Despite our 8/10 review for Alpha Protocol, many journalists dismissed the game and as a result, sales were lower than expected for publisher Sega. Speaking to CVG, Sega West president Mike Hayes said “the game hasn’t sold what we’ve expected, therefore we won’t be doing a sequel.”
“The concept was brilliant, though,” he said. “You know this whole thing with Metacritic where you have to be in the high 70s to mid-80s minimum – well, with RPGs you have got to be in the late 80s. Whilst we had a good game, I don’t think we had a game that had enough to get us to that upper echelon and I think that was the issue.”
“Again, the amount you need to invest to get there is so large because RPGs are naturally big projects. We’ve decided we won’t do a sequel.”
Our review asked you to “think a little deeper about whether average graphics and niggles with the cover system are deal-breakers,” something that not a lot of reviewers did. “For me,” said Katy, “the versatility of the story, the way the flow of the game can be altered and the fact it kept me interested enough to finish it and then play it again far outweighed any issues I had with the controls.”
Source: CVG
Kovacs
Still want to play it. Just my kinda thing.
PoisonedMonkey
The review I wrote for another site ended with the words “…if Alpha Protocol 2 ever happens and fixes the problems found here, it’s going to be one hell of a game”
The structure and ideas that the game used were brilliant, and a few tweaks to the stealth and combat stuff would have made AP a must-buy. It’s a shame they’re giving up instead of taking on board the criticism and making an improved game.
eirekun
Absolutely agree, the graphics, some camera angles & controls let it down but in all other respects the game was great fun with loads of reply value. AP2 would have been a day one for me (assuming the shortfalls were fixed).
Disappointing news.
m61726b
I haven’t played the first one but it’s next on my list.
Shame the reviews panned it. Manly due to bad AI but we all like shooting fish in a barrel.
jikomanzoku
Yeah but I remember on the original Killzone being able to work your way around cover until you were stood right next to helghan soldiers who were looking at the place you were 2 minutes ago. If there’d been a “share smokes and stories” button I would have pressed it – as they didn’t seem that bothered by my presence.
Mick939
I was misled early on hated it. But when I actually gave it a go I agreed fully with the review so I’m hugely disappointed at no sequal
skibadee
I have really enjoyed what I have played of it so far. shame there will not be a second one.
BIGAL-1992
I never thought this game had any point whatsoever. The whole thing looked like an absolute mess when I saw a clip on youtube and the dev that complained about this on joystiq really was the final nail in the coffin for my thoughts about the game.
jikomanzoku
Was gonna buy this next on the strength of your review and to try and encourage a sequel, looked more interesting than Fallout 3.4 – sorry New Vegas.
Alas now it’ll just be a rental.
Jazzak
I think this a great example of why developers must put out demos. I was initially very keen on this and was keeping tabs on it, but it never seemed to evolve enough graphically to warrant a purchase. Had I had the chance to actually play a bit of it and get a feel for the gameplay, I might have gone out and bought it. I’m afraid we are just too far into the console’s lifecycle to get by on saying “ignore the graphics, it plays well”. I accept that graphics aren’t the be-all and end-all, but they are a strong factor in determining whether to purchase or not.
Foxhound_Solid
I still need to give a Mini a blast…
Just havent seen one that catches my eye…
I am very surprised the Old Skool Boomers like the original metal gears and kung fu kids of this world havent been reinvented via the world of Minis.
I have them on Subsistence [the originall mgs’s] but im sure there are many out there that have no idea of its origins…
OLDER skool games could be a winner………
tonycawley
Think you’ve replied to the wrong news topic here mate.
BIGAL-1992
Wrong post mate.
Charmed_Fanatic
Its an RPG ?!?! Will look into this ….
DRCD1
Honestly, I really loved AP, and knowing that there won’t be a sequel saddens me. I don’t get why it was so bashed by the reviews. After all, in my humble opinion it was Heavy Rain with shooting and leveling up, and I don’t think a game that adds something should get a worse score. For example, if Uncharted 2 had a terrible MP, yet a SP as engaging as the one in Uc:DF, it shouldn’t have worse reviews. If due to a terrible coding mistake, in a 20 hour game, the first 10hours (which tell a story from the prespective of a soldier and finish that story) are as good as Kz2, and the last 10 hours (which tell the story from the prespective of a black ops commando) are as bad as rogue warrior, shouldn’t that game score as much as Kz2?
In my opinion, alpha protocol is one of the most underapreciated games this gen, right next to Bionic Commando.