I found it very difficult to find a review that wouldn't shut up about Thief's superior predecessors, talking about how shit it is compared to the previous incarnations...
...Of which I never played. I am free from the shackles of nostalgia for this particular franchise. This made it all the more annoying when I could barely find an impartial review. One one side, there's Zero Punctuation [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2TTzadTaA], a well known fan of the older Thief games who lambaste it for audio editing. On the other end of the spectrum there is Rock Paper Shotgun [https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/24/thief-review/], who enjoyed the game despite its various flaws.
I'm the type of gamer who looks at franchises as a whole package. I enjoyed all of the Fable games for different reasons. I play all the Mass Effects despite 3 being my favorite. All serial media has its ups and downs and you sometimes have to take the good with the bad.
Frankly, I am inclined to agree with the RPS side of this thing. The game is not without flaws.
I will say, the game is neither difficult nor terribly exciting. Some of this is self-imposed, like setting the difficulty to its lowest which mostly translates to simpler AI behavior. ZP actually hated this, about how guards just tend to walk six feet, stare at a box for a few seconds, walk another ten feet and stare at a clearing for a few seconds. I'm inclined to agree with this rather boring method of patrol scanning. Each area only hosts 2-3 guards (At least, so far).
There is the occasional exciting moment, like the end of Chapter 2 upon meeting the "Thief-Taker General" who sounds an alarm and all the guards (Again, just about three of them or so) are on permanent alert mode. That was probably the most fun I've had on the game so far, partially due to the fact that the alert status put them on unpredictable patrol paths, for the most part.
I will say the game is visually stunning. I find new desktops at least once per chapter or quest, and it has a great atmosphere that gives me a sort of Dishonored vibe, except even more dire. Dishonored's situation was more grim story-wise but it was a more colorful game.
Every other odd complaint I have are merely petty grievances that don't sap too much away from the game.
Having to press E three times to; 1) Activate the object, 2) Lockpick the object, and 3) Open the object with the occasional 4, 5, 6, and 7 of picking up silver forks and spoons. I just feel like there should be a catch-all, ESPECIALLY if Garrett is in full darkness at the time. I can understand if there's a light source on you, and you don't want to be stuck in a big "open" animation but I didn't like having to slam E for stupid reasons, like just opening a damn window.
I didn't like the cutscene every three steps during the tutorial. I found them unnecessary as it could have just let us follow the girl around without needing a cutscene. This generally goes away once you get into the game properly. The tutorial also failed to explain certain things like jumping off ledges or actually meleeing enemies when you do get caught. I found myself being pummeled by guards before I got angry enough to look in the key bindings.
The talk of hand-holding is present in reviews and I did notice this; This is the same company that made the new Tomb Raider games. At least in TR, you are generally more active when jumping around obstacles. Here, all I have to do is press a button that goes in the general direction of where I'm going and Garrett does all the work for me. I have mixed feeling on this, as it leaves less room for stupid, glitchy failure because we don't know when the game will mess with us and not detect a specific platform. (Took me ten minutes to do a simple puzzle in Tomb Raider for this very issue). On the other hand, it's not very engaging.
I think it was RPS who said this game is "safely" good, as it doesn't do too much to challenge you, or current day standard stealth mechanics. It even has the usual fare of Detect-O vision that highlights things for you (Which again, you can choose not to use or disable entirely).
I admit I do want to continue playing but it doesn't try very hard to keep my attention and that's a shame.
If you are as incapable of looking past a few petty flaws while wearing the nostalgia glasses like most reviewers then yes, I do not recommend this game. If you're looking for a solid, if easy stealth game then there's no real harm in nabbing it on sale. Or not, 30$ isn't terribly demanding. Neither is the game, really.
...Of which I never played. I am free from the shackles of nostalgia for this particular franchise. This made it all the more annoying when I could barely find an impartial review. One one side, there's Zero Punctuation [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2TTzadTaA], a well known fan of the older Thief games who lambaste it for audio editing. On the other end of the spectrum there is Rock Paper Shotgun [https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/24/thief-review/], who enjoyed the game despite its various flaws.
I'm the type of gamer who looks at franchises as a whole package. I enjoyed all of the Fable games for different reasons. I play all the Mass Effects despite 3 being my favorite. All serial media has its ups and downs and you sometimes have to take the good with the bad.
Frankly, I am inclined to agree with the RPS side of this thing. The game is not without flaws.
I will say, the game is neither difficult nor terribly exciting. Some of this is self-imposed, like setting the difficulty to its lowest which mostly translates to simpler AI behavior. ZP actually hated this, about how guards just tend to walk six feet, stare at a box for a few seconds, walk another ten feet and stare at a clearing for a few seconds. I'm inclined to agree with this rather boring method of patrol scanning. Each area only hosts 2-3 guards (At least, so far).
There is the occasional exciting moment, like the end of Chapter 2 upon meeting the "Thief-Taker General" who sounds an alarm and all the guards (Again, just about three of them or so) are on permanent alert mode. That was probably the most fun I've had on the game so far, partially due to the fact that the alert status put them on unpredictable patrol paths, for the most part.
I will say the game is visually stunning. I find new desktops at least once per chapter or quest, and it has a great atmosphere that gives me a sort of Dishonored vibe, except even more dire. Dishonored's situation was more grim story-wise but it was a more colorful game.
Every other odd complaint I have are merely petty grievances that don't sap too much away from the game.
Having to press E three times to; 1) Activate the object, 2) Lockpick the object, and 3) Open the object with the occasional 4, 5, 6, and 7 of picking up silver forks and spoons. I just feel like there should be a catch-all, ESPECIALLY if Garrett is in full darkness at the time. I can understand if there's a light source on you, and you don't want to be stuck in a big "open" animation but I didn't like having to slam E for stupid reasons, like just opening a damn window.
I didn't like the cutscene every three steps during the tutorial. I found them unnecessary as it could have just let us follow the girl around without needing a cutscene. This generally goes away once you get into the game properly. The tutorial also failed to explain certain things like jumping off ledges or actually meleeing enemies when you do get caught. I found myself being pummeled by guards before I got angry enough to look in the key bindings.
The talk of hand-holding is present in reviews and I did notice this; This is the same company that made the new Tomb Raider games. At least in TR, you are generally more active when jumping around obstacles. Here, all I have to do is press a button that goes in the general direction of where I'm going and Garrett does all the work for me. I have mixed feeling on this, as it leaves less room for stupid, glitchy failure because we don't know when the game will mess with us and not detect a specific platform. (Took me ten minutes to do a simple puzzle in Tomb Raider for this very issue). On the other hand, it's not very engaging.
I think it was RPS who said this game is "safely" good, as it doesn't do too much to challenge you, or current day standard stealth mechanics. It even has the usual fare of Detect-O vision that highlights things for you (Which again, you can choose not to use or disable entirely).
I admit I do want to continue playing but it doesn't try very hard to keep my attention and that's a shame.
If you are as incapable of looking past a few petty flaws while wearing the nostalgia glasses like most reviewers then yes, I do not recommend this game. If you're looking for a solid, if easy stealth game then there's no real harm in nabbing it on sale. Or not, 30$ isn't terribly demanding. Neither is the game, really.