Thief III (read. Thief)

The Original MasterThief

Our mission to Eidos was actually a mission to see Ion Storm Austin’s upcoming games Thief III and Deux Ex: Invisible War. Right away, we made a beeline for the Thief III machine, eager to see how this first person sneaker fared outside the Looking Glass. Apparently, the folks at Eidos wanted a fresh start for the series, so there was neither number “3” nor numeral “III” tagged on to the Thief title. Rest assured, though, this game is hoping to be a most worthy sequel to the first two games.

Artist's rendition.

The glowing arrow bolts don't come cheap.

I'm going to club thee, ye ignorant one.

That guy from Halo may be the MasterChief, but you are the MasterThief. You reprise your role as Garrett, and once again the name of the game is stealth. Thief shares its engine technology with the Deus Ex: Invisible War team, and if you take a look at some of the screenshots you’ll notice that there’s a dynamic lighting system in place. Similar to what we have experienced from Splinter Cell, shadows will play a huge role in the game world. You’ll have to keep constant tabs of the light sources around you, as the AI in the game will be able react to shadows. If there’s a big light source at your back casting a shadow 10 feet ahead of you, guards will be able to spot you – even though you are not in direct line of sight.

Ye olde gloomy skyline.

Ye casts thy shadows well.

Overdone glow effects on light sources.

Another page similar to Splinter Cell’s book of tricks is the lock picking system. We were shown the Xbox version of the game, and lock picking worked by slowly rotating the analog thumb sticks until we felt the strongest rumble sensation before hitting the pick button. It may take several of these trials before successfully breaking into a lock. Of course, during this entire time, Garrett is focused on the lock and not on his surroundings. It’s entirely possible that a guard may have wandered into the area while you were so absorbed in feeling the good vibrations. There’s the ability to look around while you’re sitting in front of the lock, but then you’ll be splitting your attention and thus it would take longer to pick the lock. We predict tense situations coming from lock picking puzzles.