Sometimes, Thief makes you feel...well, like a thief. The
stars align, you've gathered some courage, and you swoop in to snatch a
patrolling guard's coin purse unseen, and then swipe a goblet from under
his nose. You sneak away, grin, and silently congratulate yourself for
your unquestionable skill. Emphasis on the "silently" part, of course;
any good thief knows it's best not to trumpet your accomplishments.
Other
times, the illusion is shattered. You hide in the shadows while
watching an alerted guard walk continuously in place against a pillar,
or staring as he pirouettes with several of his comrades. You trigger
loading screens so frequently you could be forgiven for thinking you
weren't exploring an entire city as much as you were crisscrossing a
series of walk-in closets. And so you growl your disapproval without
caring who might hear you. You are no longer a thief; you're just
playing one in a clumsy video game.
Such is the turbulent nature of Thief, a clunky, intriguing,
slapdash, atmospheric stealth game that leashes you to its
inconsistencies and gives you no choice but to submit to its whims. The
resulting suffocation is at the very least an appropriate circumstance
given the heavy aura of The City. This is indeed not just any city, but
"The City," and while you play as Garrett, the master thief who starred
in the previous Thief games, The City is the game's central character.
It's an imposing and claustrophobic community, perpetually cloaked in
darkness, from which gothic clock towers and grand cathedrals rise. As
you navigate its narrow streets and scramble onto rooftops, you pass
vagrants huddled around fires for warmth, and overhear couples express
their fear of the sickness that has wafted into their city.
This
is a place where the rich plunder and the poor seek refuge, so it's no
wonder that a populist named Orion has come forth to champion the meek
who suffer under the baron's rule. This sickness--chillingly called "the
gloom"--does not distinguish between the wealthy and the destitute, and
Thief occasionally dabbles in the class warfare themes that naturally
result from this scenario. Unfortunately, the socioeconomic conflict is
relegated to window-dressing status in favor of the mystical occurrences
that drive the game's second half.
That's a shame, because Thief's main story ultimately goes
nowhere. The game kicks off with an introductory chapter that shows
Garrett's protégé, Erin, inadvertently falling to her doom at the hands
of a cult in the midst of a magical ritual. As you push closer to the
truth over the game's eight story chapters, the narrative loses all
focus, the mystical mumbo jumbo takes over, and you're left with no real
sense of closure. It doesn't help that the final, irritating,
wrongheaded boss fight transitions into a final cutscene that offers no
emotional payoff.
Thief is about
where, and not about
what.
As you pursue side missions and main story objectives, you crouch and
skim through the shadows, letting The City swallow you, and avoiding the
eyes of the city watch. Everywhere you go, you see trinkets on barrels,
coins on banisters, and locked boxes likely to contain wondrous jewels
within. The objects you snatch are immediately converted to currency,
and there's something deliciously nefarious about grabbing everything
you can that isn't nailed down. When you first take a hairbrush from a
nightstand or a ring lying on the pavement next to a corpse, you sense
that this is an item of real value, both financial and emotional.
Eventually, the very act of stealing becomes second nature, and in that
sense, Thief does an excellent job of immersing you in Garrett's selfish
indifference. He steals from the rich, from the dead, and from the
downtrodden to give to...himself.
Taking in the sights of The City is rewarding; moving around in it is
not. The first time I emerged from the clock tower that serves as
Garrett's home base, I looked upon the industrial tableau and imagined
all of the adventure waiting for me there. Exploratory freedom, however,
is not Thief's style. Sure, you do find hidey-holes to investigate, and
missions often feature carefully structured architecture that provides
you multiple routes of infiltration. But going about your business in
the hub world has you hitting one loading screen after another when you
transition into a new area, often without warning. You might simply
sneak into an abode when you force a window open--or you might have to
endure a loading screen first. Squeezing between some fallen lumber
might reveal a hidden nook, or it might initiate--you guessed it--a
loading screen. Thief is frustratingly segmented in unintuitive ways,
and it keeps The City from being fun to navigate. Even the limited
wall-climbing afforded by your new claw gadget can't free the game from
its self-imposed claustrophobia.
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista with platform update
CPU: High-performance dual core CPU or quad core CPU
RAM: 4 GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 4800 series / Nvidia GTS 250
DirectX: DirectX 10
HDD/SSD: 20 GB
Recommended System Requirements:
OS: Windows 7 or 8
CPU: AMD FX 8000 series or better / Intel Quad i7 Core CPU
RAM: 4+ GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 series or better / Nvidia GTX 660 series or better
DirectX: DirectX 11
HDD/SSD: 20 GB
Install Instructions:
1)Mount/burn the Image file
2)Run Setup.exe
3)Play !
Total Size:13.71 GB
This is Torrent Download File, you must be Install
uTorrent in your Computer
Torrent Download File
0 $type={blogger}:
Post a Comment