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Thief: Deadly Shadows - Who's Played It?

MaddenNFL64

Member
Thief: Deadly Shadows Official Website

Garrett about to drop the giant hammer wielding guy
37.jpg

Hiding from the crappy private security
43.jpg

Looks like a ritzy joint... Can't wait to steal everything not nailed down!
42.jpg


Badass
26.jpg



It's probably what i've always felt a 'real' stealth game would be like. By 'real' I mean, it's what the game is predicated on. If you don't sneak around, or behind the big men, you have no chance to live, let alone win. It's usually better to just sneak away from a fight, then try to end it with your little dagger against thier swords, sledgehammers, or arrows :p.

'Master Thief' Garrett (the hooded fella above, and the main protaganist as you might expect) isn't strong, or able to defeat a whole army like other stealhy heroes (unless they're all walking in dimly lit areas, and don't turn around very often ;) ), but he is agile, smart, and very cynical about the world. You really don't mind stealing from grieving widows with this guys attitude surrounding you so much :p.

As you can see, the graphics are very good. Normal mapped models, and dynamic shadows really bring this world alive. The AI is pretty good, but this is a game, and there are predictable patterns to exploit (like guards suddenly saying 'fuck it' to finding you, even though you killed someone 5 minutes ago), but it really wouldn't be a game if that didn't exist. The storyline of Thief: DS is very well written IMO (it gets very unworldly with zombies, ghosts & such, so it's not all about stealing), and the voice acting, especially Garretts', are really good.

It's probably not for everyone since it's much more slow paced than MGS, or SC. But if you don't mind waiting in the shadows for a few minutes to scout someone out, and sneak around them (or stab them in the back of the neck when they're not looking) to steal a golden goblet in a locked chest so you can make some unethical gold, try it out.

If you've played this, or the previous Thief games, or you're thinking of playing it, share your thoughts.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I'm a huge Thief fan, so of course I've played it. :p

While I still prefer Thief 1 and 2 by a bit, Thief DS was not a disappointment. Unlike DXIW, this game really did stay true to the Thief series and delivered quite a cool experience. The biggest problem I had was the amount of loading required. The old Dark Engine was able to pump out some shockingly large locations...but DS isn't able to pull that off.

Thankfully, it still manages to feel like Thief and many of the missions are very well designed. I also really enjoyed the hub like world, despite going in with the expectation that I would not. Oh, and breaking out of prison absolutely rocks. :p

Also unlike DXIW, Thief DS was able to hold a decent framerate most of the time. Perfect? Of course not...but it was quite playable. The sound design, however, was totally on par with the older games (as expected).
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
Yes, Pavelock was quite a treat. I'll bet just about everyone has 'killed' themselves intentionally just to try that out :p.
 

ced

Member
I think I enjoyed the second more too, that really doesnt mean this one wasnt great.

The only thing that hindered this game was its engine, Ive never been a big fan of the unreal engine, and it really showed its negative sides here. Frequent long loads, sloppy sliding animation, I know some of that is developers fault but it seems to be a trademark of that engine.
 

bogg

Member
ced said:
I think I enjoyed the second more too, that really doesnt mean this one wasnt great.

The only thing that hindered this game was its engine, Ive never been a big fan of the unreal engine, and it really showed its negative sides here. Frequent long loads, sloppy sliding animation, I know some of that is developers fault but it seems to be a trademark of that engine.
No dude. These things are the trademark of the DX/Thief 3 engine, yea its based on Unreal engine, but Ion Storm changed ALOT and they did a crappy job.
Im not a big Thief fan, but the game is pretty nice. Have'nt finished it yet though.
 
I've a huge fan of the thief series (im actually 2/3 of the way through thief gold atm) Thief:DS is a good game but, I felt the city was extremely poorly done. If you play the thief2 level The Life of the Party, you will get a good idea of what the city SHOULD have been. By making the game xbox first Ion Storm basically destroyed the thief universe a little. (I blame eidos for this though.) Don't get me wrong its a good game but could have been a brilliant game if it was made for the pc first. The Cradle is just..... woah. Great level extremely spooky and tense. *walks into the inner cradle* "Hang on a second did i just see some wierd fast beastie run past that doorway.... ohh shit i did"


Good game but the weakest in the series.
 
MaddenNFL64 said:
Walks up to attic.

*knock*

half way up

*knock knock*

3/4ths up

*Knock Knock Knock!*

At door

*BANG BANG BANG BANG!*

:p

I was thinking to myself. Fuck I don't want to go up there but i fucking have to don't I.... fuck
 

TekunoRobby

Tag of Excellence
MrPing1000 said:
(I blame eidos for this though.)
It is Eidos' fault, the exact same with Deus Ex: IW. I imagine you haven't read any of the post mortems or diaries of any involved in the project. They forced development on the Xbox and also forced a lot of changes for Deus Ex to make it more accesible for the console public. Thankfully for Thief III Warren Spector and his dev team fought Eidos every step of the way.

While I've heard some had troubles with loading it never took more than three seconds for anything to load for me in the game.

It's the weakest in the trilogy but just barely. A most welcome end to this excellent trilogy.
 

way more

Member
My only problem was that they took out the rope arrows, I loved those things. Also the maps seemed better, more open and loftier in II.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
I played the XBox version for a bit and made it past the Hammerites and up to the Peagans, need to buy the PC version now that I can finnally PLAY the damn game on it :b
 

Troidal

Member
I love the series. I haven't played much of Thief II, so I can't really make fair comparison with the new one. I like this third one though (playing it on Xbox) so far. I'm still early in the game but I heard they took out the rope arrows replacing them with climbing gloves, what the hell is up with that? (o_o
 

border

Member
I thought it was a great game, and it really puts crap like Splinter Cell to shame. I felt like SC had about 10x more "stand around in shadows" moments....thanks to the fact that there wasn't any decent way to kill anyone from a distance, and so missions with lame "Mission Failure if Discovered/Fatalities" caveats. The pace is certainly slower than a title like Metal Gear, but it's not mind-numbingly slow like SC.

Is it confirmed that the series is now dead?
 
border said:
I thought it was a great game, and it really puts crap like Splinter Cell to shame. I felt like SC had about 10x more "stand around in shadows" moments....thanks to the fact that there wasn't any decent way to kill anyone from a distance, and so missions with lame "Mission Failure if Discovered/Fatalities" caveats. The pace is certainly slower than a title like Metal Gear, but it's not mind-numbingly slow like SC.

Is it confirmed that the series is now dead?


Well the only way i could see it continuing now is if....

That the girl that tries to steal from Garret at the end because the main character, it wouldn't be the same as good old synical Garret though. The ending was brilliant though, things went full circle :D
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
MrPing1000 said:
Well the only way i could see it continuing now is if....

That the girl that tries to steal from Garret at the end because the main character, it wouldn't be the same as good old synical Garret though. The ending was brilliant though, things went full circle :D

Maybe they could make Garrett & the girl both playable characters. Like RE2, they would share the same story, but take different paths to the conclusion :). Garrett will probably a old crotchety bastard heh.
 
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