Espionage RPGs are certainly rare beasts and, given the scope allowed by the spy genre for matching the potential of a compelling RPG, it’s perhaps surprising that there aren’t more of them. Developer Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol is certainly ambit­ious in its scope, not just in its attempt to meet the demands of the treacherous plot of a spy thriller, but in attempting to match the sheer breadth that some of the very best RPGs can offer the gamer.

Alpha Protocol opens with a missile strike taking out a comm­ercial airliner in flight. Cut to Michael Thorton waking up in a Black Ops US government agency, the Alpha Protocol of the title.