Some game franchises enjoy very long runs and go on to have a lot of sequels every now and then. Halo, for instance, is one of them. Thief, on the other hand, is not. And that’s because the latest edition of the game took ten years to reappear on the scene. For those who don't know about the Thief series, it was one of the best stealth games of its time. So, when the game has finally made a comeback, it has two challenges - one, to not let down the old time gamers, and two, to impress the newer, younger lot.

Garrett, the protagonist of this game series, is a master thief who must steal his way to victory. Now, the plot is quite interesting, but we can't give away anything without spoiling it for you. The plot is very cleverly written and is full of twists. Without revealing much we can tell you that the main mission of the game is to get to The Baron, a mafia of the Victorian age. The gothic city has been struck by a nasty plague, which, interestingly, has affected the mainly the poor.

Graphics

Thief’s new artwork is brilliant, with rich detailing in the settings. The tone of graphics makes sure that the original flavour of the game is not lost, and yet manages to rub shoulders with some of the best open world games out in the market at present. The gamma, however, is a bit tricky - and not in a good way. As a Thief, you'd expect to have darkness as your proverbial invisibility cloak, but you often tend to trip on the said cloak and make a fool out of yourself. The gameplay is affected by the lack of a sweet spot between just enough darkness to navigate through obstacles while being undetected, and being so well lit that the game tends to become annoyingly impossible to play through. There is, however, a light gem that tells you if you're properly hidden in the dark or not, and makes up for it. The background score and the character voices, however, are very disappointing. It lacks emotion.

But it’s a highly unpredictable artificial intelligence (AI) engine that brings the challenge to the game. The enemies can be both ridiculously dumb or surprisingly sharp. You can never know if a guard might just decide to turn around and spot you or raise an alarm. If you’re spotted out in the open with guards swarming all over the place, you’re dead. But other parts of the game mechanics, such as the intricately designed lock-picking systems or feeling around picture frames to look for hidden latches, makes the gameplay very, very real.

Coming back to the two challenges that we mentioned earlier, we think that Thief is a rather interesting open world game, probably one of the best in recent times. Newer gamers would definitely love this. On the other hand, older gamers might feel that the game lacks the original favour. That being said new is not always bad. Sure, it's a revival, but it does pack the same, if not more, amount of challenge.

Platform - PS3(2,999), PS4 (3,499), PC (999), Xbox 360(2,999)

[ Love - Tricky AI and game mechanics

] Hate - Rather dull sound effects

Ratings - K

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