By:
Looking Glass

Just the thought of releasing a first person shooter in today's market must give game developers an ulcer. Not only is the genre filled to capacity with games, it's filled to capacity with top tier games such as Half-Life and Shogo. Why even bother trying to compete? Success calls for something different, for something never executed in previous games before… not correctly anyway.

Enter Thief: The Dark Project. Developed by Looking Glass Studios, Thief is markedly different than any other game within its genre. In fact, it doesn't belong in the FPS genre at all; with Thief, Looking Glass has invented the Stealth Simulator genre. Gone is the emphasis on brute force and frontal attacks. Thief requires cunning and forces the player to confront enemies only as a last resort.

The game places the player in the shoes of Garrett, a thief in a setting that best resembles a cross between early-Industrial Age London and your local Medieval Times. The environment is a hodgepodge of dank sewers, cobblestone streets, torch-lit alleyways and expansive manors, littered with the occasional guard. Players will have to skillfully weave Garrett in between the enemies' line of vision and away from their earshot as they proceed through eight different missions. The adrenaline rushes in Thief come from successfully pick pocketing unsuspecting guards and sneaking by unaware soldiers, not from all-out battle. Skeptical? Think Thief will fade away with the hordes of similar titles? We'd beg to differ.