Dissapointing in some ways, but still under appriciated.
User Rating: 8.7 | Thief: Deadly Shadows PC
Let me first state that I am a HUGE Thief fan and its my favorite game series of all time. Now some may know that Thief: The Dark Project was the game that really created the whole stealth action Genre. The only reason its not as popular as it should be is because it was released the same year as Half-life. Then the second Game, The Metal Age was released and it pushed Thief several spaces forward and gave on a nice show. This third installment Deadly Shadows pushes the genre many steps forward, but also a few steps back. I'll go by each catagory to review this GAMEPLAY: I admit that the gameplay is kinda dated. This dosen't have to be a bad thing though, cause if you look at it that way then Thief offers a solid sneaking game with all the classic charm to it. It has more complexity to it definantly, however to people who have had their expectations on the Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid level, they may be dissapointed. One thing I love about the gameplay is the non-linar kind of feel to it. For the most part, theres always more then one way to go about a mission. I especially love how inbetween missions, you explore the "hub" of the game, which is the city and all its different quarters. Here you can steal whatever you want, by equipment, and also take part in some little side-quests. While I think though they could have had more side-quests, this still offeres some nice replay value and variety to the gameplay. GRAPHICS: Without a doubt, this is not only the best looking Thief game, but one of the best looking games I have ever played in a number of respects. Definantly the thing this game does an amazing job at that no one should ever deny is the atmosphere, as it portrays really well the gloomy dark setting of the story. Some of the levels are a bit uninspiried, and also some of the character models look weird. However, the atmosphere really sucks you into the setting and gives you an amazing since of gloom, especially in the "Robbing the Cradle" Mission. Without spoiling anything, I will just say I have never been this scared ever in a video game. Not even Silent Hill scared me this much. SOUNDS: Thief has always had some pretty decent ambiance that did a good job at setting the tone. This combined with the atmosphere shows a truely admirable job. The voice acting for the most part is great too, especially voices like Garrett's and Keeper Artimus in my opinion. This game also has really scary sounds in the horror aspects in it, that really can chill you to the bones. VALUE: This game has some really nice production value, however this game does have a number of bugs. Most notable is the A.I. difficulty bug. Heres what I mean. If you start a mission on say hard, not only do the objectives change, but so do the guard awareness and skill. However, if you save and reload, the A.I. skills will reset to the normal setting. This is patched for the PC, though cant say much unfortunantly for the XBox players. This and a few other bugs sadly is the games biggest flaw. OVERALL: While this game definantly has things that set it apart from all the other Stealth games, it also has things that make it kind of dated. This game is definantly worth a try for anyone who likes stealth though, because you are treated to a raw, solid genuine stealth feel and can get a taste of SC's roots. Like I said, this game is kind of under-rated and deserves more attention to it. I admit its not as good as other stealth games in some regards, but that still dosen't change the special place it has in my heart. 
