Pocketoption unleash the power of binary options.
Alpha Protocol, Image Source: Obsidian Entertainment.
Here’s the thing: we’re judging Alpha Protocol on what it could’ve been, and not what it became due to Sega being Sega. Alpha Protocol is, simply put, Obsidian at its peak, before releasing Pillars of Eternity and steering on a more stable direction.
Like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, it’s a wonderful mess full of great ideas and concepts. Sadly, the development was plagued by behind the scenes problems, delayed several times, spent the early part of its production cycle without a project director or lead designer and faced tons of production issues, caused mainly by disagreements between Sega and Obsidian.
This lead to several issues and costly and time-consuming scenes cut out entirely from the game. The released product was a bug-ridden mess with imbalanced and at parts broken game-play. But when it’s good, man, it’s good.
The first inspired choice that Obsidian made was setting their game not in a fantasy or a far-future universe, but in a vaguely sci-fi modern setting. You play as Michael Thornton, a highly-skilled secret agent that works for Alpha Protocol, a clandestine United States agency that undergoes covert black-ops missions.
The game is one big omage to spy thrillers in RPG form, taking inspiration from James Bond and Jason Bourne, with the protagonist being loosely based on 24’s Jack Bauer.
Though the gameplay itself and the shooting mechanics are clunky and in parts broken, the timed dialogue system (which forces players to make quick decisions), the plot and the multi-branching quests are what propelled Alpha Protocol to cult-classic status.
Taking cues from Deus Ex, Alpha Protocol doesn’t shy away from putting the craziest conspiracy theories at the center of the plot and stretching the limits of plausibility as much as possible without losing believability.
This could’ve been the modern Deus Ex, but a troubling development prevented it from achieving its true potential. Maybe, maybe if Sega gets their collective heads out of their *expletive* and sells the rights back to Obsidian (who expressed interest in developing a sequel), we’ll see another Alpha Protocol.
11 FALLOUT 2.
Initial Release Date September 1998 Platform Windows, Mac OS X Developer Black Isle Studios Publisher Interplay Productions.
While the original Fallout was a huge success for industry legends Interplay, it’s not as big in scope as people would imagine. Fallout 2 was the quintessential high-quality sequel, as it expands the world considerably and adds even more moral ambiguity in a universe where it was already the norm.
In Fallout 2, set 80 years after the events of the first game, you play as the descendant of the original hero, who has since become a sort of wasteland legend. You are tasked with finding the Garden of Creation Kit, a device which is rumored to be able to create thriving communities out of nothing. With nothing but the Vault Dweller’s (the original protagonist) jumpsuit, a PIPBoy, a water flask, a spear and some cash, you go in search of said device.
Of course, Binary Options nobody is forcing you to rush towards your main objective. Playing as a tribal villager instead of a Vault Dweller means that the player protagonist is not as naive to the goings of the wasteland. This fact alone makes some of the more ‘’controversial’’ decisions that the player character takes even darker, as they don’t come out of naivete, rather a cunningness gained only after years of surviving the brutal wastelands.
But despite the darker subtexts, the world of Fallout 2 is lively and charming. The game is filled with a wide cast of interesting characters and offers a degree of player agency unmatched in the series until Fallout New Vegas. If you want to try out this classic series, start with Fallout 2 and then pick up the original.
10 MASS EFFECT.
Initial Release Date November 20, 2007 Platform Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 Developer BioWare Publisher Microsoft Game Studios, Electronic Arts.
Mass Effect, Image Source: Bioware.
The misadventures of Commander Shepard have already been meticulously documented since the first game’s release in 2007, but we couldn’t do an honest top of the best RPGs without mentioning this gem. Mass Effect dropped in a time when RPGs with elves and dwarves were still the norm, so seeing an RPG adopting a more grounded setting (again, as grounded as a game with aliens and space soldiers can be), was truly refreshing.
Mass Effect is probably the RPGest of the series, as the gameplay leans more on the KOTOR style of doing things in terms of character progression, with the combat being more action-packed. It even employs a similar binary moral system, only instead of being built around good and evil notions, players can either be Paragons (altruistic, empathetic, caring) or Renegades (basically assholes with good intentions). Ultimately, Commander Shepard is a good guy who has the galaxy’s best interests at heart, whose fate can be influenced by the player’s actions.
The cast contains a wide variety of compelling, well-written characters that may or may not agree with Shepherd’s actions, which can also be romanced if certain requirements are met. Notable amongst them is Garrus Vakarian, a smug, wise-cracking Turian who joins Shepard in his quest to save the galaxy, Wrex, a Krogan war master who’s two inconveniences away from smashing everything in sight and Liara T’Sonni, an expert in history and technology.
Mass Effect, binary options with it’s Sci-Fi, yet grounded universe, compelling characters, fascinating lore and fantastic writing, marked the birth of an incredible franchise. It’s not the greatest of the series, but it’s a good starting point.
9 System Shock 2.
Initial Release Date August 11, 1999 Platform Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 Developer Irrational Games, Looking Glass Studios Publisher Electronic Arts.
System Shock 2 is not only a textbook example of how to aptly combine action, RPG and survival horror elements into a cohesive and enjoyable package, but also the game that pioneered methods of storytelling through gameplay that we take for granted. One of these elements is piecing the story together through doomed audio logs.
"You move like an insect. You think like an insect. You are an insect."
The most accurate (and slightly unfair, since it precedes Deus Ex by a year) way to describe System Shock gameplay is ‘’Deus Ex in space’’. Nearly 20 years after release, System Shock 2 feels just as unsettling. The moody atmosphere of the derelict ship, the bio-engineered monsters roaming the ship (highly reminiscent of Tetsuo, The Iron Man) and the ruthless, malevolent AI SHODAN watching your every step makes for one of the best horror moments in video game history.
No matter what skills you choose for your character and how powerful you become, you will still feel like a worthless insect ready to be crushed by SHODAN on a whim, which is exactly what makes System Shock 2 mandatory to play at least once.
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8 Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Initial Release Date August 23, 2011 Platform Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X, Wii U Developer Eidos Montreal[ Publisher Square Enix.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Image Source: Eidos Montreal.
Deus Ex: Invisible War got a lot of flack for steering away from the mechanics and systems that made the first one so good, so when Human Revolution was announced in 2007, people were rightfully skeptic. In the eyes of the fans, nothing could top the first game. And neither did Human Revolution, but it came so, so close to achieving that.
Similar to the original Deus Ex, Human Revolution is set in a cyberpunk near-future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies, only being a prequel, the world hasn’t gone in the dumpster just yet. The story takes places in 2027, 25 years prior to Deus Ex.
The years leading to Human Revolution have been marked with tremendous improvements in human society, including effectively combating global warming and curing a wide variety of diseases. Furthermore, the standard of living has been improved by biomechanical augmentations, artificial organs that boost human performance, kicking a so-called ‘’Modern Renaissance’’. This triggered a new social division, with augmented people representing the rich upper class, while those lacking such things being relegated to the lower classes. Sounds Deus Ex enough, right?
Human Revolution took the first game’s consecrated formula and put a fresh, modern twist to it. The open-ended nature of the first game, multiple approaches to accomplish an objective, as well as game-breaking opportunities are still there, only this time wrapped in a more attractive package. While Human Revolution has only two fully-explorable hubs (Detroit and Hengsha), as opposed to the original’s three (not counting Liberty Island and smaller, mission-locked areas), they compensate through sheer size. Exploring every nook and cranny of Hengsha alone can eat up to 30 hours of your life.
The plot is more grounded and fleshed-out this time around, while still retaining some of the cheese and silliness of the original Deus Ex. The writing, as well as the characters, are a marked improvement over the original, with the protagonist, Adam Jensen, being one of the most compelling video-game protagonists in recent video game history. It’s still not as good as the original but hey, at least in this one you can punch holes through walls with his robot arms.