Techtite's PC Game Reviews!

"Everything the prior games were and more; now that the game series has found its niche with a new, modern game engine, let's hope to see a lot more of Thief!"

---from the review

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Sidebar :

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Four Years in the Waiting... For years it seemed nearly impossible for fans of the Thief game series to expect a sequel to be released at all. First, the original game studio that created Thief 1 and 2 (Looking Glass Studios) closed its doors, for economic reasons. Then Ion Storm took in the Looking Glass team, with the promise of making more Thief games. That was four years ago. Along the way, even some of Ion Storm itself was disbanded. Add to this Ion Storm's insistence to use the Unreal game engine --meaning, in a sense, that the game design team was working from scratch-- and it's surprising this game was possible at all.

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Thief: Deadly Shadows

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A Techtite Review

While the entire gaming world anticipates long-awaited sequels like Half Life 2 and Doom 3, I was just as eager for Thief: Deadly Shadows. This is the game series which began an entire genre of its own, often called the "first person sneaker": where one must attempt ingenuity and brains to solve a mission, not just simply "shoot everything moving until you get bored." The first-person game genre has been all the more entertaining ever since the first Thief game showed them a new light. Deus Ex, No One Lives Forever, and Splinter Cel --among many others-- all owe some gratitude to Thief.

Not that this was any easy feat. For years it seemed unlikely this game would be released at all, and if it was, it would look very little like the original. For starters, the original game company, Looking Glass Stuidios, went bankrupt. Although Ion Storm picked up the pieces (and most of the staff) of the old company, Ion Storm has been major sticklers for the Unreal game engine franchise, and that meant reinventing the wheel, so to speak, with a totally new game engine, using the Unreal engine as a template.  Mind you; Unreal games have always been graphically stunning, and fun to be sure, but they are made from the bottom up for shoot-'em-ups, not action adventures of this type. Making such an engine Thief-friendly must've been as daunting as upgrading a bicycle into a Harley. Thankfully, attempt it they did...leading to a game that is, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 included, among my choices for the Top Three Best Games of 2004.

The storyline is thankfully the same. You're Garrett, master thief (complete with the same, perfectly-chosen voice actor), who's the recently ex-member of a shadowy cult known as the "Keepers." The keepers taught a young, pickpocket Garrett how to stay in the shadows and not be seen; a trait that the antisocialist Keepers adore. Trouble is; Garrett was a street wise sort of guy, so he's using what they taught him to stay in the shadows as a master thief; to rob from the rich, and give to...well, whomever. All of Garrett's old (ahem) "friends" are back, including the nature loving Pagans, the religious Hammers...

...and the Keepers! That's the first good news among many; in this game, none other than the Keepers need Garrett's aid, leading to many levels within their own complex; a site that much like the Keepers, has only been alluded to in the "shadows" of the prior games' stories. This time, you get to actually explore their lair room by room. Of course, nobody that ever asked Garrett for help is up to total good, leading to Garrett stealing from all the wrong people, all the wrong things...and getting blamed for the result, no less. In time, you have enemies from all three sides; Hammers, Pagans, and Keepers. It is up to you to right that which you put wrong...and of course, get even, with the "big bad" who's truly responsible for all this.

Not that everything is bad news. For one; this game is structured like most of the best new games lately, in that its core "city map" is non-linear. That is; while areas open up gradually as the story progresses, you do not go to the next level "automatically," but rather its door opens up, in a whole city map. What this means is that whatsoever you do in between missions is your own choosing. Solve the problems of some people in the town, if you like, or make other seedier people's problems even worse. In time, you get messages from the Pagans and Hammers, asking for favors. Do enough of these side missions, and you will no longer have to worry about their guards on the street; deny them, and you must avoid these people at all costs!  It's all up to you, in a surprisingly well designed, fully traversable town; the first time that such a feature has been offered in this game series. This is great!

It's also a very lively town. The houses have sleeping tenants, the prison has inhabitants (which you can even free if you wish!); heck, even the graveyard is "alive," though not in the way you may hope(!). Even the littlest detail is present, right down to a barmaid whispering within earshot as a guard passes, "Good day, officer...[whispered] I hope you trip!" Go into any dark alley and enter a pawn shop(!) to sell what you've "acquired" in a prior thieving mission. Then use your coin for more arrows and such, in the nearby stores. Even the stores are more than mere static menus. One of the store owners has a crush on Garrett, while another may praise Garrett for being "so strong" in carrying so much stuff. This enhances the "life" behind this game on so many levels.

Equally great is this game series' still-present penchant for atmosphere. Once again there are prophesies foretold, though this time, they specifically refer to Garrett. Yes: finally, we finally learn a little of who Garrett is in the huge scheme of things, though as you'd expect, not everyone is pleased with the answer. There is a very dark, foreboding Big Bad at work here, who will stop at nothing to defeat Garrett once and for all. All I'll reveal about this villain is that it is not an old character (yes; it appears, "Viktoria" is truly dead), yet it is as foreboding an adversary as fans of the Thief series expect. In a cinematic where this villain tells her minions to "Cut [Garrett] until bleeding stops, squeeze him until breathing stops! Cut! Squeeze! Kill!" I was totally freaked out at the likelihood of even getting past that level at all. This is one cool villain.

Equally impressive are the missions, all intricately woven into the storyline itself. Among the best of them --and you'll hear this a lot-- is the quest to learn more about the identity of your adversary, in of all places, an abandoned insane asylum. This is by far the magnum opus in level design; if not for this game, than for any game I've played in all of 2004. What's even better is how it salutes one of the most challenging levels from the first game --the "cathedral"-- and expands on it, with a trapped ghost-girl requesting your help...in the past. All I'll reveal about these missions is how ingeniously challenging they are, and how they leave you with all of your best skills --hiding in the shadows-- yet none of your cheater's accessories (for most of this level's missions, your inventory is totally gone!). I'll also say that when you do save this girl, you must escort her spirit to her rightful burial place; a trip through the town leading to some of the funniest, liveliest townsfolk reactions I've ever seen in a FPS-type action game! Very rarely does a game have me want to add to my aging list, of The Best Level Designs Of All Time. This is the pleasant exception.

Not that this is the sole interesting moment of the game. Many other levels are just as creepy, or at least just as challenging. One mission takes you on a quest within a haunted ghost ship. Get through that, and you must search the mansion of the boat captain, complete with a widow in the tallest tower, having gone completely mad. Although this level offered the sole questionable portion of the game for this liberal game player --in the toughest difficulty setting, you "must" steal this woman's whole remaining life savings, right from under her grieving nose-- but the point is: if you want a game that stirs emotions, here you go.

Sure, there are minor grumblings from those who expected the impossible, or at least the unlikely. This game was four years in the making, after all, so it's inevitable some people's hopes were unrealistically high. So allow me to note their grievances here, and be done with them; not because they are improper grievances, but simply because I don't find these "nits" of which they "picked" to be of much consequence. For one thing: a limitation in current Unreal engine technology forced the game designers to give Garrett "climbing gloves," and not his trademark arrow-with-rope combo. This is strictly a "to-may-to"/"to-mah-to" gripe to me, and not worth delving into further.

Likewise for those who wanted a return of the mechanical creatures of Thief 2; didn't that game imply you defeated their creator? Exactly. It's not like your strongest adversaries are any less formidable, either, including the telepathic Keeper Assassins (shown here), and later opponents I'll leave for you to discover, which can only be stopped by sneaking at them from behind. If you find these adversaries "too easy," you're selling your own stealth tactics too short. Have you considered joining the CIA?

[A side note: There was a bug with this game's difficulty setting, upon initial release. As you might not expect; the complaint was not that the game was too hard, but that some hard-edged gamers found the expert setting too easy(!). As you would expect, however, a patch for this glitch has already been released; just FYI, for those who would like a harder game.]

That's all I'll spoil about this game's many surprises in one review, which I can only hope is enough for you to try this game out. I'm not kidding when I say that I anticipated this game as much as Doom 3 and Half Life 2, nor am I joking, when I say that this anticipation was well met. I'm not saying that anyone is going to buy this game instead of Doom 3. However, if someone was to do such a thing...can you truly blame them?

---Techtite