Thief is now available in stores for the PlayStation, Xbox and PC in North America, Europe and Australia. Before even coming out the game has already made headlines for the controversial decision to replace longtime voice actor Stephen Russell with newcomer Romano Orzari because
he couldn't do stunts. Thief fans may want to stock up on some vodka.
Here we have a gameplay trailer that was released last October giving us a glimpse of how the game will play and it looks... boring. There's nothing that immediately sticks out as interesting and somehow even the sight of houses burning to the ground manages to leave something to be desired and it just had to have a slow motion scene, didn't it? Because we haven't been exposed to that enough times already.
Thief focuses more on the stealth elements (as it should) and evading enemies than taking them out. The objective is to steal. Steal, steal, steal! You can even steal right from under someone nose's by taking a painting off the wall or pickpocketing them. The first-person perspective makes the stealth elements all the more challenging as you can't look overhead like you would in a third-person game like Metal Gear Solid. Sounds become important in a situation like this but unfortunately
sound is one of the main problems with the game!
The above review is from just one of many critics who have noted the shortcomings of the game, from issues with the audio, an overused trope of the main character suffering from amnesia and a slow start before any of the highlights of the game begin to come into play (where have we heard that before?). Apparently it takes 10 – 12 hours for the story to actually get good, so if you aren't someone who likes to invest long hours in a game you may not get the same kind of satisfaction out of it.
However there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Thief has managed to score above the average 5/10 and has already been praised for its stealth gameplay, level design, graphics and replay value, but those of you who have been with the series from the beginning have been told to err on the side of caution. It doesn't help when IGN's Dan Stapleton claims that the new voice actor makes Garrett seem 'flat' and 'poorly lip synched'. For those of you worried that they have completely abandoned the supernatural elements from the old games, don't, Stapleton even goes on to criticize the story for being 'supernaturally-driven'. We're not sure how that can be seen as a criticism seeing that the supernatural elements was such a big part of the lore in the original games, but we're not Dan Stapleton. Another thing to keep in mind is that Thief has not been screaming 'NEXT GEN' to gamers. This isn't a game that's going to make you rush out to get a PS4 or Xbox One if you haven't already, you're just as better off sticking with the PC or the current generation of consoles already available.
Conclusion: You may find it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, you may find it to be the greatest abomination of mankind, or you may find it to be 'okay' with a slice of 'could have been so much better'. You're not going to know until you play the game and find out for yourself. The question is how much of these things listed above will sway you and are you willing to take a chance on something that hasn't been getting as many high marks as developers and publishers wish it would get?
Join in on the discussion and let us know what you think today.
Sources
Google
Wikipedia
PC World
GameZone
IGN
