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Thief 3
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In Thief, a first person stealth game made by Ion Storm, developers of the award winning Deus Ex series, you take on the role of Garrett the master thief, who steals from the rich and gives to himself. While Garrett would prefer to be left alone to practice his trade, he inadvertantly awakes an ancient hidden evil. He stands alone, between "The City" and the dark forces who would crush it at any opportunity.
Set in the middle ages, you will use many tools such as grappling hooks, lockpicks (which are utilized Splinter Cell style), flash bombs, Garrett's usual assortment of various types of arrows, and many other tools of the trade. He also has abilities such as climbing walls, and also similar to Splinter Cell, hiding in shadows. Using his light gem like Sam Fisher's visibility meter, he can see how well concealed in a shadow he is. This was done in the previous two Thief games, so if anything, Splinter Cell actually copied Thief, and not the other way round. Eavesdropping on conversations will also play an important part in the game, and can give you vital details about the mission.
The game continues after Thief II, and the basic gameplay will remain relatively similar, including finding loot (which can be used to buy new equipment), the general mission stucture and the "expert" mode, which has extremely strict victory conditions. You will have to infiltrate various places, and steal things, prefferably avoiding confrontation with the guards. The game will take a slightly faster approach than the previous games however, and will focus more on improvisation rather than careful planning and timing. The AI has also improved, and has a quite complex searching system. "The Thief team is poised to deliver an incredible action stealth game, featuring realistic sneaking and stealing. We want the player to feel like a real thief," said Randy Smith, project director at Ion Storm.
The game runs on the engine to be used by Deus Ex: Invisible War. This engine uses complicated rag doll physics and dynamic, real time lighting. Shooting a guard with your bow can cause him to be flung back, sending his torch spinning, which results in impressive spinning shadows. The character models are nicely detailed and have a smooth, organic look to them. The sound system is also the same as that used by Deus Ex 2, and is currently the most advanced sound system in existance.
While the game is stealth based, the missions are also open ended. It is not certain how far this will go, but at the very least it will mean multiple paths through the levels. Missions will take place in castles, mansions, prisons, cathedrals, dungeons, museums and other locations. You targets will be defended by armed guards, hired muscle, angry thugs, hideous monsters, and much worse.
Thief III is due out this winter, and will be a great game for those who enjoyed Splinter Cell, or the previous Thief games. Using advanced graphics, sound, AI and physics systems, this game should push your stealth skills further than any other game has done before.
Review By: Flid_Merchant
Game Info: Thief 3
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