Thief II is really a gem of a game. So prepare to turn off the light, close the door, knock out your dog and get dirty!
Some of the conditions include darkness. Only play the game at night in a totally dark room (yes it's bad for the eyes but who cares :-) ). Another one is that you should be alone and you should crank the speakers waaay up! If the key-board is hard to see then light a candle! A third condition is that you should only play if you know the meaning of the words imagination and fantasy. If those words seem strange to you then forget about playing Thief.
In Thief II you play as the master thief Garrett who loves to... well, steal things! The story and game play of Thief II should be well known by now so my review will focus on what makes the game so great. As I have alluded to it's all about mood and setting. When you creep by some guards inch by inch and hold your breath so as to not alarm them you know you are playing a great game! When you take out your trusted blackjack and take out some guards (Barney?) then you feel the rush of playing computer games. So is Thief II a perfect game? No, no game is perfect, but Thief is a very good one that's for sure. You could argue that guards shows NI in stead of AI (no intelligence) but really the game would be impossible if the AI was "realistic". By todays standards the graphics are dated but who cares about that anyway? If I want pretty things to look at I go buy Playboy! The Dark Engine do what it's supposed to and that's fine. Garrett is not always as agile as one could wish for but sneaking is still fun. The point is Thief II is really, really fun. Johan Huizinga claims in his book Homo Ludens (the playing man) that we play games as an integrated part of our culture. That we play games to have fun and try some agon (competition) and Thief II offers all that and much much more! And you can even download an unofficial expansion pack called Thief 2X plus you can try many mods for free. So what are you waiting for? Go steal something!