Even after all of these years, it's tough to cite a game that compares to its masterfully crafted level design. Who knew that a simple warehouse level could be turned into something fun, and can still remain fun after seven years.

It's also aged pretty damn well, the proof being that this is the first time I've played numero two. There are still many things Ubisoft has to learn from it, most particularly about the level design and its non-linearity.

A forced first-person perspective means no cheapo-camera tricks to see what's around the corner...which also means that we have the privelege of a proper leaning system. I'm not too sure on how many games have done it since Thief 2, but not many have lean right, left, and forward. Even though recent games like Half-Life 2 have absolutely no need for them, it would be nice to have that extra control over your in-game avatar.

The game also does a very good job of giving you varying degrees of control over your movement. There are three speed levels for crouching and standing, and with some minor tweaking the inconveniences of digital buttons isn't too noticeable.

The AI is fairly good. Overall the game is harder with regards to staying undetected, but it also provides several different methods of fishing yourself out of dangerous situations. Unfortunately, the game is devoid of any acrobatics, but this, along with lockpicking, are totally justified by the context of the game. Garrett is a thief, period; not to mention this isn't the modern age, and judging by logic I'd hazard a guess that lockpicks aren't nearly as complicated as you might expect.

Visuals are fairly mediocre, which is to be expected. Music is useful, but not intrusive, just as it should be (although to be honest Chaos Theory had a stunning soundtrack, despite being somewhat intrusive). Art design within the game is fairly meh so far, but the cutscenes are really something to behold. The personality of The City, of Garrett, and the whole dark and cynical atmosphere is just great.

Speaking of Garrett, he's hilariously cynical, and the voice actor was perfectly cast. Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Thief...the voice acting for all three main characters is perfectly done. My standards are definitely astronomical in these respects.

My only real problem with the game is a lack of connection between the story and the gameplay. MGS was overly annoying with its approach, featuring a million too many codec calls and what have you; Splinter Cell did a really nice job with its own seamless "codec" calls. Garrett's monologues do exist, although they are fairly scarce to this point. It is sort of justified by the context of the game, since Garrett is without a team to back him up. I've been told that Thief 1 does a much better job with the story, so I'll definitely have to look into that.