Oh hey, since MSG and scaring the bejesus out of me came up and it made me think of other games involving the sneaky-sneaky -- I rather enjoyed Thief: Deadly Shadows. This review (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/tds.ars/1) is quite thorough and pretty spot-on, and not spoiler-ridden, and nails most of the flaws. And has pretty screenshots. I'm not trying to seduce you via T:DS and this single review, I swear >.>
REGARDLESS, T:DS is the third installment in the series and I have a barely nodding acquaintance with the other two -- but in this case I was watching my SO play and got absorbed in it before I realized it was a sequel. Damn. Honestly though it stands pretty well on its own. It has a generous helping of issues, but I remain won over by its many good points. It's a first-person game, but the idea is that you are a sneaky, slick thief, not an armored tank with a rifle. The most amazing thing about the game is its use of light -- your task is to sneak through the shadows, so you have to really pay attention to the lighting -- from torches, candles, lanterns, the goddamn moon ARGH ARGH ARGH, etc. and that part is really well executed. But to be honest there are three things that really really matter to me from this game. - First of all is the plot. It's hard to say why without being spoilery but let me just say that it's another game start only looks innocuous until you know enough of what's going on to be really goddamn scared. It really isn't a horror game but that just makes the scary parts more frightening. - Second are some (not all, good god) of the FMV-ish cutscenes. This is just pure hedonism on my part. Some people don't like them (and they are admittedly kind of clunky half the time, pretty hit-or-miss) but the good ones have the most original, luscious look I've seen in cutscenes to date and I drool over them endlessly. - Third is the design of a specific level. Overall there is some fantastic level design in this game but one level (called the Shalebridge Cradle; the review I linked devoted an entire section to it) is hands-down the best level design I have ever seen, in no small part because it scared the crap out of me. I did mention that this game had scary parts, right? Anyway, there's also a SPOILERY article (http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=618) devoted just to that level. The blurb says:
The Cradle is the penultimate level in 2004’s “Thief: Deadly Shadows”. “Journey Into the Cradle”, originally printed in Issue 146 of PC GAMER, is a ten-page dissection of the level. It is, as far as I’m aware, the longest article any major magazine has printed on a single level in a videogame.
Don't read it before playing the game, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER, but its existence should give you the general idea -- worth checking out.
Like I said, the game's far from perfect, but worth the investment in my opinion for the juicy bits.
In which I rec Thief: Deadly Shadows
REGARDLESS, T:DS is the third installment in the series and I have a barely nodding acquaintance with the other two -- but in this case I was watching my SO play and got absorbed in it before I realized it was a sequel. Damn. Honestly though it stands pretty well on its own. It has a generous helping of issues, but I remain won over by its many good points. It's a first-person game, but the idea is that you are a sneaky, slick thief, not an armored tank with a rifle. The most amazing thing about the game is its use of light -- your task is to sneak through the shadows, so you have to really pay attention to the lighting -- from torches, candles, lanterns, the goddamn moon ARGH ARGH ARGH, etc. and that part is really well executed. But to be honest there are three things that really really matter to me from this game.
- First of all is the plot. It's hard to say why without being spoilery but let me just say that it's another game start only looks innocuous until you know enough of what's going on to be really goddamn scared. It really isn't a horror game but that just makes the scary parts more frightening.
- Second are some (not all, good god) of the FMV-ish cutscenes. This is just pure hedonism on my part. Some people don't like them (and they are admittedly kind of clunky half the time, pretty hit-or-miss) but the good ones have the most original, luscious look I've seen in cutscenes to date and I drool over them endlessly.
- Third is the design of a specific level. Overall there is some fantastic level design in this game but one level (called the Shalebridge Cradle; the review I linked devoted an entire section to it) is hands-down the best level design I have ever seen, in no small part because it scared the crap out of me. I did mention that this game had scary parts, right? Anyway, there's also a SPOILERY article (http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=618) devoted just to that level. The blurb says:Don't read it before playing the game, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER, but its existence should give you the general idea -- worth checking out.
Like I said, the game's far from perfect, but worth the investment in my opinion for the juicy bits.