Alpha Protocol: Our 10 favourite spy gadgets

In the coming week we'll be going in deep with Alpha Protocol, Obsidian's new espionage RPG and revealing new and exclusive details. Each day we'll post new info on a particular element of the game: today we're looking at the bestgadgets and spy tools that will be at your dispsosal.

It’s difficult to disagree with Obsidian’s opinion that, you can’t make a espionage game without a full range of secret agent’s toys and Alpha Protocol lets you experiment with a full compliment of gadgets and goodies. All are rooted in the real rather than the James Bond world, so don’t expect laser watches and submarine cars, but rather a more authentic mix of explosives, traps and counter-surveillance devices.

Stealth and gadget play-styles have some overlap, with gadget-oriented agents needing to lurk unseen in the shadows to lay and arm their devices and relying on their Tech Aptitude to confuse and outfox their adversaries. Double up your gadgets and you’ll have double the fun creating some great combos, for example, luring heavies into shock traps with your sound generator. There’s an immense sense of satisfaction when you succeed in snaring multiple tangos into one of your elaborately constructed trap routines.

Here's the low down on the array of goodies you’ll get to experiment with, but don’t forget, most, if not all can be upgraded to deliver superior results:

What it lacks in explosive impact, the shock trap more than makes up for in its ability to deliver a stunning, painful, though non-lethal takedown. Primarily used as a placed trap, if you’re skilful or daring enough, you can lob them at enemies on the fly for a similar effect.

These highly versatile electromagnetic pulse grenades are hands down one of your most powerful options when trying to confuse enemy defence systems, rendering cameras, computers, alarms and automated turrets useless. Combine them with the Interference skill on the Technical Aptitude branch and you can even tune them to selectively neutralise electronic systems, short circuiting door alarms or disabling computer’s security systems, allowing you to hoover intel straight from their data storage drives.

Above: Using the EMP disables computers, making them easy to hack

An advanced healing agent that works by flooding your agent’s body with synthetic platelets and pain killers, which is useful for keeping you alive when you don’t time to wrap yourself in bandages and gauze. Caution is advised however and you can’t just gobble them up like the health candy of a first-person shooter. Repeated doses over too short a time frame can result in fatal blood clots. A healing helping hand when you’re desperate, but possible side effects include sudden death. Yikes.

Another modified grenade which when thrown or placed ignites a dose of flammable liquid, carpeting enemies and entire rooms in burning flame and intense smoke. A great way of sowing confusion amongst guards, this will also effectively block line of sight, rendering you all but invisible to enemy cameras.