Thief II: The Metal Age

Thief II: The Metal Age
Developer(s)	Looking Glass Studios
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Designer(s)	Tim Stellmach, Steve Pearsall
Series	Thief
Engine	Dark Engine
Version	1.18
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	March 21, 2000
Genre(s)	Stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: Mature OFLC: MA15+ PEGI: 12+
Media	CD
System requirements	266 MHz CPU, 48 MB RAM, 8 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0, 250 MB available hard disk space, Windows 95
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse

Thief II: The Metal Age is a stealth-based game for Microsoft Windows, sequel to Thief: The Dark Project, and followed by Thief: Deadly Shadows. Utilizing the same Dark engine that powered the original Thief, Thief II has an almost identical look and feel, with only minor graphical and programming improvements. The basic gameplay is also fundamentally similar to the original Thief, with a few new elements, including technological gadgets such as a remote eye camera and more intelligent level designs. Other changes include an increase in the number of AI behaviors, and the addition of female guards and soldiers. A new arrow type, the Vine arrow, which can stick onto metal grates in addition to wooden surface, was added to replace rope arrows in a few missions. New potions were also added.

Responding to criticism of the original Thief, the missions in Thief II were designed much more around typical thief-like behavior, and much of the game is spent robbing the rich denizens of the City rather than raiding tombs and running from monsters, which was a common element in the first game. In fact, the player encounters few of the monsters from the original Thief, except for burrick heads mounted as trophies in some of the mansions; a few zombies, apemen and Hammer haunts.

New characters

• Sheriff Gorman Truart: A corrupt medieval lawman who becomes the leader of the City Watch and the apparent main antagonist in Thief II. Truart oppresses the people, collects bribes, implements outrageous taxes, brutally suppresses the criminal element, and seems to have a particular personal grudge against Garrett. Truart regards the law not as an end in itself, but rather as a means for those with power (specifically, himself) to control those without. Despite his corruption and questionable morality, he did dramatically modernize the Watch, improve its efficiency, and introduce a standardized blue uniform by the time of Thief II, although not all of the Watchmen are fully up to date with the new system (some can occasionally be heard forgetting the numerical code they need to report a crime in progress). Due to Truart's modernization efforts and his close links with the Mechanists, the Watch headquarters at Shoalsgate Station are bristling with new technology during the second game.

• Father Karras: A brilliant inventor, sociopath, genius, and prophet who split from the Hammerite organization to found his own faction, the Mechanists, and later becomes the game's primary antagonist. He and his organization play a major role in Thief II's story. While still a Hammerite, Karras invented the mechanical eye and gave it to Garrett as a gift. Karras suffers from an extreme speech impediment, yet somehow is highly charismatic and able to command the loyalties of numerous followers, despite the fact he secretly despises most organic life. He charms the nobility into taking his "Servants" (vagabonds, beggars, lepers and prostitutes converted into placid slaves via ancient, bizarre enslavement masks salvaged from the destroyed city of Karath-Din) who are equipped with a gas canister. This gas feeds on organic matter, using it to fuel a chain reaction. He plans to wipe the City clean of life to create a mechanical "Paradise."

• Lieutenant Mosley: A member of the City Watch under Sheriff Truart, and one of his two lieutenants. Unlike Truart, Mosley is a solid, honest officer, and her conscience eventually causes her to question Truart's brutal methods despite her admiration of the way he has cut down crime. Mosley eventually forms an alliance with the Pagans to bring down Truart, framing Truart's other sycophantic Lieutenant and eventually providing keys to his mansion to his Pagan assassin.

Thief II Gold

Just as Thief: The Dark Project was re-released with additional missions as Thief Gold, a re-release of Thief II, Thief II Gold, was in development when Looking Glass Studios folded. Additional missions that were considered for Thief II Gold included a mission that takes place in the stronghold of a sect of necromancers, a mission that brings Garrett to a war between the criminals of the City and the City Watch in a gritty slum called Willard Square, a mission that forces Garrett to blend in with the City's aristocracy at a costume party, another set within a university, and a mission involving a group of fallen Hammerites. It was proposed that Garrett could obtain a dagger, possibly poisoned, in Thief II Gold.^[1] A group of fans, Thief II Gold Fan Mission Project, is attempting to complete the work begun on Thief II Gold. The goal of the project is to make four additional missions that are as close as possible to what the developers had envisioned. This has been made possible by the release of the journal of Emil Pagliarulo, a level designer on Thief II,^[2] and other materials from Looking Glass to the public.^[3]

Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age

After Looking Glass Studios went out of business, a group of fan developers under the banner of The Dark Engineering Guild created an extension to the Thief universe. In 2005, the result was an unofficial Thief II expansion pack titled Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age.

The game presents a new protagonist, a young woman named Zaya. She has journeyed to the eponymous City, to meet her cousin Kedar and start a new life. Things take an unexpected turn though and she soon gets drawn into a murky world of crime and deceit as events spiral beyond her control. The story takes place approximately the same time as the Thief II timeline. The game has features similar to those in retail Looking Glass games: complex level design, a lengthy campaign, pre-rendered introduction and ending sequences, original music, new voice acting, original artwork, and animated mission briefings.

Thief2X received significant gaming press coverage prior to and after release. PC Gamer magazine stated it was "one of the most impressive achievements of any fan community for any game."^[4] In a discussion of game modding in general, Computer Games magazine called it "Arguably the biggest and best mod of the past year."^[5] Jolt Online said that for a fan of the Thief series "there was simply no excuse not to play T2X".^[6]

See also

• Stealth game

External links

• Thief Gaming Wiki at Wikia (Comprehensive info for all Thief series)

References