deadly shadows

While it may be easy for some to dismiss Thief: Deadly Shadows as a mere console port or cash grab from fans of the original, I do not pledge allegiance to that group. Clearly Ion Storm is going through some rough times after the hugely exaggerated reactions to Invisible War. If the demo is to be taken as truth, Deadly Shadows is by no means a bad game. Instead I think Ion Storm Austin should be commended for at least making the proper effort in updating one of PC gaming's classics.

The Dark Project and The Metal Age both had good stories, and so far Deadly Shadows is doing its best to bring you back into the series' familiar underworld. The dark, animated storybook cutscenes also make a return, which was yet another feature that set the original game apart from the stiffly animated in-game cutscenes of most 3D games at the time. The tutorial level that sets the tone and story up for the rest of the game is well thought out for a change. For those unfamiliar with stealth action, a set of glowing footprints that guide you through the path of least resistance (and light) to each objective is helpful.

As much as PC gamers were opposed to the third person view, don't find it detrimental to the game at all. I also like that I can go completely flat against walls, because most times the guards will simply walk past oblivious to who stalks them, something that was almost impossible to do in the previous two games due to the limitations in NPC pathfinding. I think the reason I found the new third person view helpful in some areas was my time with Pandora Tomorrow. The lack of night vision goggles, however, was a little unnerving and actually made me keep a certain amount of lighting in an area, just so I could see what I was doing. To make gaming even easier, you could turn up the gamma or play with alll the lights turned off, though the latter I think is more for mood than anything else.

At the most complex, the AI for the guards provides only a moderate challenge - and even then it's when you get caught, because Garrett is only equipped with a dagger this time around. The guards talk out loud about their actions ("Hm, guess I better check over here to be sure..."), making them easy to predict and therefore avoid. I'm going to make another unfair comparison to Splinter Cell here, because of my recent playthrough. The guards are definitely tough in SC:PT, and will often run right for your position regardless of how well hidden you think you are. Deadly Shadows's guards often go back to their post after very little investigation, and I was able to run around most areas attracting a bit of attention with my noisy footsteps, but rarely was I ever noticed. As a result normal mode is way too easy, a drastic change from the difficulty I found in Thief 2.

I remember reading in one of the previews that interactive lockpicking would be new feature in the game, as opposed to having the disposable lockpicks in the previous Thief adventures that would automatically open doors. Now, like in Splinter Cell, there is a bit of interaction on the part of the player. Instead of lock tumblers in SC, you have three rings of defense in a lock, where you must move the lockpick controlled by the mouse to find the "sweet spot" in each, depicted by a greater amount of movement in the lock mechanism. At first I was a little annoyed by this, especially when a guard is patrolling nearby and the cover of shadow is not as plentiful as I hoped it would be. But once you get used to this new system, it's not that bad, and actually gets you to learn the "feel" of a lock, and anticipate how easy it will be to pick.

The lighting engine is very good, and a huge improvement over the previous games. It ably emulates the vast spectrum of light and darkness, and the fact that some guards carry torches and in effect a moving light source is a beautifully added touch. However, the graphics engine itself is far from spectacular as I once thought. Indeed, the Unreal engine is used, but the textures and character models leave a lot to be desired. The graphics are actually a bit taxing on my system, reminiscent of the unoptomized engine of DX2. I imagine that some tweaking of the .ini file will be necessary to get it running smoothly on most systems. There are load screens in between sections of buildings as well, which were extremely jarring once I had sunk comfortably into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the Havok engine doesn't belong in this game. The fact that I can brush up against a barrel and send it careening down a flight of stairs makes little sense, and when I try and hide a body I might as well be able to fold him up into a neat little package - because that's what their apparently disjointed limbs make it look like.

The hand drawn maps and loot quotas require you to explore most of the levels thoroughly, at least giving the impression it's open-ended. There are multiple entry points - the level in the demo didn't require you to follow the "set-up" from the previous level - but the action always remains linear. When you walk into a room, if there are valuables nearby they will give off a kind of glow or shine. I don't remember this from the previous games, and in my opinion just another way to make the experience less interactive. Players should be able to figure out for themselves what's valuable or not - obviously stuff locked in a chest will have some kind of value attached to it. It immediately reminded me of XIII, where the game automatically zoomed in on important items in a room.

All your equipment is supplied at the beginning of each level, which is another departure for the series. Traditionally, loot collected in the previous level would be automatically traded for its gold equivalent where you would then be able to outfit yourself with whatever you thought you would need. A certain level of strategy would need to be applied at this stage, because knowing little about your mission you would want to get the largest variety of tools possible: whether you want to rely on only water arrows, and get a rope arrow or a couple moss arrows for noise suppresion was entirely up to the player. Luckily, the mechanical eye that replaced the one Garrett lost in Thief is also usable, but unfortunately not right away.

Fans of the series should not be wary of this game. It's not the evolution that everyone wanted, but it's far from being the evisceration that was feared. In light of Pandora Tomorrow's innovative multiplayer mode, a band of thieves taking on a castle full of guards protecting valuable treasure, or even people, would have been something I'd have liked to try. The series' theme and setting are perfectly matched, and I believe that it was successfully captured in Deadly Shadows. I'm reluctant to shower it with praise, but I'm positive that existing fans will be happy with the way it turned out. Although slightly disappointing in some respects, I will probably get this game for completeness, because after the recent layoffs at Ion Storm and Warren Spector's tenure coming into question, it's hard to tell where this series will end up.

the city's been bled white