Alpha Protocol

Glenn Wilson @ RPGamer wrote:
To date, Alpha Protocol is the best spy game ever made. It plays out like a fast-paced action flick with little downtime during or between scenes. Michael Thorton, the star of the show, joins the secret group Alpha Protocol to work for the US government as a spy handling missions too politically sensitive or unethical for high visibility organizations like the CIA or the military. With a sense of urgency common in movies and television, but lacking in RPGs, Thorton infiltrates strongholds, meets mysterious contacts, and interrogates crime lords to gain intel on the current location's situation. Ultimately, he travels around the world in a frantic attempt to prevent World War III.

The game infuses a movie-like atmosphere into an RPG perfectly. Alpha Protocol has a safe house in each area Thorton visits. Between missions, he can check his e-mail for leads and information on the area, talk to his handler, purchase weaponry or more information through his computer, and select which mission to tackle first. Initially, the missions are all related to gathering more intel through activities such as hunting down well-defended sources, meeting a stranger in public and trying to pry intel from him through conversation — civil or otherwise, or sneaking into another intelligence agency's base in the area and downloading their files or bugging their systems. Depending on how the missions go and how effectively Thorton obtains information, new missions open up allowing him to follow leads, gain more intel, kill off enemies, or assist knowledgeable friends. A sequence of missions in an area, called an operation, ends with a final assault, a boss fight, and a conclusion to that location's problem that's influenced by the decisions Thorton made.
Source: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/xbox2/alphaprotocol/reviews/alphapro…