Thief: The Dark Project

Summary

Genre: Action
Number of players: 1

Review

The first-person shooter genre has undoubtedly been over-represented on the PC for some time, with numerous titles, such as Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Unreal... the list goes on. And the premise is always the same - you are an almost-unstoppable warrior armed with a huge variety of over-the-top weaponry designed to carve its way through hordes of enemies in a matter of moments. Repetitive, maybe, but it's popular, addictive, and easy to play. What better way to spend your time than mindlessly blowing away aliens and solving puzzles no more taxing than pushing a switch or jumping across a pit?

Well, you could try playing Thief.

Thief is a first-person game too, but in this particular game you are not an unstoppable fighting machine. In fact, you are little better in combat than the standard bad guy, and should you ever engage in battle with more than one enemy, you will hardly ever win. The premise in Thief is to avoid combat instead of seeking it out - instead, your task is to sneak through the levels remaining undetected.

It's an original and intriguing premise - but how does it play?

Gameplay: The short answer is that it takes a novel concept and executes it very, very well indeed. That's not to say that Thief is for everybody - many people who are used to the combat and action of your standard shooter will find Thief's prolonged periods of inaction to be boring and perplexing. And those who just can't resist the urge to go charging into a group of guards with their sword drawn will get tired of being constantly killed. But if you get into the Thief mode, you'll quickly be drawn in, and will have a great time.

As mentioned, your objective in Thief is to remain hidden at all times. This doesn't mean merely steering clear of the many guards and creatures who patrol the levels, since it's unavoidable that there are times when you have to engage them. However, it's crucial that you do so as quickly and quietly as possible in order to avoid attracting the attention of other guards. You carry a few weapons with you for this purpose - a sword, a blackjack, a bow and several types of arrow. Killing a guard outright is seldom recommended, as this makes a lot of noise and often leaves incriminating blood stains. If you can get right behind a guard without being seen, a quick knock with the blackjack will render him unconscious with little fuss. Of course, you still need to move the body somewhere out of the way...

The sneaking aspect of the game depends on two things - visibility and audibility. Onscreen at all times is the 'visibility gem' - which changes colour depending on how visible you are. Once you get used to reading the gem, you can easily see at all times how easy it is for enemies to spot you. If you are standing in deep shadow, the gem will be black; if you are running under a streetlight, it will glow white. Other factors such as whether you have a weapon drawn, and whether you are crouching or upright also affect your visibility. If you are highly visible, then any guards looking in your direction will spot you - and then they'll either charge to attack, yell for backup, or both.

How noisy you are also affects your concealment. The floor surfaces all give out noises at varying intensities, and while guards won't hear you when you move across carpet or grass, if they are anywhere near you when you step onto tiles or metal grating, you are in deep trouble. Again, you can help out by walking instead of running, which lowers the noise you make.

To make your job easier, you can create your own shadows and quiet floors by using water arrows to douse flaming torches, and using moss arrows to create a soft layer of moss on the ground. But you only have a few of these arrows, so you must use them wisely. Other arrows, such as rope arrows, noisemaker arrows and knockout gas arrows also help you out, but again, these too are in short supply.

As a thief, in addition to completing your main objectives in each level, you also gather as much loot as you can, spread throughout the levels. This is used to purchase extra equipment for your next mission, and a nice idea is that your money total does not carry over to any subsequent missions, thus encouraging you to buy and use all your equipment instead of needing to hoard it for later missions.

It's a really different game, but it plays really, really well. If you're like me and get a kick out of the sneaking and hiding, you'll find the game almost all you want it to be. With a few minor complaints, however. The biggest problem is the frustratingly long loading times, and the jerkiness apparent during gameplay. To be fair, this is a problem only for those of us with slower computers, but it's still worth noting if you aren't lucky enough to have access to a fast PC. Another gripe is that while some missions are outstandingly fun, there are many more that really let the game down, in that you are forced to do things that the game really wasn't designed for, such as the Lost City level, where you must make a number of pin-point accurate jumps to ledges and ropes, hanging above fatal drops. More often than not you'll fall to your doom again and again and have to wait ten minutes to reload each time. Aaaaargh!

Another problem is that some missions feature hordes of undead monsters instead of guards, and these missions, again, take away from the far more enjoyable standard burglaries. The undead seem to be able to see and hear you even when you aren't visible, and stealth is not an option. The game would have been far, far better if these missions had been omitted, and instead more of the mansion-looting levels had been included.

But taken as a whole, the game plays extremely well, and is loads of fun.

Challenge: Challenge and long-term appeal are also one of the game's strong points. There are a total of 12 missions, which may perhaps seem a little short. However, each mission can be attempted on any of three difficulty settings, and even the easiest setting is hard enough.

On the easiest setting, you have only a handful of objectives to complete - sometimes your only goal is to collect the level's target object. The guards are also weaker and less plentiful, and the loot is generally easier to collect. However, the intermediate setting introduces more objectives, and there are more patrolling guards - and often enough, there are whole new areas opened up with treasures to collect. However, the real challenge comes from the 'expert' difficulty setting, which is the most rewarding to complete. In expert mode, not only are there more guards, but you usually have to play the mission without killing a single one of them! This ups the tension dramatically, since you can't knock out any guard who is aware of your presence, so if you're ever spotted, things can get really tough. Sneaking around with this knowledge is what really gives Thief its edge. Even more objectives are thrown your way too, requiring you to explore the level more thoroughly. Master players will find that they'll get all the challenge they want on this setting.

Replay value is also high in Thief. Because, as a rule, there's no set path or order to do things in the levels, you can try many different strategies to get through a level. Often, the equipment you choose before you begin the level can open up whole new plans for your mission - with plenty of moss and water arrows at your disposal, you can cross tiled and well-lit corridors instead of taking a longer route; or you could buy some gas mines and knock out small groups of guards at once. All the possibilities make for totally different experiences each time - and of course if your plan goes wrong, you'll have to think pretty fast to get out of the situation.

Graphics: The graphics are so-so. With a graphics accelerator they look pretty good, with realistic enough scenery and backdrops; with just the minimum PC requirement hardware, it's perhaps not so good. The character animation isn't bad as such, but perhaps a little stiff. However, the overall feel of the game is moody and shadowy, and complaints about the lack of pretty colours aren't really relevant. The graphics set the tone and the atmosphere perfectly competently, and frankly you're more interested in whether there are any guards nearby than the design on the wall beside you.

Sounds: Sound is another area where Thief really shines. For starters, the voice acting is really good, particularly the voice of the protagonist, Garrett. The guards and other characters all talk to each other and themselves with some occasionally hilarious dialogue, and, again, this all serves to draw you into the game.

But more impressive than the content of the speech is how it's used. In a game like this, knowing exactly where your enemies are is a must, and Thief obliges kindly. You'll quickly be able to tell how far away the guards are by listening to the noise of their footsteps and the volume of their muttering, plus it's easy to distinguish what kind of surface they're walking on by the sound the footsteps make. The same is true for your own footsteps, and if you're making too much noise, it's time to get off that marble floor.

Another useful factor is listening to the various levels of guard anxiety should you inadvertantly be seen by one. A comment like "Hello? Is someone there?" means that the guard doesn't really suspect he saw anything; while "Come on out then!" suggests he's pretty confident something's not right - but not certain. And if you hear "This is gonna be fun!" followed by footsteps approaching, it's time to get the heck out of there.

All in all, the sound effects are really effective. And the 'music', if you can call it that, changes from area to area, and is tense and atmospheric. Top stuff.

Summing up: A whole new style of game, and it's all the better for it. It plays really well, is moody and involving, and if you can stomach the slow loading time and occasional jerkiness, it's easily good enough to overcome its few faults. One great game.


Gamesmark: 95%


Reviewer: Maverik