(continued from previous page) ...promise; for instance, we enjoyed the finely crafted dialogue, and even liked sneaking around corners and given a guard the old hand-of-death. However, overall Alpha Protocol is so riddled with flaws that when we finally found ourselves interested, we were quickly...

The control players have on how the story plays out; An overall interesting concept; The dialogue system

The wretched cover mechanics; The enormous amount of visual and animation glitches; The poor camera perspectives

Modern day espionage Michael Thorton is an agent working for an undercover U.S. agency in present time. Players can customize Thorton's background right from the start, choosing whether he was a freelancer, a soldier, a veteran and even more, before his recruitment.

Elements of well established games; solid RPG layer

Technical glitches; sub-par enemy AI

Playing Alpha Protocol is like putting together a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with 500 pieces missing: You get a sense of what the big picture should have been, but the final product is still maddeningly incomplete.

Your choices have lasting impact on the story and gameplay; Lots of ways to approach missions and develop your character

Flaky; glitchy cover mechanics; Bland visuals further marred by texture pop-in and bad animations; Terrible AI affects both the shooting and the stealth; The story lacks soul and character

Alpha Protocol tries to sneak past Kevin VanOrd in this video review.

With " Alpha Protocol ", Obsidian Entertainment must have been delighted to finally knock together a game that's completely of their own envisioning as opposed to once again working on an existing licence as they had so often done in the past.

Obsidian has clearly got the ability to produce really superb AAA titles but seems to lack the clout of their rival Bioware in terms of being able to say when a game is ready or not.

What happens when a Japanese developer seeks to make a Western game that apes Japanese culture? No More Heroes 2 is the gonzo answer to that question. A simple enough button-masher at heart, NMH2 enters the fantasy city of Santa Destroy where assassins roam the streets searching for their next...

Despite some genre-redefying levels of complexity to the available routes you can go, there's no denying that Alpha Protocol feels just a bit whittled down from its true potential. Good thought it may be, it's just one step short of greatness.

Alpha Protocol is a 2010 release of Ubisoft's 2007 release of Haze. While the game didn't live up to the hype it was given, it does feature several next-generation elements that simply weren't executed perfectly.

Close your eyes and imagine the following: Mass Effect flirts with Splinter Cell. After a few drinks, one thing leads to another and the two get down and dirty. A few months later (what is the gestation period for games?