Xbox Nation: Thief: Deadly Shadows

Uberthief Garrett is back in Thief: Deadly Shadows, the latest entry in Warren Spector and Ion Storm’s cult series. It has to be said the third- and first-person game gets off to a rocky start and has a few continuing problems, but if you’re willing to stick it out through a couple of slow-paced early levels, it quickly hooks you and won’t let go.

Straight out of the gate: This game is dark. Not violent or disturbingly dark (although it can be that as well), but dark as in “not able to see your hand in front of your face.” Even with the in-game brightness control cranked all the way up, you can barely see a damn thing. Now, granted, this is a stealth-action game, and you play as a thief in the best “hide in shadows” tradition, so it’s in keeping with the theme. However, a slight concession to playability would have been nice—the graphics aren’t amazing, but they’re not bad, either, and it would have been great to see them once in a while. On the other hand, the directional sound effects are incredible. It’s perfectly possible to tell where enemies and NPCs are by aural cues alone.

There are few other disappointing bits here. Each map and/or level is markedly smaller than Thief fans are used to, and the load times are, well, not exactly short. The graphics engine is a hair on the jerky side (though no more so than in, say, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Ion’s other big title), and the control and camera are a bit loose. In fact, it’s readily apparent the overall design strategy was to find some middle ground between the PC and Xbox versions, and it winds up excelling on neither system. The game itself also gets off to a slow start, with a not terribly exciting training mission followed by a straight-up burglary. The combination may be enough to discourage the more casual player.

The story gets much more interesting as it goes (involving all the usual Thief suspects, including warring factions the Keepers, Hammerites, and Pagans), and once you get over the learning curve, you’ll begin to appreciate exactly why this series has its fans: its nicely thought-out stealth action. As Garrett, you have a tremendous amount of flexibility in overcoming enemies and obstacles. The game isn’t as open-ended as Wars, but between the wealth of available gadgetry and the predictable if logical enemy A.I., there’s always more than one way to skin a cat. True, it’s a pain having to sneak around even on “regular” city streets, but over time, even that becomes a minor annoyance.

And Shadows’ story does eventually grab and tug at all the appropriate places. The series has always gotten by on style as much as on substance, and Shadows is no exception. The game gradually turns into a serious nail-biter, and although many of the supernatural elements from Thief II have been toned down, there are still a number of genuinely creepy sections (the abandoned Shalebridge Cradle asylum, in particular, is good for a couple of nightmares).

Decisions, Decisions

You’ve got a lot of options for how to play Thief: Deadly Shadows. Water arrows can be used to snuff torches so you can slip by guards unseen. Or you could hit them with a flash bomb and run by. Or you can watch a guard’s pattern and knock him out with a blackjack. If you’re forced to kill him, you can drag the body where it won’t be found and then wash up the telltale blood with a water arrow.

Garrett is so bad, he’ll steal your heart and sell it back to you at an inflated price.

Publisher: Eidos

Developer: Ion Storm

Players: 1

Live: No

MSRP: $49.99

ESRB: M

8 Out of 10