Thief

Visually, there's quite a bit to complain about and it's really just boils down to a sloppy port. For instance, I experienced a graphical bug in Chapter 3 (pictured below) that completely halted my progress in the game for at least 30 minutes. In short, there's a medallion used by Garret as a key towards the middle of the chapter. In order to use the medallion, the player first has to line up a series of symbols etched on four metal rings on the medallion.

Using Garrett's focus ability, the player identifies the symbols in the vicinity. Then the player should be able to see them on the medallion. My instance of the game didn't light up the symbols correctly, thus forcing me to watch videos online to correctly identify the four symbols (also pictured below). It's absolutely ridiculous that a graphical bug like this completely halts the player from moving forward at a crucial point in the game.

As for overall performance, there are serious issues of slowdown that I simply haven't experienced on other recent releases. My system has a quad-core 2.9 GHz AMD chip, 16GB of RAM, a SSD drive and a GeForce GTX 660. I experienced many slowdown issues in 1080p resolution, specifically during the in-game engine cutscenes. I eventually just gave up trying to tweak it and scaled back to 720p windowed as well as mid-range textures to run it smoothly. However, I will say that how lighting interacts with Garrett's stealth is impressive and often led to some of the most tense sequences in the game.

While the dialogue work is decent, there are multiple instances where the conversation loops over and over when wandering around the city landscape. In addition, guards often get stuck in a conversation stance, often when a conversation isn't even occurring. This is troublesome for the player since guard movement is crucial when staying hidden in the shadows.

The sound effects within the incredibly creepy asylum mission are absolutely terrifying and easily one of the high points in the game's audio. The developers did a heck of a job placing bloodcurdling noises when Garrett's attempting to pick locks or simply move around the abandoned asylum. As for the score, it sets the mood for the dystopian landscape. The sound design also does a great job of heightening the tension when Garrett is discovered or about to be discovered.

The biggest issue with the execution of Thief is that the stealth genre has evolved much farther along and left behind the series that started it all. For instance, 2012's 'Dishonored' is vastly more capable at melding stealth and action than 'Thief,' a game that was released 18 month later. Of course, the tedious supernatural narrative, Garrett's dismal fighting abilities, numerous graphical issues and audio glitches aren't doing the game any favors either. Reviving an old franchise while targeting five platforms with "a heavily modified Unreal 3 engine" may have been more than the team could reasonably be expected to contend with. I can't recommend 'Thief' to anyone beyond those who have invested lots of time in the series more than ten years ago and simply want to take Garrett for one more spin in the shadows. For everyone else, revisit 'Dishonored' with all the DLC packs during the next Steam sale.

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