IF YOU are going to sub tag your new game "the espionage RPG" then excuse me for allowing my expectations to soar just that little bit.

I mean there are a barrel load of brilliant RPG's out there right now and I don't even think Alpha would make the top 10 of any third person RPG.

There are some nice ideas in play here but far too much seems to have already been done to better effect in the superb Heavy Rain released earlier in 2010 to much acclaim.

There is the usual power up modes, players also earn Advancement Points, which can be placed into any of the ten different skills in the game.

These skills will increase your character's (Thorton) ability to use certain weapons and grant different abilities to him. These abilities are free to use, but require a "cooldown" period before they can be used again.

One ability that has been mentioned in previews allows Thorton to scan a group of enemies in slow-motion before popping out of cover and shooting each of them more rapidly than he would be capable of normally.

This was particular topical given the fact that Heavy Rain had used this method to an extent and obviously right now I, like half the civilized world are currently engrossed in dead eye fun on the classic Red Dead Redemption.

Players will be allowed to customize headwear, facial hair, hairstyle, eye colour and eye wear. Weapons and gadgets will also be customizable with added silencers, a larger magazine etc.

The player can choose also which skills to advance, allowing them to reinforce their play style. Examples include making Thorton more capable of stealth, more deadly in hand-to-hand combat, or better at gunplay.

However there are an awful lot of bugs and glitches. The list of technical issues plagued the title right from the on-start and continued until the ugly ending.