Thief 2: The Metal Age

Originality is all but gone in the first-person shooter genre of computer gaming. This is apparent in the endless barrage of Quake clones that flood computer stores every month, making the depth pool of gameplay all the more shallow. It seems all the ideas possible have been tried and exhausted, until we were introduced a year ago to Thief. The idea that the point of an FPS is NOT to go and blow out the brains of aliens was shocking, but was met with success in retail stores. Riding on the coattails of Thief's success, Eidos has released Thief 2: a similar yet equally enjoyable game as its predecessor.
The beauty of Thief 2 is the dreary atmosphere. You will spend most of the game in the darkness of shadows, using all of your senses to detect when and where to go next. Thief 2 is advanced through a series of missions divided by movies that are both visually pleasing and pertinent to the missions. In Thief 2, there are many new objectives and ways to achieve these objectives such as numerically coded machines to open doors and secret areas opened by an arrow shot through a certain area. All this leads to comprehensive missions that will often take upwards of an hour to complete.
The atmosphere is further enhanced by the graphics, music, and sound effects. The graphics are visually pleasing and up-to-date with the current FPS on the market. There are not only many lifelike human models in the game, but thousands of everyday objects that set an atmosphere that makes you feel like you are actually entering a real location. The music is macabre and fits the setting nicely. However, the sound effects, above all else, really allows the gamer to feel like they are a rogue on a mission. You can overhear conversations, hear footsteps, idle guards whistling, and a myriad of other sound effects that make the atmosphere of Thief 2 feel like another real world.
However, all titles have their downsides, and Thief 2 is no exception. Although load times have improved since the original release, they are still long, and believe me you will be loading often. This is because of the game's awkward instructions and difficulty. At the easiest difficulty mode, the game can be played like Quake because the combat system is so easy there is no reason not to just rush everyone and cut them down to size. To fully appreciate Thief 2, one must play on the harder difficulty levels, which are extremely difficult, and your frustration will be exacerbated by the awkward instructions that you must decipher in every mission. Instructions are often foggy and not to the point, and you may spend many minutes just to figure out what the "clue" really meant. Also, Thief 2 is laggy on slower computers. There is also no multiplayer, so the longevity of the game is limited to the laborious single-player missions, which you will probably be too frustrated to finish.
Overall, I can honestly say that Thief 2 is a good game. The setting of the game is exciting and new, especially if you have not played the first Thief. However, the missions are very long and can get old quickly, and chances are you will not finish this game without some kind of outside help, which will ruin the experience. If you have the money and are looking for something new, pick up Thief 2: NOW!! >_<

Umm, thiefII is a fairly old game.. AKA, Old news but i'll put in my 2 cents, yes it is a good game for the 1st person strategists, the game is good if you are into thinking before acting, because every action you make can be a threat to your safety and stealth, the game places you inside a dark enviroment, the goals of the missions start up as a normal thief stealing from rich people but evolves into a more epic sized game requiering you to work for magical beings who want you to steal from other magical beings, the game is very good.. considering it is a few years old it still deserves a 5 out of 5!