Thief Gold

by Eidos

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002CF94
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 2 inches
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 26, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,061 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Demanding a better strategy than "find the biggest weapon and blast everything that moves," Thief Gold relies on stealth, wits, and skill to deliver a totally unique adventure thrill. Though it's modeled on the first-person shooters we all know and love, Thief is more accurately described as a first-person sneaker.

You play the role of Garrett, a master thief who becomes entangled in a web of lies, double-crosses, and fanaticism. Each of the game's 12 missions is introduced with a montage of images, accompanied by Garrett's cynical comments. After examining a map and coming up with a general plan of infiltration, you select the special tools of your shadowy trade: a sword, blackjack, rope, magic arrows, and sleeping gas bombs are just a few of the toys at your disposal. In this game, it is generally better to knock an opponent out with a sap than risk a fight, or worse, an alarm, and the items are designed with this strategy in mind. Magic water arrows can be used to extinguish torches, creating pools of concealing shadow. Moss arrows create a blanket of soft fungus to deaden footsteps. This subtle change in available equipment makes all the difference; the shift in character from the marauding death machine of most games to silent burglar heightens game tension and adds a tang of adrenaline.

The graphics are dark, bland, and moody--perfect for a game set in a damp medieval metropolis. You'll want to play Thief Gold in a quiet room with the lights out, as the faintest footstep or dimmest torch flicker may be just the clue you need to find your prize and escape with your life. In fact, paying careful attention to your surroundings is crucial to success; by eavesdropping on some guards' conversation, you may learn that a passage is trapped, or the location of a key. Clues like these will enable a well-equipped and cunning thief to slip in and out of a target building without being seen, without bloodshed--and with the goods. --Rob Lightner

Pros:

• Unique, fun game play
• Brilliant use of graphics and sound to enhance mood
• Innovative equipment

Con:

• Sometimes foolish AI

Product Description

Follow this first-person role playing game through updated missions and new levels: Thieves Guild--Garrett has heard that the Downwind Thieves Guild has pulled off a daring heist, stealing Lord Randall's sapphire vase. However, they are now squabbling among themselves about how to share the loot. Garrett decides to go in and steal it himself. He intends to break in through a gambling den they operate called the Overlord's Fancy. Mages Guild--In the ruined city, the Keeper Chapel revealed that the Mages Tower was the hiding place for the Talisman of Air. Garrett breaks into the tower to steal it. The talisman is being held in the central tower of the Mages Towers and is secured by spells. To free it, Garret has to get one master Mage from each of the towers to stand on a particular pedestal and touch his ring to a symbol. Garrett must find his way to the central library, unlock its doors with items found in the towers, and then unlock the door to the Talisman Room to get the talisman. Songs of the Caverns--Garrett searches for the Talisman of Water, which is hidden in an underground cavern deep below the city. However, he soon learns that someone else has already stolen it, and his only clues as to who it is come from the ravings of a lunatic hermit.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best 3D accelerated adventure title you can buy., November 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thief Gold (CD-ROM)

The best game I have ever played. Period. The best for adventurers, the best for strategists, the best for action gamers. If you have not purchased THIEF yet, go with THIEF GOLD, as it includes three extra (and fantastic) levels at no extra charge. If you already purchased the original, don't worry--you get a $10 rebate in it for already buying it previously, PLUS a $10 rebate off the future release of THIEF II! Going completely against the tired idea of running-around-in-mazes-blasting-things which has already been run into the ground, THIEF requires stealth, care and strategy, requiring you to stay in the shadows, move quietly and carefully, picking off enemies without being discovered. No, it's NOT as easy or boring as it sounds. THIEF is so immersive and involving, so guaranteed to get your blood pumping through you to the point where your face will turn beet red, that it has single-handedly made my fellow game fans, once they discovered it, take former favorite games like UNREAL and QUAKE and either toss them into the garbage or hock them at their local used software store. It's that good. Forget new releases like OMIKRON, THIEF delivers in a way that no other title does, so amazingly well that you will swear you are actually THERE. It's just about worth the purchase of a PC alone just to play it. The must-have for anyone with a 3D acceleration card.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ditto!, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thief Gold (CD-ROM)

I've got to second (and reinforce) everything the reviewer from San Francisco said. There are some great games out there, but when the folks at Eidos released Thief, they got it perfect. The story, the locales in which the story takes place, the cut-scenes which develop the story, the characters and the factions they represent within the story, the music and sound-effects... every facet of this product is top-notch. The game drips with the atmosphere of the world it depicts. When I finished it, I was truly disappointed that it was over. It's that good. The developers at Looking Glass absolutely nailed it with this one.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best overall game I've ever played, January 22, 2000

By 

tropic_of_criticism - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thief Gold (CD-ROM)

Each genre has it's problems. Flight simulators have a difficult time telling stories. Pure adventure games often have "artificial" interfaces that come across feeling far too fake. Strategy games take too long to play. And first person shooters have an inevitable "sameness" to them.

"Thief," happily, avoids the pitfalls of each genre, while borrowing the best qualities from them all. Like the best adventure games, the atmosphere created is so total you can't help but be lost in it. Yet it's not just posh backgrounds and surround sound moodiness: it's a game of strategy. The goal here is to steal, not to kill, and that makes your choices entirely more calculated than is common in action games. If you kill someone, you have to worry about how much noise he'll make in death. You'll have to hide the body. And you'll have to douse the lights so that he won't be able to see and fight back more effectively. It's frequently easier--and smarter--to just walk away than to kill.

In short, this is a game player's game. Once you've been wowed by all the things your computer can do, once you've seen all the pretty new games, once you've shot down your first million starships, THIS is the game you settle into for the long haul.

Be warned, though: "Thief" is so wholly satisfying, it will rob you of the ability to enjoy 90 percent of the games on the market.