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Freedom, depth, great AI, solid visuals - and a lot of fun.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 41 / 43
Date: May 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I should preface this review by coming right out and admitting that I am a new Thief, not having played either of the earlier titles in the franchise. Sure, I had heard all the hype, the various glowing reviews and ravings of die-hard fans, but something kept me away. Not this time, feeling hungry for a new game, I saw that Thief: Deadly Shadows hit the store(s), and decided to take a chance. I'm quite happy to report that I'm entirely glad that I did.

I did have some concerns at first. For the first few minutes of play, I found myself thinking that it should have been a rental instead of a purchase. But I played on, gradually getting drawn deeper into the plot, into the city, and into the joy of slipping quietly in where you haven't been invited, and plucking some valuable trinket off a table, from inside a chest, or even off the very person of an unfortunate homeowner or passerby. But this isn't what really got me into the game. How smart my victims were did. Sure, I was a little over-confident at first. I'd boldly sneak around behind marks wandering through their own homes, I'd skulk in the shadows, or creep slowly and quietly behind them, lifting items that caught my eye as I went. But this person lives here, and when they pass through a room and a candlestick is gone, or a chair is slightly out of place from when you less cautious than you should have been and bumped into it, or when a door has been left ajar - they realize it. And they often realize they aren't alone. So you could imagine my surprise, not yet having an appreciation for the depth of AI, when my helpless victim became decidedly non-helpless, and started actively searching for me. But I'm Garrett the Thief, and when backed into a corner, I can put up a fight. So when the owner found me after I knocked a barrel on its side trying to quickly duck into a nearby shadow, and when he drew a weapon with the intent to cause me harm, I quickly dispatched him with my dagger. He was in the light, I was in the shadow, he knew roughly where I was, but I still had the advantage. I stood over my victim, enjoying the moment when I heard a scream. The scuffle had alerted someone else in the house who came rushing in, and upon seeing me standing over the body, shot straight out of the house. She hadn't just fled through, she had gone to get the town guards. So imagine my surprise as I'm casually walking towards the open door to leave, and in burst two guards with weapons drawn. They came right at me, and while I put up a good fight, they took me down. The last thing I saw was the `terrified' woman standing in her doorway again, watching the guards beat me down.

I really enjoyed Splinter Cell, and SC: Pandora Tomorrow. I think it was how much I enjoyed those that led me to finally give Thief a shot. But one thing always bugged me about those titles, as terrific as they are and were. Your enemies had the attention span and short-term memory of mentally disabled goldfish. If two terrorists are in one room together, and you snatch one up and drag him away, the other never notices that he's suddenly alone. Leave doors open, move things, do anything but show yourself or leave a corpse around, and they have no clue anything is amiss. Not so here. Guards have areas of responsibility. And when one is no longer at his post because you've clobbered him over the head with your trusty blackjack, and dumped him unconscious behind some bushes, his captain who may well be wandering around and checking up on his men will notice, and he'll investigate.

The game is outstanding, I am really enjoying it. I'm nearly done, and I've already decided that I will be playing it through again. There's so much to do beyond the main storyline, that there's really no way to get into all the little side plots and scenarios, no way to hit every house and business in your first go. Graphically the game is quite good. Not jaw-droppingly impressive, I would have liked to have seen this in 720p and widescreen, but still a solid visual presentation. The Dolby Digital sound is terrific. The depth of play, and the AI, are really what give this title legs though.

This game, in my opinion, is worth a purchase. Unless of course the idea of sneaking around just bores you to tears. If you're looking for a hack'n'slash, this isn't it. If you're looking for an intriguing storyline, exciting action, and even a few moments where you literally jump at your own shadow, then this is going to be a good time for you. Why 4 out of 5? I would have liked to have seen at least a minimal tie-in to XBLive. Not online play perhaps, given the scope of the game, but maybe expansion and bonus content (new missions, new equipment, etc.) that could have been added over time. I think that really would have gone a long way to put this title over the top in terms of re-playability. Also, I've been trapped (bug) inside or against objects a few too many times. An annoyance, and perhaps a minor one, but a piece of the puzzle when I had to decide upon a rating. To be fair, if we could give fractions of stars in our ratings, I'd give this as high a 4 as possible.

The cover art says it best. "Tension-fueled stealth, variety of gameplay, advanced AI, dynamic lighting and shadow system." Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Pick this one up, you'll be glad you did.

Stealth gaming at it's best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Being a long time Thief fan and having waited four years for this game to be released my expectations were high. The PC requirements for the game were a little too steep for my system so I decided to go with the Xbox version. The initial reviews of the game were positive but critical on many levels. Even though nothing was going to keep me from purchasing the sequel to my favorite game of all time I was very apprehensive. It didn't take long for the game to put my doubts to rest. It is the same exact Thief I remember and love with much improved graphics and gameplay. I really don't miss the mouse/keyboard controls at all as the analog control scheme of the Xbox controller works very well. The free roaming city is by no means massive, but adds a welcome new depth to the Thief universe (not to mention the fun to be had breaking into random houses throughout the city). The story maintains the same original and imaginative feel of previous games, there's really nothing else out there functioning on the level of interesting storytelling this game has going on. If you enjoyed Splinter Cell you'll definetly welcome the stealthy fun of Thief, it's every bit as thrilling, slightly more forgiving, and way more immersive. It's no run and gun slaughterfest, but gamers who enjoy fantastic stories and immersive, strategic gameplay will find much to enjoy.

Best "true" stealth game I've ever played.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well I'm not really going into real "depth" about this, I think some of the earlier reviews covered that. I'm just going to type out a few thoughts I have about the game.

First of all, the game play is excellent, it really does stick with the stealthy play the whole time. But the first thing that caught my attention was the lighting. It's not just "lighting" for the sake of viewing.The lighting is actually a part of the game play. It's actually the -most- important part of the game, and in Thief DS, the lighting is beyond perfect. You sneak around in the shadows,and your "light gem" shows how visible you are to the AI in the game. Even having a small percentage of your body sticking out from the shadows will be reconized by the game's AI.

Now the AI... It's near-perfect. Characters will hear your footsteps, notice if you leave doors open, notice if you put out a torch, notice if you steal something and so on. If you kill someone with an arrow, or your dagger, it will leave a pool of blood (which you can wash away with water arrows), which the AI will notice, and alert other characters that something is wrong. One thing that bothers me is when Garrette (main character) gets caught. The guard/enemy will chase him for a bit, but not for long. Basically all I need to do, to lose them, is round a corner and get into a shadow. After that, wait about 20 seconds and they give up. After a while it gets to where getting caught is less of a dangerous problem, and more of a very annoying one. If you get cornered and all you have is a dagger, just hope you saved earlier. Garrette can only take about 5 hits. Which is good, in a way, because the game really is about stealth, not fighting.

Visually the game looks pretty good. At a medium distance you can't tell if a guard has his back turned, or if he's looking right at you (glad Garrette has that mechanical zoom-in eye). Some of the areas are beautifully detailed. And some are just 'okay'. Most of the areas will have great looking textures, and 'okay' textures right beside each other, which makes things look strange. The town is literally a big maze. It takes a while to figure out how to get around, because it all looks the same (besides a few landmarks). The maps aren't much help either, because they don't show any of the alleyways that you use to get around. It can get confusing.

The story is so-so. This game was definatly not made for the storyline, but made for excellent game play and freedom. The town that the story takes place in has no name, and unless you've played the other Thief games, you have no clue what the storyline is about. You just get "thrown" in at a certain point and do whatever you're told. The areas kind of melt in to each other after a while. Most of them seem the same, except a differant look. Hiding in most areas isn't very challenging. The stand out mission is the Abysmal Gale (ghost ship). Everything about it is made perfect. It's eerie, you don't know what lurking around the corners, and the fog and lighting just make everything look extra-creepy.

This game requires alot of patience. Watching which routes guards walk, slowly skulking in the shadows so you will not get caught, slowly pacing behind someone waiting for the right tim the strike, and searching everywhere for loot makes up the entire game.

So if you've read this much so far, I'll give my opinion on whether or not to buy it. For now, while it still costs $50, don't buy it. The game is just too short to pay $50. I got it in the mail 3 days ago, and I just finished it this morning. Secondly, the game isn't going to be one that you will replay more than twice. It's a linear story. Aside from a few side quests, the game goes in one direction and you have to do all the missions in order. After a while the game play gets repetitive. Skulk in shadows, hide from foes, watch the guard, mug him, hide the body, repeat, repeat, repeat.

As Good as the Original

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I LOVED the original Thief Games and was very disappointed when the original disigners went under. I had been looking forward to this game ever since I heard rumors of a third game. The game has outstanding graphics with its use of shadows and faces. The game play is very familar, and I like the fact that you can now purchase items and save them for later missions instead of having to use everything in each mission. If you are ready to be a thief and use stealth instead of brute force then this is your game.

Don't believe ANY negative reviews of this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The thief series is my favorite game series of all time. I played all previous versions and was leary about buying this on a video game format because I thought (mistakenly) it would lose a lot of the quality of both the graphics and the game play. I couldn't have been more wrong. I also made the mistake of checking out the reviews before I bought it and was discouraged by some of them. This game is the BEST thief yet. For those of you who follow the series, it is great that they used all the same sound effects, are still following the plotline (pagans versus hammerites, the keepers responsible for thwarting the advent of the coming dark age), and even Garrett's voice is exactly the same. The stealth gameplay is exactly the same with some added features, including dynamic shadows, smarter guards, and some extra moves. The graphics are just as detailed, if not better! Also, you are able to move more freely and quickly with the video game format than you can on pc. One negative review mentioned frequent segments that require some load time (for example, if you are in one part of a house and attempt to enter another part of the same house, you may need to wait a few seconds while it loads). I wasn't bothered by this AT ALL as it only took a few seconds. It didn't take away from the momentum in the least. I'm not sure if the pc version takes longer to load than the video game. I really can't say enough, and I am thrilled with this game and feel it was well worth the wait. The ONLY thing that bothered me is I wanted to play the pc version too but didn't realize until after I bought it the box says "NOT SUPPORTED ON LAPTOPS" and I have a brand new laptop that exceeded by FAR the system requirements, but it still didn't work. I'll just have to play that one on my pc at home.
BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the BOMB!!!!

Great game but not perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: June 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Overall I really enjoyed Thief 3 Deadly Shadows for Xbox. This is a game focused on stealth. It is not a game were you have the option of stealth but if you get caught you can take on an army of enemies. You'll be seeing most of the enemies from the back as you sneak up on them and blackjack em.

Great graphics and lighting the character models are very well done. The lighting is a huge part of the game since you'll focused on moving from shadow to shadow to stay hidden. The option to change from 1st person to 3rd is a useful choice to have. Unfortunately the city and most of the environments felt pretty underwelming in size and even though it was nice to have the freedom to wander around in between missions there really wasn't much to do in the different areas of the town.

The music and sound effects in the game are well composed and very subtle. Most of the sound in the game is closer to ambient effects than real music. In some the creepier sections in the game the sound effects works really well in raising the fear factor.

The enemy AI is some of the best I've seen. Enemies will do a good job of investigating disturbances. And on higher difficulty setting they will notice if you take loot and if you put out torchs. I wish they were a little more aware of your character when your light crystal is totally dark. Since you become pretty much invisible unless you bump into them.

The story is good but not great. The story could have used been longer and used some more twists and surprises but its interesting. The cut scenes that are shown throughout the game to move the story along are very well done and non traditional. They make good use of the lighting the voice acting throughout these sequences and the rest of the game is of very good quality.

Thief 3 overall is definalty worth picking up if your patient and in the mood for a stealth based game. It also has one of the best stages I've played in any game for a long time. Its called Shalebridge Cradle and you'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. I'd play the game just for the Shalebridge stage so you won't be disappointed if you pick up Thief Deadly Shadows.

One of the FEW games to keep my interest

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: June 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This has been a really good game. The lighting and ambient sounds are wonderful. I've enjoyed playing this game for hours. It's kept me hooked and I've paid the next day having stayed up all night to work just *one more* mission. The only reason I didn't give this game a 5 stars is because it has a peculiar habit of losing the sound. Everything else works fine but the sound is completely gone. This is the ONLY game I have that does this. I thoroughly tested other games I had to make sure it wasn't my console.

Fun Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Exciting and intense game. Just wished there was more to it such as different kinds of weapons or something else unique from the previous games and sometimes the sound goes off but very rarelly. Other than that I'm happy about the purchase, its nice to find a game that delivers without much advertising unlike a lot of these games coming out lately that do the exact opposite.

thief is way tight

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I think that eidos truly created a masterpeice when they made this game. It is all I could have hoped for and more as a sequel to my two favorite games. The graphics and lighting and texture effects are cutting edge, truley.
The only thing I didn't like were the character models which didn't seem very real. I thought that this caused the deaths to seem fake. Though the NPC AI makes up for this as does the fact that killing is discouraged in this game and almost allways results in negative outcome. The objective is to get in and out without being caught or killing anyone.
I killed some one once in this game and found my character being hunted round every corner.
I sure hope this review has helped someone, a game this wonderfull can not be ignored.

Great AI, great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: June 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Looking for a challenging game that tests your mind and your reflexes? Thief 3 rewards stealth and strategic thinking with glory and loot!

If you somehow missed the first 2 episodes in the Thief saga, you are ... a thief. You live in a medieval world full of murky inns, cobblestone streets and questionable denizens of the night. You get told of interesting items to steal by your fences, and do your best to acquire them.

In many ways, this compares favorably to splinter cell, albeit of a different era. Your task is to stay hidden in the shadows. You have to pay careful attention to the level of darkness where you stand, and the type of surfaces you walk over, to not draw attention to yourself. You have interesting tools at your disposal - noisemaking arrows to distract, water arrows to put out candles.

The graphics aren't *quite* up to the level of Splinter Cell, but then again, not much is. You still get gorgeous shadows, dust motes twinkling in light streams, textures on floors and walls. The human figures are a bit clunky, but only a bit.

That being said, the cinemtics are exceptional, both graphic and sound-wise. You really get drawn along with the story.

The sounds are nicely done. This isn't a game of jamming rock music - it's a game of stealth. There are ambient noises that warn you of approaching guards, of a dog in the next room, of conversations of nearby people. The soft music, when it comes in, helps to add to the spookiness and tension.

The AI really deserves special praise. The people around you don't just walk a beat that you watch 10 times in a row and then use. They react to situations with intelligence, keep an eye on things they should be guarding, and take proper caution when tracking down a problem. If they catch sight of you, they don't just go for you and give up. Now that they know there's a strange person in the area, they actively hunt for you.

Sure, you can blackjack people if you have to. But the game isn't about violence. It's about avoiding being seen, avoiding being caught.

Highly recommended!

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