Thief Reviews
Thief's sneaking challenges are highly rewarding when you ghost through the world undetected, but will send you to the loading screen repeatedly if you're not careful
Despite some of Thief's annoyances, the game is rich in detail and hard to put down. Needless to say, this is one convict I won't be locking up any time soon.
Overall, Thief is a great play. The script flaws, while annoying, are forgivable in light of the many hours of quality gameplay. It's not perfect but it's an enjoyable challenge that will go down as one of the better gaming experiences of 2014.
Despite my deep reservations regarding the reboot of my favorite character and the world he inhabits, Thief manages to deliver a compelling experience. Sure it's a bit grimy in areas, but the team at Eidos Montreal have done well with the reboot of this title, just as they did for Deus Ex. The main missions are immersive, and the team has clearly catered to both new audiences and us old taffers with the bevy of options and mods. While it may not convey the same style as its forerunners, it delivers what I would call a mostly-authentic Thief experience. Now, let's talk about getting those cutscenes back…
All in all, Thief successfully ticks the right boxes on the PlayStation 4, although it's not a totally next-gen experience.
A great game as is, although it has a few very patchable issues that could really put it over the top.
Thief is a great return for the classic series. Thanks to its open-ended missions and the big amount of customization options, not to mention the great visuals, it can delight fans old and new alike. While it has a few problems with platforming and some erratic enemy AI, it still manages to deliver a memorable stealth experience.
Eidos Montreal's smartly designed reboot will pilfer dozens of hours of your free time – and you'll wish it would take more.
The Thief name has a significant legacy in the stealth genre, and Thief, confusing title and all, is clearly straining to live up to it, with its inclusion of water arrows, "taffer" references and more. It's even sort of successful. Even with concessions to 2014 game design - the optional Focus vision mode, the linear escape sequences that might as well be quick-time events or cutscenes - the core stealth still works. But the weakness of everything around it made me wish I was playing Dishonored.
For where it falls short, it far more often had me crouched in a shadow, heart racing, waiting for the perfect moment to dart past a guard's routine. It may be the fourth best Thief game, but it's a damned fine game in its own rights.
A shambling, mediocre mess.
Though this might seem incongruous with the rest of the review, Thief is definitely a game that's worth playing. It gets a recommendation, despite the final score and its many, many, many flaws, because the stealth gameplay really is great, and with pure stealth games becoming such a rarity it's gratifying to find a game that really brings the art of thieving to life.
A success then for fans of a game made a decade ago, but Thief's reach exceeds its grasp by some margin and an opportunity to revive a beloved property with renewed relevance has been sorely missed. If it had a few more ideas (or even stolen a few) then this could've been less of an uninspired remake and something truly worth getting your hands on.
