The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Please note that this review is written from the perspective of a roleplayer, for roleplayers. A myriad of technical reviews exist for this title, and the author encourages you to seek them out for comparison purposes.

Roleplaying games interest me because they tie together so much of what I like in other forms of entertainment. Escapism, storytelling, acting, adventure, drama, and interesting new settings and characters are all parts of what make gaming so exciting, and if you're like me, you add music and atmosphere to the mix too. These are the same elements that make Thief: The Dark Project a roleplayer's game. RPGs put you in the part of an interesting, motivated character which you control and direct through an interesting environment and, hopefully, a good story. You get to experience a new world and a new perspective and, in good campaigns, you find yourself in a variety of interesting predicaments -- instead of just hacking and slashing through a catalog of colorful villains. This, also, is what Thief does. And it does it very well.

Looking Glass Studios, the New England-based game house which offered us System Shock and Ultima Underworld, has done hobby gamers a favor by realizing the strengths of the first-person perspective in visual medium. They have, essentially, brought computer gaming along the same course of evolution that RPGs have followed -- moving from a hunched posture, bent curiously over a collection of miniature images, to walking fully erect into a vivid new world of moving characters. This is, essentially, what solo roleplaying adventures should be.

Style

Thief is a hybrid gaming experience: part adventure game, part roleplaying campaign, part radio drama. In the game, you play the role of Garrett, an independent, worldly thief of great talent and, often, wit. Garrett travels in and around an atmospheric city built with medieval sensibilities and powered by industrial science. It feels like a campaign setting, and with Looking Glass's background it's easy to believe this world was designed by gamers, and not only graphic artists. The environment is attractive, engrossing, and clever instead of merely colorful or large.

The game is immersive, but not like you're used to. A variety of import elements have been brought together to make you feel like you're really in Garrett's world. The first, and most obvious, aspect of Thief is the sound, not the graphics. Every character, surface, and setting has a distinct sound and personality. Guards chatter amongst themselves, often carrying on complete conversations voiced by talented (if sometimes exaggerating) voice actors. Tile floors sound exactly like tile floors. Wind sounds like wind. Even the monsters, from the lizard-pig Burricks to the tortured zombies, sound realistic. The result is a world that sound's right, which is vitally important not only to a genre game, but to the subject matter.

That's part of the excellence of Thief. The entire game is designed specifically for a single perspective, for a particular effect. By portraying the whole of the world for a thief's perspective, players are guided into playing the part. Sound is vital to the environment, because it's vital to the role of a thief. Light and shadow are primary graphical concerns, because they're primary concerns for a thief in this setting. The whole project follows a fantastic vision which is presented with such skill and interest on the behalf of the designers that players can't look past it.

The feel of Thief is appropriate to the setting. Stained glass windows and cobblestone streets work with pre-Renaissance style melodies whistled by sword-bearing guards in chainmail to convey a dark age. This is a confident, certain world which fantasy gamers intuitively know and can now roam the streets and alleys of with terrific suspense and wonderful uncertainty. At the same time, the anachronistic technology offers up some variations in setting (like factories) and a few suprises in gameplay. I, personally, also appreciate the low magic level of the world.

The settings of individual missions are part of the charm of the game design. Rather than strongly linear mazes or vaguely-functional buildings, the manors, factories, prisons, and streets of Garrett's world are complete structures. The first full mission of the game (which also the game's first demo) is a complete urban manor, from basement to throne room, with surrounding streets and a company of active (but sometimes lazy) house guards and staff. Notes, objects, and rooms peripheral to the mission at hand don't suggest a functioning world, they provide it. Add to this the sound design, the solid, earthy graphics, and the skillful motion capture, and you have a tactile, functioning fantasy setting.

Substance

Thief: The Dark Project contains 12 complete missions plus a training level, and fitting, moody cutscenes. Although the missions are relatively few in number, they are enormous in actual size. Complete buildings, sprawling city streets, active factories, and an ancient metropolis provide just some of the missions. While Garrett is usually sneaking through the shadows of these settings, he is thankfully doing it for different reasons on each level, and often with very different techniques.

In addition to blackjacking guards and splashing zombies with holy water, Garrett also tails would-be assassins through city streets (see the game's second demo), goes undercover within a fanatical religious order, and escapes from the clutches of a mysterious (and frightening) foe. Each of these different challenges brings with it a variety of different stylish settings, as mentioned above, but they also suggest an assortment of fun toys.

As a fantasy gamer would hope, Garret utilizes some great tools on his jobs throughout the city. More than once, I've had players of thief characters in my regular Saga game request them. True to flavor, Garrett starts off with a sword, blackjack, and bow with broadhead arrows. Soon, he's tossing flashbombs, planting mines, and guzzling speed potions. An assortment of arrows let Garrett affect the world around him in interesting ways. Water arrows put out torches and fires, and can hurt zombies if they're holy. Fire arrows blow stuff up. Gas arrows put one or two hapless foes to sleep. Moss arrows apply much-needed silence to tough surfaces like tile. Other arrows, lockicks, and a few magic items, round out Garrett's bag of tricks.

The interface is functional and, while a bit different than a lot of first-person games, pretty fluid when you get used to it. Melee combat is rightfully awkward, though I'm not positive this is completely intentional, while archery is equal parts simple and realistic. Garrett has to actually draw his bow and account for arc to hit his targets. Lockpicking is similar, requiring a bit of work but concerned mostly with style. The most powerful feature of the interface, though, is its ability to affect a wide variety of objects in the environment. Bowls can be picked up and thrown, doors can be broken down, walls climbed, and bodies carried off. This, too, supports the immersion into the setting and, therefore, the role of Garrett.

As Garrett, you'll face an assortment of enemies, from human guards to animals to undead. Each has an AI well-aligned to their role, and many have special attacks which force new tactics. The afore mentioned Burricks spit clouds of poison gas while a curious breed of frog appears to explode on impact, for example. Overall, though, the human opponents are the most satisfying. They provide interesting behavior as well as conversation, challenge, and mystery.

So...

Only a few problems have crept into Thief, but they're different to list arbitrarily. Many players don't like the abundance of monster-filled levels, some are unimpressed with the game's pre-Unreal style graphics, and almost all wish someone had devised a multiplayer feature. In the end, though, what the designers set out to do they did well.

Thief: The Dark Project could (and, I think, should) represent a new way of writing roleplaying games for computers. The first-person perspective is strongly characteristic of RPGs, which often emulate storytelling techniques of visual mediums (typically due to the style and source of audiences for both). The game brings them together is what is essentially a one-player roleplaying campaign through a graphic, active fantasy setting in which gamers play the role of a classic medieval antihero - the Thief.

The author encourages readers to check out thief-darkproject.com and the Looking Glass Studios website.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Thief: The Dark Project
Author: Designer: Tim Stellmach, Project Leader: Greg LoPiccolo Category: PC game Company/Publisher: Looking Glass Studios/Eidos Interactive Cost: $30 Page count: 28 (booklet) ISBN: unknown Playtest Review by Will Hindmarch on 02/16/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Horror Espionage Gothic	Please note that this review is written from the perspective of a roleplayer, for roleplayers. A myriad of technical reviews exist for this title, and the author encourages you to seek them out for comparison purposes. Roleplaying games interest me because they tie together so much of what I like in other forms of entertainment. Escapism, storytelling, acting, adventure, drama, and interesting new settings and characters are all parts of what make gaming so exciting, and if you're like me, you add music and atmosphere to the mix too. These are the same elements that make Thief: The Dark Project a roleplayer's game. RPGs put you in the part of an interesting, motivated character which you control and direct through an interesting environment and, hopefully, a good story. You get to experience a new world and a new perspective and, in good campaigns, you find yourself in a variety of interesting predicaments -- instead of just hacking and slashing through a catalog of colorful villains. This, also, is what Thief does. And it does it very well. Looking Glass Studios, the New England-based game house which offered us System Shock and Ultima Underworld, has done hobby gamers a favor by realizing the strengths of the first-person perspective in visual medium. They have, essentially, brought computer gaming along the same course of evolution that RPGs have followed -- moving from a hunched posture, bent curiously over a collection of miniature images, to walking fully erect into a vivid new world of moving characters. This is, essentially, what solo roleplaying adventures should be. Style Thief is a hybrid gaming experience: part adventure game, part roleplaying campaign, part radio drama. In the game, you play the role of Garrett, an independent, worldly thief of great talent and, often, wit. Garrett travels in and around an atmospheric city built with medieval sensibilities and powered by industrial science. It feels like a campaign setting, and with Looking Glass's background it's easy to believe this world was designed by gamers, and not only graphic artists. The environment is attractive, engrossing, and clever instead of merely colorful or large. The game is immersive, but not like you're used to. A variety of import elements have been brought together to make you feel like you're really in Garrett's world. The first, and most obvious, aspect of Thief is the sound, not the graphics. Every character, surface, and setting has a distinct sound and personality. Guards chatter amongst themselves, often carrying on complete conversations voiced by talented (if sometimes exaggerating) voice actors. Tile floors sound exactly like tile floors. Wind sounds like wind. Even the monsters, from the lizard-pig Burricks to the tortured zombies, sound realistic. The result is a world that sound's right, which is vitally important not only to a genre game, but to the subject matter. That's part of the excellence of Thief. The entire game is designed specifically for a single perspective, for a particular effect. By portraying the whole of the world for a thief's perspective, players are guided into playing the part. Sound is vital to the environment, because it's vital to the role of a thief. Light and shadow are primary graphical concerns, because they're primary concerns for a thief in this setting. The whole project follows a fantastic vision which is presented with such skill and interest on the behalf of the designers that players can't look past it. The feel of Thief is appropriate to the setting. Stained glass windows and cobblestone streets work with pre-Renaissance style melodies whistled by sword-bearing guards in chainmail to convey a dark age. This is a confident, certain world which fantasy gamers intuitively know and can now roam the streets and alleys of with terrific suspense and wonderful uncertainty. At the same time, the anachronistic technology offers up some variations in setting (like factories) and a few suprises in gameplay. I, personally, also appreciate the low magic level of the world. The settings of individual missions are part of the charm of the game design. Rather than strongly linear mazes or vaguely-functional buildings, the manors, factories, prisons, and streets of Garrett's world are complete structures. The first full mission of the game (which also the game's first demo) is a complete urban manor, from basement to throne room, with surrounding streets and a company of active (but sometimes lazy) house guards and staff. Notes, objects, and rooms peripheral to the mission at hand don't suggest a functioning world, they provide it. Add to this the sound design, the solid, earthy graphics, and the skillful motion capture, and you have a tactile, functioning fantasy setting. Substance Thief: The Dark Project contains 12 complete missions plus a training level, and fitting, moody cutscenes. Although the missions are relatively few in number, they are enormous in actual size. Complete buildings, sprawling city streets, active factories, and an ancient metropolis provide just some of the missions. While Garrett is usually sneaking through the shadows of these settings, he is thankfully doing it for different reasons on each level, and often with very different techniques. In addition to blackjacking guards and splashing zombies with holy water, Garrett also tails would-be assassins through city streets (see the game's second demo), goes undercover within a fanatical religious order, and escapes from the clutches of a mysterious (and frightening) foe. Each of these different challenges brings with it a variety of different stylish settings, as mentioned above, but they also suggest an assortment of fun toys. As a fantasy gamer would hope, Garret utilizes some great tools on his jobs throughout the city. More than once, I've had players of thief characters in my regular Saga game request them. True to flavor, Garrett starts off with a sword, blackjack, and bow with broadhead arrows. Soon, he's tossing flashbombs, planting mines, and guzzling speed potions. An assortment of arrows let Garrett affect the world around him in interesting ways. Water arrows put out torches and fires, and can hurt zombies if they're holy. Fire arrows blow stuff up. Gas arrows put one or two hapless foes to sleep. Moss arrows apply much-needed silence to tough surfaces like tile. Other arrows, lockicks, and a few magic items, round out Garrett's bag of tricks. The interface is functional and, while a bit different than a lot of first-person games, pretty fluid when you get used to it. Melee combat is rightfully awkward, though I'm not positive this is completely intentional, while archery is equal parts simple and realistic. Garrett has to actually draw his bow and account for arc to hit his targets. Lockpicking is similar, requiring a bit of work but concerned mostly with style. The most powerful feature of the interface, though, is its ability to affect a wide variety of objects in the environment. Bowls can be picked up and thrown, doors can be broken down, walls climbed, and bodies carried off. This, too, supports the immersion into the setting and, therefore, the role of Garrett. As Garrett, you'll face an assortment of enemies, from human guards to animals to undead. Each has an AI well-aligned to their role, and many have special attacks which force new tactics. The afore mentioned Burricks spit clouds of poison gas while a curious breed of frog appears to explode on impact, for example. Overall, though, the human opponents are the most satisfying. They provide interesting behavior as well as conversation, challenge, and mystery. So... Only a few problems have crept into Thief, but they're different to list arbitrarily. Many players don't like the abundance of monster-filled levels, some are unimpressed with the game's pre-Unreal style graphics, and almost all wish someone had devised a multiplayer feature. In the end, though, what the designers set out to do they did well. Thief: The Dark Project could (and, I think, should) represent a new way of writing roleplaying games for computers. The first-person perspective is strongly characteristic of RPGs, which often emulate storytelling techniques of visual mediums (typically due to the style and source of audiences for both). The game brings them together is what is essentially a one-player roleplaying campaign through a graphic, active fantasy setting in which gamers play the role of a classic medieval antihero - the Thief. The author encourages readers to check out thief-darkproject.com and the Looking Glass Studios website. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)