Alpha Protocol

Combat and boss battles

The dance off turned sour

The Tech Specialist is the only other truly distinct class, preferring gadgets and explosives to shootouts. But combat is so frenetic, and enemy entrance points so varied, that you'll always revert to using your guns.

Perhaps the worst of Alpha Protocol's combat comes in the form of boss battles. Encounters with these super-powered enemies prove more frustrating than challenging. Often, the only way to beat them is through liberal use of medipacks and even more liberal use of bullets to their face.

Rounding things off appropriately, minigames are equally disappointing. Hacking, safe cracking and lock picking are all staples of the genre, but they feel tired and overused here. At best they're a welcome diversion from the monotony of combat. That is unless you're playing the game on a PC with a mouse. Obviously developed with a gamepad in mind, their near-impossibility when using keys and a mouse is just another example of a lack of polish that runs throughout Alpha Protocol.

Don't cross the line of fire

Verdict

Whenever one of my mum's cakes went horribly wrong she'd serve it up and say, “Try it. It's still edible.” And she'd be right about Alpha Protocol. It's entirely possible to enjoy the game despite its innumerable flaws. But with so many delicious games lining the shelves this summer, it's hard to know why you would.

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