In an interesting sequence of events, I rented the Xbox 360 version of the title and enjoyed it quite a bit, but then did not touch it again for months. Once the Xbox One became an option for my primary gaming focus, I purchased the game hoping to recapture the fun I had with the small part I played on 360. Alas the fun level stretched thinner than I expected as the game went on, and the labyrinthine city grew tiresome to navigate. Was it worth a purchase? Read on and find out! (or skip to the bottom and see for yourself. I'll let it slide this time.)
If you didn't skip to the bottom, welcome back!! Thanks for sticking with me (imagine me as a disembodied voice if you like...or if that's too creepy, just pretend James Earl Jones is reading this aloud). Anyways, back to the game. The proceedings start off pretty well, setting up an intriguing story and an atmospheric city. Garrett, our shadowy protagonist and titular THIEF, seems interesting enough, all cool-headed and sporting some nice threads (ahem...clothing). He takes on a mysterious contract that puts him immediately at odds with his former sidekick/frustrated female/ex-apprentice, Erin, who has also accepted the same contract from their mutual "friend" (and resident top hat wearing underworld contact) Basso. Being the weak silent type, Garrett prefers to avoid all human contact during his nighttime outings, never killing unless completely necessary, always erring on the side of caution. Erin feels differently, moving about as recklessly as possible and killing guards without a second thought. As always in thrillers, the young, dumb supporting character makes a brash mistake, leading to a supernatural accident. This accident in particular is a doozy, as the eerie cult summoning/ritual that is interrupted by Erin's fall and Garrett's butterfingers leads to a cataclysmic change in the surrounding city and in Garrett. He awakens a year later, but now with a snazzy magic eye that allows him to highlight objects of interest in the environment. How convenient! Especially for a game that requires you to pilfer everything in sight! Regrettably, The City has been overcome by "the Gloom," a disease wreaking havoc on the fine inhabitants. And thus begins the grand adventure! Bored yet? You will be!
Excellent atmosphere!
Graphics and Sound
Well, at first glance you'd think Thief looks real good. With a Victorian Gothic mixed with steampunk aesthetic, the environments you roam around ooze atmosphere. Dreary to almost a fault, the dark environments prove to be ripe for sneaking around in. Torches of passing guards light up alleys and walls as Garrett slinks by, swooping between rooftops and gutters. Once you start conversing with the inhabitants of the City, however, the facade falls away. Lip synching is well off the mark with non-player characters, and the character models lack detail. As much as the environments give a strong sense of place (almost too strong, as the dreariness starts to get old as you move through the game), the textures are not top of the line. It's odd, as you hit various loading screens even when entering small areas. (expand)!!
Succinctly put, the sound side of the game is lacking. Music is not a common occurrence, and the music you do hear during tense encounters is merely passable, made up of dark string arrangements. The voice acting is pretty lifeless, though Garrett's voice actor does help to create the calm and collected image of a master thief. Almost too calm, at times, maybe a bit too "vanilla" for my taste. The whistle of arrows and groans of the sick in the gritty streets of the City are done well enough. The total sound package is pretty weak overall, though. I won't be running out to the nearest record store to purchase the soundtrack (if record stores still existed anywhere near me....). There's not much here to praise, and there's not too much to flat-out trash either, actually. Disappointing!
Someone's going to get an arrow to the knee...
Gameplay
Ah the bread and stolen butter of a Thief game! Does it cut the mustard?
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......sort of.
After you get used to the controls, with left trigger used to essentially free-run and jump (an all-purpose movement button, maybe like Assassin's Creed's use of the right trigger to auto-climb), the action rolls along well enough. You have the ability to "swoop" at the click of the A button, moving silently and ultra-quickly across a small range, useful for moving between patches of darkness. You also have the ability to highlight objects worth stealing in the various environments, since Garrett's glowing eye gives you such an ability of course! There are numerous trinkets to pilfer, and the most satisfying scores occur within some of the more intricate side missions. A nice touch is the ability to look at your vast collection of loot in your clock tower lair.
My personal favorite objects to permanently "borrow" were intriguing paintings, as I used a sort of scalpel to slice them out of their frames. Screwing the collectable metal (perhaps golden?) plates off of the various monuments was also a treat. While the lengthier side missions offered some snazzy swag (not that kind of "swag"), I found that as the game went on, there were less and less objects of interest to steal, not only because I had been lifting things non-stop. I lost track of how many pairs of scissors I lifted from mysteriously empty apartments! While stealth and non-lethal means of attack are encouraged, I often just loaded up on lethal arrows and turned the guards into large pincushions, as I was not penalized for such an approach (other than the heightened danger of men with swords chasing you).
As much fun as it was to be an evil Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and poor and giving to myself (and shooting everyone with arrows), the aptly named City (seriously...the City) gets old pretty quick. Within a couple of hours, I realized that the seemingly open-world approach was actually rather limiting. There were loading screens nearly every time I entered a new, bite-sized area, which was rather annoying as the map does not take long to run through. However, it takes just long enough to run through City that running to the next mission exit became a chore, not a thrilling, vertical race that I had hoped. The hub world of the City is essentially pretty lifeless, with a select few NPCs coughing and mucking about. This is not a major negative, but it would have been nice to interact with more than several NPC side quest givers. Most levels are slightly free-form chunks of real estate, similar to Dishonored, with multiple routes through the level. Once again, the illusion of openness dangles the wasted potential of Thief right in front of players' faces! There is often one route you must take to proceed, though you can use vents (yay...) or ladders to find new vantage points. The game is far more linear than it should be.
Garrett's ballet routine in motion
The level design on some of the later missions is a bit more layered, with multiple floors to explore and various points of entry, but overall the mission structure is lacking. I had hoped for something more along the lines of Deus Ex, with more multiple routes and rewards for lethal/non-lethal options...is it terrible? No, but I was disappointed. Also disappointing is the hand-to-hand combat. I didn't expect to be a badass pugilist, seeing as the game is called Thief, but bludgeoning guards repeatedly in clunky close-quarters encounters was not satisfying. You get abilities to make combat easier (like your typical slow-motion focus ability), but all it does is provide you a chance to end the engagements faster, not with more excitement or style. Fighting one guard is...passable, but if more than one enemy decides to attack (spoiler: THEY ALWAYS DO) after you are discovered, have fun failing to defend yourself! Or losing most of your health even if you learn to manage the scuffles by fleeing and picking them off one at a time.
Combat is essentially discouraged, and in a game about being stealthy, that's not a terrible thing. But it is annoying that there really isn't an effective (well, FUN) system in place to dispatch your enemies at close range if spotted. You have different arrow types at your disposal (to turn the tide in your favor), some examples being water arrows to douse flames, sawtooth arrows to inflict maximum damage, rope arrows to climb to previously unreachable areas, and blunt arrows to hit distant switches. With so many arrow options you couldn't be faulted for expecting the same number of options to go through missions, I suppose. Sadly, Thief fails to build on previous titles' free-form approach and limits you.
There was one level in particular that changed things up, but I'll try not to give too much away (and spoil the surprise!). I'll say this: it's creepy. Super creepy. It felt like an almost entirely different experience from the rest of the game, mostly in a positive way. It was pure stealth, which almost helped me forget the combat deficiencies in the game. The oppressive atmosphere plays best here, in the abandoned ASYLUM!!! I was on my toes the entire time. Or at least Garrett was, I guess. This level alone makes it almost worth a rent. Outside of the side quest heists and main story missions, you can sneak through various windows to explore the vacant rooms and apartments of City citizens, taking what you will. There is also a challenge mode, which tasks Garrett with moving through the pre-set levels as fast as possible through certain conditions. It didn't hold my interest for long, as playing through the main storyline and side missions had exhausted my patience and repetition had set in.
Thief is enjoyable for most of its runtime, and I really enjoyed a few of the missions, but traversing the same sections of the City time and time again tried my patience, and the levels never opened up enough to allow for free-form approaches. The story also doesn't really go anywhere interesting, with the supernatural suspense and villains underwhelming. The atmosphere is strong, the controls and mechanics are solid, and some missions have some great set pieces and environments. If you're looking for a solid stealth title on the Xbox One, this won't lead you astray.
7.25 out of 10
Graphics: Though textures and character details are lacking (particularly in lip synching), the shadowy, ominous environments convey a superb, oppressive atmosphere.Sound: The voice acting is lacking, and the sparse music is passable. Nothing here stands out!
Replay Value: A run-through of the campaign and all the side missions takes around 15-20 hours. The challenge mode adds a couple hours of value, and you can replay any missions to your heart's content. The mission environments don't give you enough options to make you want to replay them, however.
Entertainment Value: If you're a big Thief fan, you'll likely be disappointed. Immensely. It's a missed opportunity. It's still a solid stealth title, and there's fun to be had if you can look past the mediocre story and repetition. Definitely worth a buy, but only if you can look past its flaws. $15 is certainly not a bad price to pay.
Garrett's clock tower lair
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