Thief: Deadly Shadows

I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of the Thief games, so a little word of warning; this review may be somewhat biased.
For those who don't know, Thief sees you taking up the role of Garrett, master thief, and throws you into the sprawling metropolis of "The City". You are then tasked with running about the place, thieving everything you can get your grubby little paws on, all the while being chased down by the fuzz (The City Watch). To aid you in your seemingly impossible task, you are given a tasty inventory of useful weapons and equipment including a dagger, a blackjack (club) a bow and an amazing assortment of arrows. You'll also get access to Flashbombs, Gasbombs, explosive mines and a nifty set of lock picks, all of which gives you a vast array of options when it comes to tackling the many problems you'll face during the course of the game.
Obviously, the game leans towards a stealthy play style, but you are by no means limited to such. You aren't penalised for going in guns (or should that be bows?) blazing, but you will be missing the point if you do. The game itself is vastly open-ended, and you are often given several options when it comes to tackling a problem. However, unlike the majority of games in this genre, the options aren't restricted to scripted events and instead are coded into the artificial intelligence in such a way that you may find the game to be somewhat unpredictable at times. This adds a whole new facet to gameplay and coaxes you into finding your own play style. In fact, so well formed is the game dynamic, that I am betting that no two players will play any one mission the same way. As a matter of fact I myself have played the game over and over and will often find myself playing the same missions in several different ways, adding to the re-playability immeasurably.

When you start the game, you are forced to play through a short tutorial mission, which is linear at best. However, although you cannot skip this mission each time you decide to start anew, it is nothing more than a minor annoyance as you'll be able to skip through it quite quickly once you've got the hang of things. To its credit, the tutorial is exceptionally well done, and although you'll feel like you've been dropped in at the deep end as soon as the game starts proper, you won't find yourself lost or confused as everything has been explained in a crystal clear manner beforehand.

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Once past the tutorial, the game really comes into its own. Your first mission sees you storming a castle to steal a valuable (and consequently well guarded) gemstone, but things in the world of Thief are never that simple.
In order for you to gain access to the gemstone, you'll have to first complete a series of fairly complex tasks, all the while avoiding being caught and completing secondary objectives along the way. While you'll never actually complete all of the objectives 100% on your first try, the second time round you probably won't have much difficulty as many of them revolve around knowing the lay of the land and your competency of navigating the environment. Once you've learnt the map, your task becomes tragically easy, but then, to add spice, you are welcome (and even encouraged) to pump up the difficulty for tougher tasks and smarter enemies.
The maps in Thief are beautifully open ended, and not at all linear. If you can see it, you can get to it, which adds so much to your freedom of movement/choice. Coupled with amazing visuals and wonderfully constructed lighting effects, you'll happily play the same mission over and over just to make sure you've seen everything.

We're not finished yet though. Once you're past the first proper mission you'll be dropped right into the middle of "The City", which serves as a hub level between missions. The City is vast and you'll spend hours exploring every nook, all the while avoiding the city watch. While you are there you are free to pick pockets, rob houses and mug innocent bystanders, but your main task is to sell off your ill-gotten gains and buy more equipment before advancing the plot (although this can be done as and when you feel the need).
Even here there are secondary objectives, which are usually quite fun to chase up on and will earn you not only more gold, but also kudos with the three main factions.

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Yes, the game runs far deeper, as you get assigned missions (which you are more than welcome to pass up on) assigned to you from the three factions, the Hammers (mechanical nuts), the Pagans (tree hugging hippies) and the Watchers (hidden string pulling types).
When you accomplish missions for one of the factions your standing within said faction grows and eventually they'll begin to like you. Once this happens they'll happily let you run around in their territory (normally they'd kill you on sight) and even come to your aid in a battle (vastly handy at the later stages of the game). Sometimes your objectives will conflict with another faction, so you may find that you'll have to weigh up your options carefully before accepting any given task.

The story of the game is brutally dark and neigh on frightening, even for me (a 24 year old survival horror veteran). At one stage the story takes you into the heart of a haunted house-type environment, which, I am fairly confident to say, will have you filling your trollies... seriously, it is that bad (in a good way). To this end, as the story progresses you'll find yourself in a bit of a quandary. As the game starts, the darkness is your friend and key to your survival, but as things develop and become scarier, you'll often find yourself hesitating when it comes to entering darkened areas. This factor alone adds a truly wonderful side to the gameplay.
The story unfolds in a series of well scripted (if slightly convoluted) cut sequences, which are interesting enough to watch. I won't go into specifics, because I don't want to ruin things for you, but it is well worth playing the game through to its conclusion just for the end sequence, which is brilliantly directed (if a little short.)

Garrett himself is a toughly charismatic character, and the other creatures and people of the world are drenched in pure class. The artificial intelligence is some of the most solid I've seen in a game, barring a few "getting stuck behind doors" issues, which are easily overlooked in the light of other brilliantly coded actions.
The vast majority of the creatures and characters are new and exclusive to this latest instalment of the game, and while I'd like to have seen a return of some of the old characters from the previous incarnations, the bestiary on display here more than does the job.

It's not all happy, happy joy, joy, mind you. Unfortunately Thief: Deadly Shadows is somewhat buggy. On several occasions I found save games to be corrupted and coupled with some dodgy collision detection on inanimate objects (as well as Garrett), the ability to save often becomes a must. This unfortunately kills some of the otherwise flawless atmosphere, being that you can (and should) save every five or so minutes. Although often frustrating, the bugs don't cause too many problems and you won't mind playing through the same section again should you need to, due to the stunning visuals and open-endedness of the gameplay.

From start to finish, this game is (in my opinion) the perfect product. It tells a story in a style that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and you'll often come back for more just for the open ended gameplay and to savour the excellent atmosphere. The visuals are the bees knees, the music, an eclectic mix of melodic drones and atmosphere building static effects, suits the mood perfectly, the A.I. is some of the best yet seen on a console game. The gameplay is extremely open ended, the story deep and engaging. With Thief: Deadly Shadows now available at budget prices, there really is no excuse to not give it a try.

92/100

A close to perfect title that'll keep you engaged for days on end. Try it, try it now!