Developer Obsidian Entertainment, known for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2, teamed up with Sega to create Alpha Protocol, a new action RPG which takes cues from Mass Effect with elements of the classic Fallout and the recent blockbuster hit BioShock for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and PC.

Its announcement on Game Informer's April issue described Alpha Protocol as "a modern day espionage focused action/RPG that takes you on a suspenseful ride in the vein of James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne."

Players will take the role of Michael Thorton, a secret agent with proper training but lacks actual experience. Combat is said to be similar to Mass Effect, but leans toward Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

As a third-person action RPG, Alpha Protocol was revealed to have gunplay and high tech gadgets made easy utilize due to the control scheme for selecting powers and weapons being close to Bioshock's. Its RPG aspect is defined by 10 skills and 10 ranks in each skill, whose progression is like Fallout where there are no character classes.

To quote the announcement, "Skills don't simply improve things like accuracy, they improve the way your character will perceive situations." These abilities were also crafted to suit all play styles, from the run-and-gunner to the  stealth assassin.

Meanwhile, Alpha Protocol's dialog system called the Dialog Stance System was described as a mix of Mass Effect and Indigo Prophecy. However, it's not possible to repeat conversations with NPCs and your character's tone during conversations can be changed by pressing a face button.

On top of it all, there are lots of girls and romance subplots as you pursue multiple active missions across different countries. It's also possible to woo all these ladies who'll be involved with your Thorton.