A straightforward telling of Lovecraft's short story with nice visuals. Takes about 45 minutes, depending on how long you linger, though there's not a lot of variety at all when it comes to locations. At any rate, I enjoyed it. Another Lovecraft short, "The Temple", would make a great companion book to this one. Recommended.
The suspense of wondering when I'll lose a chunk of progress and have to do a bunch of stuff all over again, that is. You see, in order to save at a given point, you have to put a tape in a recorder. Trouble is, tapes are very sporadic. Then, once found, you gotta traipse all the way back to the recorder. Because they're not easy to come by (especially if you overlook them since you have to pixel hunt), it's best to use them sparingly so that you'll have one available when desperately needed. I noticed health syringes weren't too plentiful, either. OK, yes, this does absolutely infuse the game with a sense of consequence, and it still beats the hell out of perma-death, I suppose. Apparently, the makers set out to recreate the aura of playing games like the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill, right down to the tank controls and pre-rendered backgrounds. They succeeded in spades, but, I coulda done without this wonky save system as I hate, HATE having to do things over again. If I had known this, I believe I wouldn't have bought the game. I found out by playing, and playing, and playing, wondering why there were no check-points, then, coming across a tape and learning that was my save, should I choose to use it. Notice, however, that I give this game 5 stars. Because the graphics, lighting, atmosphere, the way the story unwinds, is awesome. It really gives me the same creepy feeling as I had playing Silent Hill 2 PC port over 20 years ago, a game I thoroughly enjoyed even if I hated the control scheme. So, I'm going to continue playing until I hit a wall (I've done OK so far). I highly recommend this game for fans of old school console survival horror.
I don't normally like leaving negative reviews, but, this game frustrated me so much that I am compelled to in this case. One of the downsides of downloading games off of the Net is that you can't get a manual with it. Sure, you might be able to download a PDF file, but, you can't hold that in your hand as you're playing the game. Tutorials can only go so far as, I suspect, such a chapter would be impossible for the rule set of this particular game. Sure, it gives you instructions and hints as you go along, but, they come nowhere near explaining the rules. Though it is fashionable to derive PC games from tabletop games and to assume the purchasers will already know the rules, this is just poor practice as a product should be self contained. Also, there are often important differences between the PC and tabletop versions. But, to be fair, this isn't an impossible hurdle if the player is persistent. The ambience is nice, the voice acting decent, nice soundtrack, graphics are appropriate, good story, the controls.........God in Heaven, THE CONTROLS!! Unintuitive, clunky and unnecessarily time consuming, you have to learn their quirks on top of having to learn the game rules. After several combat encounters, I finally uninstalled the game in frustration. The pity is, I was quite enjoying the story. There's a very good game to be played here, but, until a manual or guide for this PC version is released, and the nightmarish control scheme is streamlined, I cannot recommend this, at least, not to gamers who have no knowledge of this franchise.
Yeah, there were definitely annoyances: can't jump, only certain doors can you interact with, AI is no better - even worse - than the much older games, some missions are too linear, and the story line is rather vague. I think the thing that annoyed me the most, however, was that instead of being a sequel, they felt the need to unnecessarily "reboot" the franchise. Yes, I understand that the original trilogy finished a sort of story arc for Garrett, but, couldn't this have simply been another adventure afterwards or even a prequel? It's almost like they made another game that, when they realized it was very similar to Thief, they decided to tweak it into a Thief game because it fit 80% of the mold. I mean, I see no other reason why they couldn't have just used the first game as a template, it's already there. Now for the good. Great graphics, pretty atmospheric, voice actors are excellent, good soundtrack, decent characters and, other than lack of jumping and rope arrows, decent mechanics. Though not a great game like the originals, it's good for while waiting for the next big thing, but, Thief 1, 2, and, yes, even Deadly Shadows, were great games and just being decent is not what the franchise is about; this should have been on par with Dishonored, The Witcher, etc. But, if you're a Thief fan, it is well worth playing as long as your expectations are tempered with a little foreknowledge. Kinda like how people still watched Bond movies even after Moore replaced Connery because it was the only game in town, 80% Thief is still better than no Thief. Someday, hopefully soon, someone will try to re-invigorate the franchise. I just hope it's someone who will do it right from lessons learned. Maybe Projekt Red? Anyway, I give it a star and a half more than it deserves just to counter the people who unfairly - and wrongly - bash it as worthless.
Yes, at first, it seems like any other top-down RPG, and anyone who's played Baldur's Gate or Pillars of Eternity will quickly get the hang of it. In fact, it was so generic that I actually considered uninstalling it as I was playing 2 other games at the time. But, I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. What I really enjoy is that your reputation figures largely in this game to the degree that it can greatly effect the course of your story. What makes it tricky is that you have reputations with different factions that are antagonistic towards one another while, at the same time, you must insure that you please your Overlord. It's often a fine balancing act. I found myself several times stopping to think for minutes on which answer to choose. I'm playing it by making the choices I would in real life and it's like walking on egg shells as the 3 main factions that I am allied, as well as my leader, are quite evil. At the same time, you often find that, at times, you must be ruthless, though softer options are availabe to you. I look forward to seeing where my choices take me. Recommended.
Reading some of the reviews here that said the problems were fixed, I purchased it; no, they haven't been 'fixed'. The frustrating part is, there are some good additions here, just that the execution sucks. Yes, I understand that there are work arounds for the scaling issues, but, you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get the game to do what it is supposed to. Caveat emptor.
LOL, I was wondering why everything was so microscopic, then, I realized, DUH, this was the result ofincreased resolution. Party formation was fun; new portraits that, IMHO, were improvements over the ugly originals, and, contrary to what others have said, I thought the voice actors were fine - at least, as far as I played. But, this doesn't really feel like "true" Baldur's Gate, and, no, definitely not the way to introduce newbies to this franchise. Also, I really have nothing against "representation" and, honestly, I thought that, much as I hate to admit it, the "feminist" re-molding of Jahiera actually turned out pretty good. However, much as I hate to seem to dump on peoples' efforts, I'm starting to think that there is a corresponding drop in talent applied as the eye for agenda mongering increases. At any rate, especially for the price I see this going for at the time of this review, I think one would be much better off playing Pillars of Eternity. Fortunately, I got this on sale and didn't pay much for it. Guess I should have paid attention to why there were so many bad reviews for this. It's true, you can't go home again.
No, it isn't the next Skyrim or Witcher, but, there is a place for a Gothic title that is a little more focused than the others while immersing you in its familiar world. This is done by making the path of your travels ultimately linear (though there can be alternate routes), which, as I get older, I increasingly prefer because my patience for an endless barrage of cookie-cutter inconsequential side quests has become quite strained. Combat mechanics are an improvement over the first 2 in the series, graphics are good for the time it came out and still more than adequate at the time of the writing of this review, story is serviceable if not spectacular, and, it's a game that one can relax with while recovering from their last, really intense game and preparation before heading into their next. Myself, I'm alternating between this game and Titan Quest Ragnarok, and, it perfectly fits the bill. I think the problem for a lot of people is that the path you follow feels laid out for you as in a fight game like God of War or something, but, without the awesome combat mechanics and hectic pace, while, as an RPG, it doesn't truly have as much freedom and upgrade choices one would expect from that genre. Rather, it straddles an area somewhere between these two extremes. So, do I recommend it? Well, I've attempted to give the reader an objective assessment of the game, pointing out its nature so that you can make that decision for yourself. A huge fan of The Witcher and Thief franchises, I, nevertheless, enjoyed this enough to give it 4 stars and one more to balance out the reactionary - and, unearned - negativity. The key is to be in the mood for a more laid back experience.
Fact: Polar bear populations are on the rise, not decreasing, as "Global Warming" proponents claim. Fact: While ice has melted in some areas of the polar regions, it has increased in others. Fact: As is now public, the UN attempted to stifle data that indicated that "Global Warming" data was being misrepresented. Fact: In prehistoric times, when the Earth's temperature was much higher, there was pretty much the same amount of land above sea level as there is now. Fact: There are corporations poised to make a vast sum from addressing this concocted "problem" once their bought-off politicians pass laws masquerading as attempts at conservation, such as the government mandated catalytic converters that cost us thousands more per car, but only dilute the concentration of pollutants at the source while spewing the same amount into the atmosphere. But, hey, that's ok, someone is making a killing off of this impotent cure. Fact: Actually, according to the fossil record, we're about due for another Ice Age. One last very sad fact: This world is all too full of idiots willing to swallow anything their leaders shovel into them hook, line and sinker.
My favorite "Thief" game. When first playing it, I was expecting all kinds of frustrations from the bellowing of fanboys I had heard, but such was not the case. The frequent loading was the only annoying part, but was worth it for the better graphics. Smaller levels? Yes, but on the other hand, The City felt more coherent, now, as a real place should, not like the disjointed whole of the first two games (although, in the first games, that added to The City's sense of mystery). Also, you can pick pockets for extra money to buy more equipment. Second person? You can opt to play in first. "Loot glint"? Who cares, seriously? I would have liked to have retained the rope arrows, but didn't really miss them. The lock picking is now a little more involved, the AI and physics a little better. I loved those Assassins; they're a great new addition to the "Thief" world. But the best thing is the story, arguably the creepiest overall plot of the three, it turns the three games into one story arc that is brought to a satisfying conclusion. I actually felt a little sad when it was over, as I sensed that I had come to the end of Garrett's adventures in my favorite fantasy setting. Keep your D&D, this franchise is second only to the works of Robert E. Howard. Well, some of them, anyway.
