By Jim Rossignol on November 28th, 2008 at 11:37 am.
Obsidian Entertainment are one of the healthier looking studios out there right now, having become veterans of NWN2 and KOTOR2, and now developing the as-yet-unrevealed Aliens RPG and Alpha Protocol. In the video beyond the jump they talk a bit about the premise for their original action RPG, which is set in a contemporary super-spy espionage scenario. It’s looking as talky as it is shooty, and looks like it might blend a kind of Splinter Cell approach to action with the kind of branching dialogue and quest options we’ve seen in their other games. An interesting an brave direction for the studio, and definitely a game worth monitoring in the coming months. Go take a look.
28/11/2008 at 11:47 NuZZ says:
Is my memory silley, or was there a FPS named Alpha Protocol set on a mining asteroid or something… Oh wait…
Alpha Prime
28/11/2008 at 11:54 Tei says:
I have not played the game, but judging from the screenshot (that is a mad idea) it looks like Counter-strike.
Now, I look at the video, and seems more like a generic shotter, with brown maps and all. A firing range to shot at crash-dummies. It will be as cool, as the weapon feels will feel. I can’t judge from that.
I will not comment the “hide and shot” gameplay, because I doubt the game is about that, but is a warning signal for any PC gamer.
It could be a good game, but the idea now is “generic shoter, next-gen brown colors, hide and shot GoW style”
do it use the Unreal engine? (don’t seems so)
28/11/2008 at 12:07 Hermit says:
Its an Action RPG built in the Unreal engine, actually (As I recall they’re using the Mass Effect engine)
Coming up next, I take a screenshot of Audiosurf and assume its a Tron-meets-Wipeout futuristic racer, where I no doubt “jack in” to the internet as some sort of Cyber Cop and chase down rogue Viruses and Cyber Criminals.
28/11/2008 at 12:15 phil says:
OK; Big new IP, incorporating deep RPG elements onto a core action experience, reams of dialogue, miltary based main character; Obsidian didn’t fall from the Bioware tree did they?
That said I loved Mass Effect, and providing this game is actually finished, I’ll probably love this one.
28/11/2008 at 12:19 Jim Rossignol says:
Man, that sounds awesome!
28/11/2008 at 12:58 bc9b89 says:
I was actually kind of sad that Bioware was moving on to Dragon Age and The Old Republic cause there was a lot of untapped potential in Mass Effect. This is a lot different, but I think it’s going to have the core of what I liked about Mass Effect, the shootyness surrounded by a story that mattered, so yea, I approve.
28/11/2008 at 13:26 Pidesco says:
This promises to give the player a lot more options than Mass Effect, both in its dialogue(because that’s what Obsidian does) and its action. Nonviolent stealth, and meaty melee should be fully realized options in the action sections of the game.
Also, you won’t have retarded NPCs tagging along while you fight.
28/11/2008 at 13:49 Bobsy says:
The annoying thing about Bioware and Obsidian working on extra-citing new projects is that they’re not working on KOTOR 3.
28/11/2008 at 13:56 Pidesco says:
Yeah, because game developers just don’t churn out enough sequels, yet.
28/11/2008 at 14:05 Pags says:
Obsidian: What? Bioware? Never heard of them.
This looks… well, I don’t really know how this looks, even after watching that trailer. Maybe the combat will be more fun when you’re playing it but right now it’s inducing yawns, which isn’t really what you want from an action game, even if it is proclaiming itself to be a deep RPG as well.
Also, am I the only one who laughed when they summed up the plot?
28/11/2008 at 14:10 carbonelli says:
I am expecting great things of this game, because it’s a great idea(or at least a new idea which is rare these days)
But i am kinda disappointed for what i read on the wikipedia article of the game(of course i don’t know how trustful is the article, it’s wikipedia after all), it says that in the dialogue you only choose a atittude toward a question and you only have 3 choices:profissional, cool and agressive. Sounds like a simplified version of Mass Effect dialogue wheel, which is already a kinda like simplified version of the old dialogue tree… doesn’t sound too good for me, there it goes all the cool dialogues from KOTOR2 that Obsidian could do =/
Another thing that i didn’t liked that is told in the same article is that all skills that you wil be able to upgrade during the game will be combat based.
Anyway i am still very curious about and i hope it will be a great game.
28/11/2008 at 14:42 Morph says:
Upgrades? Conspiracies? Talking?
This is going to be the new Deus Ex.
28/11/2008 at 14:43 Pags says:
That’s what they said about Invisible War. Although, you know, that actually was supposed to be the new Deus Ex.
28/11/2008 at 15:03 Hermit says:
Actually, Invisible War WAS the New Deus Ex. Just turns out the Old Deus Ex was much better.
Although that said I replayed DX1 and 2 recently, and enjoyed DX2 more this second time round. I think I got all the soul crushing disappointment out my system the first time.
28/11/2008 at 15:29 hungSolo says:
“The way your lips are synced to your voice definitely affects what people think of you.”
28/11/2008 at 15:58 Sam says:
Hey, if it has Avellone working on it, I’m there.
28/11/2008 at 16:10 Kitt Basch says:
Look, Mr Developer, if you’re not going to bother with facial animation just put everyone in motorcycle helmets. K? Thx.
28/11/2008 at 16:13 subedii says:
Hey, if Obsidian have proven one thing by now, it’s their ability to craft characters and storylines that have far more depth than most other RPG’s. I look forward to what they can do now that they’ve got their own IP and are actually allowed the time to work on it.
28/11/2008 at 16:45 Muzman says:
We shouldn’t believe a word of this video anyway, as the comments were clearly obtained in the basement under duress.
It does the marketing or else it gets the hose again.
I knew the days of ‘star’ developers was over but yeesh.
(this looks a bit like Looking Glass’ aborted game Deep Cover mixed with Uncharted. Or maybe de-’Trek’ed Mass Effect, I guess.)
28/11/2008 at 16:50 Hobbes says:
Hey, wouldn’t it be lovely if some spy-genre material came out where they wasn’t a global Conspiracy above and beyond (usually involving your boss/father/brother/sister/pet chihuahua) the day to day gathering-intelligence-about-your-countries-enemies stuff going on?
28/11/2008 at 17:25 N-Al says:
Speaking of Obsidian, Storm of Zehir got released only last week, I believe. Any chance of some sort of RPS write-up?
28/11/2008 at 18:03 Grandstone says:
@Hobbes
I think the problem with a much more mundane kind of conflict is that the less important the conflict seems, the harder it is to make players care.
28/11/2008 at 18:26 Him says:
As long as they get the time to finish this one before shipping it, I’m there!
28/11/2008 at 18:32 Alex says:
This game could be interesting but what I want to see most is what ropekid is doing with his Aliens RPG.
28/11/2008 at 20:23 Leeks! says:
On one hand, those character models looked a bit stiff and ugly. On the other, Chris Avellone.
Who am I kidding, I’m sold.
28/11/2008 at 21:24 drewski says:
I know I’m avoiding that Chrono Trigger remake on DS purely because the character models don’t look up to much.
29/11/2008 at 03:29 James T says:
So that’s why my job interviews are such duds…
29/11/2008 at 04:40 Muzman says:
Never terrify prospective employers with the notion that you might be fantastic at Kung-fu.
Lip Synch. You know it makes sense.
29/11/2008 at 11:34 Not Entusiast says:
this doesn’t look good, sorry.
29/11/2008 at 13:10 Dan says:
Hmmm.
I’m not too enthused about this, but will probably end up buying it to tide me over until Mass Effect II rolls out.
29/11/2008 at 15:50 Skurmedel says:
I think it looks interesting. The action looks a bit slow in the video, but it’s too short to make any solid judgement.
As far as the cheesy lightning on the interviewees; well that is in no way near other cheesy “meet the developers”-trailers I’ve seen.
For example the one where the Epic guys sit about and babble on about how “art” Gears of War 2 was. Because that was quite painful.
30/11/2008 at 01:10 PsyW says:
If the reams of beautiful dialogue and characterisation recovered from the KOTOR 2 game files (scripted and a lot of it recorded) which never made it into the game are any indication, Obsidian are good at the whole writing thing.
Let’s hope that this time they don’t axe loads of it at the last minute, while leaving in random unexplained cutscenes and plot hooks that refer to the cut content…
I’ll be monitoring it, I like a good story-driven game. Certainly won’t look at buying until I’ve seen a few reviews, though.
30/11/2008 at 12:56 Chaz says:
The lock picking bit in that video looked like it was ripped straight out of Oblivion.
I suppose it’s still early days yet, but the shooting bits looked rather clunky. Still one to keep an eye on though.
30/11/2008 at 18:48 the Not Enthusiast guy says:
I agree, obsidian’s writing is cerainly up to par.
Damn they have the guy beyond most of the writing in Torment
But writing alone doesn’t a make a good game.
Anyway, I may change idea about this alpha protoocol, but I repeat, the trailer doesn’t look too good
01/12/2008 at 17:05 Winterborn says:
I’m looking forward to the Aliens RPG more than this despite knowing nothing about it. Still, it probably won’t be the turn based squad level tactical rpg I really want an Aliens RPG to be.
02/12/2008 at 03:00 D says:
This reminds me how awesome Spy Game was. World definitely needs more spy games.