Atmospheric, scary, scary, and....scary.
User Rating: 9.7 | Thief: Deadly Shadows PC
There's nothing like hanging out with my friends on a rainy or otherwise uneventful work night, and "resorting" to the ol' standard of the Xbox's Halo or more recently, the Wii's bowling game. These are fun games that take little effort, and are usually played in a social setting with metal blasting, our favorite beverage being imbibed, and the occasional pauses for stories, distractions, or potty breaks. Then there are the other times, alone. These are the times in which I have truly fallen in love with "gaming", and all it has to offer. This is where a game like Thief comes in. No friends, no distractions, no music... these spell death. All the lights have been turned out, candles have been lit, and a good pair of PC speakers (I HOPE you all own a good pair of speakers with bass box by now) have been turned up. I am leaned into the screen, breaking every rule except running with scissors by this point. I am on the edge of my seat, my full attention on the very possibility that what I just heard was a footstep... to my left? Was that breathing? Was that a shadow? This is Thief. The third in the greatest FPS "sneaker" games ever made. The idea is simple. Rather than point and shoot, why not steal? Use the shadows. Scitter like a rat from one dark corner to the nest. What is amazing is that this actually works in the game. While keeping an eye on a "gem" that lightens or darkens based on your visibility, you can watch foes literally walk inches from you... whistling, singing, drunkenly stumbling or frantically searching for you. In fact, face to face combat will most likely spell your death. It is this constant threat of detection and danger that makes this game so completely unnerving to play that you might actually have to take breaks every so often just to regain your composure. God forbid the phone rings halfway through a mission. This game must be played to believed, and in 2007, it still stands up on it's own graphically and gameplay-wise. I would also recommend playing the originals. To end this review, I must make mention of my love of Horror in all of it's forms. True Hitchcockian Horror, where atmosphere and the unseen are scarier than any cheap thrill that American horror movies tend to offer these days. I must then mention the level "Shalebridge Cradle". A haunted asylum / former orphanage. I dare anyone to play this level with a good sound system in the dark. You will play it again and again. Go ahead ang Google the name... this is true fear. And a true classic game.
