Rating: 
Summary: "Dumbing down" the Thief Games for "Console Kiddies."
Review: I, originally, had no interest in a game called "Thief." Sounded anti-social to me. But when I got a copy with my new sound card, I installed it and gave it a shot... what the heck, right?And I fell in love with it. Thief... then, the expanded version, "Thief Gold," and then Thief 2... made for a truly AMAZING experience. And, unlike most games, it was not a violent, mindless game... quite the opposite. Well... I bought this game a couple of days ago. I tried installing it on my main computer, running Win98SE (which runs 100% of every other program I've ever owned or tested). Guess what? Thief 3 is the FIRST GAME I'VE EVER TRIED which does not run except under WinXP. Supposedly, it runs with Win2K or WinXP. So, having 2K at work, I took it in and gave it a shot. No go... even though this is, allegedly, "supported." Why not? Now, bear in mind that this is a high-end professional workstation, not an old machine and not a "kiddie computer." But... it doesn't have the right "pixel shader" revision built in. So... it won't run. Get it? There's only a small subset of the PC marketplace that can even RUN this program... people with VERY new, high-end graphics cards (even the Geforce4 won't work), the most recent drivers (nVidia 6-series drivers at a minimum, or the equivalently most recent ATI drivers... and NOTHING ELSE WILL WORK). And you MUST have Windows XP or else you might as well rebox it and take it back. Or... you can do what Microsoft apparently convinced Eidos to do... trade in the PC version for the X-Box version. I remember when the PC version was "suspended" and the product was formally announced as "X-Box ONLY." Well, they didn't really... REALLY... change their minds on this. They removed one of the most commonly-used elements of the original game... the rope-arrows. They have such simple level design that there aren't really any multi-level structures! Oh yes, and they have so far stated that there will be NO SDK (software development kit), so you can just take it for granted that there will be no "fan missions" released on the internet. (For those of you who don't know, it's "fan missions" which have made Half-Life stay on the sales racks for the past... what, five years?... continuously!). In other words... BE WARNED. Despite the fact that this ad says that it will run in Win98.. IT WILL NOT. Despite the fact that this ad says that it will run in Win2K... IT WILL NOT. Despite the fact that the ad says nothing about it, if you don't have AT A MINIMUM a GeforceFX 5900 Ultra with the LATEST drivers, you will not be able to play the game. Bottom line... wait to see if ION Storm and Eidos fix these problems. And until they do... DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. Mine is going back first thing in the morning.
Rating: 
Summary: Loads of fun
Review: Like every fan of the Thief series it seems I've been waiting forever for the third installment. Given the level of the graphics, lighting effects and gameplay compared to the first two, I'm glad the came was late becaues it allowed more advances in technology.
The game plays much like the first two, so anyone who was a fan will not feel out of place. Some people are complaining that some of the buttons for weapons have been changed. Who cares? How long can it possibly take to become accustomed to the new controls?
While I haven't completed the whole game yet, so far I have liked all of the improvements, especially the fact that you're a little more deadly now when you need to be. Visually the game is beautiful, a huge improvement over the previous games. If you have a strong system, get Thief 3 and you certainly won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Everything I expected...
Review: Ion Storm managed to create a game that lives up to the first two installments but also works with a console (XBox). There are certain elements of the game that clearly are meant for console players and are "dumbed down", like the twinkle of loot items. The item highlighting is back, but in a blue tint. So far I'm on the first mission and the game plays like Thief 1 and 2. People are complaining in their reviews that it's just not the same, but I beg to differ. The demand for games on multiple platforms nowadays forces developers to make small compromises. None of these hurt Thief 3 in my opinion. Gamers should step back and realize that things change. It's the same thing with everything else... people get stuck in a rut wanting more of the same. When something slightly different or new comes out that doesn't meet their narrow concept the developers are labeled sell-outs. I'm sorry, but Thief 3 delivers gaming goodness and does everything I expected from another installment. If you've got so many hang-ups about this series that you can't accept change then maybe you should be playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow instead of Thief 3. Games change, people change. Thief is still Thief. I see a bright future for the Thief series. As long as the basic gameplay elements and depth of story remain this series will always be enjoyable to me. Bottom line, if you're a fan of the Thief series and the story and stealth gameplay were what made the previous games so interesting and enjoyable, I don't think you'll be disappointed. As for some of the reviewers--I despise people like Hardee who take advantage of a rating system and post multiple times. Trolls don't deserve the right to post a review on Amazon.com or any other rating system.
Rating: 
Summary: Initial thoughts on Thief III
Review: First thoughts on Thief III, which I played for about 3 hours last night. Fun, but not quite as fun (so far) as the first two. On my system, it's a little laggy, but that's probably because my video card is about middle/low end, as far as their specs go (NVidia 5500 FX) and I don't have the money to upgrade to the top of the line vid cards they want. Graphics are not as fabulous as I've heard, but again, I've got a middle of the road vid card, and I can live with it. I dove right in without reading the manual, so of course, the re-mapped weapons keys came as an unpleasant surprise. I had gotten so used to hitting '4' to get my water arrows in the first two games, but that's '8' now. They also swapped the blackjack and sword (dagger) keys, so I kept pulling out the dagger instead of the blackjack. And honestly, I don't miss the sword, but then I never used it in the first two except to cut down wall-hangings. I never kill guards, and only the occasional spiders. But, these key mappings can be easily changed, so I'm not complaining too much. Pros/Interesting positive changes:
The training mission rocks for getting you up to speed quickly. It explains all the buttons, and many of the changes between this and the first two games in terms of actions and dynamics. The dynamic lighting is nice. You can now extinguish candles and other lights (but, strangely, not torches) by walking up to them and 'using' them. I haven't tried out the third-person mode yet. "First-person" is not what people traditionally think of as first-person in games - it's just like the camera is mounted on Garrett's forehead. I like it, as it lends a little bit more realism to things - you can look down and see his feet, turn and see his arms. It takes a little getting used to, but I like it. Garrett seems to comment a lot more in this game too. If you pick up an item and try to put it down in a spot where it won't fit, he'll say "uh-uh". He'll make little quips about locations like he did in the first two, but it seems like there's more of those. Lock-picking is a lot more involved and a lot of fun so far. There are pieces of loot that are special - they're worth more than regular loot, and are often figured into the objectives. Loot glint is actually helpful, although I can understand the complaints that it makes things too easy. But at the same time, they made loot and non-loot look a lot more alike in this game, and they still managed to hide some loot in out of the way places where you can't see the glint from normal eye-level. The City mode is a lot of fun. I already ransacked Garrett's landlord's apartment. Just a word of advice - don't blackjack someone in the middle of the street in front of three witnesses. (*whistle* I hit the wrong button, so sue me. I was trying to pick his pocket) With a few notable exceptions (see below), the physics are a lot more realistic. Almost everything Garrett touches can be moved - he can knock over chairs, knock swords out of sword racks, push large tables and crates, knock cups and plates onto the floor. On normal difficulty, the guards will come if they hear the noise, but they don't seem to notice things being out of place. I imagine on the higher difficulties, they'll start investigating. Everyone complains about there not being any swimming and the substitutions of climbing gloves for rope arrows. I haven't missed either so far. The loading zones are mildly annoying, but not too bad - they kind of sub-divide missions into smaller chunks. I really didn't mind them too much. Nitpicks/Little funny issues:
The bright blue "use" highlight is annoying. I can deal, but it's still annoying. I miss the briefing movies. There are cutscenes, but when you enter a mission, Garrett just reads the text while it's on the screen. No pretty movies. The physics of the unconscious/dead bodies is really funny. I blackjacked a guy and he bent over backwards in a position that probably should have left him paralyzed. It's now possible for Garrett to trip over the bodies and make noise. No longer possible to "stack" bodies in quite the same amusing way as the original, although that's probably for the best. (No more setting it up like the servants were messing around....) I managed to make a guard kill himself - I blackjacked him while he was carrying a torch, and he fell on the torch and died. There's not really an option to quietly set things down either, which is somewhat annoying. (Maybe there is, but I just couldn't find it?) I picked up a cup up from a table without realizing it wasn't loot (still getting used to the loot glint vs. the bright blue "use" highlight.), and when I hit the button for drop - he literally dropped it, it rolled off the table, clanged onto the floor, and attracted a nearby guard. Overall: Fun, so far. I still prefer the first two, but then I'm only one mission into this one. It felt like Thief, though, which was the most important thing to me. More later!
Rating: 
Summary: Just got Thief3 [...]
Review: I am so disheartened right now... I'm also about $[...] shorter after my purchase of Thief 3 earlier today. This feels very similar to when I played Deus Ex: Invisible War. I'm sorry but I HATE Thief Deadly Shadows. I have been playing it for hours now and I am just depressed. I put Thief 2 back in and immediately felt happy once again. Here are my complaints so far about Thief 3 Deadly Shadows: 1. SYSTEM HOG!: (just like Deus Ex: IW) I have a pentium 4 2.5 Ghz with 512 RAM and a Ti4800 card and this game is still very jerky! 2. GRAINY GRAPHICS: (again just like Deus Ex:IW)
3. NO SEPARATE RUN COMMAND
4. NO LEAN FORWARD COMMMAND
5. NO SWORD: he's got a little dagger now
6. LOAD ZONES!!!!!!!
7. NO ROPE ARROWS
8. NO SWIMMING Thief 3 is not smooth like Thief 1 and 2. I haven't yet had fun with Thief 3 and I've been torchering myself for hours now with it. If you are thinking of purchasing this game wait for a demo, I wish I had. I have never been so disappointed ever in a game like this before.
Rating:
Summary: omg! greatests games evers!
Review: In the tradition of abusing the amazon review system, I give thief 3 five stars, though I have not played it.
Rating:
Summary: Great game!
Review: Love this game, graphics are awesome although they don't run very well. Been playing this for three days solid and got about three hours sleep!
Rating:
Summary: Another Fake Review
Review: To balance out the other fake reviews of a game that isn't even out yet I'm adding mine. It's FANTASTIC! Best Game Evar! Oh, and by the way Hardee why post multiple "reviews"? Are you some kind of attention starved moron that got fired from EIDOS or perhaps ION Storm? Also you're obviously a liar since you say that 3rd person view is default. It's only default on the x-box version. 1st person view is default on the PC version (which you'd have to have if you're playing a warez version like you claim). You sir are a either a thief or a liar (and not a very good one). Ta.
Rating:
Summary: the pictures are looking great and the new stuff are amazing
Review: if the other games (thief 1 and thief 2) was so good it shuld be
realy good so i gave it 5 stars.(...) you shuld buy it!!!
Rating:
Summary: What a shame
Review: Thief Deadly Shadows has been in production for four years. As a fan of the original Thief games, I have been looking forward to this for a very long time. The Internet community were amazed at the stylish graphics and the apparent "old style" voices and characteristics. The final product couldn't have been further from the truth. I was incredibly disappointed to find that all of the appealing features of the original games have been dumbed down for the likes of the Xbox kiddies. Yes that's right folks, instead of rope arrows you now have "climbing gloves". Which means you can climb pretty much any surface to escape guards, that is unless they use arrows. This is annoying because as soon as you see a threat, you can simply climb a wall and watch the guard taunt you with three .wav files of "taffer" insults until he forgets you're there. A new addition to the game - guards can and will, rarely, climb or ascend ladders - though it doesn't matter anyway. One because there are pretty much no ladders - hell, there aren't even many stairs in the game, because that would mean the Xbox would have to load a level bigger than a front room. Two, they take so long getting off a ladder you can stab them with the dagger before they even find their feet. Yes you heard me correctly, of the game I've played, there are virtually no floors in the mansions with the exception of the training mission. Remember the huge, four-floored mansions in Thief 2? You'll be lucky to get two floors in Deadly Shadows. Remember the huge amount of secrets and hidden bits in the levels? There are practically none, a lot like the recent debacle of the Deus Ex sequel. That's gaming evolution for you. If there are huge buildings to venture through, these are accompanied by lovely two to three minute loading times, which make you forget you're even in the same building. Even the outside sections have loading times, and it sent me insane. One of the earlier "levels" consists almost entirely of zombies which are so low and lumbering you can just speed past them. Stealthy. At least this mission didn't have the atmosphere of a public toilet like the first two did. I really haven't played this game for that long, but I felt I had to write a review of it, and am finding it increasingly hard to try to like this game. Looks like Ion Storm killed the Thief series at this moment, and it shall be interesting to see what other people think. Good
Training mission excellent
FMV's are in the style of the old games
Graphics look quite nice Bad
Looks like Splinter Cell (third-person view is default)
Every mission is a mansion/castle
Loot received message takes up half the damn screen
Needs Windows XP to run
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