It sounds like the reviewer didn’t “get” the stealth mechanics – they’re probably very quirky or hard to get. Don’t get me wrong, that makes the game sucky, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had if you do figure out how to work with it.

lukeannett: Funny, I did the same thing when I emptied a dozen bullets into an enemy at close range in Borderlands 2 and none of them hit. I immediately switched the game off and uninstalled. Back to shooters where the bullets actually hit somewhere close to where you aim.

??? As far as shooters go BL2 is one of the best for hit detection. I’m able to land crit hits while jumping and aiming with a sniper rifle. Maybe try and find a gun with better stats based around accuracy if that’s what your after. So many comical head shots, you don’t know what your missing out on!

I really enjoyed the conversation pacing. Better than Mass Effect where you have infinite time to choose your response, it felt like a real conversation.

The stealth mechanic needed a bit of work, similarly once levelled, the pistols become godlike. With another 6 months of refining and balancing the gameplay it would have been perfect.

The features of the mission structure were good as well. If you succeed in a side mission, the main mission can become easier due to less guards, or some tactical advantage. Similarly, if you fail it can make it harder.

The story was decent. Clever enough to keep me entertained. The boss battles were annoying, they don’t really fit in a stealthy type game.

There are somethings that bugged me, Obisidian stick to a very RPG type combat system over Mass Effects FPS system. The result being weapons and the like are just crap until levelled up. Mass Effect 1 was almost just as bad but at least it got resolved but that also makes the game less RPGish. But I think keeping in RPG elements in to the detriment of a game is also bad.

However I still think the game gets bashed too much.

It felt rushed out, so rushed out. There were issues there that should NOT have passed QA. And then, no surprise, any hope of a sequel was canned. I’m certain we’ll see a post-mortem in about five years where Obsidian members come out and say “Yep, we were pressured to release the game early. Sorry.”

Alpha Protocol was brilliant.

Did you get past Saudi Arabia? The game takes off after there when you start getting to make meaningful decisions.

Sticking with the conversations for the ’24′ character type was absolutely hilarious, and really made the game for me.

I also went full commando, and I don’t remember the gunplay being bad at all. Multiple magazines to kill someone is also a feature of New Vegas, something which you claim to love, so I’m honestly scratching my head how you had a problem with it.

As far as actually being fun goes, I personally rate alpha protocal over Fallout 3, New vegas, and mass effect 1, with alot more genuinely fun features going for it.

that and being able to sometimes take the third option:

ie: normally option you get when u talk to him A. let him go to save the hostage B. kill him and the hostage

i instead just took my sniper rifle crept to a pathway that sees him and sniped his head off, filling the request to kill him without losing the hostage.

i mean it’s gunplay is HORRENDOUS especially at the start.

but the game itself was quite entertaining once you wrap your heads around it…

(and work out it’s limitation, ie: melee or stealth > guns until guns get significant upgrade)

Though you might not want to hear that when you max your skill points in stealth you can literally activate invisibility, sprint at a soldiers face, run around behind him without being detected and follow up with a silent takedown.

For all it’s faults I still persisted through to the end because around halfway through the conversations and semi branching story starts to actually become interesting and surprisingly engaging (possibly more so than Mass Effect, but I don’t actually remember it that well). And I haven’t even finished Borderlands 2 yet.