Alrighty. I have sent off my Xbox for repair, and have wired myself with a delicious Mtn Dew Game Fuel (TM). It's time once again for me to give my vaguely uninformed impressions of an old game that some people fondly remember. Today we are doing Thief 1, which I purchased for about $2+S&H. I didn't get the gold version (which has 3 more levels.) because then I would have had to shell out around $30. But whatever.

Thief is a stealth game that came out in 1998 for the PC; the same year as Metal Gear Solid. However, unlike MGS, which is about as much fun to play as cutting my toes off (Alright, so I have only played 3 and the Twin Snakes, but they all kind of play the same until 4), I really enjoy Thief's brand of First Person Sneaking. You play as Garett: a thief who will be more than willing to give his sociopathic and witty commentary on the sights around him. Throughout the game, you will go to many different environments, but the best levels are the open-ended freeform ones where your job is to get an object, get some lewtz, and get out without being seen (also with actual human guards as opposed to zombies and monsters). The ones that aren't these kind are sort of bland in comparison, and although I haven't finished the game yet, there are thankfully not that many of these.

But what about the actual stealth? It's good. There is a small gem at the bottom of the screen that tells you how visible (and therefore vulnerable) you really are. Moving quickly or being in a well lit area will probably end in being detected, but unlike some other stealth games, Thief isn't totally trial and error (although it still sort of is). You can usually kill or knock out a single guard before he raises the alarm, and then hide his body in the darkness. It makes me feel smart and like an actual stealthy dude. Even though the AI is very good at pretending its smarter than it actually is. But this game is old, what do you expect? Whereas, in Metal Gear Solid (sorry to keep making the comparison, but it's the only other pure stealth game series I have played extensively) once I set off the Alarm it's almost always over, and I'm never quite sure if a Guard can see me or not. But whatever, this blog isn't about how much I dislike MGS (because I do like it. I Just don't like the actual gameplay part).

I'm going to keep this one short. In conclusion, Thief is a pretty awesome game and I should probably finish it. The stealth is certainly unique and convincing enough that I will probably get Thief 2, and the game has a wider margin for error than other games of its type (that doesn't mean that I don't have to reload a save every now and again.). And it is also very atmospheric. Here are some videos of the first mission that were not actually done by me, but I think they will give you a good idea of how it plays. EDIT: Sorry for the video embed Jankiness. They aren't totally in order.