Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

Thief: The Dark Project, when it was released, simply blew my mind. It was the most innovative game I have ever played. So, is the sequel good too? Let's find out...

Gameplay: 10/10
- What can I say? It's a immersive stealth game. I already explained 99% of the gameplay in my TDP review, and Thief 2 has been improved from that. Better AI is one thing. New tools are another. The gameplay is just like the first one; Perfect.

Controls: 10/10
- Never have I played a game that controls so fluid and life-like. I mean, you can walk, run, creep, crouch, lean forward/left/right, strafe, jump, mantle, climb ropes. Thief has PERFECT controls, and is one of the reasons why I feel kinda crippled in most modern games... Looking Glass truly has mastered the controls.

Atmosphere: 10/10
- Ah, the world of Thief. The atmosphere is just astonishing. While Thief 1 had this more medieval, magical, sinister atmosphere... Thief 2 has more victorian and less "creepy" atmosphere with a lot of newer technology (and future technology, like guard robots who shoot fireballs! Man, I'd like to have one of those...) Some original Thief fans were disappointed that The Metal Age moved away from the magical, medieval setting. And others dislike Thief 1 for it's mystical levels, such as crypts, ancient cities, haunted cathedrals, magical mansions and such. Thief 2 has more "realistic" levels, like banks, police stations, city streets etc. I myself like them both, but The Dark Project is definitely more scary.

Graphics: 8/10
- Thief never was about graphics really. They are ok, nothing wrong, but many people criticized them (I dunno why though?) I find the lighting and shadows to be amazing, and that's what Thief's all about... Mmm, shadows...

Sound: 10/10
- Thief has the best sound design of any game, ever. It's just so damn realistic. It cannot be described with words, you have to experience it to know how mindblowing it was back in 1998/2000 to hear such advanced sound technology. Heck, it's advanced even by today's standards.

Physics: 7/10
- Thief's physics work well, but ultimately it's just basic stuff we had back in 2000. I'm glad and sad at the same time because they removed the "bunny-hopping" from Thief 1 though :D

Replay value: 1000/10
- No, 10/10 is not enough. The original game itself is long and you can try multiple approaches and difficulty levels for every missions. I've played the original missions over 100 times. AND there are over 500(!) fan made missions for Thief 1 and 2. It's probably over 750 by now. There are some amazingly good quality fan missions to be played, really! Some of them are even better than the original missions. AND there's the unofficial expansion pack, Thief 2X, which is better than most modern games.

Value for money: 10/10
- The game can be found cheap as dirt these days, sometimes for under 5 €. There are also various "Thief collections" around, which have Thief 1-3.

Bugs, Stability & Performance: 9/10
- The game is stabile and performs very well on any PC built after 2001. The only thing is that newer graphics cards such as Nvidia's 8000 series can make the game look ugly or unplayable. Thief doesn't like dual cores either, but gladly there are fixes available.

Will this game be remembered by old school gamers as a classic after 10 years?:
- Are you kidding me? Thief series has one of the most devoted fan communities (TTLG.com) and it's regarded as a classic by almost any review site I know.

Who would I recommend to buy the game?:
- People who have P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. You will be waiting and lurking in the shadows A LOT. So don't expect it to be like Doom/Quake. So, anyone who has enough patience. Try the demo first, the map in the demo is one of the best levels in the game. It's a rare example of a demo that gives a pretty clear picture what's the game going to be like at it's best.

Final score (not necessarily an average): 10/10, period.