Thief
I’ve never played any of the earlier Thief games, so I approached this review as a complete novice to the game, though I have played a few stealth based games in the past, including Dishonored, which some critics are unfairly comparing to Thief.
My first play of the game however came with mixed feelings, I played through the introduction mission, learning some of the controls and then the first chapter, Lockdown. But then things got weird. I seemed to be stuck in an infinate loop. The game would put up the loading screening for the next chapter in the game, but would put me back at the beginning of Lockdown.
I emailed the local distributors, who suggested it might be something fixed in the launch day update, so I waited a week before playing the game again, and still I was stuck in an infinite loop. Exasperated I deleted my saved game and started again from the very beginning. This time I made in past Lockdown and saved the game whilst I was in my hideout in the tower.
The next day however, when I came to try and launch the second mission, I found my self in another infinite loop that would not let me launch the next mission. I was determined to get the bottom of this glitch, as I had enjoyed the game thus far, and no other reviewers seemed to be having this issue.
A quick search on the internet showed I wasn’t the only one experiencing infinite loop issues, which was nice, but not helpful to my problems. But then I noticed a trend, everyone experiencing the same issue was saying that they hadn’t updated the game because of their data caps or slow internet. I decided to hook the XBox up to the internet and try playing the game, and the infinite loop issues disappeared.
Whilst I was happy that I could now play through the game without any problems, I was still annoyed that Square Enix had released a game that required you to be connected to the internet for it to work properly. Whilst this may only affect a small proportion of gamers, it is still in my opinion a crappy way to design a game.
So, now that I’ve got that off my plate, on with the review.
Thief sees you step into the shoes of a master thief who goes by the name of Garrett. In the intro mission, we meet Garrett’s protege Erin, who is then presumably lost to us during an accident in a climatic cut-scene that sets a sequence of events rolling that presents Garrett with a different world when he awakes a year later.
Stealing is Garrett’s profession and one of the main joys of the game, so much of a joy that it often becomes a happy distraction during some of the missions. And the stealing isn’t just some tacked on mechanic for unlocking game achievements, it funds the economy that allows garrett to buy tools and upgrades. If you don;t steal enough, you can’t buy enough tools and consumables. and without the right tools, you won;t have all the options available to you, and won’t be able to reach or plunder all the areas you want to.
Having said that, it’s easy to overlook buying a particular tool, only to find you route inaccessible because you don’t have that tool. Not that this is a game breaker, as there are multiple routes, and there always seems to be a way to get the job done, regardless of what you are carrying.
The world of Thief is dark and claustrophobic, with poorly lit alleyways and side streets, with cluttered buildings rising above you. Adding to the feeling of claustrophobia is the fact that this is no Assassins Creed, and only certain parts of the town are climbable. Whilst this can be frustrating at times, it forces you to actively search for a route to where you are going, rather than just running along the roofs.
Similarly, not all doors and windows are accessible to Garrett, no matter how much of a master thief he is. Again, this is both a pro and a con, because lets face it, if every door and window was able to be picked and opened, we’d never get on with the mission at hand.
Of course, some widows and doors only become available after you’ve found a secret switch, and others have booby traps that you have to figure out how to disarm. Garrett’s world is full of danger.
During missions that danger comes primarily for the City Watch. These guys patrol the streets with long swords and crossbows, and if they spot you, will attack and try and kill you. Stay in the shadows and take them out one at a time, or just figure out a way around them, because if you opt for the fight them in the open option, you’ll likely die as you’ll often be fighting more than one, and they will attack from different sides at the same time.
The frustrating this is that whilst you can pick the pockets of the City Guard, you can’t relieve them of their weapons when you’ve knocked them out.
The storyline has enough interest to keep you engaged and the plethora of puzzles will keep you on your toes, sometimes even forcing you to calmly put the controller down and walk away from the game for a while so you don’t throw the controller at the TV!
Controlling Garrett is simple, and this helps the game flows nicely. The only part that isn’t handled well is combat, but the this is a game that encourages you to avoid detection and therefore avoid combat.
Joy is found in having picked the right tools for the job, solving the game’s varied puzzles and discovering secret locations, safes and treasure.
Whist not perfectly polished, Thief is a worthy entry into the stealth genre, a game that draws you into it’s murky world slowly and shows you the deceitful joy that is taking what is not yours.
Reviewed On: XBox One
Rating: R13 Contains violence.
GAMEGUIDE rating:
