Alpha Protocol: Difference between revisions

** Sergei Surkov is a remarkably nice guy for an ex-KGB agent who {{spoiler|lies to Mike's face and sends him after Brayko just to take out his competition.}}

** For all his politeness and friendly demeanor, Hong Shi did {{spoiler|deal with Al-Samaad, executed his second-in-command for questioning his orders about the aforementioned deal, and had an NSB agent tortured to death for approaching the Triads for security during an exchange.}}

* [[Always Save the Girl]]: Invoked and brutally deconstructed by {{spoiler|Marburg.}}

** The player himself can leave {{spoiler|Mina}} to die if he so chooses. Goes even further with {{spoiler|SIE}} who you can even execute yourself.

* [[Bad Boss]]: [[Crazy Awesome|Heck]] may be one for [[The Woobie|poor]] [[Butt Monkey|Wen]].

* [[Battle Theme Music]]: Brayko's favourite 80's anthem. '''Prepare to hear it many times.'''

** The God Damn Bees.

* [[Berserk Button]]: ''Do not'', under ''any'' circumstances, call Steven Heck "Steve"

* [[Confusion Fu]]: According to Steven Heck himself, his fighting style is based heavily on this. Well, that, and [[Improvised Weapon|Improvised Weaponry]], including decapitation via soccer balls traveling at 400 miles per hour, impaling a target with a ten-speed mountain bike, and assassinating a Vatican official by strangling him with communion wafers. He also excels in a psychosis-based resistance to pain and bullet wounds.

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]: Steven Heck. Acoustic Kitty is actually [[Truth in Television]].

* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: Madison St. James is a just a nice person completely removed from the various conspiracies who, by virtue of her ''boss'' being involved in said conspiracies, learns of said boss' plans to murder someone. She becomes involved simply because she decides to do what she sees as the right thing and warn him. {{spoiler|She's also Alan Parker's daughter, and this has absolutely nothing to do with how she falls into trouble, but can be a key plot point if Mike figures it out. Dialog suggests that Parker has been estranged from her for so long that he himself didn't recognize her until he's told.}} Hilariously [[Lampshaded]] if {{spoiler|Mike uses this information, prompting Parker to shoot Marburg for either putting his daughter in danger or outright killing her:}}

{{quote| '''Marburg:''' Of all the...{{spoiler|Madison St. James was his ''daughter?''}} What ''next?''}}

* [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant]]: Sis and SIE.

** Especially SIE, dear god SIE. {{spoiler|If you choose her as your handler for the final mission she shows up to rescue you but, before releasing the restraints holding you to the gurney, she decides you should both have little fun... Mina will later comment about the scratches you have on your neck if you remember to save her.}}

* [[Five-Bad Band]]:

** [[Big Bad]]: [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Leland]]

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: What happens to Michael {{spoiler|after Rome. It's worse if you didn't save Madison}}

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: Steven Heck hands down. Just imagine Max from Sam and Max but set in a non-cartoon universe. His introduction is a reference to [[Twenty Four|Jack Bauer]] [http://www.jackbauerfacts.com/ Facts].

* [[Highly-Visible Ninja]]: The advanced stealth armors are very shiny...

** Thorton has the option of skipping stealth altogether and just shooting everyone. Lampshaded by Albatross if you bungle the Embassy mission: "Do you just walk up to every soldier you see and introduce yourself?"

** "Thorton, inc.": {{spoiler|Same as above, except Mike betrays Leland and uses his allies to rule the world behind the scenes.}}

*** Most sub-variants of the four above depend on who is Mike's handler for the final mission and who rides off into the sunset with him. It could be {{spoiler|Mina, who will show up by default if you romanced her, or Scarlet if you romanced her but not Mina (and also depending, of course, on whether they lived or died). Steven Heck will pop up if he's been selected as your handler and the criteria for the other two haven't been met; he can save you from being sniped as well. Failing all that, Mike will ride the boat home alone, talking to himself.}}

** There's also a number of new dialogue options that show off just how much of a veteran Mike is. One of them has him rattle off about four different ways to identify who's using a specific computer terminal, ''based on a single log-in attempt''.

** Many of the "Veteran" stances indicate that this version of Thorton simply does not have time to deal with rookie crap; he demands a fast-forwarding of the orientation process and his very first line in the game upon waking up is "Where's my gear?" rather than a confused "I can't believe they drugged me!"

*** Also any boss fights encountered with a low supply of ammo, not enough points in certain skills, etc. This isn't unique to Alpha Protocol but it does seem to happen a fair amount.

* [[Noble Demon]]: Shaheed comes off as this, more or less. Once he makes a promise, he keeps it, and he's quite smart and forthcoming. If he wasn't running a terrorist organization that blew up a passenger airplane in the beginning it'd be easy to like the guy. At the very least, it's easy to see why he inspires loyalty among his men.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: No one really knows what Wen Shu did to earn Steven's animosity.

** Wen gets the blame when Heck can't find his keys. It's possible that Wen never did anything at all, and is merely the [[Chew Toy]].

* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: Depending on your actions you can make {{spoiler|Marburg and Scarlett abandon Halbech. Scarlet makes her resignation [[Eye Scream|memorable]]}}

* [[Secret Character|Secret]] [[Mission Control]]: In the final mission, if you've done your homework and have a high enough reputation with a certain character, {{spoiler|you can have Scarlet replace your handler partway through. This is the only time you can get her handler bonus.}}

** Of course, later, if you screw up, {{spoiler|he pulls out what looks like a FAL, and you ''have'' to shoot him.}}

** Happens again in Moscow with {{spoiler|Sis and her locket after you beat her.}}

* [[Shoot the Dog]]: You can choose to do it over and over again. For example, in Rome {{spoiler|if you want to stop the museum bombing, you have to sacrifice Madison.}}

* [[Kick the Son of A Bitch|Shoot The Son Of A Bitch]]: A lot of the people you can shoot have it coming.

** In-game shout-outs include [http://www.timecube.com Time-Cube] of all things.

** Many of other agencies mentioned in the game are, of course, shout outs to both real life and fictitious spy organizations.

** One of the terrorist organizations operating in Saudi Arabia is the [[Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|Al-Tair]] organization.

** According to Westridge's dossier, he was involved in an affair with a woman codenamed [[Firefly|"Saffron."]]

** The emails you get from tapping the NSA and CIA lookout posts in Rome have names appended to them that are references to spy characters from [[Tom Clancy]] [[Jack Ryan (Literature)|books]]: Chet (Nomuri), (John) Clark, and Ding (Chavez).

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: You can do it several times. {{spoiler|Punching [[Smug Snake]] Leland and banging his head against the table is especially awesome - see above}}.

** Especially since the above was your {{spoiler|last chance to avoid imprisonment or death. Or so Leland thinks.}}

* [[Standard FPS Guns]]: Ready and accounted for!

** The pistol is your standard pistol, though the only weapon that mount a silencer and use tranquilizer darts, making it ideal for stealth playthroughs. It also has the [[Bullet Time|Chain Shot]] ability.

** Submachineguns fill in the [[More Dakka|bullet hose]] role, wielded [[Guns Akimbo|in pairs]] and having the advantage of [[Bottomless Magazines]] when their special ability is activated.

** Assault rifles serve as an excellent all-around weapon but specialize in being the marksman rifle, having very high accuracy and doing excellent damage on critical hits

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: Depending on your choices, the final boss is either {{spoiler|Yancy Westbridge or Henry Leland}}. The former fights you with a series of [[Gatling Good|miniguns]], while the latter decides to use a ''rocket launcher''.

** Ironically, the rocket launcher is probably the easier of the two to deal with. Its slow, and you're generally given enough time to dodge its shots.

** One of Mike's possible responses is asking if [[How I Met Your Mother|they weighed less than 600 pounds combined.]]

* [[Timed Mission]]: And it's a ''short'' timer, too: you have 30 seconds to kill a guy, pick a lock on a door, and escape before you get hit by a train.