Thief takes some chances to stand out from the crowd
Mazelike design, plenty of tension make this game entertaining
Balance was one of the things I struggled with while playing Thief on PS4 (also available on Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PS3).
Maybe it has been my steady diet of rail shooters like Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Killzone: Shadow Fall, but playing a game like Thief, where charging into combat with the antagonists is never really a good idea, takes a while to get used to that balance.
That is the intriguing thing about this game, though once you settle on it, the point is stealth.
Learn to creep about on your missions, avoid detection and stay in the shadows, collect what you need to collect and for the most part, avoid conflict, and this can be a great gaming experience.
This reminded me of a chapter in Killzone: Shadow Fall, where after being captured and tortured, you escape.
You are weak, alone and without weapons. Baddies whom you’ve been blasting away at through the entire game to that point are now to be avoided at all costs.
It was a tough chapter, offered a new type of challenge, but ultimately I was happy to get some tools back in my hands as soon as I could.
Thief will bring some of that out in you, but admittedly, I’m not a player who likes to zoom through campaigns as quickly as I can.
I like to explore, look at the detail around me and collect what I can, and that’s sort of the whole point of Thief.
One of the things I didn’t like about the game is the main character, Garrett.
I know the game is about a master thief, but the game’s central story makes him a good guy who is somewhat like a Robin Hood at heart. The city where the game is set sees the rich get richer and is governed by an exploitive ruler.
As a result, Garrett has a main goal to achieve in the game’s plot, but there are lots of side missions where it’s just about stealing things from rich jerks.
The idea of a stealth-based game where you’re avoiding detection in a tense mission to steal something significant that will further a cause is a wonderful landscape for a game.
But when this master thief is also stealing cutlery, dishes, pens and anything he can get his hands on, it waters down the motivation and skills of the central character.
There is combat, because there are times you are going to be seen by a guard, but it’s clunky and unsatisfying.
Dodging punches and throwing punches is the main way to fight, and that works OK, if you’re seen by just one guard, but add more to the mix and you’re pretty much toast.
Perhaps the game was designed that way to really discourage you trying to take on the bad guys and make you stick to trying to figure out creative ways to avoid detection.
Therearepower-upswhichwillhelpyoufocus on key clues to get around and to dash from shadowy darkness through lit areas and into other deep shadows to stay undetected.
The Artificial Intelligence really offers a mixed bag, sometimes the bad guys get stuck and foolishly make stupid decisions, but they also clue-in to downed colleagues and sound alarms and bring help, which is a huge fault with a lot of action games.
The level design is great. The city where the game is set really is mazelike, and there’s a clear dark mood and tension to the game.
There are multiple routes to choose, so there’s a lot of strategy involved where you can choose different ways to get the same result, and that does allow for some replay ability.
For a game that’s looking to stand out from the crowd, Thief has to be admired for taking some chances and focusing so much on the stealth elements of the game.
They may not have completely nailed the balance in this game, if you’re looking for more of that, the Assassin’s Creed series really does it well, as does the aforementioned KillZone Shadowfall, but it is a nice refreshing form in a current dry patch of releases.
NEWS AND NOTES
The brilliant The Walking Dead video game has announced that on Tuesday the second episode of Season 2 will be available for download.
If you haven’t checked this out and are a fan of the comic book or TV show, this is a completely different, stand-alone story, and though it’s clearly a stripped-down gameplay experience compared to splashy AAA titles, the story and atmosphere make it a fantastic game experience.