The first Thief left me flabbergasted–I was not expecting to fall head over heels for a first-person game with slightly-superior-to-N64 graphics, and yet it quickly became one of my favorite video games. After finishing what I now consider a masterpiece, I didn’t think it could be improved that much. Thief II proved me wrong. Not only is The Metal Age a better game in general, but it’s easily in my top 10 favorites, and I could see it improving if I go back and try the harder difficulty levels.
As the name implies, Garrett finds himself facing a change in conditions around his city. The number of machines and amount of metal flooring have increased, not to mention the police force has stamped out most crime in the area. None of this would have mattered if Garrett had been able to retire as planned in the previous game, but here he’s still forced to rob and plunder. Thief II’s story and gameplay show great continuity with the previous game, which might not sound like a big deal, but considering how many games basically ignore the events of the previous, this satisfied me. In fact, Thief II starts out bigger and more challenging than its ancestor, so props to the developers for assuming their players don’t need a million tutorials here.
In the first few stages, Garrett is just out for the money. This is great because it helps the plot steer away from the mystical elements of the first game and focus on thievery. You get to rob a bank, commit a rooftop caper, frame a smuggler, and kidnap a guy in this game–it’s amazing that Thief I had none of this. Even better, the stages deceptively build toward what becomes Thief II’s core story: a crazed sort of evangelist named Karras is the one behind the increase of metal in the world, and it just so happens he’s hoping to stamp out Garrett before the thief can thwart him. The early stages have you robbing organizations indirectly involved in feeding Karras money, and not long after the plot begins to move at a breakneck pace. This was something the first game lacked: the entire game feels connected and is always moving toward its conclusion. Metal makes a great counter to Garrett: it prevents you from sneaking around easily, and robotic enemies cannot be fooled or defeated in the same manner as humans. Human enemies also start getting metal equipment that makes them immune to your usual tricks. This could have been played up more, but still adds a significant extra challenge to the game. The final stage, an epic heist of a huge tower jam packed with robot guards and sensors, feels immensely appropriate.
Another great thing about the game is it does not obsolete the first. By reducing the number of zombies and horror stages, the game stands out instead of just improving on it. Thief I feels Gothic; Thief II feels steampunk. In many games series, I feel like the earlier titles don’t hold up so well because mechanics and graphics engines get fine tuned, but not here. The developers treat the original game very respectfully, and it pays off well both for the player and the in-game world. Even though its setting has become distinctly different, the two still feel interconnected. One gameplay change that comes out of this is an improved map system. While I miss having the “bad maps” of the original, which added to the challenge of the game, it’s nice to have new ones that keep track of where you’ve been, as they allow for more complex stages. Again, this just helps to distinguish the two games from one another.
For my money, Thief II only has one glaring flaw (no, I’m not counting outdated guard AI. If anything, that adds some needed comedy). The two levels preceding its final one are borderline awful: you get a game over for getting caught in the first one (series first), then have to repeat the same map without that restriction. Why it wasn’t the other way around, I have no idea. Apparently this is a common criticism of the game, so I don’t feel like such a wuss for complaining about the stages. In the scheme of things, this didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the game much, and the last level more than makes up for it, but it’s still a weird blemish on a game that I otherwise consider as close to perfect as a game should get. And yes, that’s my final word on this game: it comes as close to perfection as a game probably should.
9.5
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