Thief Gold and Thief 2: The Metal Age

              Reviewed by Andrew Wielochowski

Thief Gold is the budget title of Thief: The Dark Project. Ring
any bells. Yes? No? And Thief 2 is the sequel to the Dark Project.
Well that was kind of obvious! Here is the joint review for my
favourite games: EVER!

The Thief series is presented, as with many modern games, in the
first person shooter genre. However this is where the similarity
with Quake, Doom, Unreal, Unreal Tournament etc stops.  Because in
Thief rocketing jumping with a firearrow will leave you dead and
charging into open combat will quickly bury you 6 feet under,
because Thief is not about combat, it's about stealth, speed and
the ability to use the shadows and sneak through the cyberpunk
world, leaving nothing but the occasional unconscious body and
many empty purses. Sounds like your style of game, then read on.


You play the part of Garrett, a master thief, who was trained in
the arts of his trade by The Keepers, a mysterious organisation
protecting the City and keeping secrets hidden. However Garrett
quickly leaves this way of life and undertakes his career as a
thief.  Not a thief abiding by the ways of City Wardens who hire
and run Thieves Guilds, but by abiding by the laws he sets
himself. The levels take Garrett to Mansions, Houses, Streets,
Churches and Cathedrals.

Both Thief games are presented as series of missions, in which you
are given a list of objectives, which must be acted upon to
complete the level. However more objectives are given the harder
the skill level you select, I always choose expert, because this
is where the variety and the fun come into the games, when the
smaller objectives must be completed. In general it rightfully
doesn't allow you to kill any humans, leaving you with 3 options,
let them kill themselves, knock them out or sneak past them. The
first option can only be done under rare occasions, and is seen in
a brilliantly scripted scene in Thief 2 level Life of the Party

where Garrett stumbles upon an argument between several guards on
the opposite side of the street.

Playing Thief is done in the style of any new first person shooter
you care to pick off the shelves. Except Thief isn't a first
person shooter, it is a first person sneaker. Your enemies are not
ready for you, unless you alert them to your presence and none off
them are waiting to plaster you with hot flak, except possibly in
Thief 2 when the robots get pretty nasty. Your target is profit
and your failure is to perish. Thief is presented as a series of
levels where the fore mentioned objectives must be completed. Each
level is linked with the fantastically crafted FMV sequences that
give you cut scenes and brief you on the next mission.

Both of the Thief games have a brilliant flowing story line that
is carried on and then gets the loose ends tied up. Thief has the
best plot and the best continuity of any game I've ever played ...
obviously excluding adventure games and text adventures :o) While
Thief 1 is often considered as being below board graphics wise,
that makes no difference to the tense and immersing gameplay and
the atmosphere in both Thief 1 and 2 is UNRIVALLED and seriously
nothing has got me to jump, sweat or become so tense as Thief.

When playing Thief beware people of opening your door or calling
for you, which will cause you to scream and fling your mouse in
shock. The sound of a spider of a zombie really sends shivers up
my spine and gives me the screaming heebee jeebees. This strength
of atmosphere cannot be put into words ... but nothing comes close
to it. The tension for sneaking around and avoiding open combat
really builds up.

Thief 2 does not lose any of this and the levels in Thief 2 are
just as brilliantly crafted and with the introduction of the
coloured lighting it adds that little extra to the gameplay. The
levels and graphics are up to scratch and better than Thief 1, but
that really doesn't matter. Thief relies on the use of sound to
tell you where people are and for them to become alert to your
presence if they hear you.


The darkness and shadows prove the magnificence of the AI. You can
hide in shadows and depending on many variables they will see or
not see you. They cannot see you as well in dark areas than in
light etc ... it is truly realistic and has never been seen in any
other game. Every factor makes a difference, if you're standing or
crouching, if you're moving and how fast you're moving, the
darkness, how close they are, the noise you're making. And you see
what I'm saying.

The plots I will not reveal, because I cannot say much. Except
that Thief 2 involves discovering what has happened to the peace
and safety of the city since the arrival of the new sheriff and
how the mysterious mechanists have just made your job harder.
Whereas Thief 1 begins off with your normal thief life, with the
need to acquire a precious sceptre. In mission 1 you sneak through
the sewers to avoid the guard on the noble's house, you cunningly
pickpocket the drunken guard and retrieve a key to another
entrance .. and even once inside your job isn't over as there is
the sneaking in the darkness and exploring the mansion to locate
the spectre and then you have to escape. However as the missions
progress you get more involved with the Order of the Hammer ...  a
group of religious fanatics. And slowly things start to get a
little deep and the pressure on you is great to save the world!
Hint Hint!

Garrett has help during these missions in the form of his tools as
well as his ability to keep patient and stick to the shadows. He
has his sword, that is for emergencies when all chance of sticking
up has failed, or if he has come across a particular nasty nastie.
You'll see what I mean. His blackjack is his chief weapon, used to
knock people out before he stashes their unconscious bodies in the
shadows. It's silent and reliable. His bow and arrow are used to
attack from a distance or to hit those hard to reach buttons.
Water arrows to clear up those blood stains, to put out those
inconvenient torches spreading light everywhere and in Thief 2 to
silence those droning robots. Fire arrows which explode on impact
causing a loud sound, the lovely gas arrow to knock out those
closely clusters of guards, the moss arrow to be shot at the floor
to deaden your footsteps, the vine arrow in Thief 2 (see rope
arrow). Flash bombs can be dropped letting forth a blinding light
temporarily stunning those guards allowing you to knock them out.
Also useful for killing zombies and whatnot.

A Scouting orb in Thief 2 is thrown out into a corridor or such
light to see exactly what IS coming around that corner. Mines
explode loudly. Gas mines exploding silently and knock out those
unfortunate to be near them. Flash mines, like a mine and flash
bomb in one. And some more for your investigation.

I hope I haven't left anything out, here. But I assure you these
are my BEST GAMES EVER. It's the first person shooter for the
thinking man.

Thief Gold
Thief: The Dark Project + extra levels Includes the Thief editor
DromED œ12.99 but normally less

Thief 2: The Metal Age
Thief 2 Includes the Thief 2 editor DromED 2 œ27.99 and less soon

My level for Thief is progressing very well and I'll tell you all
when it's released.

















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