I’m not sure what it is about E3, but I’m slowly getting the itch to play me some RPGs and RTSs, but more on the latter later. Let’s rap about the former and first up is Obsidian’s (They created Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2) Alpha Protocol, which is an RPG with a fair amount of action gameplay thrown in to keep you interested. It’s a spy game like the Bourne series, but I haven’t played any of them so I can’t exactly attest to that. However, one of the other fellas in the demo with me said the two were very similar.
Anyway, you play as Michael Thornton to help stop some international catastrophe from occurring that would doom us all according to the game’s description. Taking a quick look at my notes, I can tell you just a few things about actual gameplay since we were limited to what they wanted to show us. One of the features that I thought was unique was the real-time decision making process. For example, when you approach an individual you’re given a list of actions that you can proceed with, like killing them, talking to them, etc. The further along you are in some form of dialogue your options vary based on your previous actions and what’s being told to you. Another feature I really liked was Chain Shots, which allows you to string together multiple shots on multiple enemies before you start firing. The process slows down for a few seconds to allow you to do this.
Alpha Protocol is set to launch in February of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
The next Sega title that I had a chance to demo was Sonic Unleashed. My very first personal console was the original Sega Genesis and one of the games I had was Sonic, so this game is near and dear to me. The upcoming Sonic title looked great and I especially liked the different views that are given to the player. Depending on the buildings and surroundings you switch from an over the shoulder view to 3D to side scrolling for stellar gameplay. The hog can run upwards of 300MPH dubbed Sonic Boost if his ring count is high enough. When jumping from one particular building to another you’re given a combo move mid-flight that will take you to the top with a ring bonus or down to the bottom where you’ll have to work your way up to get across to the next building. During nighttime levels you turn into WareHog. At least, I think this happens during all nighttime levels. When you’re in WareHog mode you lose your sonic speed, but in return you gain super strength and the ability to extend your arms like Inspector Gadget. I can’t wait to get my hands on this when it launches this November for the PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.