In the midst of the Metal Gears and Splinter Cells, stealth games are highly dependent on modern or near-future time periods with anti-terrorism missions and fancy gadgets. There has been Manhunt, which has taken the stealth element to a totally different (and violent) level, adding an urban horror twist to the mix. But as PC gamers have known for years, there’s always been the Thief games, which offer up a more primitive time period (medieval) and other means of getting the job done that don’t rely on experimental, super secret gizmos.

The third Thief game makes its way to the Xbox courtesy of Ion Storm (Dues Ex: Invisible War), as the developers of the original two Thief games (Looking Glass Studios) closed their doors in 2000. From the beginning, Thief: Deadly Shadows was planned as a joint development for both the PC and Xbox platforms. The results, while clearly showing a few snags in some spots, are fantastic, proving that Garrett has still got what it takes to run with the Solid Snakes and Sam Fishers of the stealth action genre.



What’s so neat about Thief: Deadly Shadows is that there isn’t only one linear way of doing things like you find in other stealth games. Deadly Shadows is very free-form in that there are many objectives you can set out to accomplish, or not bother to complete right away. As a master thief, The City (as it’s called… really), Garrett can find plenty of potential victims for pick-pocketing, as well as various buildings to break into with his lock picking skills. There is always something to do, and though game progress will halt sooner or later, the sheer amount of freedom offered by Deadly Shadows is a refreshing take on the genre, where games of this type are usually very linear and punish the player with dire consequences for making a single mistake. What’s more, that same variety carries over into the gameplay mechanics, as there are multiple ways of accomplishing every goal. For example, you can sneak past a guard or kill him. If you choose to kill him, you can decide how to take him out. You can eliminate him from afar with your bow, though the arrow will make quite a mess. If you’ve got water arrows, you can use them to wash away any blood that may be left behind. But then there is also the sound factor. If that guard makes any noise, he could draw more troops your way. But you may be in deeper trouble if you try to backstab him. Clubbing him with your blackjack is the quietest way, but should he discover you before you get the chance to deliver the blow, the weapon becomes useless, leaving you vulnerable. And if you manage to make the kill, will you hide the corpse? You could be discovered while trying to haul it out of the way, but if you don’t you may alert the surrounding guards.

But using that same example, you can accomplish the same thing without making a kill. You can sneak by the guard unnoticed, or use noisemaker arrows to draw your enemy’s attention elsewhere so you can make a clean getaway. But if you choose this route, you’ll have to be careful of the light sources around you. The shadows are your best friend, but it can be as deceptive as yourself. Enemies can spot your shadow, and can hear your footsteps. You can use moss arrows to silence your footfalls, and you can make use of those water arrows to take out the torch on the wall, but if the enemy is close enough, it can put him on his guard. The choice is entirely up to you, and don’t worry: you can make a mistake without it ending the game. It just depends on the significance of your folly.

The gameplay itself is accompanied by cunning AI. Enemies will be alerted by the sound of your footsteps or even by spotting your shadow that’s been cast onto a far wall. Sometimes they may attack you on sight, but oftentimes they’ll retreat or fetch reinforcements. Discovering a dead body may force one NPC on another. The AI really helps to immerse you into the game, though enemies do some dimwitted things at times. Normally, spotting a dead body will only put someone on guard for a limited amount of time. Even with an obvious murder that just took place, NPCs are only going to be on their guard momentarily. After that, they sheath their blades and go about business as usual.

Some of Garrett’s tools are a little on the goofy side. Moss arrows? Surely the development team could come up with something more believable. The absence of caltrops is a big deal too. These small metal pieces closely resemble jacks, and used by thieves to protect themselves from enemies who are trailing them. They are also used to detect an enemy’s position. Just drop a few in the immediate area, and when someone steps on one, everyone in the area knows it. Why these useful little trinkets weren’t included is almost a crime in itself. There are land mines though that Garrett can utilize, but they aren’t the quietest tools in the world, and they certainly don’t fit the medieval time period well. That isn’t to say that they aren’t fun to use though, because for the most part, they really are, as are Garrett’s other abilities. Picking locks is simple, with almost no real risk being taken at all, other than not triggering all of the tumblers before an enemy spots you. There should’ve been some sort of penalty system included for being too loud, or for triggering trapped locks (well, there needs to be trapped locks too), but the idea behind it is still a nice touch.

The menu interface can be confusing at first. You’ll get used to it soon enough, but until you do you’ll have to be very careful as to not save your progress over another game, and you may have to fiddle with the different menus to get to where you want to be. For example, why isn’t the map immediately accessible with the press of a button? Instead, you have to go two menu clicks deep to get to your map. In addition, poor Garrett can’t change weapons fast enough. The Black and White buttons hold your weapons and gear respectively, and each tap of the button will cycle through the equipment. You can also hold in the button and then simply hold the analog stick in the desired direction to rotate the inventory. The problem is, rotating is so slow that it’s significantly more useful to simply mash on the button until you get to what you want, effectively making the inventory rotation worthless.

Combat in Deadly Shadows is adequate, though clunky in some ways. Really, the development team just wanted to give you an option other than ducking out for ten minutes should you find yourself backed into a corner. Stealth is still the way to go here, and is implemented very well. But when forced to fight, there lots of different options at your disposal, like fire arrows (which can also light puddles of oil on fire), holy water, standard wide-tipped arrows, flash bombs, gas bombs, mines and more. Of course, there is always your blackjack and dagger too, both of which are far more effective when an enemy’s back is turned your way.

For the first time, a Thief game can be played in either first- or third-person, a nice addition that can be changed on the fly with a press of a button. The new third-person viewpoint can be used to admire the stunning light and shadows that source off of Garrett in real time. Thief: Deadly Shadows is an incredible looking game. Lighting and shadow effects can do wonders for a game’s visuals, and proof of that is right here. All of the game’s lighting and shadowing is dynamic (meaning that the lights and shadows are cast in real time, and therefore react in real time to everything in the environment), giving the game that truly lifelike feel. All of the game’s environments are rendered in night time, and there are plenty of fancy effects around every corner. Character models are sharp and extremely detailed. Thief: Deadly Shadows is truly a marvel for the eyes.



But all that dynamic lighting comes at a price. Most of the time, Deadly Shadows is choppy. Sometimes just a little and other times more severe, actually impeding gameplay. Most of the sore spots occur in the city, where there is lots of open territory to explore onscreen at once, or when copious particle effects fill the screen. Character animations aren’t the best, largely due to the framerate, but the quirkiness of the animations also contributes. The game hosts rag doll physics, which normally look great, and though they look pretty good here too, there are incidents where they’re obviously way out of place, particularly when bodies will fold backward into a bridge-like position. The physics work well though when brushing up against barrels and other objects, as they realistically sway and tip, possibly alerting an enemy.

Thief sounds great, which only adds to the already claustrophobic atmosphere that the game makes you feel when playing. Environmental sounds are critical, and they are in full effect and sound terrific, helping to set the mood. There isn’t a lot of music to be found, but what’s there is suitably creepy and foreboding; perfect to create the kind of tension and suspense that makes games like this so much fun to play.

The voice work is done well for the most part, but some voice actors do a truly horrible job. While Stephen Russell once again voices the distinctive Garrett, other characters are performed pretty well too. The bad performances are mostly by The City’s denizens. There’s one shop keeper that sounds like he’s reading directly from the script, and there are a few instances where the character voice sounds a bit too enthusiastic over the most unimportant things.

Ion Storm really came through with this game, keeping the spirit of the series intact, and yet expanding on the game’s design to create something different and rewarding without rehashing the same tired stealth clichés over again. Though far from flawless, Thief: Deadly Shadows is a magnificent game that breathes a bit of fresh air into the stealth action genre. It’s got impressive graphics, ambient sound, immersive gameplay, and an intriguing story that is truly deserving of praise. There are some questionable equipment designs and an inconsistent framerate, but ultimately, Thief: Deadly Shadows is so much fun to play that in the end, these come off as minor (though not insignificant) missteps.



Article By: Brendon Hivner