Games Convention: Thief 3 Impressions (XBox)
Jaz, 2003-08-26

The Games Convention 2003 in Leipzig was significantly bigger than the first GC in 2002 - and what's more, this time a significantly larger amount of CRPGs (or games with RPG elements) were shown. Unfortunately, the two days I spent at the GC weren't enough to cover all of the RPG/like games - in fact, I was really glad I glimpsed as many games as I did, because sprinting from booth to booth, from award ceremony to press center and back while elbowing my way through hordes of gamers took a considerable amount of time.

Here is a short overview of Thief III (XBox version).

Thief III (Eidos, XBox)
And once again a game which doesn't depart much from the original concept. Despite a much bigger starting level, everything is reminiscent of the older Thief games: mission, character looks, Garrett's equipment, animations, the few sounds I have been able to hear over the din of the fair. Even the - far prettier - surroundings retain the rusty/musty old steampunk-ish Thief atmosphere. Animations are just as choppy as seen in Deus Ex: IW, but the voluminous shadows - thanks to the new physics engine - add a lot to the scare factor of the game.

Now it's not only paramount to hide in dark corners to remain unseen - keep an eye on light sources of all kinds, or you might be in for a nasty surprise when a guard in a nearby corridor literally stumbles over your shadow.
One additional ability I discovered by accident: Garrett can now climb walls - quite important for a thief.
Here, too, controls are XBox shooter standard and thus easy to learn.

First Impression
Same old old, with added atmosphere. As a die-hard fan of the older Thief games I'm really looking forward to see this title on the shelves.