Thief 2: The Metal Age

Title: Thief 2: The Metal Age
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: February 29, 2000
Date Played: Spring 2000
Time Played: 20 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5

Opinion:
Thief 2: The Metal Age, was one of the first games to be played on my shiny new Pentium 2 (350Mhz 256Mb of Ram and 8mb ATI Video card), and the standard at the time 15 inch 50 pound CRT.

The Thief series created a sub-genre of first person games. It was among the first first person games to put heavy emphasis on stealth and non lethal take downs. I have never played the original Thief. As far as I understand it is very similar to Thief 2, but the key here is that I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started Thief 2.

I remember starting the first level up on a wall, jumping down and sneaking into a castle. I must have played that level at least a dozen times exploring the castle and inevitably getting caught in the process. But every single time I was eager to try again and again. This was because I was amazed by Thief 2. It was the first time where I played a game that would encourage me to sneak around and steal things while dispatching as few guards as possible.

Thief was one of very few games of the time that felt completely realistic. The guards would have their patrols, engage in conversations with each other and behave as you would expect them to. Unlike most games where you take on dozens and even thousands of enemies at once in Thief 2 if you got more than a couple guards chasing you, and you didnt slip away into the shadows you were dead. I dont know if it was my 15 year understanding of being a thief in real life, but playing Thief 2 felt like playing a real life medieval simulator. I loved every minute of it.

That is of course until I progressed further into the game and it went crazy on me. All of a sudden guards that I had so much fun dispatching and sneaking by were replaced by steam powered one eyed robots. This was the point where Thief 2 started to fall apart for me. It was akin to having a nice dinner with your family and having the "Kool Aid Man" burst through the wall. The game's difficulty spiked, and Thief 2 became one of those "when is the end?" type of games. I had to power through the last several levels just to finish it up, and the only culprit was this nonsensical addition of robots to otherwise perfect game. I will say however that sneaking around those robots scared the living bajesus out of me.

Thief 2 is definitely more good than bad, in fact its waaaay more good than bad. Thief 2 is a piece of gaming history that will stay in my memory forever. I absolutely loved 90% of it. The whole series (3 games) are available on Steam and can be picked up  for a few bucks during a sale. If you are picky about your graphics then Thief 3 should be on your list. If gameplay is all you care about then get the whole pack there is no doubt about this whole series being a must play on any serious gamer's list. These games remain fairly unique even now, over a decade since their release.