I think the description is a bit misleading, saying that the game "improves" upon the previous games; while this is true in the change of engine (and Thief 3 can definitely get pretty at times), gameplay wise it feels like a step backwards with tiny levels (that still kinda feel big mind you), frequent loading times and reduced inventory (no rope arrows). But still, I like the hub-like city roaming stuff, giving the steam punk world of Thief more life than ever and expanding the world even more. I also liked the optional third person perspective, wich can get very handy for peeking around corners without risking your cover and the full body (and I do mean full body, not just your legs like in some shooters) of Garret while in first person mode definitely helps a lot while platforming and jumping. Overall, it's definitely the worst of the series, but based on it's own merits, it's still a great game on it's own and it still feels like Thief, although a bit watered down.
I've been gaming since I was still on diapers and I can definitely name you my top 3 favorite titles ever, the golden standards I always use to judge other games, wich are Half-Life, Zelda Ocarina and Thief. The curious thing about Thief, is that I only just played it a few weeks ago, in this time and age of great, big budget games such as Skyrim, Mass Effect, BioShock, The Witcher 2, Deus Ex Human Revolution, even the recently released Dishonored (wich is awesome by the way), I'm still confident enough to name this as one of the best games I've ever played in my life. I'm a sucker for late 90's graphics, having loved my N64 to death, I have a special fondness for the crude nature of the 3D graphical prowess of the late 90's. But still, I considered Thief as a graphically inferior game. I definitely wasn't impressed by any of the screenshots and the character models were even more primitive than Super Mario 64. Then, how did this game won me over?. At first, it was the gameplay, I was intrigued by the slow nature of the game and the movement of Garret himself just felt right, I didn't get it at first, but after entering Bafford's Masion and wasting all of my water arrows (noobest of mistakes), I just found it thrilling to knock out as many guards as I could and move into the shadows undetected. Even if the name of the game is stealth first and foremost, the good folks at Looking Glass Studios managed to cram in some of the most interesting and varied levels I've ever seen from any game, even the objectives and foes themselves can vary a lot. Then, the story won me over. LGS managed to make a seriously interesting and subtle story by just looking your own surroundings (and reading letters), there's so much detail about the world you're inhabiting, despite it being blocky and having muddy textures, it really feels like a real place, a believable world. There are almost infinite ways of finishing a single level (wich can be quite huge... seriously, the levels are so big, it's normal to take you more than 1 hour to finish a single level, definitely more than that in late levels) and then, there's the increased difficulty objectives, the highr the difficulty, the more objectives you need to finish a level, opening up more areas of the level itself you might have ignored the first time around and even chaning some of the placements of items. I just love everything about this game, the atmosphere, the gameplay, the superbly crafted levels, the story, the incredible replay value (I cloked almost 40 hours in my first playthrough, I'm not kidding), heck, even the graphics!. For $2.50, I almost feel like I just robbed someone for getting so much from so little, even at the already low price of $9, I still felt like this game deserved more than that. In a nutshell, you'd be a taffer for not getting this game right now (make sure to grab the NewDark patch).
This game is bad... really bad... it shouldn't have been added to GOG's repertoire in the first place, It's not even a "Good Old Game". Gameplay first, if you thought Gothic was clunky, this game is even worse, WAY worse, heck, it even makes Gothic look like it has the tightiest gameplay for an RPG ever. As for the story... well, the famous phrase of Spoony says it all. DONT BUY AT ANY COST!!!, let it rot in digital obliviousness and move on.
If you loved Sands of Time, this game is a no brainer, but if you're new to the series, play Sands of Time first. I always thought that Sands of Time never needed a sequel, but Ubisoft, somehow managed to make a sequel out of it and twist it 90 degrees. Gameplay wise, it's still as awesome as ever and it has an even better and bloodier combat system than it's predecessor, but story wise... from time to time you'll want to throw the damned prince over a cliff on purpose, I didn't liked his brooding change over his charming happy go lucky self from Sands of Time. So, it all boils down to this, if you loved Sands of Time and you're curious to see how the story unfolds, up to it's stellar ending of The Two Thrones, then by all means, buy this and enjoy it, but if you've felt that Sands of Time didn't needed a sequel, then skip it, or wait until the much, much better The Two Thrones. Protip: The game has 2 endings, seek every nook and cranny to get the better ending.
