Zero Punctuation: Thief: The Dark Project

[xanith02100]

I never did play the Thief games. For some reason I just didn't buy it despite it looking interesting to me. I guess I had too many other games on my plate at the time and just didn't get to it. This review makes me think I might need to fish a copy out of a bargain bin somewhere.

 

[Zadok13]

Wow you reviewed Thief, it is only my favorite series ever. Thank you so much for looking back at this amazing title. To this day I have yet to play a stealth game that was even half as good as the Thief series. The story was gripping, the mechanics were revolutionary, and the protagonist was actually interesting.

Big thumbs up.

 

[Ghost]

good to see a review of a slightly older game

 

[sgtshock]

Losing the Rope Arrow in favour of the gauntlets was a mistake though. Nothing quite beat the Thief 1 and 2 "dark-passage-trapped-between-two-guards-what-do-I-do?" moment when you look up, realise the ceiling's made of wood... quickly select a rope arrow.... Thunk!.. climb..climb..climb.. wait patiently, heart pounding.. as the guards pass by below unaware of the booted thiefy feet dangling a few inches above.

I remember reading somewhere that the lack of rope arrows was not a design change, but rather that they couldn't get them working in the new engine. Not surprising, considering how buggy the engine was.

 

[Sorceror Nobody]

Since I cba to read through the first 8 pages of this thread, I'm probably not the first to say this, but...

Anyone else see many similarities between the apparent ethos of Thief (according to Yahtzee at any rate) and that of <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/games/yahtzee/artoftheft>Art of Theft? Hiding in shadows, being encouraged to only attack guards if it becomes necessary, the less-than-social protagonist, the fact that exploration slightly off the beaten track is somewhat rewarded (e.g. AoT sometimes has loot in less-than-obvious places).
Such as getting the file on The Company from the C shelf in the records room (on the 7th heist). In fact, from about 2:56 to 3:12 he could easily be talking about Trilby (and guards) in AoT. AoT levels aren't what I'd call 'sprawling', though ; )

I do occasionally tire of the stream of ZP reviews about new games, so it's nice to see Yahtzee getting another chance to review an older one.

 

[lacktheknack]

Sorry, premium.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

He sounded like a 14 year old XBox fanboy in his MGS 4 review

XBox Fanboy (n, pl. XBox Fanboys): A person who criticizes a PS3 title, predominately Metal Gear Solid 4, in a manner that leaves a negative impression of the game or implies a dislike of the features discussed. Not to be confused with a critic or reviewer, who also discusses PS3 titles, but leaves the audience with a good impression. See also sacrilege, heretic.

--From dictionary.com

 

[Zildjin81]

Quite good.

 

[deciusbrutus]

Deadly shadows "Dropped the sprawling non-linear levels"? WTF are you smoking? Did you play it long enough to explore the city? Perhaps you didn't notice the vast expanse of side jobs available in just about any order, or the ability to just perform general banditry on the side, or the sheer size of the side zones. The missions themselves tended to be fairly similar to earlier Thief games, but that's a good thing, no? Call the museum level linear? I got lost many times even with the map.

 

[Ange1ofD4rkness]

Well first of all Stealth games kick ass. I love Splinter cell as i sit their all of a sudden noticeing that I myself am breathing slowly and quietly. Now Chaos Theory was aswome and got my into stealth game, how ever I still am to lazy to beat Double agent. But yes only true masters can play stealth games, also I have heard rumors the new splinter cell (or one coming up) will use the mic so if your nervous it can detech your breathing and change how the game plays .... oh I can hope. And please stop hating on PC gamers..PLZ

 

[PauL o_O]

I've heard of the game plenty of times. But I don't think I've ever even thought of getting it. Those kinda games always make me jump. The tense waiting and sneaking fills me with anxiety.
If I see it, I guess I'll try it.

 

[Nameless Voice]

A nice review of a great game.

So the first Thief forced itself to include a lot of zombie and monster killing, neither of which responded encouragingly to bops across the bonce.

People have already mentioned burricks, but you can blackjack every living "monster" enemy. Only zombies and other undead are immune.


I'd suggest that people wanting to play the games play them in order, since the story of the second game doesn't make as much sense if you haven't played the first.


For people having trouble getting the games to run on newer computers and with newer graphics cards, you need to download and install something called DDFix. You can find detailed instructions here:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121449

For other issues, there is a (rather out-of-date) FAQ here:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75031

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Very nice review. I have only played the third in the series, "deadly shadows" but this has just made me feel like playing the older ones first. It looks to be a great series altogether.

 

[P1p3s]

great review thanks for that

 

[DayDay8421]

... the TARDIS proxy I call my PC to recall a simpler, more innocent time before I had to deal with things like X-Box Live tossers, red rings of death, and divorce.

I know it's a cliche but .... lol!

(-- I did try and put an accent on the last 'e' in cliche but the forum syntax said NO! --)

 

[DayDay8421]

I wasn't going to put "VIDEOGAME SCHOOL" at the end initially but then it occured to me that some people may find it offensive otherwise. Hur.

I imagined you introducing some cheesy 80's action flick with the movie trailer voice....

"They hadn't heard of the Thief! And now... they're gonna get EDUCATED!" ... cue big explosion and head shots!

 

[Honkytonk]

Again I could punch him in the face for how he talks about Sonic/SEGA/Sonic Team but at least the rest of the review was rather reasonable, unlike most of his recent reviews where he just shits all over a game because that's apparently what the fans want even though Yahtzee always said he wasn't that kind of man. What a hypocrit...

 

[Beldaros]

Yahtzee, I think you need a break. You've gone from giving a strong balance of valid criticism and humour. To VALID criticism ignored and edited out to make room for fan service.

Before... Gears of war, I respected your veiws and trusted your opinion but now I find my self thinking that you've lost your way. I appreciate that people are drawn to your humour but still you pride yourself on being a critic and quite frankly at the moment you aren't doing your job.

Take a well deserved brek.

 

[Vohn_exel]

Don't listen to Beldaros, you don't need any breks. Your last three reviews are some of the funniest you've done, and if you took a brek, we'd have nothing to fill the void.

 

[Signa]

Now that I've had a chance to dive into the game again, I'm quite shocked at how fun it still is. At this point, it's only the graphics that are suffering from age. You could release this game now as-is (save graphics) and it could easily still receive top scores.

I find myself paying a lot more attention of the nuances of the finer parts of gaming lately, and even the writing is well done. Bioshock holds my #1 spot for great dialogue writing, but seeing Thief again, I'm finding that good dialogue isn't exactly new in games. I still think that Andrew Ryan had some of the best written lines in the gaming industry, but some of the fictional scripture, and the Hammerite and Pagan dialects are extremely imaginative and well written too. Things like these can make you dive deeper into a game than you might even realize with that extra added bit of realism.