Alpha Protocol

   So, yesterday I pretty much just wasted a day playing this game on PS3 called Alpha Protocol (who would have guessed?). Lemme start by saying that I'm an Xbox guy who loves shooters. I never actually sat down and played a game on PS3 until yesterday and the results were ridiculously lovely.
   I wake up at around 9 and have nothing to play on the 360 except shit i've completely destroyed like peggle and saints row 2. I browse my friends games for PS3 after gaining some curiosity and choose Alpha Protocol over a hand full of fighting games (since that's all he has and i'm not one for fighting games.) I found myself after a couple hours completely hooked, and it's rather surprising that I am since i rarely like RPGs. I'm kind of picky, i know lol But it's not a normal RPG, not at all.
   To start things off, the game visually resembles Saints Row. The textures, the facial movements, etc. The main character in the game is this dude named Thorton. Basically you run around as him blowing shit up and shooting people. I love that part of the game, but again that's only a part. As this guy you go on missions and you interact with people.... and by interact I mean you have to make choices that affect the outcome of the game. The system they use is almost like marrowind where they pose a problem/question and you have to choose what to respond with out of a list of responses.You can choose to be professional, you can flip out at people, and you can even hit on some of the other characters. Just saying, the storyline is not linear at all.
   Some of the other fun details to this game consist of hacking, weapon customization, black market purchases, and character optimization. The "hacking" in this game is similar to bioshock, where hacking is just a little game you have to do constantly in order to open doors, chests, computers, you name it. The weapon customization resembles army of two (i actually ended up getting a golden Ak-47 yesterday lol). Through the "black market" you can buy/sell barrels, swap stocks, use different sights, and add a handfull of mods to just about whatever firearm you acquire. Mind you, it's not limited to just guns, you can purchase intel, pay goons to sabotage events, and upgrade you're armor and personal stats. There are many options offered, and all of which have their own pay offs and costs.
   To wrap this up, i'd just like to say that Alpha Protocol balances it's many influences like a champ. It's smooth, creative, funny at times, and most importantly it's enveloping. When I said I "wasted" yesterday playing this game i actually meant to say that "it was so good I couldn't put down the controller all day" yesterday :). Even if you dont like RPGs or the PS3, please just go play it. It's worth it.