Amazing to new comers to the series, not so great with those familear with Thief.
"Almost, but not quite"? You bet. Unfortunately this was cross developed. I wouldn't mind this if it were done a lot better.
Now, I'm assuming you've played the other Thief games in writing this.
This game may still feel like Thief, and be somewhat familear, but really, it is very different. Your sword is gone, rope arrows are gone, HUGE environments are gone, swimming is gone...
This game unlike the others seems to be much less harsh on the player if s/he decides to kill someone. For one thing, a dagger is a much stealthier killing weapon than a sword. There aren't real disadvantages to having a weapon drawn such as being more visible. And I can't recall missions with a "No Kill" objective.
The rope arrows are gone, in it's place are climbing gloves. I don't know about you, but I much prefer the rope arrows. It was just another way to infiltrate areas. I'm replaying Thief II right now, and I'm on the Mechanist Church level (can't remember the name =\) and I've already spotted 3 ways in. One uses a rope arrow.
Because of the Xbox limitations, the levels are a lot smaller than the ones you see in Thief 1 and 2. And the fact that guards can't pass through it isn't great either. You can't swim eiehter, which is a real shame, there are some interesting break ins through swimming. Instead, there is darker "deep" water, and if Garrett falls into it, he dies. I wonder when he forgot how to swim...
The first person view is kind of lurching, and you can tell this game was made for third person. Personally, I think this is the console's doing. Leaning is pretty useless now, since you TOTALLY expose Garrett's body to the outside unlike the sneakier leans in the originals.
In all, it's a good game, but it leaves stuff to be desired if you're a fan of the originals.