Customer Reviews

Thief: Deadly Shadows

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

Most people, I have noted, who have not played this game ALL the way through, usually give this game bad marks. The story here is far superior to anything on the market (yes, Percy, that includes Splinter Cell and Syphon Filter... BOTH of which were released way after the first game in the Thief franchise.
Garrett is easily the most endearing character in this game, and voice actor Stephen Russel absolutely shines as our aloof, embittered mercenary.
The sound is absolutely phenomenal, and one reason ANYONE should play this is because this game contains one of the top three levels EVER MADE in a video game, unfortunately, this level (The Shalebridge Cradle) is near the end, and the impatient and Attention-Defecite Afflicted (Again, like Percy) may be too frustrated by not seeing blood and flying heads to continue that long. This level is a masterpiece, as is the game as a whole. It is the most realistic simulation of what true medieval thievery would be like... but don't expect a huge body count... after all, you're a thief, not Rambo.

All in all, an absolute epic that you will be tempted to play at least twice.

I was a little nervous about this game coming from a new developer. But I wasn't let down. I've played the other Thief games and I am a huge fan of the series. It's basically the same game as the others with a few exceptions.

The city hub idea is good-though it seems little once you've been through it couple of times and get used to the maps. The city is also broken up into sections so if you want to go from one to the other you're faced with load times which are a little long and can take you out of the game. The framerate on the Xbox version is a little slow to accomodate the excellent lighting architecture-but it's barely noticeable and a very minor complaint. The enemy A.I. is better this time around-they notice when lights are out or items are missing and will alert their buddies to help search for you-but only for a short while as they tend to 'forget' that they are searching for intruders and continue with whatever they were doing. Good for the clumsy gamer, but not very realistic. A 'faction' element has been added that basically just adds some side quests in order to get Garrett back in good standing with a couple of factions. It's a good idea, it just hasn't been fully developed and adds almost nothing to the game asit doesn't effect the missions. We'll see if they can improve on it for the next Thief game.

The levels are actually pretty big and non-linear with lots of objectives and there's a ton of gameplay. The story moves along quite well within these objectives. The orphanage (where I'm at now) is freakin creepy and a lot of fun. Every mission has been a lot of fun up to now and you're not just doing the same things over and over, there's plenty of variety.

If you have a PC (that can handle the game!) and an Xbox and want this game, buy the PC version. I've heard it's better (and cheaper!). I've played the other Thief games on the PC and decided to give the console version a try. I'm not disappointed, but if I was to but it again I'd go for PC.

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.

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.

I've never really played any of the other 'Thief' games for the PC. The closest I came was on a demo disc that was included with my PC version of 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul' (I also have the Sega Dreamcast version of OTNS and that game alone is one of the major reasons to have owned that ill-fated console; I still have mine and, after all these years, it works great). I liked what I saw, but at the time my playing method for any game was to hope my health could take it, with cheat codes if I could find them, bullrush in and hope I killed everything in sight before moving on to the next area. Well, to my surprise, that doesn't seem to work on a stealth-based game. So, I decided to put the demo down and focus on other types of games.

Along comes this maverick company by the name of Ion Storm who produced a game called 'Deus Ex: The Conspiracy' for both the PC and PS2. Its gameplay was absolutely novel for it's time and it launched IS's reputation as one of the premier companies to watch. The game's sequel, 'Deus Ex: Invisible War', for the original xbox cemented that reputation, so when they announced they were coming out with the next Thief game, I eagerly waited for it to appear on the shelves.

Now, when this game initially came out, it ran the gamut of bad reviews, but I attribute that to the fact that no game that came out under the Eidos aegis at the time seemed able to be seen in a positive light. Being that I typically root for the underdog and the fact that I like to make up my own mind on such things, I decided to purchase Thief: Deadly Shadows and see for myself. It had two things going for it. First, it was from a company whose games I enjoy immensely, and second, it was fantasy-based. I've been playing the tabletop version of 'Dungeons and Dragons' since the fourth grade, so I love the fantasy genre.

I have to say I haven't been disappointed with this game. Some of the reviewers have compared this to the 'Splinter Cell' franchise. I remind everyone that this franchise pioneered ALL of the stealth-based games, from Splinter Cell to the 'Tenchu' series to 'Hitman'. Deadly Shadows is also much more free-roaming than Splinter Cell if you're not on a specific mission AND gives you more to do in a given area.

GAMEPLAY-5 Stars
I normally like roleplaying games a lot more than the average shooter or action/adventure game, but Thief: Deadly Shadows managed to hit my fun button. First of all, it's not a game based on forced moral judgements. You play a thief, pure and simple, and your job is to make a living by relieving others of their personal belongings. There's a vicarious thrill in doing something you know as 'wrong'. Understand, I'm not advocating that ANYONE take what I've written in this review as a prompt to go out and commit illegal acts. That said, the only moral judgements should be made by parents who don't want their kids playing this game to be exposed to this kind of venue because they feel they might be unduly influenced towards a life of crime. Additionally, you DO have a choice in how 'evil' you want to be over the course of the game. You don't HAVE to kill any of your victims. You have the option to sneak up behind them and render them unconscious by hitting them with your trusty blackjack. Thief: Deadly Shadows keeps a running tally of the number of people you kill or render unconscious as well as the total amount of loot you score and the damage you take.

Thieving is by nature almost wholly urban-oriented. You're not going to find very many riches hunting around the odd farm house out in the countryside. Therefore, this game gives you a city to run around in. It's a bit restricted at first, but as you progress in the story, more districts of town open up for you, giving you the opportunity to try your luck in areas ranging from a castle belonging to a decadent family at the onset to the docks (the low-rent part of town) to a forgotten subterranean ruin inhabited by strange creatures, a sailor's house on an atoll overlooking the bay, a couple of haunted areas -a ghost ship (The Abysmal Gale) and a former orphanage/insane asylum (Shalebridge Cradle), respectively- to the well-to-do suburbs where the high and mighty of the community stroll along well-lit, well-patrolled streets.

Ion Storm's philosophy (before the company was dissolved by Eidos) was that you get to choose how you play the game. That's why the Deus Ex games were as open-ended as they they were. They carried that over into this game as well in a lesser form. You can play the game in either a first- or third-person perspective based on your preferences. This is also one of about five games that I've run across where, if you are playing in first-person, you look down and actually see your torso, legs and feet. Also, as the story progresses and you're assigned various missions by the secret society known as the Keepers, there are numerous times where several missions are presented at the same time and you have the option to choose which one to undertake first. And also later on in the game, when you have the gold for it, you can purchase a set of climbing gloves that allow you to scale up the sides of buildings to the rooftops so that you're not limited to skulking around in the shadows of the city streets avoiding the watch.

Another aspect of Thief: Deadly Shadows' open format is that there are two factions, the Hammers (an old-school fire and brimstone 'convert or DIE, scum!' religious order of priests) and the Pagans (a group of nature-loving mystical Luddites). You become involved with them over the course of your adventures. You have the option to perform errands for each one to improve your standing with them, with the benefit of being able to use the resources at their locations should you need them.

Stealth is key when performing in this game. I learned in the course of my first playthrough that I couldn't just strut through town like I owned the place and cut everyone down that got in my way. If you kill a guard or citizen, they let out a loud scream that draws the attention of passersby before falling in a pool of their own blood, which incidentally stays there to put the watch on notice that something bad has happened. Leaving a body, either unconscious or dead, out in the open for anyone to stumble on is not the smartest thing to do, so if you take someone out, make sure there's a shady spot to put them in so they don't get noticed. There are also no end to the guards for a given district. You can't remove them all and if you try, you can bet that when you return to that area a new guard will have have appeared to take his place and THAT one might just be looking for you. As a thief, the first thing you learn is patience. And it's not like you aren't given the tools to ply your trade. There are several different types of arrows you can fire that will aid you in your missions, allowing you to snuff out torches, lay a soft covering of moss over loud metal grates (and those moss arrows can be shot at opponents to distract them for a quick getaway; I think it's kind of funny to watch them staggering around, gagging and choking) or cause a loud fireworks display in the distance to draw attention away from you. You also have flash bombs to blind enemies and jars of oil to make them slip and fall. If all else fails, you DO have your trusty dagger. For any of the undead you might run across, you can either pick up jars of holy water or shoot fire arrows at them, both of which are really the only way to take them down for good. Your prosthetic eye (you ended up obtaining this from a previous adventure) is handy for seeing in the dark and zooming in on targets.

The people wandering around also notice when changes are made. If you snuff out a candle or torch or leave a door open or the lid to a treasure chest, house servants or guards might see reason to search for you. If they spot you, someone will give chase and keep after you for some time after you lose them. Keep to the shadows.

One of the main complaints other reviewers gave this game was that the areas were tiny. Granted, but considering the technical capabilities of the hardware, that may be all the designers could put in for a level. There's still enough space to roam around in to keep me occupied for an average of about 15 hours per playthrough. That's almost twice the length of time the typical shooter will take me from start to finish. In those areas, there are taverns and homes you can break into on each day of game time to grab some loot to foist off at the nearest fence. Given the area, it may take some time to steal all the goods, like in the museum you break into during one mission in the rich part of town. You can also spend your time wandering around picking the citizens' pockets for extra swag. Another complaint I read somewhere is that the game takes place only at night. I'm not quite sure what that reviewer was thinking, but as a thief it stands to reason that you really don't want to try stealing anything in broad daylight.

STORY-5 Stars
The story of Thief: Deadly Shadows takes place over a week of game time. You are Garrett, master footpad and former member of the Keepers, the secret guardians of the City. You're simply trying to make your way through life doing what you do and not get thrown into prison. While getting rid of some treasure at a local fence, you receive a letter from one of your former associates to meet you in the town plaza. It seems they have a job for you. You reluctantly accept on the condition that it might be reasonably profitable, but soon find yourself tied up in an apocalyptic prophecy and to keep your hide intact, you're forced to play along.

The plot is reasonably intricate for a game of this scale and it contains enough twists and turns that you don't end up guessing the climax halfway through. Ion Storm was always known for their complex and intelligently written themes. This one doesn't disappoint.

SOUND-4 Stars
Stephen Russel reprises his role for the voice acting of Garrett. I personally doubt they could've found a better candidate. The pitch and timber of his voice PERFECTLY convey the attitude of someone who wants to keep out of the public eye.

The voice acting of the others they hired on to do the supporting parts are also of very high quality, although there is one guard I can't help but laugh at when he talks in his "Duh... Which way did he go, George?" manner (you'll know which one I'm talking about when you play the game). His prose reminds me of my days working with the inbred idiots I used to at my old lumber yard job. The music score and the ambient sound effects set the mood without fault. The score is not typically classical but it does convey a feeling that might be best described as 'post-contemporary medieval'. Along with the local light sources, sound in this game is directly relevant to your ability to remain undetected. A metal grate is going to be a lot louder when your shoes slap against it than that soft patch of gravel. This game is masterful in pushing you to take notice of your surroundings at all times. You ARE a thief, after all.

The one reason I give this section 4 stars instead of 5 is because of a glitch that causes the sound to cut out at times, usually at the least opportune moment. It can be incredibly frustrating when you try to break out of prison (especially when it's pretty much ALL metal surfacing) and not be able to hear the jailers coming around the corner AND you're working hard trying to reclaim the gear they've confiscated from you, so you have no weapons to defend yourself with.

GRAPHICS-5 Stars
This was one of the first games to employ dynamic lighting and shadows as part of its visual repertoire. Fires cast flickering shadows across you and anything else next to you. The color palette is rather subdued but I'm thinking the designers made it that way to emphasize the nocturnal atmosphere. The artwork is pretty much high quality throughout and runs close to the limits of the console's capabilities (the xbox contains one 733 megahertz processor, 64 megs of DDR SDRAM, a 16 megabyte Nvidia video card with an 8 gigabyte capacity hard drive; all of the games played on it have been optimized with its shortcomings in mind). It's also one of the first games to utilize ragdoll physics. There is very little drop in the framerate, even when you have multiple enemies closing in on you. The only time I had any problems on that front is when I stashed all of the bodies in a particular area in one hiding spot. The processor had one HELL of a time trying to animate them all when they were piled on top of one another. Still, Thief: Deadly Shadows does its job well in immersing you in the fantasy backdrop the game is set in and keeping you there.

REPLAY-3 Stars
There IS a lot to do in this game. However, it's only set up in a single-player format and after a while, the areas of the city become pretty recognizable. I can understand the other's reviews that stated this game is good for a single walkthrough, so I guess that any replay stems from whether you're the type of person who plays through a game once and gives it away or can only watch a movie a single time through before becoming bored with it, or if you're someone who gets something new each time you repeat a given task. I'm in the latter category. I've played the game through six times because I have a good time just running around the different areas and exploring. I guess you could see how Thief would play out if you chose not to make friends after all with the two factions for a little extra challenge.

OVERALL-5 Stars
I miss Ion Storm and the games they produced because they were not simple games. They were rather complicated, but they were written intelligently with no consideration of 'dumbing' them down for a lazy audience who is only interested in push-button shooters that are 100% action and 0% substance. Their games made you think. Thief: Deadly Shadows follows true to form, and for that, I give it two thumbs up.

If Warren Spector ever decides to re-up the team and start producing again, all I have to say is, if you keep makin' 'em, I'll keep buyin' 'em.

Peace.

Title: Thief 3: Deadly Shadows

Description: The popular PC title goes to a console port for the first time. This series is argued by many to be the first "stealth based" game title as we are seeing it in the marketplace today with titles like Splintercell and elements of Manhunter. You play as Garret a gifted Thief that runs through a city pick pocketing, mugging, and burglarizing buildings and getting deeply involved in a sinister plot with an unseen foe.

Platform: PC and XBOX (reviewed)

Learning Curve: 6- For those of you new to the series like myself it'll take some time getting the feel for this type of game. You have to sneak and be quiet and simple tasks may take time, as you need to always evaluate your situation and environment. Aggression is discouraged. Garret is a gifted thief, but a relatively unskilled fighter. Enemies can kill you easily so they have to be sneak past or knocked out for you to advance in the game.

Replay Value: 5- It's fun to revisit missions on more difficult settings to really test your skill. There are also alternate means to perform tasks on select missions and you can retry them differently to make things interesting. Overall the replay is about average.

Difficulty: 7- There are certain parts of the game that are very difficult to do stealthfully. Expect to mess up and get killed on occasion, but this is natural. It is difficult, but manages to keep from being frustrating.

Guide: There is a guide available from Prima. I have mixed feelings on how much it helped me because the information seemed jumbled. I'd almost say skip buying it, but some of the visuals help to identify parts of your missions. Those who don't choose this route will find some nice text guides online.

Pros: Nice lighting and environment, nice voice acting, great story, "different" kind of gameplay, gameplay pretty much non-linear, and addictive quality gaming.

Cons: You can't swim and I got tired of drowning, Game bugs that can sometimes interfere with gameplay and at worse corrupt your save file and wipe out your information forcing you to start over (remember to keep multiple save files,) and the climbing gloves are a bit sloppy to use and you find yourself tumbling over walls rather than climbing down them.

Time Expected to Invest: One month for a nice run through. I sunk over 40 hours into my game at least. This time should be adjusted to different types of players, but I feel the game is pretty lengthy by today's standard and shouldn't disappoint many.

Retail Value: $49.99

Suggested Purchase Price: If you can find this title in the mid-30 dollar range than bravo. If not the retail price is a bit pressing to some, but this title is nice and I'd purchase it before I'd buy 3 poor quality 15 dollar titles.

Overall: 9- This is a pretty solid game in the fun factor category and will be unique to new gamers to the series like myself. I recommend this title and if you're just curious rent it and see if it meets your tastes. I think open-minded gamers will enjoy it.

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.

ok lets get straight to the point. As a game taken on its own merit, this is a 4 verging on 5. However as part of the Thief legacy, originally started by Looking Glass studio's classic Thief: The Dark Project, the game falls flat on its face.

The most serious problem is the small levels. They are tiny and extremely linear. No longer will you be exploring and getting lost in the Thief world. Sorely missed from this edition are some of the great gadgets from the earlier games, such as the rope arrow and scouting orbs. Instead we have the completely stupid climbing gloves.

Now the idea of having the City as an open area where you can blackjack and pickpocket to your heart's content was wonderful, but the City - like the other levels - seems stunted and abnormally tiny. Not what you want a sprawling City to feel like. Levels are very atmospheric and full of tension, but not even the likes of Shalebridge Cradle come close to matching the genious of 'Return to the haunted Cathedral' or 'Down in the Bonehoard' to name a couple (both of which to be found in the original Thief).

Add to this poor AI and guards that seem to have taken too many stupidity pills and its not looking good. These guards will all too easily give up. In previous Thief's you had to hide from them and tension often hit incredibly high levels. There was nothing more enjoyable than having stolen the loot, running down to a cellar or whatever only to find no way out and hiding in a corner while a couple of guards get perillessly close trying to find you. Will they give up searching or is the game up? In Deadly Shadows, they will walk approx 10 feet and go back to patrolling.

My final thoughts on Thief: Deadly Shadows is that the design team either willfully set out to create a diluted game that would appeal to the largest spectrum of players or their development time was cut short. I constantly felt like I was playing a demo. Looking Glass must be rolling in their graves...
However, Thief: Deadly Shadows offers a good bit of entertainment for as long as lasts, and is more compelling than probably 70% of the games on the market.