for Xbox

Distributed by
Eidos Interactive Limited

Problems began when I started to play the game, having my fears confirmed from the footage I'd seen not long beforehand on ITV's gaming show, Cybernet. The first thing I spied is the change in game engine to the same used in the lamentable Deus Ex: Invisible War. Why?! The one used in Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age were perfect and so free-flowing, something which springs to mind the more you play No.3. Why change to one with a stodgy frame-rate, by comparison? I guess things couldn't sit still for four years, but when there are always better ways of doing things in games that have worked before and are changed and go a bit SNAFU for the sequels, it begs that "Why?" question, particularly about the fact that the programming duties left Looking Glass Studios and went to Ion Storm. And while you can just about get used to it during the 'sneaking around' bits, when it comes to fighting and more than one person's after you, it's hideous because it plays out so jerky and slow. That said, the shadows and lighting are very impressive indeed. You can now cast shadows yourself, so it's not only your bodily form that attracts attention, and while the new "body awareness" feature allows you to see your hands and feet as you look in the appropriate directions, in first-person mode, I found it rather offputting.

One thing that's different this time round is with lockpicking. Whereas last time you just pressed a button and waited, here you press 'A' and rotate the left thumbstick until you get the heaviest vibration from the lock on your controller, then pull the right trigger to open the door. This takes a little getting used to but is quite effective, and eventually you realise that most locks are opened by turning it to the four main points of the compass so it's not that much of a challenge. Time for some more complaints though. The game has long loading times, due to loading the whole level back in, even though I've just been killed in it(!) Why can't it load the whole thing onto the Xbox's hard drive? In fact, it's not even the whole level as it has 'portals' that take you between areas on the same level, and after going through one the baddies chasing you have gone(!) Go back again and they're still waiting for you, but overall this is ridiculous, and the split-level idea reminds me of 2000's worst game, Daikatana. The enemy AI seems worse than before, which is rather annoying as they're rather thick much too often, such as one guy didn't follow me when he saw me breaking in somewhere because I closed the door on him. Same thing happened when I unlocked the door for a lady prisoner. She was standing behind it and didn't realise why she couldn't get out. Also, after knocking baddies out after creeping up on them, this time, why can't I pick up their weapons? You have a choice of difficulty at the start of each level, but this quite pointless as it just increases the amount of treasures and gold you need to collect - as opposed to making the guards a bit more brainy. Something else new is the 3rd-person-view, but thankfully this is an option. I found it far too distracting after having played the first two games in first-person mode, so that's the way I always go back to. Oh, and we've also lost rope and vine arrows in favour of gloves that can help you only in climbing stone walls.

It's not all doom and gloom though. Like the first two games, this one also has great sound effects and positioning. I got this perfectly with even basic surround sound until now, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 does help in making you forget some of the title's shortcomings. However, while locked up in the prison the sound stuttered and disappeared. I had to reboot but it did it again, several times while I was in the prison! Again, thankfully, I'm getting that feeling from the prequels, when I'm being chased by several baddies, very late at night, after a few drinks, of being scared shitless. It's so rare to have a game with that feeling of fear so I'll have that to fall back on whatever happens over the coming 10 levels. Yes, only 10. There were more in the previous games, so perhaps the developers thought that split-levels would make up for this? Not really. That said, you can save the game wherever you like and along the way you can sell your loot for cash and buy items with it this time. It's also of interest to hang back sometimes and listen in to their conversations for a while, before twatting them to death. And, of course, it's still fun to knock people out and throw them onto the floor so part of them has fallen into the fire and listen to them die :) If only they'd sorted the graphics out properly, perhaps lessening the textures in order to speed up the framerate, or at least give that option like you often get on a PC game. Even the recent Hitman: Contracts has great, fluid movements, so I know when it comes to Thief: Deadly Shadows, I will play it through to the end, over time, but I won't enjoy it as much as the first two games.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.