I’ve pillaged around in
the Thief universe’s perpetual darkness again with Ion Storm’s “Thief: Deadly Shadows,” and
while I enjoyed myself and the bag of goodies on my back fattened
with
each long, challenging mission, a few of its contents were frankly
a pain to carry around.

“Deadly Shadows” completes the triumvirate Looking Glass
Studios begat with 1998’s Thief:
the Dark Project and
2000’s Thief 2: the Metal Age,
PC-only titles that garnered high praise yet for some inexplicable
reason, only modest sales.
It’s available for both the PC and the XBOX. I played the latter
because I’m a moron and sold my gaming computer some time ago during
a “money’s tight” scenario and now, a few years later,
I have all three consoles and a wife who disagrees that a second
PC for games (The first can’t play games and is for the Internet
where I can read game reviews! Help me, I’m a dork!) would be a great
investment.

Before Metal
Gear Solid‘s
Solid Snake or Splinter Cell‘s Sam Fisher so much as snapped on
his Codec for a mission briefing, Garrett had
hopped the fence of many a pompous lord’s estate with several of
his prized possessions in tow. Many games across all platforms have
since incorporated stealth into their respective mixes and some —
the repulsive and modern, white trash-themed “Manhunt,” for
example — utilize it almost exclusively. Garrett, however, pioneered
in giving players the “first-person sneaker” feel of being
undetected in some arrogant fool’s home or place of business, hidden
in the shadows and with eyes on the prize from across the room.

I should say off the bat
that the The Dark Project is
my second-favorite game of all time and its sequel is in my top ten.
Fans, including me, were concerned a third “Thief” game
would never see the light of day (pardon the pun, as virtually every
second of all three games unfolds after sunset.) Ion Storm answered
the call after Looking Glass, which also created the much-heralded
(and another personal favorite) System Shock 2,
folded, and has brought protagonist Garrett back into action during
an imprecise
period in time in the world known only as “The City.” Series
newcomers needn’t have played the first two to fully enjoy “Shadows,” but
the grumpy Hammerites, unnerving Pagans and enigmatic, conniving
Keepers that populate his land sure have a history worth knowing.

Anyway, now that I’m back
to my hideout fresh from my time in “Thief’s” third
itineration, let me rummage ’round in my loot here for the good stuff.
Ah, yes…

No other game that I’ve played provides the immersion, the feeling
that you’re there doing these things, that this does. From the unskippable
tutorial to the finale through the streets of the City, fleeing from
a towering foe, I truly felt again like I was Garrett. That’s important,
especially in a game placed in a world so detached from our own that
takes itself so seriously. One little anachronism could bring the
whole thing tumbling. Don’t bother with the third-person view option,
a first for the series and doubtless a console crowd accommodation;
any thief worth his salt knows that first-person is the only way
to travel.

The level Shalebridge
Cradle (which may be the building’s name just to be able to call
the mission “Robbing the Cradle,” but
who cares) is a perfect example of the you-are-there feel. You’re
skulking around, both in the present and past, in a monstrous, mostly
vacant orphanage-turned-asylum in order to bring a little girl’s
soul to rest. The series’ emphasis on sound providing the package
was in full force here, and one scene as Garrett creeps up to the
attic had me looking sheepishly around my dark game room like a schmuck!

Missions are usually large
endeavors, and while in other games varying difficulty levels simply
gives enemies more oomph, here they often
give you more game for the money as harder settings require Garrett
to accomplish more or avoid foes altogether. I’ve never understood
the fascination with “fragfests” and the mindless twitch
mentality that permeates the videogame industry and which tells me
there are far too many people with ridiculously short attention spans.
I enjoy what Thief brings to the table and feel it’s a true breath
of fresh air in a world teeming with rocket launchers and health
packs spinning around in thin air.

Basically, it’s nice to be given the option to avoid killing, whereas
in other games I’m charged with mowing down wave after wave of lookalike
grunts. Not all of us are wannabe space marines. Sure, Garrett has
his broadhead arrows, but guards can take a few unless you catch
them unaware. It’s better to snuff that torch with a water arrow,
distract the guard with a noisemaker arrow, or muffle your steps
with a moss arrow (though I never understood why a guard tramping
down a hall didn’t notice the difference when he started walking
on the moss pile the arrow left behind.) There is a bug in the game,
however, that relegates the difficulty level back to normal if one
is killed or stops to load a previously saved game.

Another main reason I’m
so high on “Thief” games is that
I simply love the game world itself. From the lowliest peasant’s
hut to the most resplendent royal mansion, from the bowels of the
Pagans’ underground chambers to the catacombs of the Hammerite cathedral,
I simply adore the architecture and overall style these titles feature.
I love simply how the pinwheels of light float around in the moonshine
through a window. While the size of “The City” here pales
in comparison to the first two games (no level of any game I’ve played
compares to “The Thieves’ Highway” mission in Thief 2,
where Garrett makes his way rooftop to rooftop) both vertically and
as the crow flies, Garrett usually covers all the square footage
in any given building he’s in during his covert operations. I do
wish more buildings were “open for business,” so to speak,
but most doorways and windows are just part of the scenery.

And finally, there’s the story itself. Some may just skip the exposition,
told between missions in cutscenes, but then they’re probably playing
the wrong game anyway. I won’t spoil it, but suffice it to say Garrett
may simply want to steal for his own gain, but the powers that be
ensure he’s utilized to carry out their bidding whether he likes
it or not. The Keepers brought Garrett into their fold at the series’
outset and feature more prominently in this title. The main story
thread involves their need to keep certain glyphs out of the wrong
hands in order to keep the balance of power in the City.

Many of the vocal talent
returned from past games including Steven Russell as Garrett. I’d
be devastated if my favorite criminal was
voiced by somebody else after all my mileage with this series. My
favorite voice, though, is the drunken-sounding guard who says “What’s
all this?” when he catches me trying to sneak out the door past
him.

Now that I’ve liquidated the valuables through my fence, I’ve gotta
sift through the not-so-shiny stuff…

Who in their right mind
decided that Garrett needed to buy his water arrows, health potions,
flash bombs and such at a store?? There is
actually a store Garrett can enter, between missions while running
from the identical and annoying City Watch members, called “The
Well-Equipped Thief.” I cringed when I heard the proprietor
introduce himself and his wares. Another storeowner is a sultry little
lass who flirts shamelessly with Garrett and then excuses herself
by saying, “Oh, you probably just want to shop” or something.
Give me a break.

Oh, and how about those body contortions after you knock somebody
out with your trusty blackjack?! Nearly everyone’s body seems devoid
of a spine after you knock him out or kill him (not that you should
be killing anyone!!) and often folds into a backwards letter ‘C’.
It’s ridiculous. I don’t know if this occurs in the PC version but
it didn’t happen in the first two games.

The only other strong gripe I have is that the sound sometimes popped,
stuttered and dropped out altogether. This occurred with three different
game discs and two different XBOX systems. However, in no other review
can I find anyone reporting this issue, so I guess I’m just lucky.

Loading times are somewhat
long, and when you pass through the big blue warp zone that just
screams “You’re playing a game!”,
whatever was happening there when you left will continue uninterrupted
when you return. If you thought you’d outrun the arrows that Archer
Guard guy let fly as you fled South Quarter to the Docks, except
them to slam into you upon your return visit through that portal.
It rather shakes the immersion the rest of the game tries to achieve.
So do the climbing gloves (!?), which replace the rope arrows that
enabled you to reach those high ledges and windows.

Last but not least — some may quibble that Garrett’s apartment
in the game is rather austere considering his years of pilfering
from the rich, but then if everything in games had to make perfect
sense then we wouldn’t have games at all, would we?

Players tired of lugging around AK-47s, Uzis and rocket launchers
in the cookie-cutter shooter assembly line should hop into Garrett’s
shoes. It’s a slower game, a deeper game, a more cerebral game. If
another is released, which is probably too much to hope for, I’d
steal it…ahem, I mean, buy it, in a heartbeat.

Final Grade: B+
(find out more about our
grading system)