![]() ![]() A few hours in, however, and it really gets going as a noir-tinged mystery, transforming Garrett from thief to detective to unlikely instrument of justice. At first, Thief’s tale seems incidental, clichéd and unengaging, which might leave old-timers longing for the good old days of the struggle between the Keepers, Pagans and Hammerites. Like Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, Thief’s priority is its story, and if it takes a little orchestration and direction to pull you through it, then it’s not going to apologise. This makes getting around Thief’s game-world a joy, even at speed, and gives you a chance to get away when all seems lost. To help you have a very effective visibility indicator and – more importantly – a much more agile hero, with an auto-jump and clamber system with echoes of Mirror’s Edge and Assassin’s Creed. Interestingly, this pushes you to focus more on stealth, and on escaping when you are discovered. And while certain arrows can be used to put down enemies, either humanely or permanently, using them excessively is a recipe for disaster, and your main melee weapon – a blackjack – is little use against more than a single guard. Instead, the game encourages three main approaches: the ghost, who slips past every obstacle unseen, the predator, who isolates and takes out any threats one-by-one, and the opportunist, who uses his tools and the environment to evade detection and reach each objective. ![]() The guards are too tough and too numerous, and other enemies you’ll meet later on are also too powerful. It’s not that the new Garrett – now a fantasy film-noir antihero – is bereft of offensive powers, but it’s impossible to play the new Thief with a confrontation style. Once you know and understand what it is, it’s a fantastic game.įor a start, throw away Thief, Thief 2 and Dishonored as your reference points and it’s a lot closer to Bioshock or Bioshock Infinite a thinking-man’s action game, albeit one that’s heavily focused on stealth. Yet, if we agree to all these charges, that doesn’t mean we’re ready to convict Thief, lock it up and throw away the key. What’s more, Thief’s more straightforward abilities and systems don’t have the range or excitement of Corvo’s powers and upgrades in Dishonored. It doesn’t help that Thief uses areas like a high-class brothel that draw direct comparisons, and when comparisons are made it almost always comes off the worst. The City, as it’s called, is an intriguing dark fantasy creation with echoes of steampunk and a nice line in medieval-meets-industrial architecture, but it hasn’t been built with the artistry or attention to detail that Arkane bought to Dunwall. On the third count, well, Thief doesn’t have the openness of Dishonored or a setting with the vibrant identity of Dunwall. It’s also clear that this is a game built around the memory constraints of the outgoing consoles, with areas chopped into artificial chunks, though some of the joins are carefully hidden in pick your way through the debris interludes or elevator journeys. The same goes for a hero who gets stuck in the scenery, which still happens from time to time. All the same, if you’re looking for a game to rival Ryse, Killzone: ShadowFall or even Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition in the visual department, this isn’t it.Ĭlose ups of characters can look primitive even by the standards of some PS3 games like Beyond: Two Souls or The Last of Us, and nobody wants to see textures popping in or screen tearing on a next-gen title. Thief is beautifully designed, atmospheric and highly immersive, and the quality improves as the game goes on later sections can be eerily beautiful. On the second count, Thief looks great for an Xbox 360 or PS3 game, but play it on the PS4 and it’s clear that you’re playing a last-generation game with a few high-resolution textures and the resolution upped to 1080p. Bar the city sections that link the game’s different missions, the new Thief is surprisingly linear. Yet while it’s a game that rewards exploration – you’ve never seen so many documents to read or loot to pinch – it’s not a game that gives you much scope in which to do it. Thief 2014 still does well on the latter front, handing you a grab-bag of arrows and familiar gadgets with which to douse torches, knock-out guards, open grates, pick locks and sneak around, not to mention a selection of tools with which to sow chaos and sow distraction. The original games prided themselves on giving the player a range of different routes and approaches, both in terms of the physical way you explored the environment, and in terms of the way you dealt with the obstacles in your path. While it’s still a first-person stealth-action game – with just a modicum of shooting – the Thief reboot is a slight departure. ![]() If you loved Thief 1 and 2, and if you liked the third game, Deadly Shadows, then you’ll have to steel yourself. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |