14 DAY TRIAL // After getting out of the sun and wondering if I was ever going to actually get a good suit to walk around in (I'm even ready to forgo the crisp white shirt), Alpha Protocol allowed me to take on three locations. I chose Moscow, Russia mostly because it was the chilliest location when compared to sunny Rome and tropical Taipei. I also relished the opportunity of dealing with some mafia members, one of the specialties of my Bond incarnation.
Moscow is cold, deadly and introduces quite a few new characters, the most interesting of them being women. SIE is a mature mercenary, always worrying about her paycheck but drawn to the sweet talk of Michael Thorton.
Scarlet is a reporter you meet on a plane and who can mesmerize any super spy with her mane of red hair and cold shoulders. Sis is, maybe, the most interesting of them all, with her silence and locket with deep meanings attached. Players need to make sure that they do not take her out when she seems to be ready to pull a gun on them.
The city is also the scene of one of the worst boss fights in the game, which involves a disco-like area in a villa and one Russian punk who is over-obsessed with the '80's era. The guy moves really fast, wields dual SMGs and goes through a stance change where he blinds you with a disco ball and then charges to slash the main character up with a knife in close quarters.
My assault rifle skills require me to stand still in order to get good hits, while my pistol skills are really not up to the moment. This basically means I have to run around, stand in one place, shoot him a little and repeat the process to take him out, with constant regeneration of his armor getting in the way. As with the previously mentioned tank, I would have much preferred a touch section with deals with more enemies, where more skill and less repetition are involved.