Thief: The Dark Project

by Eidos

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001YVIB
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 1, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,912 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

As Garrett, a cynical and world-weary master thief, you must make use of stealth and intellect to complete your missions. You live in an ancient city of a fictional past, where magic and primitive technology coexist uneasily. Your victims are the city's corrupt and privileged nobility, whose wealth is at your disposal as long as their guards don't see you, at least not until it is too late.

Your dark heroics earn you the attention of a mysterious patron who offers you a fortune if you can retrieve an enormous gemstone with a notorious reputation. But it soon becomes clear that more is at stake than a comfortable retirement. Your efforts trigger a conflict between veiled powers who compete to pull your strings. You'll need all your strength and wits to discover the truth and escape from the web of intrigue and deception spun around you. Garrett's adventures will take you through moonlit city streets, guarded mansions, secure prisons, blazing factories, haunted cathedrals, abandoned ruins, grim catacombs, subterranean lost cities, and even into strange, distant realms where the laws of this earth no longer apply.

Product Description

Sneak through the shadows of 12 treacherous missions including haunted cathedrals, subterranean ruins, and forbidding prisons, in a dark and sinister city. Stalk your prey on the quest for stolen goods

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great alternative to typical 1st person games, December 10, 2000

By 

Gwac (The Dark Side) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thief: The Dark Project (CD-ROM)

I have never really been a fan of the super gory violent first person games. Perhaps its because I'm not that great at them. Anyway, I bought thief knowing it would be different from those games. How different, I had yet to find out. Perhaps the best example of these differences is that on the "expert" level of difficulty, one of the requirements is that you DON'T kill people. This makes the game much more difficult, but also rewarding. I really liked everything about thief except, perhaps, the graphics (which I still thought were okay). First, the concept of it is brilliant. While I understand that stealing is wrong, I have come to realize the exhilaration of it. It's not the fact that you found and stole something that is awesome; its the odds that you overcame to retrieve it. This is a very addictive game.

Plot/Story: I was impressed with the storyline. You are constantly being surprised by things that don't go the way they're supposed to, and you never knew what's going to happen next. There's really no way you would be able to predict the ending until you get to the last couple levels.

Gameplay: You are constantly being challenged by the environment and enemies. While the human enemies could be smarter at times, generally, they present enough challenge. I was very happy with the Normal/Hard/Expert level choices. Even before I had beat the game on normal, I found myself going back to earlier levels and playing them on Hard or Expert level. Also, you will learn to rely less on maps, and more on visual familiarity with the environment (and a compass, if you want). This is because the maps fit the technology level of the imaginary time period of the game: simple and basic. No fancy arrows tell you where you are. One thing that really frustrated me was how you have to reload the level every time you want to go back to a save point. This is especially common in this game since so many things can go wrong. I know other games have overcome this obstacle, and wish this one would have.

Graphics: While the graphics are functional, and sometimes entertaining, the complex environments deserve better. Thief is the kind of game where there is a lot of atmosphere; and I feel this could have been enhanced with better graphics. Perhaps the most dissapointing would be the cutscenes. The're essentially slideshows with a minimal amount of animation. Plus the resolution is bad. Maybe this was a low-budget project or something. I don't really care all that much. I just know that they could have done better and should do better in the future.

Sound: Unlike a lot of games, the sound is essential to surviving and succeeding in Thief. It helps to have nice speakers or nice headphones. I have used big headphones that cover the ears, and its an engrossing experience.

So, in conclusion, besides a few bickers of mine, I thought it was an exceptional game, and based on the price, should be bought by anyone with an interest in it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFULLY ATMOSPHERIC AND ADDICTIVE!, May 8, 2000

By 

"bresia" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thief: The Dark Project (CD-ROM)

This game is wonderfully original, instead of the usual hack, slash and splatter type games so popular today Thief attempts to use a more stealthy (is that a word? ) approach to reaching your various goals, this game actually encourages you to AVOID possible confrontations and gets you to THINK about the best strategy to use in any given situation. Killing is DISCOURAGED (what a refreshing change! ), however circumstances my arise where it is your only option, (but always remember your a THIEF not a MURDERER! ). Instead of relying on the biggest baddest weapons, your given various tools and run of the mill weapons like a sword, blackjack (my absolute favourite! )and bow and arrows of varying types (only 3 can kill, the water arrows + holy water, kills the undead, broad arrows for anything living and some undead, and fire arrows anything bar ghosts).

Thief has many unique features, its use of sound which is brilliant, (its vital in the success of each mission), you get to hear your footsteps or the guards walking around on various surfaces and listen to them talking about things that may aid you in your missions, you can tread quitely through the streets or attempt to cross loud metal floors (keep some moss arrows handy!), any sounds you make could give your enemies warning of your intruderous prescence, this creates such an atmosphere of reality that you cant help but be absorbed into the game. I loved hearing the sound of swords clashing, and water arrows splashing its cool, I especially loved the dark shadows, where I could hide and sneak about under the guards noses, or to attack them with any weapon while concealed, the use of leaning is brilliant, want to peek around a corner, or get a better view of something, heck you can even use anything in your inventory while leaning! This game is everything and more, Its pretty close to being perfect, it has only some minor flaws, Graphically it isnt as great as some other games, the guard AI could use a boost, like how they react to a torch going out, that should be a warning signal louder than a siren (or maybe the wind just blew it out? ) the climbing action was awkward to use at times and the over use of the undead creatures was perhaps inappropriate and uneccessary, I prefer skulking about fat rich merchants homes or their place of business and robbing them blind!

What stood out most was Garret and the music, (that opening intro is fantastic! ) that is what drew me first to the game, there is so much more to describe to Thief virgins out there, I hope you get yourself a copy of this truely brilliant game, you wont regret making this a permanent addition to your gamers collection! .

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS GAME IS THE BEST GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED!, November 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thief: The Dark Project (CD-ROM)

Okay, well, for starters, this game is the best game I've ever played. A few reasons for this, number one, the graphics are so real, that they even scared me..:) The music is very well put together with the missions, and it's just good music to have in this game. Garrett talks at certain parts of the game, you can listen to some guards' conversations. I think this game is VERY well put together. The music goes really well with the missions, and even scares me.. I'm serious, if you're sitting alone in the dark playing this game, guards will scare you, and you will sweat. :) well, I did..

You play a young thief named Garrett. He's very cool about the whole thief thing. I don't know if I'd be the same way.. I mean going into the catacombs with a roomfull of zombies and hardly any holy water. Not my thing...

Garrett talks at certain times during the game. During the first mission he does, and I think he does at every mission.. Sometimes it shocks you, cause don't really expect it, but if you listen to him, he might tell you something important.

You can also listen to some of the guards conversations.. Sometimes you have to, to know where they'll be or, where they're going. I just can't believe how real it is..

Speaking of reality, the thing I liked about the first mission, is the realness of it.. When you go through the game, there are some creatures that you know don't exist, and that kind of takes away from it.. What I thought was one of "Thief"'s best qualities was the realness of the whole thing. There's zombies, and cray-monsters, and little dinosaur looking things, and you know that they never existed. But the humans make it very realistic. Oh well..

There's just two problems.. They're not even problems really.. The first "problem" is the level of "guard" the guards put up. If they don't know you are there, you could probably kill them with one arrow, if you do it precisely.. If they are aware of your presence, it usually takes about 5 or 6 of the same arrows to kill the guard. A really good way to kill a guard when he knows you're there, is hide in a dark place.. but make sure that he doesn't see you go there, or you're finished.. That's the other "problem" it's amazing how smart these guards are sometimes. If a guard sees you, and you run away from him, and close doors behind you, and hide in a very concealed place, he'll still find you exactly and pin you against the wall.. I don't understand that personally, but i guess they have their guard up. :) Sorry... These "problems" don't really affect the game at all. They are just minor setbacks. I mean, nothing's perfect right?

This is a game of stealth. Garrett's NOT a fighter. Not by any means. If you try to fight a crowd of guards, go fit your coffin now. One really good thing about this game is that you can save whenever you want. I love that about this game. I hate looking for savepoints like you do in some other games. I want to be able to save it whenever I want, that's great.

Sometimes, you have to kill guards, while sometimes you just let them pass and walk by slowly. The moral of this game is making sure that the guards didn't even know you were there. Hence "THIEF" if they knew you were there, then you probably have a lesser chance of getting away. Anyway, I love this game more than any other game I've played in my entire lifetime. I give it the hightest number of stars I can possibly give it.

Have a great time with this game :) I know I have. Enjoy