Sega's request for them to originate a new concept and to begin work on it when possible.

Obsidian co-founders Feargus Urquhart and Chris Jones originated the concept of a "spy RPG"; Sega was pleased with the idea and its originality. After the cancellation of Dwarfs, Obsidian's role-playing game prequel to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves it was developing for Disney, the staff from that game began work on Alpha Protocol. While layoffs at Obsidian were avoided, the cancellation of Dwarfs forced the studio to give Sega the intellectual property rights to Alpha Protocol. As the game's development progressed, the team's size grew from two people to over sixty.

Alpha Protocol received divided reviews from critics; while Obsidian expected the game to score around 80 marks out of 100, review aggregator Metacritic recorded lower average scores.

The gameplay received negative reviews. The gunplay was criticized for lacking polish and being unrefined, and the artificial intelligence was found to be subpar by most critics. Rich McCormick from PC Gamer called the combat "simplistic" and the gunplay "floaty", but he was impressed by the weapon customization system's complexity and extensiveness. Charles Onyett from IGN had a less-enthusiastic view of the customization system and considered it only serviceable.