It's funny how it works sometimes. A good while ago, we heard that the sequel
to Deus Ex was in the works. Gamers everywhere rejoiced at the prospect of
getting another crack at one of gaming's most celebrated titles. Anticipation,
as it couldn't be in any other way, was through the roof. Then we also heard of
another sequel, this one for the Thief series. Again, there was much rejoicing,
despite Thief being the somewhat lesser-known cousin.
The world was suddenly made out of hot pizza and cold beer. Two sequels for
two great games. Nothing could go wrong, right? Well�
Deus Ex: Invisible War turned out to be a disappointing and mediocre
experience � to put it in a decent, printable way. And hold the rotten vegetables.
It's a free country, dammit. Perhaps on its own, Invisible War would've been
better received. Yet, carrying such an illustrious name turned out to be a
burden that the actual game could not successfully bear.
Just as
the demo for DX:IW turned off a lot of people about the actual game, it also had
the effect of turning off a lot of people about Thief: Deadly Shadows. Myself
included, of course. There were many concerns, naturally, after such a botched
attempt. T:DS was made by the same developers (different teams, though), using the
same engine� many gamers who would have bought T:DS straight up without thinking
it twice suddenly were holding on to their cold, hard cash waiting for reviews
to pour in before purchasing it.
Prudent. However, those fears turned out to be unfounded. As a
reviewer, and more so, as a fan of good gaming, it's a pleasure to announce that T:DS is a great game. Far from perfect, naturally � we'll get into that later �but
still worthy of being into everybody's collection.
So, the game that everybody was anticipating like mad turned out to fall squarely
on the "meh" side of things, and the game that everybody was cautiously waiting
to see how it came out after the debacle turned out to be great. It's funny
how it works sometimes.
So, to wrap up this intro, a good question to leave
hanging there in the air would be: Why, with so many technical and design
similarities between the two, does T:DS work whereas DX:IW didn't? Read on.
(Did
you really think I was gonna answer that on the first page? You disappoint me.)
You'd think a master thief could afford a better place. Cozy, though.
ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon 9 Series (9000,
9200, 9600, 9800), Nvidia GF3 Ti series, Nvidia GF4 Ti series, Nvidia GF
FX series, Nvidia GF 6 series.
Graphics card must support Pixel Shader 1.1
DirectX 9b, ATI Radeon 9600XT with Catalyst
4.4 (128MB) (Graphics card)
