Clunky Controls, But Otherwise, A Brilliant Game
Another cool thing is that this game is quite open-ended. While you are required to finish missions and steal loot, you can also wander around between missions, whether you wanna find other loot, buy more equipment, or have fun sneaking around, killing whoever you feel like (And sometimes taking loot of them as well). The only thing that's a bit annoying is that even if you aren't stealing things or committing crimes, city guards will come after you even if you've done nothing wrong (since you have a bounty on your head, and there are wanted posters everywhere). This may not be a bother if enemies' AI was a bit better. While you can stealth-kill guards or knock them out by sneaking up on them, if they detect you and decide to attack, they become extremely hard to kill. Blackjack is pretty useless outside of stealth, and the dagger won't do much damage either. You can also shoot an unsuspecting guard in the face from 2 feet away and often-times, he'll stay standing and turn around and kick your ass. While it's more realistic this way, it doesn't feel balanced. In most cases, whenever a guard or any other enemy comes after me, I'd just have to drop a flash bomb and get away. In the confusion that follows, you could easily end up wasting flash bombs on pesky assailants. Even more annoying is that if one character spots you and nobody else is around, nearly EVERY other character in the area know exactly where you are, regardless of the fact that they didn't see you. I guess this is because the game is a few years old and maybe the AI is a bit stale. But, when you're hiding silently in a dark corner, far away from bad guys, they can randomly wander right to you, bump against you, and attack. However, you could be in the exact same situation later on, and have somebody walk right into you without noticing. This makes things unpredictable, but not in a good way. The best thing you can really do is stand still and pray you aren't given away. Some games like Splinter Cell are plagued by this too, but that still doesn't cut it for me, even in 2004. There are some nice touches too though. As mentioned before, NPCs notice blood on the floor, but that isnt all. If you extinguish a candle, fireplace, or torch, people might notice and relight it, making the player have to use a bit of strategy. In Splinter Cell and Metal Gear, you ever see someone change a broken lightbulb? Didn't thing so. Some folks even carry torches around. You could be hiding in a shadow and someone with a torch may near your hiding-spot, making things really tense and exciting. Besides Splinter Cell, you might compare this to the Deus Ex games as well (as you should, since it's from the same developer). While being open-ended, the graphics look fairly nice, with some very pretty light and shadow effects (Some of the best I've ever seen). It looks even cooler with bloom effects on, resembling DX: Invisible War even more.
Despite how good the game looks, it's also very optimized and runs rather well on some of the slower machines as well. Given, I'm using a 512mb video card with 1.5GB of RAM, it also seemed pretty stable on my older systems, even with the visuals bumped up a bit.
One of Thief's flaws (besides sketchy AI) is that the controls feel a bit clunky, particularly melee combat. While you are discouraged to fight head-on, getting into a fight is a dangerous affair. It isn't because Garrett's not a real tough guy (that's the point) but switching items and weapons in combat is clumsy at best. Rapidly clicking the left-mouse-button is also tedious when in a fight. The other controls aren't too terrible but they could use some work too. Sometimes while sneaking around, movement seems a bit drunken. Sometimes, I found myself having trouble moving if a small object was in the way, even small things like keys and jewels.You'll have to walk around them or pick them up to pass. Picking up objects is a bit weird as well. Rather than carry something around in your hands, it just disappears. Clicking the left mouse button will have Garrett throw it, although there is no animation for this an it just gets launched. Using objects is important though. You can pick up stuff like crates and small barrels and throw them to make a distraction. The physics are top-notch here, and are entertaining to play around with. If you see a big stack of barrels or crates (or other large things) you can walk into them to tip them over to make tons of noise, as well as baffle people. Probably my favorite feature is that you can do missions, but you can also spend loads of time breaking into homes and other establishments to steal loot, which can then be sold to fences (merchants that deal with illegal operations). Thief does this the best, because you might wanna really plan out a heist, since running in like a madman will get you killed or arrested. Games like Oblivion do this quite well too, but Thief feels a bit more elegant and immersive. I can recommend this to anybody, especially to those who enjoy these games with the heightened suspense and tension. While its easy to get caught, it's also pretty damn heart-wrenching. But if you plan on taking Thief: Deadly Shadows for a spin, take your time, and be very patient, since this is an very tough game at times.