"Alpha Protocol": The Espionage RPG Quiz

Answer: A terrorist group shot down a plane

The opening cinematic showed a passenger plane being shot down by a missile. It was a Halbech missile, but fired by the Al-Samad terrorist group.

Answer: Henry Leland, the CEO of Halbech Industries

After players were shown the plane being shot down, the game cut to Henry Leland, the CEO of Halbech Industries, who started his interrogation of Mike. Players had no context for the interrogation, but had to respond to accusations. Between each hub, players would come back to this point in time to answer more questions, and to set up the intrigue for the next hub.

Answer: Sneak through the Alpha Protocol headquarters

The events of "Alpha Protocol" started three months before the interrogation by Henry Leland, when Mike was a new recruit at Alpha Protocol. Mike woke up in a medical ward, and had to escape (again, without context). Considering all the take downs were non-lethal, and all the ammo the player found for their pistol were tranquilizer darts, they may have foreseen that this was just Mike's first test since joining the agency. Mike had been drugged before being brought to Alpha Protocol headquarters (the Graybox) for secrecy.

After successfully sneaking through the Graybox, Mike was given more formal, less hostile training (but not by much).

Answer: Saudi Arabia

The group that shot down the commercial airliner in the opening cinematic was the terrorist organization called Al-Samad. They operated out of Saudi Arabia, so that's where Mike went first. He was supposed to find out how they got weapons advanced enough to take down a plane in flight.

The three incorrect answers were the other locations Mike could travel to after completing his mission in Saudi Arabia. Mike could visit them in any order, and even travel between them while the plots were underway.

Answer: Mina Tang, the Intel Expert

Every agent had a handler back at HQ to help them out. In Saudi Arabia, Mike got three different handles: Mina, Sean, and Yancy. Alan was never a handler for Mike.

At the end of the Saudi Arabia missions, an infiltrator in Alpha Protocol blacklisted Mike and tried to kill him with a missile strike. Sean and Yancy immediately became hostile toward Mike, but Mina continued to work with him as a handler in secret. Mina was mike's primary handler in Moscow, Rome, and Taipei.

Answer: Scarlet

Scarlet Lake was an intrepid photojournalist. She had a seat next to Mike on his way to his second hub. As Mike found incriminating information during his mission, one option was often to give it to Scarlet to publish. She even helped in one mission in Taipei by providing a distraction.

Answer: Central Intelligence Agency

Steven Heck claimed to work for a super secret branch of the CIA, but no one else was ever able to corroborate that. He operated out of a dry cleaning store, and liked to use the chemicals there during interrogations. Meeting Steven would open new options in the store, and he could help Mike in some of the Taipei missions.

Answer: Deng was trying to save the President

Mike thought Deng was trying to assassinate the president of Taiwan, and Deng thought Mike was trying to do the same thing. They ended up fighting each other for no reason. Mike thought Deng worked for the Chinese Secret Police, but he was a double agent working for Taiwan. Omen Deng had previously worked as a bodyguard for Ronald Sung, the president of Taipei, and was very loyal to him.

Answer: Halbech Industries

Halbech was a large defense contractor, but somehow their missiles had ended up in terrorist hands. The U.S. wanted the terrorists stopped, but without the embarrassment of having Halbech exposed. That's why Alpha Protocol was used.

A Halbech agent managed to infiltrate Alpha Protocol, and sent Mike's coordinate back to them once he had found the missiles. Halbech then fired their own missiles at Mike to kill him and destroy any evidence.

Answer: Albatross, the leader of G22

Sis was a young mute girl who was taken in by Albatross, the leader of the secretive G22. G22 was a military group known for their use of stealth and high-tech weapons and gadgets. In Albatross' own words, they were an earlier iteration of the Alpha Protocol concept. Depending on Mike's actions, they could be friends or enemies.

Answer: He would run off to inhale drugs

"Alpha Protocol" sometimes suffered from inconsistent tone. Sometimes it was a serious spy thriller. Sometimes it was a pulpy adventure with smooth-talking characters. And sometimes it was just nuts.

Brayko was a young Russian Mafia boss who loved loud 80s music, garish colours, and drugs. Mike ended up fighting Brayko at his mansion, on the dance floor. During the fight Brayko would start off with traditional combat, using his twin gold-plated SMGs. After absorbing some damage (or getting bored), Brayko would quickly inhale drugs, and then run at Mike with a knife (probably the most dangerous stage of the fight). After a short while, he would crash, and run away to recover while his goons distracted Mike. This cycle would repeat until Brayko was defeated.

Answer: An art museum

In Rome, Mike met Madison Saint James. She was a young American working as a translator for Conrad Marburg, the main antagonist in Rome. After she gave Mike intel, Conrad captured Madison for Mike's final mission there. The mission took place in an art museum where Marburg had placed a number of explosives.

He made Mike choose between saving Madison, or disabling the bombs to save artwork and civilians in the museum.

Answer: EMP Charge

Despite having a good story and excellent replayability due to all the choices, "Alpha Protocol" did not receive a large following or the best reviews. One reason is due to the clunky controls and game mechanics.

The most egregious example of this are the three mini-games, with special attention paid to the hacking game. The hacking mini-game was difficult to understand, and even when it was understood, the controls were so loose and "floaty" that it was sometimes impossible to perform the actions you needed to before the timer ran out.

Thankfully, these mini-games could be skipped by spending an EMP charge on them. Mike could only carry so many at once, and so would have to save them for the hardest hacks.

Answer: The Clearing House

At the Clearing House, Mike could buy weapons, upgrades, intelligence on upcoming missions, and information about the major characters in the story. It was a network of black market buyers and sellers, and could not be traced.

The Black Emporium was a special shop in the "Dragon Age" series. The Secret Shop was from the MOBA "Dota 2", and Nocturn Ally was the questionable shopping district from the "Harry Potter" novels.

Answer: The Alpha Protocol headquarters

The final mission took place in the Alpha Protocol headquarters, where Mike went to finally bring down the organization and Halbech Industries. Thankfully, Mike's very first mission was to escape Alpha Protocol as a training mission, so he already knew his way around the facility. Players even took control of Mike in the very same medical room they started in last time.

It was here that Mike ended up talking to Henry Leland, which players had been doing throughout the game. Mike finally ended his conversation with Leland, and players no longer played in flashbacks.

Most of the characters died during this mission, but how many and who exactly depended on Mike's specific choices.