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* NotQuiteTheRightThing: After Marburg's SadisticChoice in Rome, pretty much every character in the game treats [[spoiler:letting Madison die to defuse the bombs]] as the more moral choice, but the epilogue reveals that it actually did more to further Halbech's goal of passing tougher anti-terrorism laws. Similarly, [[spoiler:saving Sung from assassination]] leads to China and Taiwan moving closer to war.
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** In a couple of the endings, [[spoiler:Leland]]'s last words will be an offer to bribe you if you choose to kill him.
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* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: During the end credits, a one of the INN anchors will update you on what happened in the Middle East, Moscow, Taiwan, and Rome as a result of your choices.
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* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler:The Alpha Protocol base]] in the GrandFinale.
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** Almost every organization you have to fight in the game has at least one mole who will feed you intel for a price: Deus Vult, the CIA, Al-Samad, the Mafiya, the Triad defectors, even G22 (although their mole isn't actually a member of their organization, it's the guy who installed their autoturrets).
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* ContinueYourMissionDammit: Happens all the time. (Oddly, in the few instances where Mike is ''actually'' working against the clock, MissionControl is suddenly silent. Probably because the timers are short enough that no false urgency is required.)
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** You can also do this to G22 in Moscow. If you agree to a partnership with Albatross, G22 will sell you all kinds of intel for the mission to get to Surkov at the embassy. If you choose to use SIE as your handler for the mission, however, G22 will storm the embassy and you will have to fight them off...using the intel (including a strategically placed sniper rifle) that they sold you beforehand.
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** Brayko's theme song was originally going to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8]] The Final Countdown," rather than "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al2ASM9XXT0 Turn Up the Radio]]."
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** Brayko's theme song was originally going to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8]] com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8 The Final Countdown," Countdown]]," rather than "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al2ASM9XXT0 Turn Up the Radio]]."
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The entire plot was rewritten when [[VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines Brian Mitsoda]] left Obsidian and [[PlanescapeTorment Chris]] [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Avellone]] took over the project. Not much is known about the original version, but judging by {{Syriana}} having been mentioned in early interviews as a major influence, it would've been quite a bit more serious.
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The entire plot was rewritten when [[VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines Brian Mitsoda]] left Obsidian and [[PlanescapeTorment Chris]] [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Avellone]] took over the project. Not much is known about the original version, but judging by {{Syriana}} ''{{Syriana}}'' having been mentioned in early interviews as a major influence, it would've been quite a bit more serious.serious.
** Brayko's theme song was originally going to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8]] The Final Countdown," rather than "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al2ASM9XXT0 Turn Up the Radio]]."
** Brayko's theme song was originally going to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8]] The Final Countdown," rather than "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al2ASM9XXT0 Turn Up the Radio]]."
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** [[spoiler: "Go to Hell." "Not the best I've heard, but..."]]
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* CoincidentalBroadcast: If your latest mission made enough of a splash to make the news, it will be the first story aired when you get back to your safehouse and turn on the TV.
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* KentBrockmanNews: The INN newscasters, who occasionally report on stories like "the dreaded Nigerian puppy scam" and the shocking new study linking sugar to hyperactivity in children.
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** The writers love doing this in the news reports if you decide to cut deals with Nasri and/or Shaheed. [[spoiler:If you let Nasri go instead of busting him, the next news report you see will be about a massacre on a U.S. Army base, with the implication that Nasri supplied the weapons. If you decide not to kill Shaheed, Al-Samad will launch a series of bombings in the West Bank. If you let both Nasri ''and'' Shaheed go, the bombings will claim hundreds of lives.]]
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* BlackAndGrayMorality: Halbech are bad guys. Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: are also bad guys]]. None of your allies are saints either, and the only one who isn't using you and doesn't betray you if you play him right is [[spoiler: a BloodKnight HeroicComedicSociopath who's just in it to blow stuff up.]]
** G22 are as close to "good guys" as there are in the game. Basically, they are "Alpha Protocol with a conscience."
** G22 are as close to "good guys" as there are in the game. Basically, they are "Alpha Protocol with a conscience."
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* BlackAndGrayMorality: Halbech are bad guys. Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: are also bad guys]]. None of your allies are saints either, and the only one who isn't using you and doesn't betray you if you play him right is [[spoiler: a BloodKnight HeroicComedicSociopath who's just in it to blow stuff up.]]
** G22]] That said, some characters are as close to "good guys" as there are in less evil than others.
* {{Blackmail}}: When you get data on Halbech's misdeeds, thegame. Basically, they are "Alpha Protocol with most profitable use of it is to politely ask a conscience."Halbech executive to pay up in exchange for not blowing the evidence wide open.
** G22
* {{Blackmail}}: When you get data on Halbech's misdeeds, the
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* LeftHanging: They never do explain why the NSA listening post in Rome is apparently manned by [[spoiler:a civilian who doesn't respond to the passphrase]].
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** He'll also complain that you're not playing fair if you go into stealth mode or hide behind cover.
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* TimedMission: And it's a ''short'' timer, too: you have 30 seconds to kill a guy, pick a lock on a door, and escape before you get hit by a train.
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* EscortMission: In Russia, one mission ends with you having to protect Surkov from hordes of either G22 or VCI goons, depending on which you chose to ally with. (How much damage he takes during the fight determines his attitude toward you afterwards.)
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** The entire Operation: True Heirs mission. [[spoiler:Both you and Omen Deng are in Taipei to prevent President Sung's assassination, and both of you have been informed that the other is the assassin. You spend so much time fighting each other that the real assassin is able to get to Sung almost literally under your noses.]]
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Correction based on Discussion entry. (I remember Sung being given a party, but can\'t find its name online. If anyone can update this, and whether it\'s a \"real\" party, please do.)
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* NoPartyGiven: U.S. Senator Patrick Darcy (Sean's father). What little of him is revealed in the news, introducing a new bill, won't help, as it's a fictional counterpart to a RealLife bipartisan bill ([=McCain-Feingold=]). Averted with President of Taiwan Ronald Sung, who is given explicit party affiliation.
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* NoPartyGiven: Averted, twice:
** U.S. Senator Patrick Darcy (Sean'sfather). What little of him father) is revealed in identified as a Virginia Republican (by the news, introducing notation "R-VA") in a new bill, won't help, as it's a fictional counterpart to a RealLife bipartisan bill ([=McCain-Feingold=]). Averted with dossier Michael can receive from Mina.
** President of Taiwan RonaldSung, who Sung is given an explicit party affiliation.
** U.S. Senator Patrick Darcy (Sean's
** President of Taiwan Ronald
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* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the Hell Is Alpha Protocol]]: Deliberately invoked. No key personnel working for Alpha Protocol know where the "Graybox" base is, no matter how trusted they are. If you want to go the base or leave it, you get sedated for two full days while your body is transported. It's inefficient, but it makes the organization practically mole-proof. Presumably the ones doing the transporting aren't being told the truth about who they're picking up or dropping off, and presumably the very top guys at Alpha Protocol know where the base is, but that's about it.
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* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the Hell Is Alpha Protocol]]: Deliberately invoked. No key personnel working for Alpha Protocol know where the "Graybox" base is, no matter how trusted they are. If you want to go the base or leave it, you get sedated for two full days while your body is transported. It's inefficient, but it makes the organization practically mole-proof. Presumably the ones doing the transporting aren't being told the truth about who they're picking up or dropping off, and presumably the very top guys at Alpha Protocol know where the base is, but that's about it. [[spoiler:Leland, meanwhile, knows exactly where it is because Halbech built the whole compound. Obviously, the contractors responsible for its construction would know where it was, even if they wouldn't know what it was for.]]
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* EvilCounterpart: Marburg tells Mike [[spoiler:that Mike's position is the same as his twenty years ago. They even look a lot alike.]]
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** One character threatens to shoot at the crates Mike is hiding behind. Said crates are completely bullet proof in gameplay.
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** One character threatens to shoot at the crates Mike is hiding behind. Said crates are completely bullet proof in gameplay. She may have been bluffing.
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* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[BurnNotice A talented spy named Michael framed for something he didn't do]] [[SplinterCell and forced to go rogue]]? To be fair, ClearMyName is a pretty common trope, and has been applied to spy stories several times.
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* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[BurnNotice A talented talented, snarky spy named Michael framed for something he didn't do]] [[SplinterCell and forced to go rogue]]? To be fair, ClearMyName is a pretty common trope, and has been applied to spy stories several times.
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* ShootTheDog: You can choose to do it over and over again.
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].
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* ShootTheDog: You can choose to do it over and over again.
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].again. For example, in Rome [[spoiler:if you want to stop the museum bombing, you have to sacrifice Madison.]]
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].
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**** This game ran so rampant with this trope that even [[WebOriginal/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] commented on it, stating his opinion that the game was "just showing off!"
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**** This game ran so rampant with this trope that even [[WebOriginal/ZeroPunctuation [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] commented on it, stating his opinion that the game was "just showing off!"
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One of the more interesting features of the game is its perk system. You get rewarded with perks that boost your stats slightly for your actions during the game... regardless of what those actions are. That's right, you can get perks for doing virtually anything, which means that the game does not overly reward or punish the player for making specific gameplay or plot choices. There's no "good" or "bad," just results.
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* MoreFriendsMoreBenefits: Played mostly straight. You get the "womanizer" perk for seducing every possible LoveInterest in the game, and shopping for equipment and intel is easier if you're buddies with the people who provide you with such things. Plus, it's usually easier to get dossier information from people who like you, which often opens up new options for developing the plot. However, it's not essential; the game is still perfectly winnable if you go through it actively trying to [[JerkAss piss off absolutely everyone]].
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** Tip: pick the "rookie" dialogue choice whenever possible during the tutorial sections, and make use of stealth InstantTakedown moves to compensate for your lack of fighting ability until you've leveled up a bit.
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* OptionalSexualEncounter: There are four romance-able characters in this game. You get a perk for sleeping with each one and a different perk for having slept with all four. Alternately, you can get other perks for refusing to sleep with some of them individually and for sleeping with nobody. Your choice.
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* YouLoseAtZeroTrust: Averted totally. You want to have a negative reputation with everyone, including your handlers? Go right ahead. All it means in the long run is that you'll have to fight more of your battles without backup, and if you keep that up long you'll get perks for playing that way to help you keep playing that way.
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*** Also any boss fights encountered with a low supply of ammo, not enough points in certain skills, etc. This isn't unique to Alpha Protocol but it does seem to happen a fair amount.
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* ThatOneLevel: The Brayko boss fight is either impossible for some players (resulting in a de facto game over as the fight cannot be avoided) or so easy some players on the forums report completing it on the first go. With the pistol.
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* {{MIB}}: The CIA agents and Marburg's Deus Vult agents tend to rock this look, though the G22 agents tend to fill in the role as shadowy agents.
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* {{MIB}}: TheMenInBlack: The CIA agents and Marburg's Deus Vult agents tend to rock this look, though the G22 agents tend to fill in the role as shadowy agents.
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* PrecisionFStrike: While the game certainly does not want for swearing, Mike can engage in an absolutely glorious example of this against Marburg in Rome provided he has the proper intelligence on Marburg and Deus Vult.
-->'''Mike''': Does Leland send you out for dry cleaning, too? Maybe shoot your chauffeur on the way? Chief of Security for Halbech - talk about a ''joke''. Yeah, I know all about Deus Vult and that abortion of an op in the Middle East. Poor Agent Marburg believed dead...maybe wishing he was dead. Boo. Fucking. Hoo.
-->'''Mike''': Does Leland send you out for dry cleaning, too? Maybe shoot your chauffeur on the way? Chief of Security for Halbech - talk about a ''joke''. Yeah, I know all about Deus Vult and that abortion of an op in the Middle East. Poor Agent Marburg believed dead...maybe wishing he was dead. Boo. Fucking. Hoo.
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*** What ''isn't'' justified is that while coked up, he will ignore ''all'' of your actions. Shot him with a critical shotgun blast, which normally knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a running strike, which ''always'' knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a overclocked mark 3 shock trap, which can incapacitate everything else in the game for at least three seconds? [[OverlyLongGag Not Brayko]].
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*** What ''isn't'' justified is that while coked up, he will ignore ''all'' of your actions. Shot him with a critical shotgun blast, which normally knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a running strike, which ''always'' knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a overclocked mark 3 shock trap, which can incapacitate everything else in the game for at least three seconds? [[OverlyLongGag Not Brayko]]. Brayko]].
**** [[FridgeBrilliance It's a shout out at Scarface's ending.]]
**** [[FridgeBrilliance It's a shout out at Scarface's ending.]]
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The game received mixed reviews -- while its innovative story and dialogue systems were widely praised, some found fault with its gameplay, graphics, and/or lack of polish. Sales were soft enough that Sega has no plans to release a sequel. [[HopeSpot However, Obsidian]] [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110277-Obsidian-Would-Like-to-Make-Another-Alpha-Protocol-Game have expressed tentative interest in making a sequel]] or SpiritualSuccessor so who knows? Received a jolt of new life in the fall of 2011 after a [[ValveSoftware Steam]] sale sold the $20 game at a mere $2.
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The game received mixed reviews -- while its innovative story and dialogue systems were widely praised, some found fault with its gameplay, graphics, and/or lack of polish. Sales were soft enough that Sega {{Sega}} has no plans to release a sequel. [[HopeSpot However, However]], [[ObsidianEntertainment Obsidian]] [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110277-Obsidian-Would-Like-to-Make-Another-Alpha-Protocol-Game have expressed tentative interest in making a sequel]] or SpiritualSuccessor so who knows? Received a jolt of new life in the fall of 2011 after a [[ValveSoftware Steam]] sale sold the $20 game at a mere $2.
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** G22 are as close to "good guys" as there are in the game. Basically, they are "Alpha Protocol with a conscience."
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AlphaProtocolCover_972.JPG]]
->''"The only thing I can say for sure, Mike; this business will change you."''
-->-- '''Yancy Westridge''' to Mike Thorton
The year is 2010. Worldwide political tensions are at a breaking point when a commercial airliner is shot down by a U.S. missile over the Middle East, killing all aboard. The U.S. government claims no involvement, and dispatches Agent Michael Thorton to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.
As the first modern-day spy role-playing game ''Alpha Protocol'' offers unprecedented control over the development of Thorton's abilities and his interactions with other characters. [[RPGElements Upgrade skills]] such as physical combat, weapons mastery, and cutting-edge technology as you grow in experience and complete missions. Also noteworthy for having an immensely branching storyline; pretty much every single choice and many of your conversation options can result in completely different events or endings.
The dominant themes of the game are issues of both deception and betrayal. Treachery is common, as expected in a spy and espionage thriller, and there are lies upon lies and wheels within wheels. [[GambitPileup Everyone has secrets]] and everyone's agenda is suspect. Finding who to trust and who is manipulating the player is a major part of the game's storyline.
The game received mixed reviews -- while its innovative story and dialogue systems were widely praised, some found fault with its gameplay, graphics, and/or lack of polish. Sales were soft enough that Sega has no plans to release a sequel. [[HopeSpot However, Obsidian]] [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110277-Obsidian-Would-Like-to-Make-Another-Alpha-Protocol-Game have expressed tentative interest in making a sequel]] or SpiritualSuccessor so who knows? Received a jolt of new life in the fall of 2011 after a [[ValveSoftware Steam]] sale sold the $20 game at a mere $2.
----
!!Examples
* AbortedArc: [[spoiler: Sis' locket]] never comes up again after Mike shows it to Albatross.
** In general, G22's objectives are never explained. It's implied that they're [[spoiler: a previous iteration of Alpha Protocol]], but that doesn't explain what they're doing now, nor ''why'' they're doing it, beyond a general "fighting against Halbech" objective.
*** The meeting with Albatross in Moscow hints that they're interested in preserving the status quo, or at very least have a vested interest in preventing [[spoiler:Halbech's "mistake" turning into WorldWarIII]].
* AFatherToHisMen: [[NobleDemon Marburg]], to the point that he flies into an incoherent rage and attacks you if you kill his men.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: A ''gameplay'' version of this-- there are no "right" or "wrong" choices to make, so to speak. Play non-lethally, act politely, act like a jerk, get caught a lot, be stealthy, bang every woman you can or abstain-- nearly every action you take has some minor or major gameplay perk that pops up during the course of your game.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Okay, so technically a pistol shouldn't be able to do ''any'' damage against [[TankGoodness a Stryker assault vehicle]], but there are a finite number of missile launchers on the map during its boss fight, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures so...]]
** That's what the respawning explosive grenades are there for.
* ActionGirl: SIE, Mina Tang, Sis [[spoiler:and Scarlet.]]
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Implied in the last mission's debreifing. If your handler is [[spoiler: SIE and you have sex with her Micheal will comment that he hopes the camera wasn't recording. In the debrefing it says that Micheal has a video that he removed and encrypted and has seen 143 times. it is a highly valuable piece of information wanted by all government agencies.]]
* AffablyEvil: Conrad Marburg up to his [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon actions in Rome.]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch Then you just want to make him drink Dry Cleaner Fluid.]]]]
** Subverted with Omen Deng, in the sense that [[spoiler: he's not ''actually'' evil - he's a good guy.]]
** Ali Shahed as well. He's so affable you almost forget that he blew up a passenger plane full of innocents.
** Sergei Surkov is a remarkably nice guy for an ex-KGB agent who [[spoiler: lies to Mike's face and sends him after Brayko just to take out his competition.]]
** For all his politeness and friendly demeanor, Hong Shi did [[spoiler: deal with Al-Samaad, executed his second-in-command for questioning his orders about the aforementioned deal, and had an NSB agent tortured to death for approaching the Triads for security during an exchange.]]
* AKA47: Played straight. For instance, a gun that clearly looks like a Glock is a 5.7mm pistol manufactured by "Rittergruppen". What looks like a FN Five-Seven is a 9mm pistol instead, manufactured by "Samael". And those two are only the beginning.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Invoked and brutally deconstructed by [[spoiler:Marburg.]]
** The player himself can leave [[spoiler:Mina]] to die if he so chooses. Goes even further with [[spoiler:SIE]] who you can even execute yourself.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Conrad Marburg. During the mission where you have to check out his villa, Thorton sees a pair of golden statues of naked (male) Greco-Roman athletes. Thorton is slightly disturbed by the implication. If you bring Madison as your handler, she remarks that she's "never seen Marburg entertain any female guests."
** The statues are fairly common in Art Deco neo-classicism, but compounded with that...
* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler:Mike can do this to Leland in the ending. What he says depends on what grudges he's holding. He could say Madison, Mina, his life, and anyone or anything else bad that's happened.]]
* AndYourRewardIsInteriorDecorating: Mike's trophies of his various adventures (many of which are specific to his choices) pop up in his room after missions.
* AntiHero: Michael Thorton can be played as this, as the game offers a lot of choice in character development. [[spoiler:Thorton can even make a Face Heel Turn, complete with Evil Smoking! See WeCanRuleTogether.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: Though very very few deaths are plot-mandatory, play your cards right (or wrong, depending on your point of view), and the only people from the character page left alive at the end will be [[spoiler:Mike, Steven, and SIE or Albatross/Sis.]]
* ArabOilSheikh: Ali Shaheed.
* ArmsDealer: Omar Nasri, responsible for selling stockpiles of Russian weapons to anyone who is willing to pay. The game has several other arms dealers as well, although they're mostly contacted anonymous through an Internet-based sales hub.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "Execution, imprisonment, possibly another lecture from Westridge ..."
* AxCrazy: Konstantin Brayko: crazy, [[KnifeNut loves his knife]], obsessed with '80 american pop-culture, etc.
** Steven Heck is pretty loopy too. Fortunately, he's somewhat controllable.
*** At one point in Taipei Mike says "If I do this we'll have to shoot our way out." At which point the only response is a little burst of crazy laughter from him.
**** If one tells him not to kill anybody, he looks like he's about to cry for a few seconds.
** EVERYONE in the active part of VCI.
*** One of the requirements for joining VCI is "dishonorable discharge from army"
* BadAss: Thorton. So you say you've just started working with and been separated from your agency on a dangerous mission in some Third World country? Well, it seems you'll have to work on your own, and bring all those terrorists down.
** BadassAdorable: Sis, a small, slender, cute, purple-haired, mute young girl who apparently went to the [[{{Firefly}} River Tam School Of]] WaifFu.
** BadAssGrandpa: Conrad Marburg was a black ops field agent for 20 years. Now he's chief of operations of a mercenary gang composed of veteran soldiers. To keep himself in shape, he runs ten miles a day. He can punch the crap out of you like nobody else in the game.
** BadAssLongcoat: [[MeaningfulName Omen]] Deng. Secret Police hardcase extraordinaire, and extremely dapper. He's even smart enough to [[TheCoatsAreOff delicately remove his coat before getting down to some serious violence]].
** CoolShades: Thorton if you so choose. SIE too who might also fall under TestosteronePoisoning.
* BadBoss: [[CrazyAwesome Heck]] may be one for [[TheWoobie poor]] [[ButtMonkey Wen]].
* BattleThemeMusic: Brayko's favourite 80's anthem. '''Prepare to hear it many times.'''
* BeeBeeGun: Steven Heck suggests this as an interrogation technique.
** The God Damn Bees.
* BerserkButton: ''Do not'', under ''any'' circumstances, call Steven Heck "Steve"
** Watch out if he can't find his keys.
*** And he ''hates'' sweets.
** The fastest way to lower Mina Tang's opinion of you is to injure civilians. Or US citizens [[spoiler:even if they are marines or CIA who are trying to KEEL you]].
** Killing Marburg's men. He will literally charge and beat the crap out of you. "My men...YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
* {{BFG}}: SIE's personal weapon is a light machine gun, and she has no qualms about shooting it. A lot. Mike, on the other hand, doesn't get anything bigger than an assault rifle, though he can commandeer turret-mounted [=MGs=], rocket launchers, and sniper rifles.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Leland and Halbech.]]At the start of the endgame, [[{{WeCanRuleTogether}} he offers Mike a job]]. Unusually for a videogame, you can accept the offer, and he actually helps you out instead of pulling an obligatory new-betrayal.
* BilingualBonus: The yacht in one of Moscow's missions is named "Pobeda" (victory in Russian) with first two letters dropped out, leaving "Beda" (trouble or disaster in Russian). This is reference to the ship from cult Russian cartoon "Captain Vrungel's adventures".
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Halbech are bad guys. Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: are also bad guys]]. None of your allies are saints either, and the only one who isn't using you and doesn't betray you if you play him right is [[spoiler: a BloodKnight HeroicComedicSociopath who's just in it to blow stuff up.]]
* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The first and final missions both begin with Michael escaping from Alpha Protocol's medical room.]] Also, [[spoiler:The boat that Mike leaves Alpha Protocol on in some endings is marked with a large Greek alphabet letter Omega. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, while Omega is the last.]]
* BottomlessMagazines: Under normal circumstances, you don't want to waste too many bullets, but the special attack power for the submachineguns is "Bullet Storm," which gives you infinite ammo for a short period of time. (And then you have to reload as normal afterwards.)
* BossBanter: Pretty much all the bosses indulge in this to some extent.
* BrandX: ''Trundling Rock'' magazine on the table near the door in Michael's Rome safehouse.
* BulletTime: Played with; the Chain Shot slows down time so you can ''plan'' several shots, and Mike executes them, in order, and ''very'' quickly, when time goes back to normal.
** With flawless accuracy, too. Which has its perks in certain boss fights, since headshots do lots of damage, and drilling six pistol rounds into someone's head is a very effective way to kill them. All the other weapon skills (Focused Aim, Bullet Storm, and Room Sweep) slow down time very slightly.
** The martial art skill "Fury" is a straight-up Neo-wannabe skill : every enemy is slowed down, you move at regular speed, and you get bonuses to melee ass kicking. In fact, even without it the melee charged attack is in slo-mo, the better for you to enjoy that nice roundhouse to the teeth.
* ButtMonkey: Poor Wen. First he gets tortured by Steven Heck who was doing it to get Wen to tell him where his keys were. Then, if you have a positive reputation with Heck after the final mission in Taipei, he [[spoiler: gets framed for the (attempted) assassination of the President Ronald Sung and is, according to the news reporter during the end-credits, executed.]]
** Nasri counts as well, though to a lesser degree. If you decide to arrest him - rather than kill or extort - he becomes subject to an increasingly twisted and painful set of interogation techniques over the course of the game.
* {{Camp}}: Brayko is like a camp take on [[{{Scarface}} Tony Montana]]
* CantStopTheSignal: Several of the endings in the game involve you leaking details of Halbech and [[spoiler:Alpha Protocol]]'s involvement in various terrorist acts to the press. You can also do this on a smaller scale over the course of the game. [[spoiler: Except that the reporter you're selling the secrets to is on Halbech's payroll.]]
* CatchPhrase: According to his dossier, Marburg's CatchPhrase is "Deus Vult", though he only utters it only once. But you have to admit, it is the line you are most likely to remember.
** While Hong Shi hasn't got enough screentime to really call it a catch phrase, he does like saying "a man in my/his position".
** ''"Dahling!"''
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Michael can do some really impressive things through experience.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Mentioned several times is what happens should Alpha Protocol become public knowledge. Guess how Thorton leaves Leland and Westridge holding the bag for the stolen missile fiasco?]]
* ChessMaster: [[spoiler:Leland, Parker, Michael can be one, depending on your play style and choices in the game]]
* ChewBubblegum: One of Brayko's taunts during his bossfight.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Like you wouldn't believe.
* ClusterFBomb: Brayko
* CombatPragmatist: Michael. In addition to his more exotic hand-to-hand training, he also has the option of incapacitating a downed enemy with a particularly vicious stomp.
** If you level up his martial arts skills, you also have the option to take out your pistol (or [=SMGs=], or Assault Rifle, or Shotgun...) and shoot your opponent point blank, right after you've punched them in the face. Or, even better, you can shoot opponents while they are down. Both are great ways to tell a person to fuck himself. [[KickTheSonOfABitch And you're thinking about Marburg now, right?]]
*** It's an excellent boss-fighting technique too. Marburg, for example, is stunned by the point-blank shot longer than it takes to execute. Meaning you can kill the son of a bitch without even giving him a chance to breathe.
** Reading their dossiers reveals that pretty much anyone who is anyone in the game follows this. Both Marburg, Sis and Heck have specific paragraphs outlining they're not above fighting dirty.
* ConfusionFu: According to Steven Heck himself, his fighting style is based heavily on this. Well, that, and {{Improvised Weapon}}ry, including decapitation via soccer balls traveling at 400 miles per hour, impaling a target with a ten-speed mountain bike, and assassinating a Vatican official by strangling him with communion wafers. He also excels in a psychosis-based resistance to pain and bullet wounds.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Steven Heck. Acoustic Kitty is actually TruthInTelevision.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Madison St. James is a just a nice person completely removed from the various conspiracies who, by virtue of her ''boss'' being involved in said conspiracies, learns of said boss' plans to murder someone. She becomes involved simply because she decides to do what she sees as the right thing and warn him. [[spoiler: She's also Alan Parker's daughter, and this has absolutely nothing to do with how she falls into trouble, but can be a key plot point if Mike figures it out. Dialog suggests that Parker has been estranged from her for so long that he himself didn't recognize her until he's told.]] Hilariously {{Lampshaded}} if [[spoiler: Mike uses this information, prompting Parker to shoot Marburg for either putting his daughter in danger or outright killing her:]]
-->'''Marburg:''' Of all the...[[spoiler:Madison St. James was his ''daughter?'']] What ''next?''
* CoolOldGuy: Albatross and his disturbingly cyborgish G22 soldiers.
** Marburg, Parker, and Yancy haven't let their age slow them down either.
* CosmeticAward: Beyond just the X-Box Achievements, your personal room will have trophies in it from Mike's adventures, based off of his choices in the past and who likes or dislikes him. For example, one of your earliest objectives, an arms dealer, gets you his beret if you arrested him rather than letting him go. Mike usually has something snarky to say about his collection pieces when you examine them.
* CovertPervert: You can romance a lot of the female characters in the game. There's even an achievement for romancing all of them within the span of one game. With a variety of different personalities and GuideDangIt, you may see some romances well in advance, others, not so much.
** Also, for the record, no, you cannot romance Sis. Saved you some time, there.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Certain bosses and other "major" enemies - the ones that run ''inhumanly fast'' like Brayko.
** With Brayko this may be justified. [[FightClub "I haven't had coke this good since gradeschool."]]
*** What ''isn't'' justified is that while coked up, he will ignore ''all'' of your actions. Shot him with a critical shotgun blast, which normally knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a running strike, which ''always'' knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a overclocked mark 3 shock trap, which can incapacitate everything else in the game for at least three seconds? [[OverlyLongGag Not Brayko]].
** Omen Deng can turn invisible and run away at high speed during your encounter with him. Technically, ''you'' can turn invisible too, but it never works on enemies who are alerted to your presence, so he's at least bending the rules if not ''cheating''.
*** Deng cheats in ''numerous'' ways: he can turn invisible at will, which then ''immediately'' triggers his endurance regeneration (almost everyone else has to at ''least'' have to wait five seconds, and Mike maxes out at 7 seconds wait). In addition, he frequently engages you in melee combat, and you can have an ability that reduces your opponent's chance of blocking by 75%. That doesn't matter, though: if he decides he doesn't want to get hit by your punches and kicks, ''you will not hit him''.
**** He can't [[{{Gamebreaker}} dodge incendiary grenades]] though. Focused Aim also allows you to track him while he's invisible.
** Even some of the standard enemies will go straight for you, even if you're cloaked, in cover, and have not been spotted in that level at all yet.
** In short, the bosses in the game are, almost without exception, brutally unfair.
*** Though they can be overpowered quite easily if you, too, know how to be a cheating bastard. The Stealth invisibility power, Shadow Operative, nerfs Brayko by cutting him immediately back to gunplay after he loses track of you. He never cokes up again until he reaches 20% health, and then you can just do it over. As for Deng, while he can block any attack, the Melee skill Point Blank Shot is unblockable, turning a very frustrating fistfight into an amusing anticlimax. In fact, Point Blank Shot pretty much destroys anyone, enemy or boss, at close range.
*** The Chain Shot pistol skill, a sequence of n perfectly-aimed bullets really tears through most bosses, if you've raised n high enough.
*** Another way is to max out Martial Arts and Toughness and to wear the heaviest armor you can find.
*** At least for Omen Deng, an alternative option is to, ironically, tuck yourself into a dead end hall next to one of two ammo caches and simply shoot down the hall whenever he shows up. The time and distance it takes for him to reach you is long enough for you to cause enough damage for him to decide to run away and try again.
* ConspiracyThriller
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Leland. He could really only be more obvious by having a big label with 'SLEAZEBAG' on his suit.
** He technically does. That Godawful tie makes it so he should be shot just for wearing it.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Pumping too many points into one stat while neglecting all others is a good way make the game unplayable in short order for an inexperienced player, or on the Hard difficulty, or both. Having a few playthroughs under one's belt and thus a better understanding of how the game flows as well as the Veteran background make overspecializing a more viable playstyle.
* CrossHairAware: Every potential [[BossFight boss NPC]] has a visible laser sight on their guns. There's one even on SIE's machine gun.
* CutsceneIncompetence: Mike really enjoys dropping the whole "stealth" thing and loudly announcing his presence while out of cover in cutscenes.
* CuteMute: [[spoiler: Sis.]]
* DamageSpongeBoss: Several, most notably Omen Deng and Brayko. It doesn't match well with the style of this game to have to fight enemies that just run up to you, ignoring the 2 assault rifle clips to the face you just gave them, and just beat the everliving crap out of you.
* DamselInDistress: Madison Saint James.
** [[spoiler: Scarlet and Mina too in the endgame.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Some of Michael's non-controllable dialogue hints to this being his default personality.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Pretty much any named character that is introduced as an antagonist can become an ally if you spare his life. There's even an achievement for getting all your enemies to be your friends within one game.
* DefectorFromDecadence: It's never outright stated, but it's heavily implied that [[spoiler: G22 is an off-shoot of one of the previous iterations of Alpha Protocol. According to a secret fact given by Albatross if you refuse to ally with him in Moscow, it mentions that one iteration was called G19, and Albatross knows of Alpha Protocol's inner workings.]] It helps that [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol follows an apparently well-established policy of "Yellow Brick Roading," whereby each agent sets up their own funds, supplies, contacts, and safehouses,]] meaning that [[spoiler: any agent could theoretically shoot off and do their own thing if the organization goes under.]]
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: And we mean ''everything''. Characters will actually comment on your clothing style, armor, and weapons choices, and cutscenes will be completely different depending on sometimes minor choices or even what skills you have points in. For example, [[spoiler: after recovering the assassination plans in Taipei, if Mike has a high technical aptitude, he'll be decrypting the files. Otherwise, Mina will do it.]]
** In some cases, the commentary will come several missions later, i.e. if you're wearing heavy armor while [[spoiler: rescuing Surkov from the US Embassy]], he'll comment on the armor when you meet him. If you're wearing civilian attire, on the other hand, he'll comment on it later in his office.
----> ''Surkov:'' "You have a lot of pockets! Have you come to check my internet connection?"
----> ''Thorton:'' [[DeadpanSnarker "Only if you let me plant a bug on it."]]
*** Omen Deng will comment on your choice of armor in the subway station. For [[HighlyVisibleNinja stealth armors]], he compliments you on wearing camouflage, but says civilian clothing would have been smarter. For heavy armors, he says "You look like you're prepared for war." And for [[TheEngineer utility armor]], he tells you "You look like you're prepared for anything." He compliments you on blending into the crowd if you choose civilian clothing, even though you're [[HighlyVisibleNinja openly carrying two guns.]]
** Informants for a particular mission hub will be pleased if you came to them first rather than going to do some other business in their turf. Grigori will show off even more of how much he knows if you happen to have visited places other than Moscow first. "Taipei, out of Rome?" There was no reason the developers needed this level of attention to detail, but they did it!
**** This game ran so rampant with this trope that even [[WebOriginal/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] commented on it, stating his opinion that the game was "just showing off!"
** Getting past the door guards at the US Embassy in Moscow requires some careful persuasion....unless you chose Soldier or Veteran as your background, in which case you pull a BavarianFireDrill and walk right inside without any trouble at all.
** The game keeps track on what stances you use in the opening of the game and gives you a perk for sticking to one of the three stances. Characters will keep referencing your dominant stance, which may not be the one you used mainly during the opening. At the very end, Leland will mention it if you've undergone a shift in dominant stance during the game, describing it as CharacterDevelopment and ask you if you feel comfortable with your new direction.
** Some are quite subtle. If you are relaxed and chatty with Grigori, he'll like the fact you're not violent nor businesslike. Later, when you first meet Surkov, he'll have no idea who you are - because Grigori ''didn't'' betray you to him.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: In-game. [[spoiler: ''Everyone'' talks about Halbech clumsily trying to influence global politics to keep international tensions high, when all Leland is doing is starting World War III, and ''everyone'' can see that but him.]]
** Some reviewers of major publications who, in their negative reviews, claimed that stealth and pistol were a waste of time. Cue derisive chuckles from those who played the game for more than an hour.
* [[DidntSeeThatComing Didn't See That Coming]]: [[spoiler: Thorton can set one of these up on Leland and Alpha Protocol. And it is awesome.]]
** To elaborate: [[spoiler: as you play the game, it becomes increasingly obvious that Leland has ''no idea G22 exists'', and with skill and effort it's possible to keep it that way for the entire game, as they stealthily assist you in bringing down his entire organization. Then in the endgame, Halbech thinks they've finally caught you, all your allies are accounted for, no one is left to help you, there's no possible escape...and then suddenly the power goes down, the security grid goes nuts, and the compound is stormed by [[TheCavalry dozens of coordinated heavily-armed commandos in high-tech military gear out of fucking nowhere.]]]]
* DirtyCoward: The boss fight with [[spoiler: Darcy]], where he simply hides up in a guard tower flinging grenades, sending wave-after-wave of minions at you, and taunting you endlessly, and then has the gall to say he's kicking ''your'' ass.
* DiscoDan: Replace disco with 80's rock music and you have Brayko.
* DissonantSerenity: Steven Heck's a nutcase, but he is remarkably calm and casual most of the time, even in combat. He tends to treat missions where things get blown sky-high as absolutely normal.
** But God help you if you don't know where his keys are! Poor Wen Shu...
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[BurnNotice A talented spy named Michael framed for something he didn't do]] [[SplinterCell and forced to go rogue]]? To be fair, ClearMyName is a pretty common trope, and has been applied to spy stories several times.
** To be even more fair, Alpha Protocol was announced before BurnNotice. It just languished in DevelopmentHell for a while.
** In Alpha Protocol, you can choose to be [[JamesBond the suave secret agent who specializes in gadgetry]], [[TheBourneIdentity the stealthy martial arts expert who's coldly professional]], and even [[TwentyFour the aggressive weapons expert who gets things done, no matter who he pisses off]].
*** Heck, the developers even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] it with the marketing. The three stances were described multiple times as "the Three J.B.s"!
* DoubleEntendre: SIE's possibly favorite trope, next to BFG.
** The first email you get from [[strike: [[BerserkButton Steve]]]] Steven Heck, concerning the weapons he sells on the black market, is titled "Buy My Junk." He actually admits its on purpose.
*** Made even more hilarious with the translation in Poland when it translates to "Grab the barrel of my gun" . A perfect example of Woolseyism.
* DrugsAreBad: Played with. While fighting Brayko he can defeat himself by taking doses of cocaine. But that's if you have [[strike: [[RunningGag Steve]]]] Steven Heck "fix" it beforehand. If not than Brayko just goes on cocaine fueled, knife rampage.
* EasyExp: You get Perks for ''everything.''
* ElCidPloy: It is implied that Fidel Castro is dead and that the Cuban government is covering this up. Ironically, Castro proved that he was still alive a few months after the game was released.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: As suitable for a spy drama, you get a ''lot'' of bribe attempts, be it with money or with information, tossed your way in this game.
** BribeBackfire: It's up to you how you want to respond to them, with plenty of opportunities for this. The most clear-cut example comes if you're friends with Steven Heck, however: [[spoiler:At the end of Taipei, a VCI representative will try to bribe him into fingering you as Ronald Sung's assassin. Steven breaks two of his fingers and ''sets him on fire''.]]
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Scarlet does this to Leland if you make the right choices. Sniper bullet at such a close range that it leaves burns. Thorton himself can do the same thing with his handgun upon choosing to execute Leland.]]
* [[ExPy Expy]]: Al-Shamad and its leader bear more than a resemblance to al-Qaeda and Usama bin Laden. Halbech, a morally ambiguous defence contractor with government contacts, just goes without saying.
** Michael Thorton is a [[BurnNotice renegade spy with master manipulating skills]], also his name is [[CaptainObvious Michael]].
* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: Leland's "What?", after he learns that Mike has planted a mine on him, if you betray him at the climax of the Halbech ending.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Leland:''' ''What?!'']]
-->[[spoiler: ''(BOOM!)'']]
-->[[spoiler: '''Thorton:''' ''Terrible'' last words.]]
** [[spoiler: "I will ''end'' you, Thorton."]]
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Sis and SIE.
** Especially SIE, dear god SIE. [[spoiler: If you choose her as your handler for the final mission she shows up to rescue you but, before releasing the restraints holding you to the gurney, she decides you should both have little fun... Mina will later comment about the scratches you have on your neck if you remember to save her.]]
* FighterMageThief: Combat, tech, and stealth skills, along with the Soldier, Tech Specialist and Agent professions. Subverted in that, as the Operative specialization points out, most veteran field agents ''don't'' pigeonhole themselves into one method of solving problems.
* FiveBadBand:
** BigBad: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Leland]]
** TheDragon: [[CompleteMonster Marburg]]
** TheEvilGenius: [[spoiler:[[TheChessmaster Alan Parker]]]]
** TheBrute: [[spoiler:Arguable, but [[MissionControl Westridge]] fits this best.]]
** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler:[[FriendlySniper Scarlet Lake]]]]
* FoeYay: A high approval from one of your enemies can lead to this. If you always play Thorton as an icy cold, robotic professional throughout the whole game, [[spoiler: Conrad Marburg]] will be one of the people who will like and respect you more. [[spoiler: Note that Madison insinuates Marburg is gay.]]
* GambitPileup: There are so many layers of deception that by the end of the game you'll find yourself wondering if there is at least one person who is not involved in something, has an agenda or a double agent. [[spoiler: Steven Heck; at least, he has no agenda of his own and isn't part of any of the conspiracies.]]
** It says something about this game that [[spoiler: the ''one'' putative ally in the game who does not betray you, lie to you, mislead you or manipulate you at least once (selling your name at the end of Taipei doesn't count, he only does that if you've made him an enemy first) is Steven Heck, entertaining yet psychotic mass murderer]].
*** Actually, [[spoiler:if you play the game so that Heck rescues you from Scarlet at the end, he'll tell you that he knew she was the real assassin all along, and claims he said nothing because he thought you were just trying to sleep with her. You can also get Leland to admit to knowing who Steven Heck is (though he doesn't say how.) All this even if Heck is at +10 with you.]]
* GameBreakingBug: A few missions, like the Embassy in Moscow, will sometimes credit you with an entirely different approach in the debriefing. A few of these are major enough to completely change the ending like when said mission in Moscow says you [[spoiler: shot US Marines even though you actually fought beside them in the mission.]] This can be avoided by not ever using the second story "sneaking route" entrance, either leaving or exiting the building. Opening that triggers an event flag that says you sided against the Marines, even when you never fired a shot or were never even ''seen''. And if you [[spoiler: paid extra for the sniper rifle delivery to the roof]], you'll just have to find another way to get up there.
** Also with the early Saudi missions as part of the railroading. Doorways and the like are one way only. If you find a way to back track, you can fall through the floor and need to reset the game.
* GameplayAllyImmortality: With the exception of a brief EscortMission, whenever an important ally gets into a fight, they are invincible and have deadly aim.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Most of your abilities are justifiably within the range of human limits, such as concentrating really hard so you can snap off a bunch of precision shots in an instant, but the Stealth skillset full-on lets you become ''invisible'' for short periods of time. You can abuse this to punch a a small group of people in the throat right in front of one another to take them all down.
** "Iron Will" increases the players damage resistance for a short time. It also gives him a blue glow and when he gets hit by bullets it sounds as though they hit solid metal. "IRON Will" indeed.
** One character threatens to shoot at the crates Mike is hiding behind. Said crates are completely bullet proof in gameplay.
* GatlingGood: [[spoiler:"During the pursuit, Steven Heck (at Agent Thorton's request) arrived to offer emergency backup. Said backup came in the form of Heck crudely mounting a minigun to a subway car and firing wildly at Chinese secret police officers as his train passed the platform."]]
** [[spoiler:If you choose to bring down the entirety of Alpha Protocol, one of your final fights is with Yancy, who uses a trio of them - though only one at a time of course - for maximum room coverage.]]
* GondorCallsForAid: The more allies you make, the more help you at the end.
** Enemies, too. In the case of [[spoiler: G22, its leader Albatross will be really, REALLY pissed off at you if you killed Sis, justified self-defense or not, and in preparation for going into Alpha Protocol, Mike can call Albatross. If he's on your side, good for you. If he's not, Mike can goad Albatross into showing up for the final showdown at Alpha Protocol anyway because it's the last chance he'll have to kill you to get revenge for killing Sis.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: You can play Thorton as a real jerkass.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Secretive organization within the United States government also known as [[TitleDrop Alpha Protocol]].
* GuideDangIt: Trial and error is the only real way to learn how to get the responses you want to your actions. Of course, since the game rewards you for ''everything,'' it even has a perk and Achievement for waffling a bunch on what stance you take.
** Also [[spoiler: How to get it so you actually kill Marburg. Hint: JamesBond style is his BerserkButton. MASH IT. You'll also need to have a history of Suave responses.]]
*** Alternate option: [[spoiler: get the full dossier on Madison, which reveals she is Parker's daughter, and explain this to Parker at the endgame. He'll confront and shoot Marburg, and then you can fight him. Unless, however, you've been playing as a predominantly Suave Thorton, in which case Parker will distrust you by saying you have a reputation as a smartass. TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything indeed.]]
**** Possibly better: [[spoiler: if you get enough dossier on Marburg, Deus Vult, and Parker, you can discover that Marburg was burned by Parker in a previous iteration of AP by leaving him to die, and can tell Marburg this when you meet him in AP. Your treat is a cutscene in which Marburg approaches Parker, acts suspiciously out of character, and then neck-stabs Parker. A bit of a Crowning Moment of Awesome.]]
** How to make it so you're not considered to have fired on the Marines at the embassy in Russia. Talk your way through the front door, and never open the door from the second floor to the roof.
* GuileHero: Mike Thorton if you want him to be. It is heavily recommended by the game itself.
* GunsAkimbo: Submachine guns are ''always'' dual-wielded. The point of them is not to be accurate, but to [[MoreDakka empty the clip]]. Sis is also fond of a pair of revolvers.
** Brayko and his twin [=SMGs=], when he's not trying to stab you in the face.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: If you are familiar with guns, try not to snicker at the in-game descriptions of how the gun upgrades work. Definitely a case of RuleOfCool meets StoryAndGameplaySegregation.
* TheGunslinger: Points in the right skills allow the player to be a downright ''[[OmnicidalNeutral omnicidal]]'' mix of all four types.
* HackingMinigame - A decoding minigame, a hotwiring minigame, plus a third one with lockpicks.
* TheHandler: Yancy Westridge, several other characters as well. Your handlers actually give you certain bonuses, depending on whether they like or hate you.
* HeroicBSOD: What happens to Michael [[spoiler: after Rome. It's worse if you didn't save Madison]]
* HeroicComedicSociopath: Steven Heck hands down. Just imagine Max from Sam and Max but set in a non-cartoon universe. His introduction is a reference to [[TwentyFour Jack Bauer]] [[http://www.jackbauerfacts.com/ Facts]].
* HeyItsThatVoice: [[{{Starcraft}} Raynor]], [[LegacyOfKain Raziel]], [[UnchartedDrakesFortune Nathan Drake]], [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Nevan]], [[MassEffect2 Jack]], [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Azula]], [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic HK-47]], etc.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: The advanced stealth armors are very shiny...
** Thorton has the option of skipping stealth altogether and just shooting everyone. Lampshaded by Albatross if you bungle the Embassy mission: "Do you just walk up to every soldier you see and introduce yourself?"
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Alpha Protocol by it's very nature of encouraging agents to have their own source of funding, supplies and intel ensures that [[spoiler: after Thorton goes rogue, he can not only stay under the radar but come back and destroy them.]]
** It is possible to set one of these up against [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol]] at the endgame by calling on [[spoiler: G22]] to attack their facility. Since [[spoiler: G22]] is the offshoot of [[spoiler: G19, a former iteration of Alpha Protocol]], that means that essentially you're [[spoiler: pitting a former version of AP against itself, built out of the very resources allocated to G19 up until it was dissolved]].
* HowWeGotHere: The game opens with Leland interrogating Thorton. [[spoiler:It turns out that Thorton let himself get captured.]]
* HoYay: Thorton and Darcy if you have good rep with him.
-->'''Mike:''' Hey, Darcy photoshopped our faces into a still-frame from a buddy-cop movie. That's... yeah.
** Also Mike and Heck.
* ICanRuleAlone: [[spoiler: When Leland hires you, he doesn't exactly check to make sure you'll be a loyal minion.]]
* IGaveMyWord: [[spoiler:Sparing Shaheed has its benefits. He is a man of his word as he says, and doesn't just vanish off to stroke his beard and be villainous. You have to actually agree to let him go, however, as he'll die in the attack if you arrest him.]]
** [[spoiler: The ending reveals that he's alive and well, and continuing to carry out his attacks.]]
* IMinoredInTropology: In the catacombs of Carsulae, Mina jokingly credits her knowledge of bathhouses to her major in [[strike: Architecture]] Ancient Roman Plumbing and a minor in [[strike: Ancient Roman Plumbing]] Architecture.
* InkSuitActor: Hong Shi looks pretty much like his voice actor, JamesHong.
* IntrepidReporter: Scarlet Lake, a photojournalist who is known for "covering developments in dangerous places". She's also a bit of a HotScoop.
* InsistentTerminology: Heck is your friend now, that means first name basis buddy pal! Just... don't call him Steve.
* IronicEcho [[spoiler: if you let your ally to take a shot at Scarlet, who has just before shot you to the back]]
-->[[spoiler: Scarlet: Now there's a picture]]
-->[[spoiler: (After Scarlet is shot just like Mike was not a minute earlier]]
-->[[spoiler: Mike: Now there's a picture.]]
* IronicEchoCut [[spoiler: if you figure out the source of the missiles and hide said knowledge]]
-->Leland: "I thought I'd underestimated you, but it looks like you're too stupid to figure it out."
-->(Cut to the original event)
-->Mike: "So they underestimated me and they thought I was too stupid to figure it out!"
* IShallTauntYou: Mike can do this to some enemies just to piss them off. For example, talking suave to Marburg is [[spoiler: the only way to get him to stick around in Rome to fight and die.]] If Mike chooses to [[spoiler: kill Sis]], he can call up Albatross to taunt him about this [[spoiler: to get him to assault Alpha Protocol just to kill Mike before he can slip out of his fingers.]]
* JustForPun: Mike makes one when talking to Steven, if you select the right option. "Shouldn't you have stabbed him to get the 'point'"
* KarmaHoudini: Depends on your actions. People who have done some bad things can get shot, or they can get away with it. [[spoiler: Marburg]] is certainly the go-to example here; it's ''much'' easier to miss the chance at killing this one then the others. The trick is to [[spoiler: push his dislike of you down as far as possible - mock and belittle him as much as possible until he finally attacks you, and ''then'' you can kill him. Or else let Madison die, then tell Parker about it and fight Marburg instead of Parker.]]
* KarmaMeter: There is none to speak of, though the game keeps track of every action you take and during at least one ending a character will recount every bad thing you've done. So if you want to play Michael as an extra-ManipulativeBastard who only seemed like he was doing good right up until he decides to work for the bad guys, you can go for it.
** True to form, Obsidian have planned for the latter approach and it'll be noted that "nobody could ever understand what's going through [Mike's] head".
* KillEmAll: Depending on how you play, the game can end with nearly the ''entire'' main cast dead. The only major character you ''can't'' kill off is [[spoiler: Steven Heck]], though you can't eliminate both [[spoiler: SIE and Albatross]] in the same game.
* KirkSummation: Michael Thorton delivers an epic one to Conrad Marburg if you choose to [[spoiler: let Madison die and give suave responses when talking to Marburg before and during the boss fight]]. If you have enought negative repuation, [[spoiler: Marburg [[IShallTauntYou will fight to death]].]]
* KillItWithFire: Steven Heck's preferred method of killification.
** Also a perk if you use enough fire grenades.
* KnifeNut: Brayko again.
--->'''Mike''':"[[IncrediblyLamePun Guy's pretty sharp with a knife.]]"
** Michael if you use lethal silent takedowns. Interestingly, Mike makes knife kills ''realistically;'' the way he jams the blade hard into the side of his target's neck is the 'proper' way to slit a throat, the "ear to ear" concept often seen in fiction is RuleOfCool and [[RealityIsUnrealistic doesn't do a good job opening up the jugular]].
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Thorton [[spoiler: abandoned by the agency and going rogue]] could have been quite a twist... it ''could'' have.
** Especially if it wasn't the kind of twist everybody uses these days.
* LaughablyEvil: Konstantin Brayko. He is a rather vicious mob boss, but the guy's bizarre 80s obsession and just how AxCrazy he is make him a real entertaining bundle of fun. If you simply read his dossier, you look forward to killing him, but if you take some time to talk to him before, that urge really goes away.
** Though he's technically an ally of the player and not quite evil, this is basically the main thing keeping Steven Heck sympathetic at all. Normally a character being disappointed at being told no killing is allowed on a mission would be rather vile if it wasn't someone as entertainingly completely crazy as Heck is.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: [[spoiler: The boss fight in Taipei.]]
** In the ending, it's possible for Mike to set this up between [[spoiler:Marburg and Parker in two ways: By completing Marburg's dossier and telling him that Parker was the handler responsible for making him go rogue or telling Parker that Marburg killed Madison, his daughter. Either way it ends with Parker dead while Mike gets to fight Marburg.]]
* LevelUpAtIntimacy5: Working on your relationships with your Handlers can increase the Handler Bonus you get from them.
** Inverted in that you get equally useful bonuses if your handler hates you.
* LikesOlderWomen: Michael if you romance SIE.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Not quite to {{Suikoden}} levels, but there's a lot of people to meet and/or hunt down.
* LostForever: It is incredibly easy to unintentionally skip over computer terminals, dossiers, equipment, or money unless you search ''every'' area very thoroughly. Doors will sometimes close and lock behind you once you pass into a new area, cutting you off from whatever was behind you, so its a good idea to take a minute to search every location for items. This can be ''very'' important at times. For example, if you don't fill out all of Brayko's dossier, you won't be able to [[spoiler: question him about his connections to Surkhov and thus expose him as Halbech's original contact and then break that line/recruit Surkov into your own network.]]
* {{Macguffin}}: The Halbech missiles.
* ManipulativeBastard: Michael, if you pick up on people's behavior (which isn't hard) and how they prefer to be treated - read the dossiers! - can be one of these. Nothing quite like playing someone up so that they really like you, and then smashing their face into a table.
** This is actually one of the reasons Westridge thinks Mike would be a good agent. Basically, Mike questions if his people skills are really that good. Westridge says no, it's not that he's charismatic, it's that Mike can read people very well and thus manipulate his/their responses as needed.
* MasterOfNone: Inexperienced players want to avoid this, especially if not playing with the bonus AP from the Veteran background. A generalist build is doable but [[SelfImposedChallenge very difficult]] if you don't know what you're doing.
* MemeticBadAss: There's one or two theories on the official forum that the ''true'' architect of AP's plot is none other than... [[spoiler: the Gelato Man.]]
* {{MIB}}: The CIA agents and Marburg's Deus Vult agents tend to rock this look, though the G22 agents tend to fill in the role as shadowy agents.
* MindScrew: [[spoiler: Start the game as a "Veteran" and when Mike first picks up his PDA, he'll briefly see, instead of Mina's face, the face of the grubby weird guy running the gelato shop/information server. He'll wonder if hallucinations are a side-effect of the drugs.]]
* TheMole: Many, many of the characters are keeping their real loyalties hidden:
** [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol, the whole organization, is basically working for Halbech. The one exception is Mina, who never actually left the NSA and has been spying on Alpha Protocol for them.]]
** [[spoiler: Scarlet was hired by Halbech to assassinate the President of Taiwan.]]
** [[spoiler: Omen Deng, high-ranking member of the Chinese Secret Police, is a FakeDefector and Taiwanese double agent.]]
** [[spoiler: Surkov in Moscow is the real Halbech contact, but he sics you on Brayko. Unless you've been playing smart, you'll never even find out and the final Moscow mission will be closed off.]]
* MultipleEndings: Four of them, with dozens of variations. They are as follows:
** "Crime Buster": [[spoiler:Mike exposes Halbech, causing it to go out of business, but is either unable or unwilling to expose Alpha Protocol, leaving the agency free to reform under another name.]]
** "No Compromise, No Mercy": [[spoiler:Mike exposes both Halbech and Alpha Protocol leading to the disolution of both organizations.]]
** "Rising Star": [[spoiler:Mike becomes Leland's [[TheDragon dragon]] and the two of them make it look as though Alpha Protocol was solely responsible for the conspiracy.]]
** "Thorton, inc.": [[spoiler:Same as above, except Mike betrays Leland and uses his allies to rule the world behind the scenes.]]
*** Most sub-variants of the four above depend on who is Mike's handler for the final mission and who rides off into the sunset with him. It could be [[spoiler: Mina, who will show up by default if you romanced her, or Scarlet if you romanced her but not Mina (and also depending, of course, on whether they lived or died). Steven Heck will pop up if he's been selected as your handler and the criteria for the other two haven't been met; he can save you from being sniped as well. Failing all that, Mike will ride the boat home alone, talking to himself.]]
* NewGamePlus: If you beat the game with the recruit background you can play through again with the Veteran background. This starts you off with three levels in every skill (with no effect on your future AP), and with better armour and weapons. Also a bit of a GameBreaker: after the initial mission, you have the option of customizing your character, and there's absolutely nothing preventing you from removing AP from the skills you won't use and bumping up the skills you do. You can max out three skills (to the level limits, anyway) before you leave Saudi Arabia.
** There's also a number of new dialogue options that show off just how much of a veteran Mike is. One of them has him rattle off about four different ways to identify who's using a specific computer terminal, ''based on a single log-in attempt''.
** Many of the "Veteran" stances indicate that this version of Thorton simply does not have time to deal with rookie crap; he demands a fast-forwarding of the orientation process and his very first line in the game upon waking up is "Where's my gear?" rather than a confused "I can't believe they drugged me!"
** Also when you are given a choice between saing someone or retriving data you can do both by using the veteran stance.
* NewMeat: You can also choose to have Mike start off with a Rookie background. Doing so means that you'll not have ''any'' AP when you start the game, but you can get special bonuses that are only available to Rookies if you play into your inexperience in the tutorial section. You'll still be underpowered compared to other backgrounds, but its the only way to unlock Veteran.
* NiceHat: Quite a few, including Hong Shi's fedora, SIE's beret and Omen Deng's CommissarCap. Mike can get a beret of his own, or an ushanka during the Russia hub.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: When Alpha Protocol [[spoiler:betrays]] Thorton, they forgot that Alpha Protocol is so secretive that not even Westridge knows where all their safe houses are. [[spoiler:Guess where Thorton hides from Alpha Protocol between missions.]] Additionally, Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: by it's very nature of encouraging agents to acquire their own information and supply networks made sure that Thorton could stay under the radar and still get supplies and information. In short, Alpha Protocol made sure that Thorton had the resources required to destroy Alpha Protocol]].
* {{Ninja}}: If you let Brayko live he later describes you as the offspring of "[[TactfulTranslation (expletive)]] Ronald Reagan and an (expletive) American Ninja."
** Darcy calls you one of these in an email if you go through an early mission without killing anyone or raising any alarms.
* NintendoHard: The game can be pretty brutal... but only if you specialize in one style of gameplay. Skill specialization won't hurt you, however being unable to be flexible and think on you feet will.
** A no-kill playthrough would be a challenge for [[MetalGearSolid Big Boss,]] though.
*** No alarms and no-kill, anyway. The pistol with the (expensive) sedative rounds and plenty of points in martial arts and toughness will get you no-kill. And some in stealth.
** Boss fights, doubly so if you're running a fragile build. Marburg will punch the hell out of you if you get close.
* NobleDemon: Shaheed comes off as this, more or less. Once he makes a promise, he keeps it, and he's quite smart and forthcoming. If he wasn't running a terrorist organization that blew up a passenger airplane in the beginning it'd be easy to like the guy. At the very least, it's easy to see why he inspires loyalty among his men.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Mike can deliver one of these to [[spoiler: Grigori]], complete with [[spoiler: repeatedly slamming his head against the bar and then beating him over the head with a bottle of vodka.]]
* NoodleIncident: No one really knows what Wen Shu did to earn Steven's animosity.
** Wen gets the blame when Heck can't find his keys. It's possible that Wen never did anything at all, and is merely the ChewToy.
-->'''Steven''': That's why I like ya Mike, you're a stand-up guy. Not like Wen. No sir. ''Not like Wen at all.''
* NoPartyGiven: U.S. Senator Patrick Darcy (Sean's father). What little of him is revealed in the news, introducing a new bill, won't help, as it's a fictional counterpart to a RealLife bipartisan bill ([=McCain-Feingold=]). Averted with President of Taiwan Ronald Sung, who is given explicit party affiliation.
* NotSoDifferent: Marburg is a bitter, betrayed Thorton 30 years later. Thorton points this out to Marburg's annoyance - or pleasure, if Thorton has gained his approval.
* OhCrap: You get one when Omen Deng reveals that [[spoiler: he's actually trying to ''prevent'' Sung's assassination, and he thought that ''you'' were the killer. Meanwhile, the ''real'' assassin...]]
* OmnicidalNeutral: A particularly hilarious - although not very subtle - gaming style consists in bulldozing your way through the game playing Mike as a perpetually angry {{Determinator}} who antagonizes everyone and [[VigilanteExecution keeps executing]] every single enemy who has the misfortune of being at his mercy, regardless of his/her faction.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dear God where do we start? 'SIE', 'Albatross', 'Sis'.
** Interestingly, if you hack the computer in the locker room at Alpha Protocol after the intro sequence, you can read an e-mail from Westridge to the other agents telling them of the new arrival. He says they are "to refer to the new arrival as Michael Thorton," implying that we don't even know the ''protagonist's'' real name.
* PacifistRun: You can do it if you want to. [[NintendoHard Good luck]].
** It's not as hard as you think, if you max out in pistol, always use tranq rounds, max out in stealth, and put points into melee combat.
*** The game even has a unique metric for tracking your kills: Orphans Created. Kill one guy, and you might create one, two, or three orphans per kill. It is ''entirely'' possible to get through the game without killing anyone, but it requires significant investment in tranq rounds (at about $5000 a pop), or a lot of luck/save scumming with random ammo pickups. Note that tranquilizing a boss will ''still'' result in them being covered in blood when you talk to them, though.
**** The game also tracks non-lethal takedowns - in hospital costs!
*** Or just use hand-to-hand as your only attack with toughness kept high (Stealth optional). This relies on the combat AI being such a horrible shot when you charge instead of using cover.
** You get perks for having a lot of non-lethal takedowns that make this easier to do as the game goes on. Among other things, you get major boosts to your endurance and your sneaking skills.
** There are a few non-optional kills, two manned vehicles and one person on foot (the first two at least are not counted in your kill stats). That's not counting ones your character kills in cutscenes no matter how you dealt with them.
* [[TimeForPlanB Plan B:]] KillItWithFire. See above.
* PlayingHardToGet: In a rare male-to-female inversion, the less interested Thorton is in SIE, the more interested she is in him.
* ThePresentDay: The game is set in 2009. Recent trailers say 2010; this may because the release date was pushed back.
* ProperlyParanoid: Well, the whole cast really since this is the Spy world, but [[spoiler: subverted...in all places...by Steven Hack. He not only knows about Halbech, Alpha Protocol, G22, and every other organization's dirty secrets but ALSO knew that Scarlet was the sniper in Taiwan...which he takes all in total stride and chooses to focus on making probably the longest run on conspiracy theory sentence you'll ever read.]]
* PsychoForHire: Heck, SIE, the rest of the VCI.
* PunctuatedPounding: Mike [[spoiler: does this to Leland after the final boss battle.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mike can deliver one of them to several main characters. It is especially violent against [[spoiler: Marburg and Mina]]
* [[RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth Regenerating Endurance Static Health]]
* RelationshipValues
* TheRemnant: Though not outright stated, it is strongly hinted that [=G22=] is actually the remnant of [[spoiler: a previous iteration of Alpha Protocol known as [=G19=].]]
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: It's a complicated spy drama, this sort of thing should be expected. For example, Alpha Protocol (the organization) is so heavily compartmentalized that no one person who works for it knows everything there is to know about the organization, and this means you could technically be on the run from them and ''still'' be able to use some of their hidden safehouses.
** This is almost certainly the case with G22. In a few files or conversations, you may learn that one of Alpha Protocol's prior incarnations was called "G19" and since Alpha Protocol's hierarchy encourages compartmentalization and splinter groups, they are almost certainly one such off-shoot. Since you can potentially turn one against the other, it definitely becomes a case of RightHandVersusLeftHand.
** This trope is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] directly when Mike introduces himself to Surkov. Mike says that "The right hand and the left hand aren't on speaking terms these days."
* TheRival: Darcy, depending on how you treat him. Otherwise, Mike and Darcy become something akin to BashBrothers. [[spoiler: Which makes the betrayal and subsequent boss fight with him even worse.]]
** One of your perks is this, which talks about [[spoiler:: Marburg.]]
* RomanceSidequest
* RuleOfCool: Random ZIP lines anyone?
** Some of them [[{{Handwave}} look like powerlines]]
** For every unlocked door, you have the option of either opening it normally, or breaking it down, solely because of this trope.
*** Bashing open doors doesn't slow you down when you go through them; helpful if you're running away from gunfire.
*** Plus, if an enemy's on the other side when you bash down a door, it knocks them down and lets you stomp them for an instant nonlethal takedown. Not subtle, but it's hilarious.
* SadisticChoice: All The Damn Time. [[spoiler:Save the girl or save a hundred from a museum bombing? Save the president or save hundreds from a riot?]]
** And you can't even TakeAThirdOption. Except [[spoiler: in the final mission, when given the choice between rescuing another character and saving the data... you can actually manage to do both - go for the girl first.]].
** You can also TakeAThirdOption in [[spoiler:Brayko's mansion... but only if you're a Veteran, or have at least 8 points in Technical Aptitude or Stealth]].
** Made worse in [[spoiler: Rome]] by the fact that you don't know if [[spoiler: Marburg]] is pulling a [[TheDarkKnight Joker]] and lying about the respective locations of the things you can choose between.
* SayMyName: The official Music Video.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: These are an optional look for Michael.
* SchrodingersGun: No matter what your character's background is that makes him perfect for joining Alpha Protocol. [[spoiler:But since you're just the fall guy...]]
** Also used so that your choices always lead to the same results. For example, no matter what you choose in the SadisticChoice in Rome, Marburg will say he expected you to choose the other path.
** Used in the Rising Star/Thorton Inc. ending. [[spoiler: If you choose the Rising Star ending, Thorton handed Leland the information on a data disc. In Thorton Inc., however, Thorton reveals that he actually gave Leland one of his remote mines instead.]]
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules:
---> '''Nasri:''' ''"Did you not hear me? I pay you! I pay--"''
---> '''Mike:''' ''"Westridge; One for extraction."''
** Ironically, you actually get ''more'' money by turning Nasri in than by accepting his bribe.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Depending on your actions you can make [[spoiler:Marburg and Scarlett abandon Halbech. Scarlet makes her resignation [[EyeScream memorable]]]]
* [[SecretCharacter Secret]] MissionControl: In the final mission, if you've done your homework and have a high enough reputation with a certain character, [[spoiler:you can have Scarlet replace your handler partway through. This is the only time you can get her handler bonus.]]
* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: [[spoiler: The ice cream man. You can shoot him when he reaches for a ice cream cone]]
** Of course, later, if you screw up, [[spoiler: he pulls out what looks like a FAL, and you ''have'' to shoot him.]]
** Happens again in Moscow with [[spoiler: Sis and her locket after you beat her.]]
* ShootTheDog: You can choose to do it over and over again.
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].
* [[KickTheSonOfABitch Shoot The Son Of A Bitch]]: A lot of the people you can shoot have it coming.
* ShoutOut: Mike Thorton's [[http://twitter.com/mikethorton twitter feed,]] in addition to providing amusing tongue-in-cheek commentary on training at Alpha Protocol, as well as clues about gameplay features, often references other franchises. Some tweets from October and November of 2009 mention that he's heard Russian terrorists [[ModernWarfare killed civilians in an airport,]] later noting that one of his superiors described it as [[LampshadeHanging "media bullshit."]]
** In-game shout-outs include [[http://www.timecube.com Time-Cube]] of all things.
** Name of the yacht that you need to infiltrate in Moscow hub is a hilarious shout out to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Captain_Vrungel Adventures of Captain Vrungel]]
** Many of other agencies mentioned in the game are, of course, shout outs to both real life and fictitious spy organizations.
** One of the terrorist organizations operating in Saudi Arabia is the [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreed Al-Tair]] organization.
** One of the buffs is named "[[StarWars These Are Not The Agents You're Looking For]]".
** A very subtle one when Westridge is briefing you when you first arrive at the safehouse in the Middle East. Apparently the computer has an internet connection [[Film/BackToTheFuture "that's so fast you'll feel like you're going back in time."]]
** The loading screen mentions both {{John Keats}} and DanSimmons.
** "Uh, I think they just armed the bombs." "[[VideoGame/DeusEx Bombs]]."
** Having Heck as your handler for the final mission will have him sometimes say [[LostInSpace "Danger, Mike Thorton, Danger!"]] in a robotic tone of voice.
** According to Westridge's dossier, he was involved in an affair with a woman codenamed [[{{Firefly}} "Saffron."]]
** The emails you get from tapping the NSA and CIA lookout posts in Rome have names appended to them that are references to spy characters from TomClancy [[Literature/JackRyan books]]: Chet (Nomuri), (John) Clark, and Ding (Chavez).
* ShownTheirWork: Quite a bit of Stephen Heck's rambling is based on either actual events ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty Acoustic Kitty]] really happened) or conspiracy theories floating around in Real Life (like the one about the Federal Reserve).
* ShutUpHannibal: You can do it several times. [[spoiler: Punching SmugSnake Leland and banging his head against the table is especially awesome - see above]].
** Especially since the above was your [[spoiler: last chance to avoid imprisonment or death. Or so Leland thinks.]]
*** [[spoiler:Oh how ''wrong'' he was...]]
** "Dear Steven, please shut the fuck up."
* SociopathicHero: Mike can be played as one.
* SociopathicSoldier: The VCI is a faction of these.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Thorton was often confused with Thornton in previews. There is even a LampshadeHanging on this in the game.
** Ditto for his first name. Michael is correct over Micheal. To save confusion just call him Mike.
*** ''"Darcy sent me this for acing the tech course. He misspelt my name - 'Thornton'..."''
* SpiritualSuccessor: to VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines and VideoGame/DeusEx.
* StandardFPSGuns: Ready and accounted for!
** The pistol is your standard pistol, though the only weapon that mount a silencer and use tranquilizer darts, making it ideal for stealth playthroughs. It also has the [[BulletTime Chain Shot]] ability.
** The shotgun manages to avert ShortRangeShotgun, especially if you both upgrade your skill with shotguns and equip weapon mods that reduce scatter. It can also [[BlownAcrossTheRoom blow people off their feet]] if you aim it long enough to get a critical hit.
** Submachineguns fill in the [[MoreDakka bullet hose]] role, wielded [[GunsAkimbo in pairs]] and having the advantage of BottomlessMagazines when their special ability is activated.
** Assault rifles serve as an excellent all-around weapon but specialize in being the marksman rifle, having very high accuracy and doing excellent damage on critical hits
** You can't carry a SniperRifle on most missions, but a sniper rifle can be purchased and left in certain areas as a dead drop. A couple of missions start out with Mike packing a sniper rifle, including a dedicated SnipingMission.
** Rocket launchers are available for a couple of specific boss battles (Shaheed's Stryker and the helicopter in the final mission)
** Gun turrets can be manned on certain missions, generally after killing their operators and taking over. Other automated turrets can be hacked. A tech specialist Mike can even hack turrets that are normally unhackable using Remote Hack.
* StealthRun: Possible for many missions in the game, but you need to be ''very'' patient. Stealth abilities are a means to an end - the end of running up to your opponents silently and choking them unconscious/cutting their throats. There are, however, certain missions which will mention whether or not you managed to completely evade detection and ghost the level. It is far easier to use exceptional stealth abilities to sneak around and knock out every guard without being detected, but ''entirely'' evading detection is difficult, if not impossible, on some levels.
* TheStoner: Heck and Brayko.
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: [[AvertedTrope Averted and lampshaded]]. Westridge points out that the clock is still running during a conversation, which means both your ability timers and your endurance will restore if there's a conversation in the middle of a battle or a level.
** Unfortunately, conversations rarely crop up in the middle of combat, and you can't actually initiate them yourself either, so the opportunities to make use of this tactic are few at best.
* TakeAThirdOption: In a rare few cases, a properly specc'd Mike can actually get out of TheSadisticChoice.
** Relatively easy and fun one in Taipei: [[spoiler: bug ''all'' the servers during the mission to bug G22 servers, and you can bluff your way out of deactivating all of them, thereby getting Albatross to trust you more ''and'' getting data off the G22 database.]]
* TapOnTheHead: Averted, and played with. Mike's non-lethal takedowns are usually quite a bit more than this. Some (like the karate chop to the throat) could even be considered a bit too much. Michael himself hangs a lampshade on this trope when [[spoiler: you make Madison scared and angry enough to make her attack you.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Mike:''' ''"What are you doing? Hitting someone on the head to knock them out only works in movies."'']]
* TechnicalPacifist: Thorton seems to enjoy making his non-lethal takedowns be ''extremely'' painful.
** Lampshaded by the description on the "Merciful" perk.
* TheWarOnTerror: The reason why Thorton was sent to the Middle East in the first place.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Depending on your choices, the final boss is either [[spoiler:Yancy Westbridge or Henry Leland]]. The former fights you with a series of [[GatlingGood miniguns]], while the latter decides to use a ''rocket launcher''.
** Ironically, the rocket launcher is probably the easier of the two to deal with. Its slow, and you're generally given enough time to dodge its shots.
* ThreeWaySex: "Mike, I have important news. I totally did it. Two chicks. At once. Hells yeah."
** One of Mike's possible responses is asking if [[HowIMetYourMother they weighed less than 600 pounds combined.]]
* TooKinkyToTorture: SIE, who actually INCREASES her opinion of you if you attack and try to kill her. And afterwards sends you a very friendly and complimentary email about her scars from the battle and how much they hurt and how much she loves you for it.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil:[[spoiler: Michael gets betrayed and has to go rogue.]]
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Appear in Taipei.
* TranquilFury: No matter how much Mina hates your guts, she won't show her anger or disgust til the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* TranslationConvention: None of the non-American characters and enemies speak their own languages. In pretty much any background you pick, however, Mike speaks several languages, so he could just be translating on the fly.
* TrickBullet: Each primary weapon has two special ammunition types with unusual effects. For example, assault rifles have armor-piercing ammunition and subsonic ammo for silenced shooting, pistols have tranquilizer darts, and shotguns have incendiary shells.
* VerbalTic: SIE, [[FunetikAksent dahling]].
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZf6ISKtgbI&feature=digest Sound generator + train = squish]]
** It gets worse: if someone dies from getting run over by the train and his allies are nearby, they'll come to check it out. And there's another train coming...
* WalkItOff: In addition to his normal health bar, Mike also has "endurance" -- some combination of bulletproof armor and an iron will -- that'll let him endure an infinite amount of bullets and blunt trauma... as long as he can he can take periodic 15-second breaks to let his endurance recharge. Health, on the other hand, does not recharge on its own, so you'll need to find lots and lots of convenient first aid boxes.
* WarForFunAndProfit: What Halbech is trying to achieve.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler: Leland uses this tactic on Mike. Mike can actually accept.]]
** But why would we rule together, when ICanRuleAlone ?
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The entire plot was rewritten when [[VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines Brian Mitsoda]] left Obsidian and [[PlanescapeTorment Chris]] [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Avellone]] took over the project. Not much is known about the original version, but judging by {{Syriana}} having been mentioned in early interviews as a major influence, it would've been quite a bit more serious.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Two in the final mission: First, [[spoiler:if you're against Leland and you've been a good soldier, Westbridge will simply not appear in the final assault on Alpha Protocol.]] Second, [[spoiler:if you rescue Scarlet and have a high enough reputation to ask her to be your handler, your previous handler will disappear (though Heck will show up again near the end if you have a low reputation with Scarlet but ask her to help anyways.)]]
* WhatTheHellHero[=/=]WhatTheHellPlayer: Kill people or do overt actions, and you ''will'' get yelled at by various people for it, most commonly Mina if you're killing civilians or American agents, Albatross if you're being way too loud and obvious, or Madison if you're being a jerk to her. On the other hand, SIE or Steven will gleefully praise you for going on murder sprees.
* WhereItAllBegan: [[MeaningfulName Operation Full Circle]].
* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the Hell Is Alpha Protocol]]: Deliberately invoked. No key personnel working for Alpha Protocol know where the "Graybox" base is, no matter how trusted they are. If you want to go the base or leave it, you get sedated for two full days while your body is transported. It's inefficient, but it makes the organization practically mole-proof. Presumably the ones doing the transporting aren't being told the truth about who they're picking up or dropping off, and presumably the very top guys at Alpha Protocol know where the base is, but that's about it.
* WithThisHerring: Justified. Since Alpha Protocol doesn't officially exist, they can't give Mike supplies without risking someone tracing the supplies back to them and thus finding out that they exist. [[spoiler:It also helps that Mike was supposed to be killed at the conclusion of Operation Desert Spear, so giving him supplies would just be a waste of money.]]
* WordSaladTitle: All of Steven Heck's names he give to operations in Taipei. Operation Turbo Panther. Operation Latex Turtle. Operation Angry Bees. Operation YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The news report about the Brayko fight[[spoiler: if he lives]]? One of the funniest lines in the game, delivered deadpan.
* XanatosGambit: By Halbech, for the most part. At the endgame, Leland notes that [[spoiler: no matter what Mike did in Rome or Taipei, the operations ended up as successes for Halbech. Even cutting off their supply in Moscow didn't do much more than slow them down.]]
* YouBastard: This game keeps track of how many orphans you create due to the kills you rack up. It gets really sad when you realize that by kill only 15 people you managed to make 80 orphans.
** And in a case of TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything, who you kill actually influences how many orphans are left. For example, killing Al-Samad terrorists generates a lot of orphans, because Saudis have large numbers of children. Killing VCI, G22, or [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol]] soldiers nets you very few orphans, because those sorts don't generally have families or children. Killing [[spoiler: Chinese Secret Police]] troops nets one orphan per kill, because [[spoiler: Chinese are legally restricted to only having one child per couple.]]
** The game also keeps track of the medical bills for the mooks you take down non-lethally. You can inflict potentially ''millions'' of dollars in broken bones and battered bodies.
----
->''"The only thing I can say for sure, Mike; this business will change you."''
-->-- '''Yancy Westridge''' to Mike Thorton
The year is 2010. Worldwide political tensions are at a breaking point when a commercial airliner is shot down by a U.S. missile over the Middle East, killing all aboard. The U.S. government claims no involvement, and dispatches Agent Michael Thorton to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.
As the first modern-day spy role-playing game ''Alpha Protocol'' offers unprecedented control over the development of Thorton's abilities and his interactions with other characters. [[RPGElements Upgrade skills]] such as physical combat, weapons mastery, and cutting-edge technology as you grow in experience and complete missions. Also noteworthy for having an immensely branching storyline; pretty much every single choice and many of your conversation options can result in completely different events or endings.
The dominant themes of the game are issues of both deception and betrayal. Treachery is common, as expected in a spy and espionage thriller, and there are lies upon lies and wheels within wheels. [[GambitPileup Everyone has secrets]] and everyone's agenda is suspect. Finding who to trust and who is manipulating the player is a major part of the game's storyline.
The game received mixed reviews -- while its innovative story and dialogue systems were widely praised, some found fault with its gameplay, graphics, and/or lack of polish. Sales were soft enough that Sega has no plans to release a sequel. [[HopeSpot However, Obsidian]] [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110277-Obsidian-Would-Like-to-Make-Another-Alpha-Protocol-Game have expressed tentative interest in making a sequel]] or SpiritualSuccessor so who knows? Received a jolt of new life in the fall of 2011 after a [[ValveSoftware Steam]] sale sold the $20 game at a mere $2.
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!!Examples
* AbortedArc: [[spoiler: Sis' locket]] never comes up again after Mike shows it to Albatross.
** In general, G22's objectives are never explained. It's implied that they're [[spoiler: a previous iteration of Alpha Protocol]], but that doesn't explain what they're doing now, nor ''why'' they're doing it, beyond a general "fighting against Halbech" objective.
*** The meeting with Albatross in Moscow hints that they're interested in preserving the status quo, or at very least have a vested interest in preventing [[spoiler:Halbech's "mistake" turning into WorldWarIII]].
* AFatherToHisMen: [[NobleDemon Marburg]], to the point that he flies into an incoherent rage and attacks you if you kill his men.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: A ''gameplay'' version of this-- there are no "right" or "wrong" choices to make, so to speak. Play non-lethally, act politely, act like a jerk, get caught a lot, be stealthy, bang every woman you can or abstain-- nearly every action you take has some minor or major gameplay perk that pops up during the course of your game.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Okay, so technically a pistol shouldn't be able to do ''any'' damage against [[TankGoodness a Stryker assault vehicle]], but there are a finite number of missile launchers on the map during its boss fight, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures so...]]
** That's what the respawning explosive grenades are there for.
* ActionGirl: SIE, Mina Tang, Sis [[spoiler:and Scarlet.]]
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Implied in the last mission's debreifing. If your handler is [[spoiler: SIE and you have sex with her Micheal will comment that he hopes the camera wasn't recording. In the debrefing it says that Micheal has a video that he removed and encrypted and has seen 143 times. it is a highly valuable piece of information wanted by all government agencies.]]
* AffablyEvil: Conrad Marburg up to his [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon actions in Rome.]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch Then you just want to make him drink Dry Cleaner Fluid.]]]]
** Subverted with Omen Deng, in the sense that [[spoiler: he's not ''actually'' evil - he's a good guy.]]
** Ali Shahed as well. He's so affable you almost forget that he blew up a passenger plane full of innocents.
** Sergei Surkov is a remarkably nice guy for an ex-KGB agent who [[spoiler: lies to Mike's face and sends him after Brayko just to take out his competition.]]
** For all his politeness and friendly demeanor, Hong Shi did [[spoiler: deal with Al-Samaad, executed his second-in-command for questioning his orders about the aforementioned deal, and had an NSB agent tortured to death for approaching the Triads for security during an exchange.]]
* AKA47: Played straight. For instance, a gun that clearly looks like a Glock is a 5.7mm pistol manufactured by "Rittergruppen". What looks like a FN Five-Seven is a 9mm pistol instead, manufactured by "Samael". And those two are only the beginning.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Invoked and brutally deconstructed by [[spoiler:Marburg.]]
** The player himself can leave [[spoiler:Mina]] to die if he so chooses. Goes even further with [[spoiler:SIE]] who you can even execute yourself.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Conrad Marburg. During the mission where you have to check out his villa, Thorton sees a pair of golden statues of naked (male) Greco-Roman athletes. Thorton is slightly disturbed by the implication. If you bring Madison as your handler, she remarks that she's "never seen Marburg entertain any female guests."
** The statues are fairly common in Art Deco neo-classicism, but compounded with that...
* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler:Mike can do this to Leland in the ending. What he says depends on what grudges he's holding. He could say Madison, Mina, his life, and anyone or anything else bad that's happened.]]
* AndYourRewardIsInteriorDecorating: Mike's trophies of his various adventures (many of which are specific to his choices) pop up in his room after missions.
* AntiHero: Michael Thorton can be played as this, as the game offers a lot of choice in character development. [[spoiler:Thorton can even make a Face Heel Turn, complete with Evil Smoking! See WeCanRuleTogether.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: Though very very few deaths are plot-mandatory, play your cards right (or wrong, depending on your point of view), and the only people from the character page left alive at the end will be [[spoiler:Mike, Steven, and SIE or Albatross/Sis.]]
* ArabOilSheikh: Ali Shaheed.
* ArmsDealer: Omar Nasri, responsible for selling stockpiles of Russian weapons to anyone who is willing to pay. The game has several other arms dealers as well, although they're mostly contacted anonymous through an Internet-based sales hub.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "Execution, imprisonment, possibly another lecture from Westridge ..."
* AxCrazy: Konstantin Brayko: crazy, [[KnifeNut loves his knife]], obsessed with '80 american pop-culture, etc.
** Steven Heck is pretty loopy too. Fortunately, he's somewhat controllable.
*** At one point in Taipei Mike says "If I do this we'll have to shoot our way out." At which point the only response is a little burst of crazy laughter from him.
**** If one tells him not to kill anybody, he looks like he's about to cry for a few seconds.
** EVERYONE in the active part of VCI.
*** One of the requirements for joining VCI is "dishonorable discharge from army"
* BadAss: Thorton. So you say you've just started working with and been separated from your agency on a dangerous mission in some Third World country? Well, it seems you'll have to work on your own, and bring all those terrorists down.
** BadassAdorable: Sis, a small, slender, cute, purple-haired, mute young girl who apparently went to the [[{{Firefly}} River Tam School Of]] WaifFu.
** BadAssGrandpa: Conrad Marburg was a black ops field agent for 20 years. Now he's chief of operations of a mercenary gang composed of veteran soldiers. To keep himself in shape, he runs ten miles a day. He can punch the crap out of you like nobody else in the game.
** BadAssLongcoat: [[MeaningfulName Omen]] Deng. Secret Police hardcase extraordinaire, and extremely dapper. He's even smart enough to [[TheCoatsAreOff delicately remove his coat before getting down to some serious violence]].
** CoolShades: Thorton if you so choose. SIE too who might also fall under TestosteronePoisoning.
* BadBoss: [[CrazyAwesome Heck]] may be one for [[TheWoobie poor]] [[ButtMonkey Wen]].
* BattleThemeMusic: Brayko's favourite 80's anthem. '''Prepare to hear it many times.'''
* BeeBeeGun: Steven Heck suggests this as an interrogation technique.
** The God Damn Bees.
* BerserkButton: ''Do not'', under ''any'' circumstances, call Steven Heck "Steve"
** Watch out if he can't find his keys.
*** And he ''hates'' sweets.
** The fastest way to lower Mina Tang's opinion of you is to injure civilians. Or US citizens [[spoiler:even if they are marines or CIA who are trying to KEEL you]].
** Killing Marburg's men. He will literally charge and beat the crap out of you. "My men...YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
* {{BFG}}: SIE's personal weapon is a light machine gun, and she has no qualms about shooting it. A lot. Mike, on the other hand, doesn't get anything bigger than an assault rifle, though he can commandeer turret-mounted [=MGs=], rocket launchers, and sniper rifles.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Leland and Halbech.]]At the start of the endgame, [[{{WeCanRuleTogether}} he offers Mike a job]]. Unusually for a videogame, you can accept the offer, and he actually helps you out instead of pulling an obligatory new-betrayal.
* BilingualBonus: The yacht in one of Moscow's missions is named "Pobeda" (victory in Russian) with first two letters dropped out, leaving "Beda" (trouble or disaster in Russian). This is reference to the ship from cult Russian cartoon "Captain Vrungel's adventures".
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Halbech are bad guys. Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: are also bad guys]]. None of your allies are saints either, and the only one who isn't using you and doesn't betray you if you play him right is [[spoiler: a BloodKnight HeroicComedicSociopath who's just in it to blow stuff up.]]
* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The first and final missions both begin with Michael escaping from Alpha Protocol's medical room.]] Also, [[spoiler:The boat that Mike leaves Alpha Protocol on in some endings is marked with a large Greek alphabet letter Omega. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, while Omega is the last.]]
* BottomlessMagazines: Under normal circumstances, you don't want to waste too many bullets, but the special attack power for the submachineguns is "Bullet Storm," which gives you infinite ammo for a short period of time. (And then you have to reload as normal afterwards.)
* BossBanter: Pretty much all the bosses indulge in this to some extent.
* BrandX: ''Trundling Rock'' magazine on the table near the door in Michael's Rome safehouse.
* BulletTime: Played with; the Chain Shot slows down time so you can ''plan'' several shots, and Mike executes them, in order, and ''very'' quickly, when time goes back to normal.
** With flawless accuracy, too. Which has its perks in certain boss fights, since headshots do lots of damage, and drilling six pistol rounds into someone's head is a very effective way to kill them. All the other weapon skills (Focused Aim, Bullet Storm, and Room Sweep) slow down time very slightly.
** The martial art skill "Fury" is a straight-up Neo-wannabe skill : every enemy is slowed down, you move at regular speed, and you get bonuses to melee ass kicking. In fact, even without it the melee charged attack is in slo-mo, the better for you to enjoy that nice roundhouse to the teeth.
* ButtMonkey: Poor Wen. First he gets tortured by Steven Heck who was doing it to get Wen to tell him where his keys were. Then, if you have a positive reputation with Heck after the final mission in Taipei, he [[spoiler: gets framed for the (attempted) assassination of the President Ronald Sung and is, according to the news reporter during the end-credits, executed.]]
** Nasri counts as well, though to a lesser degree. If you decide to arrest him - rather than kill or extort - he becomes subject to an increasingly twisted and painful set of interogation techniques over the course of the game.
* {{Camp}}: Brayko is like a camp take on [[{{Scarface}} Tony Montana]]
* CantStopTheSignal: Several of the endings in the game involve you leaking details of Halbech and [[spoiler:Alpha Protocol]]'s involvement in various terrorist acts to the press. You can also do this on a smaller scale over the course of the game. [[spoiler: Except that the reporter you're selling the secrets to is on Halbech's payroll.]]
* CatchPhrase: According to his dossier, Marburg's CatchPhrase is "Deus Vult", though he only utters it only once. But you have to admit, it is the line you are most likely to remember.
** While Hong Shi hasn't got enough screentime to really call it a catch phrase, he does like saying "a man in my/his position".
** ''"Dahling!"''
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Michael can do some really impressive things through experience.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Mentioned several times is what happens should Alpha Protocol become public knowledge. Guess how Thorton leaves Leland and Westridge holding the bag for the stolen missile fiasco?]]
* ChessMaster: [[spoiler:Leland, Parker, Michael can be one, depending on your play style and choices in the game]]
* ChewBubblegum: One of Brayko's taunts during his bossfight.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Like you wouldn't believe.
* ClusterFBomb: Brayko
* CombatPragmatist: Michael. In addition to his more exotic hand-to-hand training, he also has the option of incapacitating a downed enemy with a particularly vicious stomp.
** If you level up his martial arts skills, you also have the option to take out your pistol (or [=SMGs=], or Assault Rifle, or Shotgun...) and shoot your opponent point blank, right after you've punched them in the face. Or, even better, you can shoot opponents while they are down. Both are great ways to tell a person to fuck himself. [[KickTheSonOfABitch And you're thinking about Marburg now, right?]]
*** It's an excellent boss-fighting technique too. Marburg, for example, is stunned by the point-blank shot longer than it takes to execute. Meaning you can kill the son of a bitch without even giving him a chance to breathe.
** Reading their dossiers reveals that pretty much anyone who is anyone in the game follows this. Both Marburg, Sis and Heck have specific paragraphs outlining they're not above fighting dirty.
* ConfusionFu: According to Steven Heck himself, his fighting style is based heavily on this. Well, that, and {{Improvised Weapon}}ry, including decapitation via soccer balls traveling at 400 miles per hour, impaling a target with a ten-speed mountain bike, and assassinating a Vatican official by strangling him with communion wafers. He also excels in a psychosis-based resistance to pain and bullet wounds.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Steven Heck. Acoustic Kitty is actually TruthInTelevision.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Madison St. James is a just a nice person completely removed from the various conspiracies who, by virtue of her ''boss'' being involved in said conspiracies, learns of said boss' plans to murder someone. She becomes involved simply because she decides to do what she sees as the right thing and warn him. [[spoiler: She's also Alan Parker's daughter, and this has absolutely nothing to do with how she falls into trouble, but can be a key plot point if Mike figures it out. Dialog suggests that Parker has been estranged from her for so long that he himself didn't recognize her until he's told.]] Hilariously {{Lampshaded}} if [[spoiler: Mike uses this information, prompting Parker to shoot Marburg for either putting his daughter in danger or outright killing her:]]
-->'''Marburg:''' Of all the...[[spoiler:Madison St. James was his ''daughter?'']] What ''next?''
* CoolOldGuy: Albatross and his disturbingly cyborgish G22 soldiers.
** Marburg, Parker, and Yancy haven't let their age slow them down either.
* CosmeticAward: Beyond just the X-Box Achievements, your personal room will have trophies in it from Mike's adventures, based off of his choices in the past and who likes or dislikes him. For example, one of your earliest objectives, an arms dealer, gets you his beret if you arrested him rather than letting him go. Mike usually has something snarky to say about his collection pieces when you examine them.
* CovertPervert: You can romance a lot of the female characters in the game. There's even an achievement for romancing all of them within the span of one game. With a variety of different personalities and GuideDangIt, you may see some romances well in advance, others, not so much.
** Also, for the record, no, you cannot romance Sis. Saved you some time, there.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Certain bosses and other "major" enemies - the ones that run ''inhumanly fast'' like Brayko.
** With Brayko this may be justified. [[FightClub "I haven't had coke this good since gradeschool."]]
*** What ''isn't'' justified is that while coked up, he will ignore ''all'' of your actions. Shot him with a critical shotgun blast, which normally knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a running strike, which ''always'' knocks people down? Not Brayko. Hit him with a overclocked mark 3 shock trap, which can incapacitate everything else in the game for at least three seconds? [[OverlyLongGag Not Brayko]].
** Omen Deng can turn invisible and run away at high speed during your encounter with him. Technically, ''you'' can turn invisible too, but it never works on enemies who are alerted to your presence, so he's at least bending the rules if not ''cheating''.
*** Deng cheats in ''numerous'' ways: he can turn invisible at will, which then ''immediately'' triggers his endurance regeneration (almost everyone else has to at ''least'' have to wait five seconds, and Mike maxes out at 7 seconds wait). In addition, he frequently engages you in melee combat, and you can have an ability that reduces your opponent's chance of blocking by 75%. That doesn't matter, though: if he decides he doesn't want to get hit by your punches and kicks, ''you will not hit him''.
**** He can't [[{{Gamebreaker}} dodge incendiary grenades]] though. Focused Aim also allows you to track him while he's invisible.
** Even some of the standard enemies will go straight for you, even if you're cloaked, in cover, and have not been spotted in that level at all yet.
** In short, the bosses in the game are, almost without exception, brutally unfair.
*** Though they can be overpowered quite easily if you, too, know how to be a cheating bastard. The Stealth invisibility power, Shadow Operative, nerfs Brayko by cutting him immediately back to gunplay after he loses track of you. He never cokes up again until he reaches 20% health, and then you can just do it over. As for Deng, while he can block any attack, the Melee skill Point Blank Shot is unblockable, turning a very frustrating fistfight into an amusing anticlimax. In fact, Point Blank Shot pretty much destroys anyone, enemy or boss, at close range.
*** The Chain Shot pistol skill, a sequence of n perfectly-aimed bullets really tears through most bosses, if you've raised n high enough.
*** Another way is to max out Martial Arts and Toughness and to wear the heaviest armor you can find.
*** At least for Omen Deng, an alternative option is to, ironically, tuck yourself into a dead end hall next to one of two ammo caches and simply shoot down the hall whenever he shows up. The time and distance it takes for him to reach you is long enough for you to cause enough damage for him to decide to run away and try again.
* ConspiracyThriller
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Leland. He could really only be more obvious by having a big label with 'SLEAZEBAG' on his suit.
** He technically does. That Godawful tie makes it so he should be shot just for wearing it.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Pumping too many points into one stat while neglecting all others is a good way make the game unplayable in short order for an inexperienced player, or on the Hard difficulty, or both. Having a few playthroughs under one's belt and thus a better understanding of how the game flows as well as the Veteran background make overspecializing a more viable playstyle.
* CrossHairAware: Every potential [[BossFight boss NPC]] has a visible laser sight on their guns. There's one even on SIE's machine gun.
* CutsceneIncompetence: Mike really enjoys dropping the whole "stealth" thing and loudly announcing his presence while out of cover in cutscenes.
* CuteMute: [[spoiler: Sis.]]
* DamageSpongeBoss: Several, most notably Omen Deng and Brayko. It doesn't match well with the style of this game to have to fight enemies that just run up to you, ignoring the 2 assault rifle clips to the face you just gave them, and just beat the everliving crap out of you.
* DamselInDistress: Madison Saint James.
** [[spoiler: Scarlet and Mina too in the endgame.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Some of Michael's non-controllable dialogue hints to this being his default personality.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Pretty much any named character that is introduced as an antagonist can become an ally if you spare his life. There's even an achievement for getting all your enemies to be your friends within one game.
* DefectorFromDecadence: It's never outright stated, but it's heavily implied that [[spoiler: G22 is an off-shoot of one of the previous iterations of Alpha Protocol. According to a secret fact given by Albatross if you refuse to ally with him in Moscow, it mentions that one iteration was called G19, and Albatross knows of Alpha Protocol's inner workings.]] It helps that [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol follows an apparently well-established policy of "Yellow Brick Roading," whereby each agent sets up their own funds, supplies, contacts, and safehouses,]] meaning that [[spoiler: any agent could theoretically shoot off and do their own thing if the organization goes under.]]
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: And we mean ''everything''. Characters will actually comment on your clothing style, armor, and weapons choices, and cutscenes will be completely different depending on sometimes minor choices or even what skills you have points in. For example, [[spoiler: after recovering the assassination plans in Taipei, if Mike has a high technical aptitude, he'll be decrypting the files. Otherwise, Mina will do it.]]
** In some cases, the commentary will come several missions later, i.e. if you're wearing heavy armor while [[spoiler: rescuing Surkov from the US Embassy]], he'll comment on the armor when you meet him. If you're wearing civilian attire, on the other hand, he'll comment on it later in his office.
----> ''Surkov:'' "You have a lot of pockets! Have you come to check my internet connection?"
----> ''Thorton:'' [[DeadpanSnarker "Only if you let me plant a bug on it."]]
*** Omen Deng will comment on your choice of armor in the subway station. For [[HighlyVisibleNinja stealth armors]], he compliments you on wearing camouflage, but says civilian clothing would have been smarter. For heavy armors, he says "You look like you're prepared for war." And for [[TheEngineer utility armor]], he tells you "You look like you're prepared for anything." He compliments you on blending into the crowd if you choose civilian clothing, even though you're [[HighlyVisibleNinja openly carrying two guns.]]
** Informants for a particular mission hub will be pleased if you came to them first rather than going to do some other business in their turf. Grigori will show off even more of how much he knows if you happen to have visited places other than Moscow first. "Taipei, out of Rome?" There was no reason the developers needed this level of attention to detail, but they did it!
**** This game ran so rampant with this trope that even [[WebOriginal/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] commented on it, stating his opinion that the game was "just showing off!"
** Getting past the door guards at the US Embassy in Moscow requires some careful persuasion....unless you chose Soldier or Veteran as your background, in which case you pull a BavarianFireDrill and walk right inside without any trouble at all.
** The game keeps track on what stances you use in the opening of the game and gives you a perk for sticking to one of the three stances. Characters will keep referencing your dominant stance, which may not be the one you used mainly during the opening. At the very end, Leland will mention it if you've undergone a shift in dominant stance during the game, describing it as CharacterDevelopment and ask you if you feel comfortable with your new direction.
** Some are quite subtle. If you are relaxed and chatty with Grigori, he'll like the fact you're not violent nor businesslike. Later, when you first meet Surkov, he'll have no idea who you are - because Grigori ''didn't'' betray you to him.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: In-game. [[spoiler: ''Everyone'' talks about Halbech clumsily trying to influence global politics to keep international tensions high, when all Leland is doing is starting World War III, and ''everyone'' can see that but him.]]
** Some reviewers of major publications who, in their negative reviews, claimed that stealth and pistol were a waste of time. Cue derisive chuckles from those who played the game for more than an hour.
* [[DidntSeeThatComing Didn't See That Coming]]: [[spoiler: Thorton can set one of these up on Leland and Alpha Protocol. And it is awesome.]]
** To elaborate: [[spoiler: as you play the game, it becomes increasingly obvious that Leland has ''no idea G22 exists'', and with skill and effort it's possible to keep it that way for the entire game, as they stealthily assist you in bringing down his entire organization. Then in the endgame, Halbech thinks they've finally caught you, all your allies are accounted for, no one is left to help you, there's no possible escape...and then suddenly the power goes down, the security grid goes nuts, and the compound is stormed by [[TheCavalry dozens of coordinated heavily-armed commandos in high-tech military gear out of fucking nowhere.]]]]
* DirtyCoward: The boss fight with [[spoiler: Darcy]], where he simply hides up in a guard tower flinging grenades, sending wave-after-wave of minions at you, and taunting you endlessly, and then has the gall to say he's kicking ''your'' ass.
* DiscoDan: Replace disco with 80's rock music and you have Brayko.
* DissonantSerenity: Steven Heck's a nutcase, but he is remarkably calm and casual most of the time, even in combat. He tends to treat missions where things get blown sky-high as absolutely normal.
** But God help you if you don't know where his keys are! Poor Wen Shu...
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[BurnNotice A talented spy named Michael framed for something he didn't do]] [[SplinterCell and forced to go rogue]]? To be fair, ClearMyName is a pretty common trope, and has been applied to spy stories several times.
** To be even more fair, Alpha Protocol was announced before BurnNotice. It just languished in DevelopmentHell for a while.
** In Alpha Protocol, you can choose to be [[JamesBond the suave secret agent who specializes in gadgetry]], [[TheBourneIdentity the stealthy martial arts expert who's coldly professional]], and even [[TwentyFour the aggressive weapons expert who gets things done, no matter who he pisses off]].
*** Heck, the developers even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] it with the marketing. The three stances were described multiple times as "the Three J.B.s"!
* DoubleEntendre: SIE's possibly favorite trope, next to BFG.
** The first email you get from [[strike: [[BerserkButton Steve]]]] Steven Heck, concerning the weapons he sells on the black market, is titled "Buy My Junk." He actually admits its on purpose.
*** Made even more hilarious with the translation in Poland when it translates to "Grab the barrel of my gun" . A perfect example of Woolseyism.
* DrugsAreBad: Played with. While fighting Brayko he can defeat himself by taking doses of cocaine. But that's if you have [[strike: [[RunningGag Steve]]]] Steven Heck "fix" it beforehand. If not than Brayko just goes on cocaine fueled, knife rampage.
* EasyExp: You get Perks for ''everything.''
* ElCidPloy: It is implied that Fidel Castro is dead and that the Cuban government is covering this up. Ironically, Castro proved that he was still alive a few months after the game was released.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: As suitable for a spy drama, you get a ''lot'' of bribe attempts, be it with money or with information, tossed your way in this game.
** BribeBackfire: It's up to you how you want to respond to them, with plenty of opportunities for this. The most clear-cut example comes if you're friends with Steven Heck, however: [[spoiler:At the end of Taipei, a VCI representative will try to bribe him into fingering you as Ronald Sung's assassin. Steven breaks two of his fingers and ''sets him on fire''.]]
* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Scarlet does this to Leland if you make the right choices. Sniper bullet at such a close range that it leaves burns. Thorton himself can do the same thing with his handgun upon choosing to execute Leland.]]
* [[ExPy Expy]]: Al-Shamad and its leader bear more than a resemblance to al-Qaeda and Usama bin Laden. Halbech, a morally ambiguous defence contractor with government contacts, just goes without saying.
** Michael Thorton is a [[BurnNotice renegade spy with master manipulating skills]], also his name is [[CaptainObvious Michael]].
* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: Leland's "What?", after he learns that Mike has planted a mine on him, if you betray him at the climax of the Halbech ending.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Leland:''' ''What?!'']]
-->[[spoiler: ''(BOOM!)'']]
-->[[spoiler: '''Thorton:''' ''Terrible'' last words.]]
** [[spoiler: "I will ''end'' you, Thorton."]]
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Sis and SIE.
** Especially SIE, dear god SIE. [[spoiler: If you choose her as your handler for the final mission she shows up to rescue you but, before releasing the restraints holding you to the gurney, she decides you should both have little fun... Mina will later comment about the scratches you have on your neck if you remember to save her.]]
* FighterMageThief: Combat, tech, and stealth skills, along with the Soldier, Tech Specialist and Agent professions. Subverted in that, as the Operative specialization points out, most veteran field agents ''don't'' pigeonhole themselves into one method of solving problems.
* FiveBadBand:
** BigBad: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Leland]]
** TheDragon: [[CompleteMonster Marburg]]
** TheEvilGenius: [[spoiler:[[TheChessmaster Alan Parker]]]]
** TheBrute: [[spoiler:Arguable, but [[MissionControl Westridge]] fits this best.]]
** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler:[[FriendlySniper Scarlet Lake]]]]
* FoeYay: A high approval from one of your enemies can lead to this. If you always play Thorton as an icy cold, robotic professional throughout the whole game, [[spoiler: Conrad Marburg]] will be one of the people who will like and respect you more. [[spoiler: Note that Madison insinuates Marburg is gay.]]
* GambitPileup: There are so many layers of deception that by the end of the game you'll find yourself wondering if there is at least one person who is not involved in something, has an agenda or a double agent. [[spoiler: Steven Heck; at least, he has no agenda of his own and isn't part of any of the conspiracies.]]
** It says something about this game that [[spoiler: the ''one'' putative ally in the game who does not betray you, lie to you, mislead you or manipulate you at least once (selling your name at the end of Taipei doesn't count, he only does that if you've made him an enemy first) is Steven Heck, entertaining yet psychotic mass murderer]].
*** Actually, [[spoiler:if you play the game so that Heck rescues you from Scarlet at the end, he'll tell you that he knew she was the real assassin all along, and claims he said nothing because he thought you were just trying to sleep with her. You can also get Leland to admit to knowing who Steven Heck is (though he doesn't say how.) All this even if Heck is at +10 with you.]]
* GameBreakingBug: A few missions, like the Embassy in Moscow, will sometimes credit you with an entirely different approach in the debriefing. A few of these are major enough to completely change the ending like when said mission in Moscow says you [[spoiler: shot US Marines even though you actually fought beside them in the mission.]] This can be avoided by not ever using the second story "sneaking route" entrance, either leaving or exiting the building. Opening that triggers an event flag that says you sided against the Marines, even when you never fired a shot or were never even ''seen''. And if you [[spoiler: paid extra for the sniper rifle delivery to the roof]], you'll just have to find another way to get up there.
** Also with the early Saudi missions as part of the railroading. Doorways and the like are one way only. If you find a way to back track, you can fall through the floor and need to reset the game.
* GameplayAllyImmortality: With the exception of a brief EscortMission, whenever an important ally gets into a fight, they are invincible and have deadly aim.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Most of your abilities are justifiably within the range of human limits, such as concentrating really hard so you can snap off a bunch of precision shots in an instant, but the Stealth skillset full-on lets you become ''invisible'' for short periods of time. You can abuse this to punch a a small group of people in the throat right in front of one another to take them all down.
** "Iron Will" increases the players damage resistance for a short time. It also gives him a blue glow and when he gets hit by bullets it sounds as though they hit solid metal. "IRON Will" indeed.
** One character threatens to shoot at the crates Mike is hiding behind. Said crates are completely bullet proof in gameplay.
* GatlingGood: [[spoiler:"During the pursuit, Steven Heck (at Agent Thorton's request) arrived to offer emergency backup. Said backup came in the form of Heck crudely mounting a minigun to a subway car and firing wildly at Chinese secret police officers as his train passed the platform."]]
** [[spoiler:If you choose to bring down the entirety of Alpha Protocol, one of your final fights is with Yancy, who uses a trio of them - though only one at a time of course - for maximum room coverage.]]
* GondorCallsForAid: The more allies you make, the more help you at the end.
** Enemies, too. In the case of [[spoiler: G22, its leader Albatross will be really, REALLY pissed off at you if you killed Sis, justified self-defense or not, and in preparation for going into Alpha Protocol, Mike can call Albatross. If he's on your side, good for you. If he's not, Mike can goad Albatross into showing up for the final showdown at Alpha Protocol anyway because it's the last chance he'll have to kill you to get revenge for killing Sis.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: You can play Thorton as a real jerkass.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Secretive organization within the United States government also known as [[TitleDrop Alpha Protocol]].
* GuideDangIt: Trial and error is the only real way to learn how to get the responses you want to your actions. Of course, since the game rewards you for ''everything,'' it even has a perk and Achievement for waffling a bunch on what stance you take.
** Also [[spoiler: How to get it so you actually kill Marburg. Hint: JamesBond style is his BerserkButton. MASH IT. You'll also need to have a history of Suave responses.]]
*** Alternate option: [[spoiler: get the full dossier on Madison, which reveals she is Parker's daughter, and explain this to Parker at the endgame. He'll confront and shoot Marburg, and then you can fight him. Unless, however, you've been playing as a predominantly Suave Thorton, in which case Parker will distrust you by saying you have a reputation as a smartass. TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything indeed.]]
**** Possibly better: [[spoiler: if you get enough dossier on Marburg, Deus Vult, and Parker, you can discover that Marburg was burned by Parker in a previous iteration of AP by leaving him to die, and can tell Marburg this when you meet him in AP. Your treat is a cutscene in which Marburg approaches Parker, acts suspiciously out of character, and then neck-stabs Parker. A bit of a Crowning Moment of Awesome.]]
** How to make it so you're not considered to have fired on the Marines at the embassy in Russia. Talk your way through the front door, and never open the door from the second floor to the roof.
* GuileHero: Mike Thorton if you want him to be. It is heavily recommended by the game itself.
* GunsAkimbo: Submachine guns are ''always'' dual-wielded. The point of them is not to be accurate, but to [[MoreDakka empty the clip]]. Sis is also fond of a pair of revolvers.
** Brayko and his twin [=SMGs=], when he's not trying to stab you in the face.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: If you are familiar with guns, try not to snicker at the in-game descriptions of how the gun upgrades work. Definitely a case of RuleOfCool meets StoryAndGameplaySegregation.
* TheGunslinger: Points in the right skills allow the player to be a downright ''[[OmnicidalNeutral omnicidal]]'' mix of all four types.
* HackingMinigame - A decoding minigame, a hotwiring minigame, plus a third one with lockpicks.
* TheHandler: Yancy Westridge, several other characters as well. Your handlers actually give you certain bonuses, depending on whether they like or hate you.
* HeroicBSOD: What happens to Michael [[spoiler: after Rome. It's worse if you didn't save Madison]]
* HeroicComedicSociopath: Steven Heck hands down. Just imagine Max from Sam and Max but set in a non-cartoon universe. His introduction is a reference to [[TwentyFour Jack Bauer]] [[http://www.jackbauerfacts.com/ Facts]].
* HeyItsThatVoice: [[{{Starcraft}} Raynor]], [[LegacyOfKain Raziel]], [[UnchartedDrakesFortune Nathan Drake]], [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Nevan]], [[MassEffect2 Jack]], [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Azula]], [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic HK-47]], etc.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: The advanced stealth armors are very shiny...
** Thorton has the option of skipping stealth altogether and just shooting everyone. Lampshaded by Albatross if you bungle the Embassy mission: "Do you just walk up to every soldier you see and introduce yourself?"
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Alpha Protocol by it's very nature of encouraging agents to have their own source of funding, supplies and intel ensures that [[spoiler: after Thorton goes rogue, he can not only stay under the radar but come back and destroy them.]]
** It is possible to set one of these up against [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol]] at the endgame by calling on [[spoiler: G22]] to attack their facility. Since [[spoiler: G22]] is the offshoot of [[spoiler: G19, a former iteration of Alpha Protocol]], that means that essentially you're [[spoiler: pitting a former version of AP against itself, built out of the very resources allocated to G19 up until it was dissolved]].
* HowWeGotHere: The game opens with Leland interrogating Thorton. [[spoiler:It turns out that Thorton let himself get captured.]]
* HoYay: Thorton and Darcy if you have good rep with him.
-->'''Mike:''' Hey, Darcy photoshopped our faces into a still-frame from a buddy-cop movie. That's... yeah.
** Also Mike and Heck.
* ICanRuleAlone: [[spoiler: When Leland hires you, he doesn't exactly check to make sure you'll be a loyal minion.]]
* IGaveMyWord: [[spoiler:Sparing Shaheed has its benefits. He is a man of his word as he says, and doesn't just vanish off to stroke his beard and be villainous. You have to actually agree to let him go, however, as he'll die in the attack if you arrest him.]]
** [[spoiler: The ending reveals that he's alive and well, and continuing to carry out his attacks.]]
* IMinoredInTropology: In the catacombs of Carsulae, Mina jokingly credits her knowledge of bathhouses to her major in [[strike: Architecture]] Ancient Roman Plumbing and a minor in [[strike: Ancient Roman Plumbing]] Architecture.
* InkSuitActor: Hong Shi looks pretty much like his voice actor, JamesHong.
* IntrepidReporter: Scarlet Lake, a photojournalist who is known for "covering developments in dangerous places". She's also a bit of a HotScoop.
* InsistentTerminology: Heck is your friend now, that means first name basis buddy pal! Just... don't call him Steve.
* IronicEcho [[spoiler: if you let your ally to take a shot at Scarlet, who has just before shot you to the back]]
-->[[spoiler: Scarlet: Now there's a picture]]
-->[[spoiler: (After Scarlet is shot just like Mike was not a minute earlier]]
-->[[spoiler: Mike: Now there's a picture.]]
* IronicEchoCut [[spoiler: if you figure out the source of the missiles and hide said knowledge]]
-->Leland: "I thought I'd underestimated you, but it looks like you're too stupid to figure it out."
-->(Cut to the original event)
-->Mike: "So they underestimated me and they thought I was too stupid to figure it out!"
* IShallTauntYou: Mike can do this to some enemies just to piss them off. For example, talking suave to Marburg is [[spoiler: the only way to get him to stick around in Rome to fight and die.]] If Mike chooses to [[spoiler: kill Sis]], he can call up Albatross to taunt him about this [[spoiler: to get him to assault Alpha Protocol just to kill Mike before he can slip out of his fingers.]]
* JustForPun: Mike makes one when talking to Steven, if you select the right option. "Shouldn't you have stabbed him to get the 'point'"
* KarmaHoudini: Depends on your actions. People who have done some bad things can get shot, or they can get away with it. [[spoiler: Marburg]] is certainly the go-to example here; it's ''much'' easier to miss the chance at killing this one then the others. The trick is to [[spoiler: push his dislike of you down as far as possible - mock and belittle him as much as possible until he finally attacks you, and ''then'' you can kill him. Or else let Madison die, then tell Parker about it and fight Marburg instead of Parker.]]
* KarmaMeter: There is none to speak of, though the game keeps track of every action you take and during at least one ending a character will recount every bad thing you've done. So if you want to play Michael as an extra-ManipulativeBastard who only seemed like he was doing good right up until he decides to work for the bad guys, you can go for it.
** True to form, Obsidian have planned for the latter approach and it'll be noted that "nobody could ever understand what's going through [Mike's] head".
* KillEmAll: Depending on how you play, the game can end with nearly the ''entire'' main cast dead. The only major character you ''can't'' kill off is [[spoiler: Steven Heck]], though you can't eliminate both [[spoiler: SIE and Albatross]] in the same game.
* KirkSummation: Michael Thorton delivers an epic one to Conrad Marburg if you choose to [[spoiler: let Madison die and give suave responses when talking to Marburg before and during the boss fight]]. If you have enought negative repuation, [[spoiler: Marburg [[IShallTauntYou will fight to death]].]]
* KillItWithFire: Steven Heck's preferred method of killification.
** Also a perk if you use enough fire grenades.
* KnifeNut: Brayko again.
--->'''Mike''':"[[IncrediblyLamePun Guy's pretty sharp with a knife.]]"
** Michael if you use lethal silent takedowns. Interestingly, Mike makes knife kills ''realistically;'' the way he jams the blade hard into the side of his target's neck is the 'proper' way to slit a throat, the "ear to ear" concept often seen in fiction is RuleOfCool and [[RealityIsUnrealistic doesn't do a good job opening up the jugular]].
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Thorton [[spoiler: abandoned by the agency and going rogue]] could have been quite a twist... it ''could'' have.
** Especially if it wasn't the kind of twist everybody uses these days.
* LaughablyEvil: Konstantin Brayko. He is a rather vicious mob boss, but the guy's bizarre 80s obsession and just how AxCrazy he is make him a real entertaining bundle of fun. If you simply read his dossier, you look forward to killing him, but if you take some time to talk to him before, that urge really goes away.
** Though he's technically an ally of the player and not quite evil, this is basically the main thing keeping Steven Heck sympathetic at all. Normally a character being disappointed at being told no killing is allowed on a mission would be rather vile if it wasn't someone as entertainingly completely crazy as Heck is.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: [[spoiler: The boss fight in Taipei.]]
** In the ending, it's possible for Mike to set this up between [[spoiler:Marburg and Parker in two ways: By completing Marburg's dossier and telling him that Parker was the handler responsible for making him go rogue or telling Parker that Marburg killed Madison, his daughter. Either way it ends with Parker dead while Mike gets to fight Marburg.]]
* LevelUpAtIntimacy5: Working on your relationships with your Handlers can increase the Handler Bonus you get from them.
** Inverted in that you get equally useful bonuses if your handler hates you.
* LikesOlderWomen: Michael if you romance SIE.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Not quite to {{Suikoden}} levels, but there's a lot of people to meet and/or hunt down.
* LostForever: It is incredibly easy to unintentionally skip over computer terminals, dossiers, equipment, or money unless you search ''every'' area very thoroughly. Doors will sometimes close and lock behind you once you pass into a new area, cutting you off from whatever was behind you, so its a good idea to take a minute to search every location for items. This can be ''very'' important at times. For example, if you don't fill out all of Brayko's dossier, you won't be able to [[spoiler: question him about his connections to Surkhov and thus expose him as Halbech's original contact and then break that line/recruit Surkov into your own network.]]
* {{Macguffin}}: The Halbech missiles.
* ManipulativeBastard: Michael, if you pick up on people's behavior (which isn't hard) and how they prefer to be treated - read the dossiers! - can be one of these. Nothing quite like playing someone up so that they really like you, and then smashing their face into a table.
** This is actually one of the reasons Westridge thinks Mike would be a good agent. Basically, Mike questions if his people skills are really that good. Westridge says no, it's not that he's charismatic, it's that Mike can read people very well and thus manipulate his/their responses as needed.
* MasterOfNone: Inexperienced players want to avoid this, especially if not playing with the bonus AP from the Veteran background. A generalist build is doable but [[SelfImposedChallenge very difficult]] if you don't know what you're doing.
* MemeticBadAss: There's one or two theories on the official forum that the ''true'' architect of AP's plot is none other than... [[spoiler: the Gelato Man.]]
* {{MIB}}: The CIA agents and Marburg's Deus Vult agents tend to rock this look, though the G22 agents tend to fill in the role as shadowy agents.
* MindScrew: [[spoiler: Start the game as a "Veteran" and when Mike first picks up his PDA, he'll briefly see, instead of Mina's face, the face of the grubby weird guy running the gelato shop/information server. He'll wonder if hallucinations are a side-effect of the drugs.]]
* TheMole: Many, many of the characters are keeping their real loyalties hidden:
** [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol, the whole organization, is basically working for Halbech. The one exception is Mina, who never actually left the NSA and has been spying on Alpha Protocol for them.]]
** [[spoiler: Scarlet was hired by Halbech to assassinate the President of Taiwan.]]
** [[spoiler: Omen Deng, high-ranking member of the Chinese Secret Police, is a FakeDefector and Taiwanese double agent.]]
** [[spoiler: Surkov in Moscow is the real Halbech contact, but he sics you on Brayko. Unless you've been playing smart, you'll never even find out and the final Moscow mission will be closed off.]]
* MultipleEndings: Four of them, with dozens of variations. They are as follows:
** "Crime Buster": [[spoiler:Mike exposes Halbech, causing it to go out of business, but is either unable or unwilling to expose Alpha Protocol, leaving the agency free to reform under another name.]]
** "No Compromise, No Mercy": [[spoiler:Mike exposes both Halbech and Alpha Protocol leading to the disolution of both organizations.]]
** "Rising Star": [[spoiler:Mike becomes Leland's [[TheDragon dragon]] and the two of them make it look as though Alpha Protocol was solely responsible for the conspiracy.]]
** "Thorton, inc.": [[spoiler:Same as above, except Mike betrays Leland and uses his allies to rule the world behind the scenes.]]
*** Most sub-variants of the four above depend on who is Mike's handler for the final mission and who rides off into the sunset with him. It could be [[spoiler: Mina, who will show up by default if you romanced her, or Scarlet if you romanced her but not Mina (and also depending, of course, on whether they lived or died). Steven Heck will pop up if he's been selected as your handler and the criteria for the other two haven't been met; he can save you from being sniped as well. Failing all that, Mike will ride the boat home alone, talking to himself.]]
* NewGamePlus: If you beat the game with the recruit background you can play through again with the Veteran background. This starts you off with three levels in every skill (with no effect on your future AP), and with better armour and weapons. Also a bit of a GameBreaker: after the initial mission, you have the option of customizing your character, and there's absolutely nothing preventing you from removing AP from the skills you won't use and bumping up the skills you do. You can max out three skills (to the level limits, anyway) before you leave Saudi Arabia.
** There's also a number of new dialogue options that show off just how much of a veteran Mike is. One of them has him rattle off about four different ways to identify who's using a specific computer terminal, ''based on a single log-in attempt''.
** Many of the "Veteran" stances indicate that this version of Thorton simply does not have time to deal with rookie crap; he demands a fast-forwarding of the orientation process and his very first line in the game upon waking up is "Where's my gear?" rather than a confused "I can't believe they drugged me!"
** Also when you are given a choice between saing someone or retriving data you can do both by using the veteran stance.
* NewMeat: You can also choose to have Mike start off with a Rookie background. Doing so means that you'll not have ''any'' AP when you start the game, but you can get special bonuses that are only available to Rookies if you play into your inexperience in the tutorial section. You'll still be underpowered compared to other backgrounds, but its the only way to unlock Veteran.
* NiceHat: Quite a few, including Hong Shi's fedora, SIE's beret and Omen Deng's CommissarCap. Mike can get a beret of his own, or an ushanka during the Russia hub.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: When Alpha Protocol [[spoiler:betrays]] Thorton, they forgot that Alpha Protocol is so secretive that not even Westridge knows where all their safe houses are. [[spoiler:Guess where Thorton hides from Alpha Protocol between missions.]] Additionally, Alpha Protocol [[spoiler: by it's very nature of encouraging agents to acquire their own information and supply networks made sure that Thorton could stay under the radar and still get supplies and information. In short, Alpha Protocol made sure that Thorton had the resources required to destroy Alpha Protocol]].
* {{Ninja}}: If you let Brayko live he later describes you as the offspring of "[[TactfulTranslation (expletive)]] Ronald Reagan and an (expletive) American Ninja."
** Darcy calls you one of these in an email if you go through an early mission without killing anyone or raising any alarms.
* NintendoHard: The game can be pretty brutal... but only if you specialize in one style of gameplay. Skill specialization won't hurt you, however being unable to be flexible and think on you feet will.
** A no-kill playthrough would be a challenge for [[MetalGearSolid Big Boss,]] though.
*** No alarms and no-kill, anyway. The pistol with the (expensive) sedative rounds and plenty of points in martial arts and toughness will get you no-kill. And some in stealth.
** Boss fights, doubly so if you're running a fragile build. Marburg will punch the hell out of you if you get close.
* NobleDemon: Shaheed comes off as this, more or less. Once he makes a promise, he keeps it, and he's quite smart and forthcoming. If he wasn't running a terrorist organization that blew up a passenger airplane in the beginning it'd be easy to like the guy. At the very least, it's easy to see why he inspires loyalty among his men.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Mike can deliver one of these to [[spoiler: Grigori]], complete with [[spoiler: repeatedly slamming his head against the bar and then beating him over the head with a bottle of vodka.]]
* NoodleIncident: No one really knows what Wen Shu did to earn Steven's animosity.
** Wen gets the blame when Heck can't find his keys. It's possible that Wen never did anything at all, and is merely the ChewToy.
-->'''Steven''': That's why I like ya Mike, you're a stand-up guy. Not like Wen. No sir. ''Not like Wen at all.''
* NoPartyGiven: U.S. Senator Patrick Darcy (Sean's father). What little of him is revealed in the news, introducing a new bill, won't help, as it's a fictional counterpart to a RealLife bipartisan bill ([=McCain-Feingold=]). Averted with President of Taiwan Ronald Sung, who is given explicit party affiliation.
* NotSoDifferent: Marburg is a bitter, betrayed Thorton 30 years later. Thorton points this out to Marburg's annoyance - or pleasure, if Thorton has gained his approval.
* OhCrap: You get one when Omen Deng reveals that [[spoiler: he's actually trying to ''prevent'' Sung's assassination, and he thought that ''you'' were the killer. Meanwhile, the ''real'' assassin...]]
* OmnicidalNeutral: A particularly hilarious - although not very subtle - gaming style consists in bulldozing your way through the game playing Mike as a perpetually angry {{Determinator}} who antagonizes everyone and [[VigilanteExecution keeps executing]] every single enemy who has the misfortune of being at his mercy, regardless of his/her faction.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dear God where do we start? 'SIE', 'Albatross', 'Sis'.
** Interestingly, if you hack the computer in the locker room at Alpha Protocol after the intro sequence, you can read an e-mail from Westridge to the other agents telling them of the new arrival. He says they are "to refer to the new arrival as Michael Thorton," implying that we don't even know the ''protagonist's'' real name.
* PacifistRun: You can do it if you want to. [[NintendoHard Good luck]].
** It's not as hard as you think, if you max out in pistol, always use tranq rounds, max out in stealth, and put points into melee combat.
*** The game even has a unique metric for tracking your kills: Orphans Created. Kill one guy, and you might create one, two, or three orphans per kill. It is ''entirely'' possible to get through the game without killing anyone, but it requires significant investment in tranq rounds (at about $5000 a pop), or a lot of luck/save scumming with random ammo pickups. Note that tranquilizing a boss will ''still'' result in them being covered in blood when you talk to them, though.
**** The game also tracks non-lethal takedowns - in hospital costs!
*** Or just use hand-to-hand as your only attack with toughness kept high (Stealth optional). This relies on the combat AI being such a horrible shot when you charge instead of using cover.
** You get perks for having a lot of non-lethal takedowns that make this easier to do as the game goes on. Among other things, you get major boosts to your endurance and your sneaking skills.
** There are a few non-optional kills, two manned vehicles and one person on foot (the first two at least are not counted in your kill stats). That's not counting ones your character kills in cutscenes no matter how you dealt with them.
* [[TimeForPlanB Plan B:]] KillItWithFire. See above.
* PlayingHardToGet: In a rare male-to-female inversion, the less interested Thorton is in SIE, the more interested she is in him.
* ThePresentDay: The game is set in 2009. Recent trailers say 2010; this may because the release date was pushed back.
* ProperlyParanoid: Well, the whole cast really since this is the Spy world, but [[spoiler: subverted...in all places...by Steven Hack. He not only knows about Halbech, Alpha Protocol, G22, and every other organization's dirty secrets but ALSO knew that Scarlet was the sniper in Taiwan...which he takes all in total stride and chooses to focus on making probably the longest run on conspiracy theory sentence you'll ever read.]]
* PsychoForHire: Heck, SIE, the rest of the VCI.
* PunctuatedPounding: Mike [[spoiler: does this to Leland after the final boss battle.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mike can deliver one of them to several main characters. It is especially violent against [[spoiler: Marburg and Mina]]
* [[RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth Regenerating Endurance Static Health]]
* RelationshipValues
* TheRemnant: Though not outright stated, it is strongly hinted that [=G22=] is actually the remnant of [[spoiler: a previous iteration of Alpha Protocol known as [=G19=].]]
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: It's a complicated spy drama, this sort of thing should be expected. For example, Alpha Protocol (the organization) is so heavily compartmentalized that no one person who works for it knows everything there is to know about the organization, and this means you could technically be on the run from them and ''still'' be able to use some of their hidden safehouses.
** This is almost certainly the case with G22. In a few files or conversations, you may learn that one of Alpha Protocol's prior incarnations was called "G19" and since Alpha Protocol's hierarchy encourages compartmentalization and splinter groups, they are almost certainly one such off-shoot. Since you can potentially turn one against the other, it definitely becomes a case of RightHandVersusLeftHand.
** This trope is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] directly when Mike introduces himself to Surkov. Mike says that "The right hand and the left hand aren't on speaking terms these days."
* TheRival: Darcy, depending on how you treat him. Otherwise, Mike and Darcy become something akin to BashBrothers. [[spoiler: Which makes the betrayal and subsequent boss fight with him even worse.]]
** One of your perks is this, which talks about [[spoiler:: Marburg.]]
* RomanceSidequest
* RuleOfCool: Random ZIP lines anyone?
** Some of them [[{{Handwave}} look like powerlines]]
** For every unlocked door, you have the option of either opening it normally, or breaking it down, solely because of this trope.
*** Bashing open doors doesn't slow you down when you go through them; helpful if you're running away from gunfire.
*** Plus, if an enemy's on the other side when you bash down a door, it knocks them down and lets you stomp them for an instant nonlethal takedown. Not subtle, but it's hilarious.
* SadisticChoice: All The Damn Time. [[spoiler:Save the girl or save a hundred from a museum bombing? Save the president or save hundreds from a riot?]]
** And you can't even TakeAThirdOption. Except [[spoiler: in the final mission, when given the choice between rescuing another character and saving the data... you can actually manage to do both - go for the girl first.]].
** You can also TakeAThirdOption in [[spoiler:Brayko's mansion... but only if you're a Veteran, or have at least 8 points in Technical Aptitude or Stealth]].
** Made worse in [[spoiler: Rome]] by the fact that you don't know if [[spoiler: Marburg]] is pulling a [[TheDarkKnight Joker]] and lying about the respective locations of the things you can choose between.
* SayMyName: The official Music Video.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: These are an optional look for Michael.
* SchrodingersGun: No matter what your character's background is that makes him perfect for joining Alpha Protocol. [[spoiler:But since you're just the fall guy...]]
** Also used so that your choices always lead to the same results. For example, no matter what you choose in the SadisticChoice in Rome, Marburg will say he expected you to choose the other path.
** Used in the Rising Star/Thorton Inc. ending. [[spoiler: If you choose the Rising Star ending, Thorton handed Leland the information on a data disc. In Thorton Inc., however, Thorton reveals that he actually gave Leland one of his remote mines instead.]]
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules:
---> '''Nasri:''' ''"Did you not hear me? I pay you! I pay--"''
---> '''Mike:''' ''"Westridge; One for extraction."''
** Ironically, you actually get ''more'' money by turning Nasri in than by accepting his bribe.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Depending on your actions you can make [[spoiler:Marburg and Scarlett abandon Halbech. Scarlet makes her resignation [[EyeScream memorable]]]]
* [[SecretCharacter Secret]] MissionControl: In the final mission, if you've done your homework and have a high enough reputation with a certain character, [[spoiler:you can have Scarlet replace your handler partway through. This is the only time you can get her handler bonus.]]
* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: [[spoiler: The ice cream man. You can shoot him when he reaches for a ice cream cone]]
** Of course, later, if you screw up, [[spoiler: he pulls out what looks like a FAL, and you ''have'' to shoot him.]]
** Happens again in Moscow with [[spoiler: Sis and her locket after you beat her.]]
* ShootTheDog: You can choose to do it over and over again.
** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Madison]].
* [[KickTheSonOfABitch Shoot The Son Of A Bitch]]: A lot of the people you can shoot have it coming.
* ShoutOut: Mike Thorton's [[http://twitter.com/mikethorton twitter feed,]] in addition to providing amusing tongue-in-cheek commentary on training at Alpha Protocol, as well as clues about gameplay features, often references other franchises. Some tweets from October and November of 2009 mention that he's heard Russian terrorists [[ModernWarfare killed civilians in an airport,]] later noting that one of his superiors described it as [[LampshadeHanging "media bullshit."]]
** In-game shout-outs include [[http://www.timecube.com Time-Cube]] of all things.
** Name of the yacht that you need to infiltrate in Moscow hub is a hilarious shout out to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Captain_Vrungel Adventures of Captain Vrungel]]
** Many of other agencies mentioned in the game are, of course, shout outs to both real life and fictitious spy organizations.
** One of the terrorist organizations operating in Saudi Arabia is the [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreed Al-Tair]] organization.
** One of the buffs is named "[[StarWars These Are Not The Agents You're Looking For]]".
** A very subtle one when Westridge is briefing you when you first arrive at the safehouse in the Middle East. Apparently the computer has an internet connection [[Film/BackToTheFuture "that's so fast you'll feel like you're going back in time."]]
** The loading screen mentions both {{John Keats}} and DanSimmons.
** "Uh, I think they just armed the bombs." "[[VideoGame/DeusEx Bombs]]."
** Having Heck as your handler for the final mission will have him sometimes say [[LostInSpace "Danger, Mike Thorton, Danger!"]] in a robotic tone of voice.
** According to Westridge's dossier, he was involved in an affair with a woman codenamed [[{{Firefly}} "Saffron."]]
** The emails you get from tapping the NSA and CIA lookout posts in Rome have names appended to them that are references to spy characters from TomClancy [[Literature/JackRyan books]]: Chet (Nomuri), (John) Clark, and Ding (Chavez).
* ShownTheirWork: Quite a bit of Stephen Heck's rambling is based on either actual events ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty Acoustic Kitty]] really happened) or conspiracy theories floating around in Real Life (like the one about the Federal Reserve).
* ShutUpHannibal: You can do it several times. [[spoiler: Punching SmugSnake Leland and banging his head against the table is especially awesome - see above]].
** Especially since the above was your [[spoiler: last chance to avoid imprisonment or death. Or so Leland thinks.]]
*** [[spoiler:Oh how ''wrong'' he was...]]
** "Dear Steven, please shut the fuck up."
* SociopathicHero: Mike can be played as one.
* SociopathicSoldier: The VCI is a faction of these.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Thorton was often confused with Thornton in previews. There is even a LampshadeHanging on this in the game.
** Ditto for his first name. Michael is correct over Micheal. To save confusion just call him Mike.
*** ''"Darcy sent me this for acing the tech course. He misspelt my name - 'Thornton'..."''
* SpiritualSuccessor: to VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines and VideoGame/DeusEx.
* StandardFPSGuns: Ready and accounted for!
** The pistol is your standard pistol, though the only weapon that mount a silencer and use tranquilizer darts, making it ideal for stealth playthroughs. It also has the [[BulletTime Chain Shot]] ability.
** The shotgun manages to avert ShortRangeShotgun, especially if you both upgrade your skill with shotguns and equip weapon mods that reduce scatter. It can also [[BlownAcrossTheRoom blow people off their feet]] if you aim it long enough to get a critical hit.
** Submachineguns fill in the [[MoreDakka bullet hose]] role, wielded [[GunsAkimbo in pairs]] and having the advantage of BottomlessMagazines when their special ability is activated.
** Assault rifles serve as an excellent all-around weapon but specialize in being the marksman rifle, having very high accuracy and doing excellent damage on critical hits
** You can't carry a SniperRifle on most missions, but a sniper rifle can be purchased and left in certain areas as a dead drop. A couple of missions start out with Mike packing a sniper rifle, including a dedicated SnipingMission.
** Rocket launchers are available for a couple of specific boss battles (Shaheed's Stryker and the helicopter in the final mission)
** Gun turrets can be manned on certain missions, generally after killing their operators and taking over. Other automated turrets can be hacked. A tech specialist Mike can even hack turrets that are normally unhackable using Remote Hack.
* StealthRun: Possible for many missions in the game, but you need to be ''very'' patient. Stealth abilities are a means to an end - the end of running up to your opponents silently and choking them unconscious/cutting their throats. There are, however, certain missions which will mention whether or not you managed to completely evade detection and ghost the level. It is far easier to use exceptional stealth abilities to sneak around and knock out every guard without being detected, but ''entirely'' evading detection is difficult, if not impossible, on some levels.
* TheStoner: Heck and Brayko.
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: [[AvertedTrope Averted and lampshaded]]. Westridge points out that the clock is still running during a conversation, which means both your ability timers and your endurance will restore if there's a conversation in the middle of a battle or a level.
** Unfortunately, conversations rarely crop up in the middle of combat, and you can't actually initiate them yourself either, so the opportunities to make use of this tactic are few at best.
* TakeAThirdOption: In a rare few cases, a properly specc'd Mike can actually get out of TheSadisticChoice.
** Relatively easy and fun one in Taipei: [[spoiler: bug ''all'' the servers during the mission to bug G22 servers, and you can bluff your way out of deactivating all of them, thereby getting Albatross to trust you more ''and'' getting data off the G22 database.]]
* TapOnTheHead: Averted, and played with. Mike's non-lethal takedowns are usually quite a bit more than this. Some (like the karate chop to the throat) could even be considered a bit too much. Michael himself hangs a lampshade on this trope when [[spoiler: you make Madison scared and angry enough to make her attack you.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Mike:''' ''"What are you doing? Hitting someone on the head to knock them out only works in movies."'']]
* TechnicalPacifist: Thorton seems to enjoy making his non-lethal takedowns be ''extremely'' painful.
** Lampshaded by the description on the "Merciful" perk.
* TheWarOnTerror: The reason why Thorton was sent to the Middle East in the first place.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Depending on your choices, the final boss is either [[spoiler:Yancy Westbridge or Henry Leland]]. The former fights you with a series of [[GatlingGood miniguns]], while the latter decides to use a ''rocket launcher''.
** Ironically, the rocket launcher is probably the easier of the two to deal with. Its slow, and you're generally given enough time to dodge its shots.
* ThreeWaySex: "Mike, I have important news. I totally did it. Two chicks. At once. Hells yeah."
** One of Mike's possible responses is asking if [[HowIMetYourMother they weighed less than 600 pounds combined.]]
* TooKinkyToTorture: SIE, who actually INCREASES her opinion of you if you attack and try to kill her. And afterwards sends you a very friendly and complimentary email about her scars from the battle and how much they hurt and how much she loves you for it.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil:[[spoiler: Michael gets betrayed and has to go rogue.]]
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Appear in Taipei.
* TranquilFury: No matter how much Mina hates your guts, she won't show her anger or disgust til the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* TranslationConvention: None of the non-American characters and enemies speak their own languages. In pretty much any background you pick, however, Mike speaks several languages, so he could just be translating on the fly.
* TrickBullet: Each primary weapon has two special ammunition types with unusual effects. For example, assault rifles have armor-piercing ammunition and subsonic ammo for silenced shooting, pistols have tranquilizer darts, and shotguns have incendiary shells.
* VerbalTic: SIE, [[FunetikAksent dahling]].
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZf6ISKtgbI&feature=digest Sound generator + train = squish]]
** It gets worse: if someone dies from getting run over by the train and his allies are nearby, they'll come to check it out. And there's another train coming...
* WalkItOff: In addition to his normal health bar, Mike also has "endurance" -- some combination of bulletproof armor and an iron will -- that'll let him endure an infinite amount of bullets and blunt trauma... as long as he can he can take periodic 15-second breaks to let his endurance recharge. Health, on the other hand, does not recharge on its own, so you'll need to find lots and lots of convenient first aid boxes.
* WarForFunAndProfit: What Halbech is trying to achieve.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler: Leland uses this tactic on Mike. Mike can actually accept.]]
** But why would we rule together, when ICanRuleAlone ?
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The entire plot was rewritten when [[VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines Brian Mitsoda]] left Obsidian and [[PlanescapeTorment Chris]] [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Avellone]] took over the project. Not much is known about the original version, but judging by {{Syriana}} having been mentioned in early interviews as a major influence, it would've been quite a bit more serious.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Two in the final mission: First, [[spoiler:if you're against Leland and you've been a good soldier, Westbridge will simply not appear in the final assault on Alpha Protocol.]] Second, [[spoiler:if you rescue Scarlet and have a high enough reputation to ask her to be your handler, your previous handler will disappear (though Heck will show up again near the end if you have a low reputation with Scarlet but ask her to help anyways.)]]
* WhatTheHellHero[=/=]WhatTheHellPlayer: Kill people or do overt actions, and you ''will'' get yelled at by various people for it, most commonly Mina if you're killing civilians or American agents, Albatross if you're being way too loud and obvious, or Madison if you're being a jerk to her. On the other hand, SIE or Steven will gleefully praise you for going on murder sprees.
* WhereItAllBegan: [[MeaningfulName Operation Full Circle]].
* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the Hell Is Alpha Protocol]]: Deliberately invoked. No key personnel working for Alpha Protocol know where the "Graybox" base is, no matter how trusted they are. If you want to go the base or leave it, you get sedated for two full days while your body is transported. It's inefficient, but it makes the organization practically mole-proof. Presumably the ones doing the transporting aren't being told the truth about who they're picking up or dropping off, and presumably the very top guys at Alpha Protocol know where the base is, but that's about it.
* WithThisHerring: Justified. Since Alpha Protocol doesn't officially exist, they can't give Mike supplies without risking someone tracing the supplies back to them and thus finding out that they exist. [[spoiler:It also helps that Mike was supposed to be killed at the conclusion of Operation Desert Spear, so giving him supplies would just be a waste of money.]]
* WordSaladTitle: All of Steven Heck's names he give to operations in Taipei. Operation Turbo Panther. Operation Latex Turtle. Operation Angry Bees. Operation YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The news report about the Brayko fight[[spoiler: if he lives]]? One of the funniest lines in the game, delivered deadpan.
* XanatosGambit: By Halbech, for the most part. At the endgame, Leland notes that [[spoiler: no matter what Mike did in Rome or Taipei, the operations ended up as successes for Halbech. Even cutting off their supply in Moscow didn't do much more than slow them down.]]
* YouBastard: This game keeps track of how many orphans you create due to the kills you rack up. It gets really sad when you realize that by kill only 15 people you managed to make 80 orphans.
** And in a case of TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything, who you kill actually influences how many orphans are left. For example, killing Al-Samad terrorists generates a lot of orphans, because Saudis have large numbers of children. Killing VCI, G22, or [[spoiler: Alpha Protocol]] soldiers nets you very few orphans, because those sorts don't generally have families or children. Killing [[spoiler: Chinese Secret Police]] troops nets one orphan per kill, because [[spoiler: Chinese are legally restricted to only having one child per couple.]]
** The game also keeps track of the medical bills for the mooks you take down non-lethally. You can inflict potentially ''millions'' of dollars in broken bones and battered bodies.
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