Thief: Deadly Shadows Review

By Kristan Reed Published 14 June, 2004

Hank Marvin makes a comeback in new and interesting ways...

Version tested: Xbox

Order yours now from Simply Games.

We're all a bit dodgy here at Eurogamer. We've got a Rob and a Nick on the payroll for a start, if that doesn’t offer up enough clues, while Tom's stealthy abilities to filch all the boxed review copies that come into the office have long passed into legend. Appropriate, then, that our most recent staffer, Pat Garratt bears almost the same name as Thief: Deadly Shadows's lead character Garrett, and more than a few similarities in the wardrobe department, legend has it. Some coincidences just can't be resolved. Best to triple lock the front door just in case.

Thief's long overdue arrival on the console scene - in this case the Xbox - could be perceived by long term fans as much of a curse as a blessing. Would Ion Storm be forced to dumb it down in order to appeal to the more casual gamer, or would it stay true to its origins? Offering the game in third person appeared to be the first step towards delivering the kind of game Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid fans would appreciate - but would it betray its fan base?

Ambitious accessibility

'Thief: Deadly Shadows' Screenshot 1

Any notions that Ion Storm has sold the brand out, however, are quickly dispelled once the first couple of missions are out of the way. If anything, Thief: Deadly Shadows is simultaneously the most ambitious stealth game ever made, while also being perhaps the most genuinely accessible.

As a veteran of both Splinter Cell campaigns and most of the MGS series, it's fair to say that those titles require a degree of patience and resolve that most games would never dare to ask of you. If anything, we were expecting Thief's transition to console to be even more of an exacting exercise in observation and guile - but some cunning design decisions have largely circumvented a large proportion of the frustration inherent in games that demand that you lurk in the shadows and creep around playing hide and seek.

Unlike the resolutely linear experience of, Splinter Cell, Thief offers a far more flexible gameplay experience, often presenting you with several tasks or missions at once. Although the overall direction is still most definitely linear by necessity, there's still a heartening feeling of choice available to you. The game works essentially by placing you within a town and then gradually offering new missions at locations around the town. It's not exactly stealth GTA, but it's most definitely a progression from just hopping from level to level in that you're given a number of other optional things to in between the 'real' missions that often distract you from the main task at hand for hours at a time.

Eavesdrop away

'Thief: Deadly Shadows' Screenshot 2

Listening in on conversations can, for example, bring up all new sub mission tasks, while carefully infiltrating all the myriad of nooks and crannies available can often provide explicit clues to booty stashes, not to mention their state of mind. What isn't necessarily obvious at first is the almost subliminal storytelling going on; either in the form of snatches of conversation or the numerous journal entries scattered around that add a layer of depth to what might otherwise feel like your typical hide and sneak.

With the all-new third person mode added, there's even more reason to draw comparisons with the Splinter Cells of this world. At first glance it uses a lot of the same tricks; the thumb stick lock pick system is perhaps the most instantly recognisable comparison, or the delicious use of dynamic lighting, shadow and sound. At its heart the core gameplay admittedly works in almost the same way, but after that you're left reflecting on some very big differences that make you love the game the more you play it. To begin with, you can become obsessed with the light. The first proper mission, for example, makes you shoot out a flaming torch with a Water Arrow, and from then on it became an obsession to black out the levels in the same way as Splinter Cell demands - only a paucity of arrows meant resorting to other tactics became a functional necessity when it became apparent that you rarely have enough cash to justify profligacy.

By shoehorning you into taking other routes to your goal, you soon realise just how many options there are available to you. If you want to sneak, it's very often not just a case of waiting for the right moment, but also taking the right route. It's quite common for you to struggle through to your destination, only to discover there was a far easier and more cunning way to get there that may have entirely avoided any conflict at all. You can, of course, take a more violent approach to your thievery and leave a succession of corpses strewn around the town, and Thief offers a multitude of means if you so wish to play the game this way.

Those deadly penny chews

'Thief: Deadly Shadows' Screenshot 3

The most obvious method we came across was to simply whack opponents over the back of the head with a Blackjack, before dumping their limp torsos in darkened corners, but in addition you have a dagger, numerous bombs - notably the Gas bomb, which knocks out a gaggle of foe in one hit, or the Oil bomb, which causes the AI to skid in a slapstick fashion before knocking themselves unconscious. The arrows, however, provide plenty of options to help you gain a sizeable booty stash, with the flaming arrow providing a great incendiary attack near barrels of oil, the water arrow a great dousing ally against the peril of the flaming light, and the moss arrow not only cushioning otherwise noisy floors, but also acting as a means of muffling the cries of would be noisy guards.

One of the best pieces of design in the game is the incentive based gameplay, which positively rewards you in both money and satisfaction. On the default Normal difficulty you'll be tasked with picking up a minimum of 40 per cent of the booty stashed in each level before you can progress - to begin with this can seem like a fairly unwelcome piece of kleptomaniacal design that's forcing you to sniff around levels for the sake of it, but you soon realise that the more treasure you unearth, the more money you can trade it all in for, and therefore the more ammo you can buy in return. It all works out in the end, and the mere fact that you're encouraged to do this means you tend to learn the levels better as a result, meaning a more cunning approach and a better appreciation of how the game is structured.

Learning how to cope with the enemy AI is also a crucial art to learn. Every drone you come across is either having some pre-scripted natter with a pal, or maybe just muttering to themselves - either way, there's a palpable sense that they know what's going on. Perhaps it's fair to say that on Normal level they simple don't chase you far enough, but at least you're not forced to go through the dreaded Game Over sequence for the 200th time as you do with Thief's stealth rivals. Instead, you can always rely on the fact that you can hide out in the dark and wait for them to get bored of looking - as a coherent and less frustrating gameplay experience it's infinitely preferable, if a little amusing when the person looking for you gives up when they're practically on top of you.

Mapped out

'Thief: Deadly Shadows' Screenshot 4

In comparison to its peers, the levels are quite sizeable, and often you'll find yourself seriously lost as you try and beat a familiar path without attracting the attentions of your adversaries. One of the major negatives about Thief is its almost useless in-game map, that as well being a pain to access (via two sub menus) also doesn't pinpoint your position, or take into account different floors. It's possibly one of the least helpful in-game maps ever made, and until you've had time to build up your own mental map of each level that you'll be getting lost on a regular basis and singularly unable to make serious progression. It's a time consuming game as it is. You have to pick your way through it carefully, so the last thing you need is something so basic being so inescapably flawed. It's not the end of the world, though, and you quickly accept the fact and just get on with it. In a way it forces you to play the mission in rather the same way as you would in reality- by recognition and common sense rather than a mini map with Sat Nav. This is, after all, a low tech era.

What most definitely cannot be accused of being low tech is the game engine. If anything, such lavish visuals, complemented by a fantastically well implemented persistent state system (i.e. all dead bodies stay right where you left them) are setting the benchmark for what the Xbox can do, both in terms of lighting, texturing, level size, character model detail and animation, and - of course - their rag doll physics. However, such enormous feats of ambition come at a heavy price, with a frame rate well less than the 25fps that Ion Storm would have been gunning for. At times the game feels so sluggish that you'd swear it's struggling to render double figures, but miraculously Ion Storm gets away with it.

It's hard to reconcile how a game that looks so shaky at times can still remain so compelling, but the longer you play it, the less of an issue the low frame rate becomes - however hard that may be to believe. It's a slow paced game anyway, so it's not something that really affect the gameplay from one encounter to the next - chances are you'll be creeping up on your opponent so gently that you'll barely even register the frame rate. There's every chance, however, that PC owners brought up on slick frame rates and high end graphics card will have a fit when they see it in action on an Xbox, but there's one simple solution to that dilemma - buy the PC version.

Honed and dry

As single player experiences go, it's one that will last you an age if you decide to really poke around in all of its dark crevasses, so any moans over the lack of multiplayer mode needn't be a stick to beat Ion Storm with. As much as Thief: Deadly Shadows can feel like quite a hardcore experience, its more open ended structure, combined with the welcome ability to save anywhere makes it a far more accessible product in truth. Its somewhat parochial theme might not be as instantly epic as MGS and it may lack the high tech cool and acrobatics of Splinter Cell, but it makes up for its diminished pyrotechnics by simply being arguably the more absorbing game of any of them.

There's something so pleasingly honed about the overall structure of Deadly Shadows and how that integrates with the gameplay mechanic - and in terms of getting your money's worth, there are few games that suck you in quite as much. Playing for long periods never felt like an obligation - there was rarely a time when we were playing just to see what came next, but more because we wanted to. If it wasn't for the dreadful lack of optimisation we'd be celebrating Thief's arrival on console a whole lot more, but even so, Deadly Shadows is the kind of console game you could have only dreamed of a few years back and it definitely bodes well for the future. For now, it's almost the complete package and warrants your attention.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Kami #1 8 years ago

    As good as Halo then.

    /coat

  • Tricky #2 8 years ago

    /chucks Kami's hat out the door after him ;-)

    Cracking review Kristan - glad to see that you noted the problems with the map. As I remember the last games actually noted where you were by highlighting the area you were in with a light blue colour and I seriously find myself missing this sometimes. However, it does force you to learn the levels a bit more, doesn't it?

  • Royal Fool #3 8 years ago

    So, are you gonna add a footnote about the difficulty bug? It's a serious issue, after all, and one that will truly lower the replay value.

    And, naturally, great review. I agree with you on most points. Of course, the PC version only gets a 7/10 from me, because they could have done so much more...
    Edited by 1 at 14/06/04 @ 21:16

  • MikeD #4 8 years ago

    Hmmm, the map is quite excellent. Of course it doesn't bleeding pinpoint your position, it's not a freaking radar, is it now? If there's one thing I've hated in stealth games it's a map which not only shows you, but often the objective and enemies as well. Such nonsense.


  • Kami #5 8 years ago

    Hey, might as well get that out of the way first!

    Great review though. PC version may entice me but only when they fix that bug...

  • Abscido #6 8 years ago

    I agree with many of your points Kristan, and I had one of my most enjoyable nights of gaming in ages with this on Friday night. However, the longer I play it, the more the idiotic enemy AI is beginning to grate on me. The game simply isn't challenging once you get the hang of it. As a result, the difficulty bug, combined with the terrible framerate (which you rightly say doesn't affect the experience all that much) make the Xbox version of the game pretty poor value for money IMO. I hate to bash a company whose game philosophies I admire greatly, but Ion Storm have really ripped consumers off with the shoddy Xbox versions of Invisible War and Thief. Which is a shame, because they're both such good games.

  • krudster #7 8 years ago

    I guess the AI bug does need to be addressed somehow - but precisely how Ion Storm can do that on the Xbox without a full recall is open to question - seeing as Microsoft won't allow single player patches.

  • MikeD #8 8 years ago

    They probably won't. Which makes it fair to say that if you want a challenge out of this game to get the pc version and hope for a speedy patch.
    Edited by 1 at 14/06/04 @ 23:03

  • Thamuhacha #9 8 years ago

    >They probably won't. Which makes it fair to say that if you want a challenge out of this game to get the pc version and hope for a speedy patch.

    "Nick in agrees with Mike D shocker (again)"

    I don't think that Eidos have the kind of clout to make Microsoft do a patch for Xbox. But I also don't think the readily patchible nature of the PC game makes it better than a console format.

    I am still bitter about Sin :-)

  • Royal Fool #10 8 years ago

    Microsoft might agree to supply a patch through an OXM coverdisc, but I find that highly unlikely. As it is, this game is a prime example of quality assurance gone wrong.

  • MikeD #11 8 years ago

    I think we're getting to the point where we've agreed more often than disagreed :-).

  • bionutz #12 8 years ago

    I have a friend to downloaded some ini files from a fans' site, and now the game looks much more as the original thief; I mean come on, the huge buttons and text on the screen?!!! I thought this company knew some things about designing games! (This ini files also shrink the buttons and text and order of windows on the screen - weapons, inventory items to normal proportions).

  • Tyronne #13 8 years ago

    Thing with theif is that the map is just a guide,so you know the rough location of things..anything else would of felt out of place due to anything more technical not marrying up with the locales of the game.

  • UncleLou #14 8 years ago

    Excellent review.

    Gotta agree what has been said here already though, the map really isn't supposed to be more than a rough sketch, and it's good that way. Half the fun of Thief always was to explore the areas, and it works well and without becoming frustrating because the levels are usually built very logically.

  • Tiger_Walts #15 8 years ago

    For anyone with the PC version, AVault thinks there is a patch on the way.

    However, if you can't wait there are some hackish fixes out there, like ThiefBot which runs in the background and continually updates the AI settings to your desired level.

    Got this info from yesterday's PA.

  • Thamuhacha #16 8 years ago

    >I think we're getting to the point where we've agreed more often than disagreed :-)

    Yep. Strange but true.

    I haven't had a chance to play the finished version of this yet. Although I worked on it a year or so ago when I was at Eidos. I am due to pick up an Xbox and start on the back catalogue soon, but won't be able to afford a decent PC for ages. So I will await news on the bug front.

    I love the whole Thief concept and the map is a huge part of that ... the idea that you have a few details from "casing" the place earlier, rather than a full GPS navigation system :-)

  • UncleLou #17 8 years ago

    What exactly did you work on, Thamuhacha , if I may ask?

    Don't worry, I love the game, so unless the silly bow upgrades were your idea, I am not going to mock you. ;-)

  • Clive_Dunn #18 8 years ago

    Mock him, mock him !

  • Thamuhacha #19 8 years ago

    >What exactly did you work on, Thamuhacha , if I may ask?

    Marketing (although not much was happening a year ago!) ... so can neither claim credit, nor receive blame, for the actual game :-)

    Oi "Clive" ... shut it.

  • Sko #20 8 years ago

    "Of course it doesn't bleeding pinpoint your position, it's not a freaking radar, is it now?"

    Maybe you should switch to decaf?

  • Wretched Chin #21 8 years ago

    Agreed on the whole "framerate isn't a problem" thing.

    Too many people have drawn instant comparisons with Deus Ex2 (for obvious reasons) but the stealth-based gameplay seem better suited to
    the "limitations" of the engine than the FPS style of DE2, to my mind.

    This game is, above all, highly immersive (my Holy Grail of gaming, really).

  • EVERYGAMER #22 8 years ago

    I love the fact you now get both 1st and 3rd person views. Somtimes you just need that extra peripheral vision offerd by the 3rd person camera (especially when clubbing guards) But I'll always stick to 1st person for that cack your pants feeling of immersion
    Edited by 1 at 15/06/04 @ 13:55

  • fireclown #23 8 years ago

    The map thing. One of the shameys about the joint XBox dev is that the level size. It looks like they really worked hard within the limitations, so it's not as striking a problem as in DX2 - but they are still smaller, and finding your way is correspondingly easier. And I can live without a radar. I mean c'mon, I love Hitman to bits, but talk about being spoonfed. :)

  • Tricky #24 8 years ago

    the map has been like that all the time btw

    No it hasn't - in Thief 1 and 2 it definitely highlighted the area or room you were in at the time with a light blue colour, plus the maps tended to be a lot more detailed, showing rooms rather than general areas like it does in Thief DS. It wasn't a GPS-type system by any stretch of the imagination but it was kind of helpful. Like I said though, it's omission does force you to learn the levels.

  • Royal Fool #25 8 years ago

    The Shalebridge Cradle = Level design perfection

  • ccfb #26 8 years ago

    Can someone please explain the Hank Marvin reference from the placeholder on the Review link???

  • Thamuhacha #27 8 years ago

    >someone please explain the Hank Marvin reference

    Lead guitarist for the Shadows. Most famous for working for Cliff Richard in the 60's.

    And now sort of famous for being involved in EG's least funny gag ever. Sadly.

  • krudster #28 8 years ago

    Aw c'mon, it's summer.

  • Thamuhacha #29 8 years ago

    >Aw c'mon, it's summer.

    So you are in at 5.55am thinking up better jokes?

  • Tiger_Walts #30 8 years ago

    Royal Fool
    The Shalebridge Cradle = Level design perfection

    The Museum is almost as good.

    I love how you end the Cradle mission though, that moment when you see what's between you and the exit. Reminds me of The Hudsucker Proxy.

  • Stevas mkII #31 8 years ago

    Can somebody tell me if, on the PC version, when you look at a name plate of say "the armoury", it shows you a close up of the plate that takes up the entire screen? Or does it, like the Xbox version, simply print the text in small at the top of the game screen?

  • UncleLou #32 8 years ago

    The latter. Though the text isn't exactly what I'd call "small". ;-)

  • Tiger_Walts #33 8 years ago

    I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the inventory system. The obvious fact being that there isn't one. Sure you have your primary and secondary weapon slots but that's it. Everything you collect gets stored nicely and when you need to use an item that you picked up earlier, there is no need to select it.

    Personally, even though many may call this dumbing down, I think it's better than the old system where all the items picked up were accessed in what is now the secondary weapon slot. It was a pain in the first 2 games when you picked up the umpteenth parchment in a level and then have no way of identifying which is the one you just picked up. Or fiddling with the lockpicks. Or trying every key on a new door before resorting to the lockpicks.

    I do however miss picking up apples, saving them for later when you need a health boost. And I also miss the health potions not being instant, in the other games it took a while for the rejuvination which stopped you from going in gung ho.

    Also, Ion Storm claim that the rope/vine arrows were left out because they couldn't get them to work in the Unreal 2 engine.

  • UncleLou #34 8 years ago

    While we're at complaining about minor things:

    The bow seems to lack power now, not because of the actual shots, but the way Garrett now draws it with too much ease. :-)
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/04 @ 11:16

  • Stevas mkII #35 8 years ago

    Cheers Uncle, though that doesn't help me. See, the reason I ask is that I was watching a dvd of the game off of the front of an Xbox mag yesterday, and as I was watching I was thinking that it looked quite a bit smoother than it did on my Xbox (yeah, you knew I'd get round to that old "the graphics on thief/splinter cell are shite" chestnut sooner or later - come on).
    Stevas Status: "Fuck it all: my Xbox IS fuxx0r3d."
    Thing is, as whoever was playing it got to the armoury, they looked at the name and - like I said - it flashed up a nameplate that covered the entire screen. "Aaahhhh," I thought. "This doesn't happen on the Xbox version; so THAT'S why it looks smoother. It's not even on the Xbox. Hang on," [insert double take] "IT'S NOT EVEN ON THE FUCKING XBOX? I did buy an Xbox mag, didn't I?"
    After making sure I hadn't accidentally bought a PC mag by mistake, I assumed that whoever did the video had done it on a beefy PC and figured "what the heck - who's gonna notice?"
    Um... I did.
    Stevas Status: Annoyed that Xbox mag did vid using PC version, but happier that XBox is apparently NOT fuxx0r3d.
    So I come in here and ask you lot with your PC version if this is the case, and... it isn't?
    Stevas Status: Confused.
    So what version DID they have on this video I seen then?

  • Tiger_Walts #36 8 years ago

    An old pre-release version?