Thief: The Dark Project Review:-

Introduction -I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing reviewing Thief: The Dark Project considering it's over a year old. True, this may be one of the latest reviews of Thief around but I haven't really bought any new games lately, and while I wait for Alien vs Predator and Outcast, I thought that I might as well do a review for Thief in the meantime for practice sakes. And Thief is an excellent game to start off with anyway.

Thief is an original concept, one that fits into a new fast growing genre of games know as the first person sneak'em up, other games in this category include Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Metal Gear Solid. It is similar in style to any Quake clone except with one key difference, the goal of the game is to sneak around the place avoiding detection by other enemies as opposed to simply wandering from room to room blasting any enemies that get in your way. Darkness and silence are your allies, light and noise your enemies, you have to keep in the shadows to avoid being seen or heard by other guards and monsters. It is possible to kill your foes but often the best tactic is to sneak past them, or use stealth to sneak up to them and knock them out/kill them.

If the above concept sounds unfamiliar to you then this is not surprising, Tenchu and Metal Gear Solid feature similar ideas, but to my knowledge the idea of sneaking around in the dark, knocking guards out unconscious rather than killing them, and using water arrows to extinguish flames to make the area darker, have not been used before. Looking Glass should be praised for their innovation and originality! It's such an enjoyable experience to sneak up to a guard, whack him over the head with a Blackjack, and to pick up his body and hide it in a dark place where it cannot be found with nearby guards oblivious to what's going on, fantastic! One part of the level sees a jeweled scepter being protected by a guard, so how do you get past the guard? The obvious choice would be to engage in combat with him, but he is too tough and you stand no chance against him with your limited sword skills. You could try sneaking up on him and knocking him out but the room is brightly lit so he will see you, and the room is made of a stone floor which makes a noise when you walk over it so he will hear you as well, even when his back is turned. The answer is to first extinguish all of the flames in the room with water arrows to make it darker, then to use moss arrows on the floor to create a thin layer of moss to walk over, and drown out the noise of your foot steps. You can then sneak up on him, wait until his back is turned, and either knock him out unconscious with your Blackjack, or kill him with your sword. Thief can be described as a thinking mans Quake clone, where each situation you come across, such as the one described above, is a puzzle. The puzzle is solved by examining your environment and your inventory, and watching the guards/monsters behavior closely in order to find the best way past a given situation. The reward for solving each puzzle is great, the feeling of satisfaction you get from accomplishing a kill/knockout simply cannot be described in words.

The AI in Thief is first rate. The enemies and various NPC's (Non-player characters) respond to your actions in a realistic manner. For instance, firing an arrow at a wall will alert nearby guards from the noise it makes. If you knock out a guard with the blackjack then they will fall to the ground without making a noise, however sneak up on a guard and stab him with your sword then other guards will be alerted to the scream he makes. Bodies also have to be picked up and hidden, just leave a body lying in the middle of a brightly lit room and other guards will eventually stumble across it and raise the alarm. Enemies will also chitchat to each other given the player clues about various security systems and traps, they will also make small talk or even talk to themselves, these conversation can be quite amusing to listen to at times. Also run across a stone floor and the loud noise of your steps will alert the guards/monsters and they will begin scouring the area looking for you, however just make one step and the enemies will hear the noise but dismiss it as 'rats' or 'the wind'. These and many other examples best demonstrate the complex AI system Looking Glass have employed in Thief to make the experience all the more realistic. Although I was a bit disappointed to find I could extinguish all of the flames in a room, turning it from brightly lit to pitch black, and the guard standing in the room not raise an eyebrow.

An area where even the best first person games fall down is in the story. Remember Quake's rather pathetic excuse for a plot. Well Thief does not disappoint in this area as it LG have come up with an excellent plot line. The game is set in what appears to be the medieval ages, or the dark ages, as stone buildings and huge gothic castles are prevalent throughout. The basic premise is that you, Garrette, have been taken off the streets by an order know as the Keepers and trained as a professional thief. It then leads on to a compelling story of betrayal and revenge and the fight between the forces of good and evil, as you have to stop an evil demon know as the Trickster from destroying the world, or something. This basic description of the story only barely scratches the surface, it goes much deeper than this and you really have to buy the game and complete it in order to understand the intricate ins and outs of the story. And you won't be disappointed. The video cut scenes that break up each of the missions are very stylish and professionally done.

There are only 14 missions in the game, but some of these can take up to two hours to complete so there's plenty of lifespan. Added to this are the extra difficulty settings that increase the games longevity further. These don't just make the game harder, enemies more stronger etc. but actually give you more objectives to complete in each mission. If you select the expert skill level for any of the missions, for example, you're not allowed to kill any humans. However, it has to be said that I enjoyed knocking out guards unconscious far more than killing them outright, this could be down to that they don't make any noise or leave blood stains to alert other guards, adding to the tactical element of this game. But because of this, when I went through the game again, I tended to skip the missions that didn't feature any humans and just monsters, because you can't knock out monsters only kill them. Also because of this I tended to find the monster only missions long and boring compared to the human based one's. However, none of Thief's missions are boring to such an extent that you'll want to quite, the suspense and intense atmosphere will keep you going.

Much of this review has been positive, there's is no disputing that it is an excellent game, however there is one area that Thief really does let itself down, and that's in it's 3D engine. Rather than simply license out the Quake II or Unreal engine, Looking Glass have built their own one, otherwise know as the Dark Engine. It may have been a wiser move to jump on the licensing bandwagon and use the Quake II/Unreal engine instead. Special graphical effects such as coloured lighting and fog are all absent in Thief, the textures are ugly low res low colour palette affairs, and the 3D models and animation are nothing special. And just to think that Thief needs a P200 to run. You may argue that Thief is a different style of game altogether where tactics, cunning and stealth are the order of the day, and you're not just aimlessly running through eye candy worlds like in Unreal, but I can only sit back and imagine the suspense and eeriness of wandering through Thief's graveyards surrounded by a mist. All in all I was kinda expecting it to be better than Quake's engine.*

*(Author's Note: "These comments about Thief's engine have taken into consideration the time at which Thief was release, and have not compared Thief's graphics to the very latest 3D engines but has compare it to what was out at the time, eg. Quake II, Unreal)

Conclusion -In conclusion an excellent game, original, fresh concept and very exciting to play, rewarding too. If you like first person shooters then you'll love this, if you hate first person shooters then you'll still love this! Buy this game by all means, and wait in anticipation for Thief 2: The Metal Age, coming soon. And while you're waiting you can build your own levels with the Thief level editor, out now.

Rating = 91%

Links:-

Looking Glass (official website for Thief: The Dark Project, including the demo)

Thief-Dark Project (for all the latest Thief news, including the level editor and news on Thief 2: The Metal Age)

Acknowledgements -Thanks goes to Looking Glass for coming out with such a novel concept, and for their pictures of Thief included on this page. Also to the many reviews that helped me get this one together, including the PC Gamer UK Thief Review.