THIEF 2 is one of
the very best adventure games I’ve ever played. The only trouble is,
it’s not an adventure game.

THIEF 2 is one of
the very best role-playing games I’ve ever played. The only trouble
is, it’s not a role-playing game.

THIEF 2 is easily
the best action game I’ve ever played. But it’s not exactly an action
game, either.

Then
what the heck is THIEF II: THE METAL AGE? I’ll tell you. It’s
what can happen when a remarkably talented group of game designers
decide to become unfettered by the safe conventions of game genres.
It’s also what can happen when a studio truly listens to the fans
when planning changes for a sequel to a popular game.

When first released at
the end of November 1998, the original THIEF:
THE DARK PROJECT wowed the critics by turning the conventions
of the first-person shooter on its head. Even though it was built
with the structure of a shooter, the point in THIEF was to
avoid confrontation. Your protagonist, Garrett, had many talents
at his disposal, not the least of which was the ability to become
almost invisible if his shadowy hiding place was dark enough. Your
goal was to avoid confrontation, to achieve your goals by stealth
and finesse.

The game drew a lot of
attention from adventure gamers because of its strong story and lack
of blood-and-guts violence. I was a huge fan of the game, but felt
the designers lost their nerve in the last act, when the story devolved
into a much more traditional “kill the monsters” action
game.

The
talented Looking Glass Studios team went back to the drawing board
for the sequel, which was released in February 2000. The first big
favor they did for the fans of the first game was to greatly diminish
the time spent fighting monsters and various types of undead. In Thief
2, you’re almost always sneaking around environments populated by
actual humans and their security devices.

Once again the main character
is the world-weary superthief Garrett, whose talents always seem to
lead him into trouble. Once again the story takes place in a mysterious
unnamed city, a curious place where medieval style and architecture
live alongside growing technological improvements. The events of the
first game are not too long past, and the dominant religious group
The Hammers have been reduced to a powerless remnant. The first few
missions of Thief 2 serve as a sort of warm up to what’s coming:
helping a pair of young lovers get together, and sneaking around a
dockside warehouse. Soon, however, the plot begins to insinuate itself.
There’s a new influence in town, and it’s the Mechanists. The Mechanists
install all sorts of devices that make Garrett’s job harder: electric
eyes, primitive robots, and even creepy androids.

Once again the genius of
the game is in the gameplay itself. A small green jewel at the bottom
center of the screen shows you how well protected you are by shadow.
A bright green jewel and you’re exposed, baby. A dark jewel and you’re
virtually invisible.

This
is a game you play with your ears as much as your eyes, and the sound
design in Thief II is simply as good as I’ve ever experienced in a
game (the only other games in its class in the sound department are
Thief and Deus Ex). The sound element adds a thrillingly
realistic element to the proceedings. You’ll find your heart in your
mouth as you stand flat against a wall, listening as the guards footsteps
approach. Will he be looking your way? Will you have a chance to knock
him out?

I don’t think I’ve played
another game in which the vicarious thrill of the experience was any
more real. When you finish a mission in a Thief game, you feel like
you’ve accomplished it physically.

Now let me address some
of my bald statements from the beginning of this piece.

Of course Thief 2
is not an adventure game in the traditional sense. But if you think
of an “adventure” as a game in which there’s a very strong
backstory, plot, puzzles, mysteries, intrigue, and even character
interaction, then you could think of Thief 2 as a rip-roaring
adventure. The story of the game is richer, more exciting and more
imaginative than the story of most “pure” adventures that
I’ve played in recent years.

Of
course Thief 2 is not a role-playing game. There are no character
stats or level-ups, no experience points, no character creation at
all. But if you think of an RPG as a game that lets the player decide
how to approach and solve problems, you might be surprised how RPG-like
Thief 2 feels. The environments in each mission are huge and
diverse, and there are frequently more than one way to achieve objectives.
This flexibility is at the heart of many good RPGs.

So what the heck is Thief
2, anyway? Technically it’s an action game with elements that
make it far more interesting than most action games.

Graphically, the game is
gorgeous. Garrett gets to explore many different environments, from
the dark city streets to lush mansions to banks to eerie woodland
areas. As mentioned above, sound-wise, the game is masterful as well,
as every under-the-breath grumble of a just-out-of-sight guard, every
footstep on every different type of floor, and every mechanical watchdog
add immeasurably to the intense atmosphere of the game.

The
game shares another key praiseworthy feature from the first installment.
Each mission can be played on Normal, Hard, or Expert level of difficult.
However, unlike most games, the increased difficulty settings don’t
result in more enemies and less ammo. They simply indicate larger
missions. Playing on Expert usually means you can’t kill anyone, and
you have more items to find. Well, the idea of not killing anyone
lies at the very heart of Garrett’s thief ethos, and makes total sense.
Therefore, when you play this game on Expert, you get about 50% more
game, not simply a harder game. Take my word for it, forget the Normal
and Hard settings.

Despite the very sad fact
that the spectacular Looking Glass Studios is no more (thank you,
Eidos), it’s an extremely fortunate fact that Thief 3 is currently
being developed by Warren Spector’s branch of Ion Storm.

Thief 2 is purely
and simply a Hall of Fame title that every computer gamer should experience.

Final Grade: A+

System Requirements:

PII 266
48 MB RAM
4X CD-ROM
3D Accelerator
8MB VRAM
250 MB disk space
mouse, sound card
DirectX v7.0