Love this collection of mods into a single package. The updated skills and augs, the level shifts, added customization, and certain AI adjustments are something I appreciate a great deal. However.. The menues seem to have issues when trying to access the inventory, or the pause menu. It isn't like it casues the game to crash, but there's definitely a work load that's being forced on the game that it doesn't care for.
This game deserves a remaster, if not a full remake. We have patches created by fans, and some support from GoG to get the PC release running on PC, which I appreciate a lot! But seriously, this is one of those games that -HAS- potential to be redone with things that made the first game great, while expanding on the content and side-stories, level layouts and just general scope. - The game itself: It's a fun sci-fi story, where the "punk" of the first game is kind of lost, along with much grunge that was baked into every corner and every texture. The gameplay is rather janky, and the engine shows its age pretty distinctly. That doesn't mean it isn't worth playing. It has its moments of goofiness, and the upgrade system, while simple, is functional, and lets you sort of switch out what you want once a biomod or weapon feels less effective. The levels aren't large like they were in the first game, but there's still some hidden nooks to find, while not being confusing. It's obvious they wanted to make it "easier" for people who felt confused by the first game's layout, but that, to me, was just an issue with preference rather than bad game design. Music and vibes are still pretty good here, even if the music never quite hits you like the NYC streets or Liberty Island areas. The music is serviceable, is what I mean. The one caveat being the usage of Kidneythieves, which added some great music to the game ( - You may disagree, and I get it. It's not to everyone's taste - ). The story is... well. There's a lot that could be added to slow the pace down, and give much more build-up to certain turning points. You still know there's something happening in the background, and some of the consipracies are interesting, if not funny and thoughtful. But they'll come and go so quickly you'll probably not give them too much thought in a first playthrough. Yeah - Someone get the Deus Ex rights and give it the System Shock Remake treatement, please? I'd be down !!
While Fallout 3 and 4 were fun to wander around in, the narrative was never all that great. Obsidian went out of their way to make each quest and every bit of story interesting and worth exploring. Coupled with more gameplay elements that enhance the Fallout 3 formula, this game is worth playing through at LEAST once. While it isn't quite the best RPG you'll play, coupled with an ever aging GameBryo engine, it won't require too heavy a system to run, at least. But the game isn't the best looking you'll play, either.
While Fallout 3 and 4 were fun to wander around in, the narrative was never all that great. Obsidian went out of their way to make each quest and every bit of story interesting and worth exploring. Coupled with more gameplay elements that enhance the Fallout 3 formula, this game is worth playing through at LEAST once.
I honestly have more fun playing the Thief Reboot than this game, and would actually tell people to play the Black Parade mod over Thief DS. Back when I was in college and I tried playing it on the Original XBox, I only got so far before I started feeling just completely uncomfortable with the game's controls, sound scape, graphics, and general atmosphere. Sure, you *could* blame it on just bad TV speakers, but every time since its release, when I loaded it up on a PC with much better sound, I could only get so far in before I just got sick of playing it. For the same reasons. I don't think it's a terrible game, either. It just rubs me the wrong way. When it comes to the environments, they were chewing on the "2000's" rush to higher graphical fidelity, when it could have had bigger, more interesting levels, and just focused on excellent art direction instead. They feel so closed in and just plain ugly to me. They aren't -all- bad levels, but I honestly don't enjoy 80% of them. At the time, I could see how they wanted to emulate the success of Splinter Cell (or at least, that was my view back then). I have absolutely NOTHING against the 3rd person camera, or the integration of a more detailed physics model to base Garrett's movement around. But after playing Deus Ex IW, I can safely say that they were still struggling with the tech they had. It's pretty unpredictable, and while not quite as "floaty" as 1 & 2, it just doesn't feel good. The gameplay around audio feels nerfed. The NPC's look terrible. The audio itself isn't all that great in places. The "claw gloves" or whatever, that let you stick to walls, would be cool if the levels had much in the way of use for them. They don't, though. Just .. There's a lot about the general feel of Thief 3 that I can safely say, even with the best fan-made updates and patches, is not fun. The game needs a full-on remake, if not a major remaster. Until then, I'll probably beat it once, then never touch it again.
The game isn't quite where it should be, all things told. For the record, I have never played any of the Arcane Dimensions mod content, but I'm lead to believe the levels in are are just as long as those found here, which I'm not a fan of. They just seem to overstay their welcome a bit, if I'm honest. Most of them take about 40 min to complete, so you'll be chomping on them in short bursts unless you've got a lot of time on your hands to complete them. But they are beautiful to see in such an old engine, with excellent art direction and colour palettes that work WITH the game, and a part of me wishes this game were designed as an RPG, so I could take my time to immerse myself in them further. Still, we got a pretty solid shooter, for all of the imbalancing that goes on with the weapons. Each one feels good, don't get me wrong, and there's something satisfying about each enemy death, though there are those weapons that will stick out, and those that will probably get neglected until you've run out of ammo for the guns you prefer to use. The game actually feels more like a melee focused FPS at times, with how you'll be using your arm blade and an end-game weapon, the mace, so much. Both of which are CQC weapons. I spent SO MUCH TIME getting in the face of enemies with most of the weapons, and it's crazy. The funniest thing is the secondary on your arm blade is one of the most powerful in the ENTIRE GAME. Seriously, you'll be thrusting through enemy faces and gibbing them hard more times than you'd expect. It's not a complaint, but certainly odd. Music by Hulshult is very sublte, sometimes barely there at all, though at other times when things are quiet, you get to stand there and let the mood drape over you while you look over a dead world. I would say my favorite track (one previewed in a Tweet by Hulshult himself) is from the map "The Red Throne", and honestly hits closer to that battle-infused "drumming" that I was hoping to hear more of. Money well spent, TBH
The game itself isn't what I'd call "bad". If anything, it's simply "alright". It suffers from the same problem a lot of games did from the later 2000s/2010s, in that they want to be more "cinematic than fun". Player agency is pretty reduced because of this. Its not simply the lack of jumping either. Movement is pretty smooth through the levels, and the "dodge/swoop" works pretty nicely, with the very tactile peeking mechanics. The "special powers" you get are kind of neat little aids to get past challenges quickly, but are superfluous if you prefer a more "pure" experience. You can play the game without them, certainly. The story is weak. Garrett's only driving force is finding his missing protege, who I feel like would have been more interesting as a playable character, rather than relegated to "damsel in distress". Otherwise, he barely has any say in the Main Story. In fact, he doesn't seem to honestly care which faction wins in the "class warfare" that's being driven by severe disease and poverty. Basso was the only character that had "character", from what I can recollect, and even then the writing didn't serve him too terribly well. The game is very gloomy, and stages/missions don't necessarily seem different between levels, because they insisted on the "cyan color grading" being EVERYWHERE. However, besides that, the graphics are quite nice, and definitely utilize Unreal Engine 3 pretty well for its age. If you really need to own it, get it on discount.
Why would anyone buy this? I stopped buying PRIMA guides when GameFAQs came out. What's the point if you can find all the answers you would need to complete this game somewhere else for free? Also; "Internet Connection Required." I'm not paying to access a website. I see no reason to put down $1, let along $5, for something that requires an internet connection, and could easily disappear overnight if the servers go down, or the creators feel like ending support for it on a whim.
