Despite being made up of people with many years of experience, Obsidian Entertainment – arguably one of the more beloved developers making games today – were still very much in their early years while making this James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne-inspired game. We’re going back 15 years to 2010 to take a look at a third-person shooter-cum-RPG featuring a rookie secret agent whose surname is not Thornton. We’re talking Alpha Protocol.

On this episode of Stealth Boom Boom, we chat a little bit about cult classics, yivwovs, and a very 007-esque CG trailer. We also look at an absolutely phenomenal music video that reminds you of the protagonist’s name, how you can’t see everything in one playthrough, and what the people of 2013 would remember about this game.

Here are some of the things you’re gonna hear us chat about in our review: CD Projekt Red putting this game back on sale; hivemind bad guys that can see you from a distance that’s hard to measure with alarms you can turn off, which makes you think there’s an evasion mode (we don’t think there is???); turning invisible because why not; a stealth skill tree that is both expensive and necessary for someone looking to do any sneaking; is it a pacifist run if you’ve absolutely battered five fellas on your way to the objective in a level?; the quick save discussion returns; a distinct lack of RPG-style variation in gameplay scenarios; the shooting is adequate post-Gears of War fare; individual skill trees for each weapon type; the tension of trying to pick a lock while a nearby guard patrols the halls; fiddly menus; odd crouch walking and a resistance to hopping over waist-high walls; the outrageous Brayko boss fight; a cast of wacky characters that resemble Foxhound from a fake game; the majesty of the Dialogue Stance System and how it should’ve been copied many times in the last fifteen years (see Oxenfree and LA Noire for shades of it); how Michael Thorton’s in-game consequences compares to JC Denton’s; and seriously… why isn’t he just called Thornton?

After all that, we take you through what some of the critics were saying about the game around the time it came out, and then we give you our final verdicts on whether Alpha Protocol is a Pass, a Play, or an Espionage Explosion.

For those who would like to play along at home, we'll be discussing, reviewing and dissecting The Operative: No One Lives Forever on the next episode of Stealth Boom Boom.

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