Speedster09

you thought Deus Ex was too long a game? Ha - don't even touch this one then; despite putting around 100 hrs into this game i never finished it; not for diminishing fun - real life simply wanted its share of time at some point; perhaps wasn't the best of games to be my first ever full RPG (as opposed to games that have RPG aspects such as System Shock etc) - simply because it sets the bar so incredibly high! what i actually liked about the game is how in the very beginning i was clueless on what to do and especially on how to heal! because later on that actually gave me the feeling (after i figured out what to do and obtained ways to regenerate health) of having become a part of the world of Morrowind - talk about immersion! reagarding the expansions: tribunal was OK (i like the outdoors setting of Morrowind much better than the city setting of Tribunal), but i loved bloodmoon because of its gorgeous winter setting and new gameplay elements; one interesting hint/warning: if you ever decide to give the king in Tribunal what he had coming to him then try to save that for the end of the game or at least do not take and use his enchanted item - that's when i stopped playing the game simply because there would not have been any point to it anymore (just to clarify a little: this action does not break the game, but rather the item is simply too powerful and if you have most of the story still ahead of you using it would simply ruin the fun); one thing that really bothers me about this game and others (fallout) is the lack of voice recordings - especially in this game there is TONS of conversation material but yet it's all just reading; the reason i don't take off points for that is because i realize that the huge amount of voice acting and recording this would require would be prohibitively expensive; the other con would perhaps be that this game simply isn't worth playing if you don't have a lot of time to play - you simply won't be able to get your character developed or any appreciable amount of the main and side quests done

with a heavy heart i give this a 9 - why would i do this for a game that is amongst my personal top of the finest games ever made? because it could have been more; nonetheless, it is simply one of the most brilliant horror FPS ever made; the game play is certainly immersive - not quite as much as the Thief series (from which SS2 borrowed a lot of the sounds since the same developer (Looking Glass) made both game franchises), but nonetheless incredibly well done; but what i think the game failed to do is to balance all weapons (some are acquired later on and typically quite under-powered and useless, especially since the RPG aspect is so well developed in this game, meaning that a later stages in the game you will already have developed your character to be most proficient in some weaponry - little use are underpowered exotic weapons that your character has little to no skill in using); and the lonely environment is simply not convincing - other attempts in the genre like Dead Space actually do create horror you can feel and thus heighten your feeling of isolation; but in SS2 this feeling never develops because of the vast weaponry at your disposal and the rather pathetic attempts at instigating several encounters with other alive NPCs that then get killed or run off; however, the musical score is superb and creates incredible atmosphere in this game; all in all a definite must-have!

I whole-heartedly join the chours: a timeless classic; THE most immersive game I have ever played (besides perhaps System Shock 1/2 and a little less Deus Ex 1); if you have never played it you are missing out on an incredibly stunning style of play; as another reviewer mentions, if you do want to remedy such a short-coming (as serious an offense as this is :) get the Gold version on ebay - it is exactly like the original just with a few excellent missions added; if you want to read more, go find my Thief 2 review i just wrote; what i do want to mention here though are some of the things that make this game so outstanding: (1) the immersiveness of its atmosphere and the Thief universe - sure, crysis is eye-candy, but this is the real immersion deal! because of the setting (sneaking and looting combined with the player's weak offensive abilities) and the excellent programming, you will use your senses much more than in any other game - you need to pay constant attention to lighting, visual cues, and sounds made by you and others in order to stay hidden and avoid trouble; and the fresh story with its twists and turns (including a betrayal that costs you dearly and your attempt at revenge) makes this a novel and great experience; what's more, the sequel - Thief 2 - IMO greatly expands on this by making the Thief universe even more bizarre with its mechanist enemies and setting (2) (may not apply to all) the outstanding localization work - i own the german version and the voice acting and translations are unbelievably good - the exclamations made by guards chasing you are sometimes outright funny and if i didn't know any better i would have thought that the game developer was a german company (3) the outstanding fan community - humdreds of fan-made missions were made and are still (mostly) available - some even surpass the original missions in quality while others give the game an entirely new twist (and satisfy any cravings for just running around and slaying foes) (4) where Deus Ex offers (often simplistic) alternative ways of getting to the same goal, this game offers entirely different styles of playing the game - ranging from weapons-first approaches to ultimate sneaking (ghosting, Lytha's way), this game can be replayed in many different ways; (5) one of the very few games that i have ever played that really make me miss my experience of playing it for the first time - i remember the nerve-wracking atmosphere of trying to stay hidden; and then all of a sudden there are the moaning zombies! and later the spine-tingling rattle of the haunts and their infernal 'join us, joins us now!' if you've ever played Thief, and you're still not on ebay right now, then i don't know how to help you ;)

if you've never played the thief series then you've missed out big time! without doubt or hesitation my absolute personal #1 game franchise; if you've never played the series: you play as Garrett, a master thief, always on the lookout for loot and missions; G is hardly any good at fighting, but that's exactly the point - you need to sneak and pay careful attention to your surroundings to avoid detection; at your disposal you have various tools and non-lethal weapons to ease your quest by for example creating mossy carpets to drown out noise from footsteps or water arrows to extinguish torches; if I could, I would give this a 9.5 - it's not the perfect 10 that its predecessor was for me, but also definitely not as "bad" as a 9.0; THE GOOD: * the graphics engine was greatly improved compared to Thief1 (of course, no comparison to modern games) * mission maps are typically bigger than in Thief1 and missions longer * compared to today's often generic background story, this one is immersive! while the fanatical (at least so you thought) hammerites were the focus of the first thief's story line, now it is karras and his mechanist followers * your arsenal has grown slightly, allowing for more varied gameplay, but also some (IMHO) cheating (slowfall potions anyone?) * typically more enemies, now even mechanized - greatly helps immersion by making the Thief universe even more bizarre; but also meant that zombies are gone (that's a CON in my book) * and most of the previous awesome aspects have been retained if not improved (at least the german version that i own contains some hilarious exclamations made by some of the guards when they chase you); * oh, and thank god, a character that can and does actually speak! (stephen russell is kind of a thief celebrity) * IMMERSION - you really become **** into the Thief world because you constantly have to pay close attention to your surroundings and actions; visual cues, sounds, and lighting all are important sensory inputs in this game and thus to enjoy this game you automatically become immersed in it; just make sure that you play in a dark room with surround sound setup - and make sure no heavy or expensive objects are around - hysterical arm flailing is included in this game! THE BAD: * in general - nothing much; if you're looking for psychopatic mass murdering, you're at the wrong address; * the -0.5 i dock off for several reasons: first off, no zombies! perhaps the most awesome enemies in the first thief - scary, loud, slow, and it's possible to blow them up! what's not to like (unless you have weak nerves); the story - just not as immersive and fresh as constantine's plot in Thief1 - that one had mystery, betrayal, and revenge in it; this one only a constant fanaticist (karras) and not much more; finally, my biggest complaint - not all the playing styles that were possible in Thief1 are possible in Thief2 - even the second mission is impossible to 'ghost' (getting all loot and items without detection or even arousing suspicion); later missions just compound on that other thoughts: also used to (and to a limited extent still does) have a very proliferative fan community - check out 'thief - the circle' (no longer updated but still accessible) and if at all possible get komag's DVD sets (i think he offers a torrent somewhere) - tons of those missions are just incredibly well done, some perhaps even surpassing the original missions (calendra's legacy, T2X, 7th crystal & many more) in immersion, while others give it an entirely new spin (hammerite deathmatch, some of the unreal tournament style missions) IMHO, the Thief franchise created a wholly new type of gaming style and as such revolutionized pc gaming; much more so than other hallmark games such as crysis or half life ever did (for me at least); how good is it? i've played through Thief1&2 countless times with different styles in mind and the very first games that always get installed on any new computer of mine are the thief and system shock games!

If you're into micromanaging and slow-paced strategy gaming, Patrician 3 is my personal #1. Why? Because it is so incredibly addictive due to its depth, long-term goals, and complexity that create an incredible feeling of accomplishment if you decide to stick with it. First off, there are different scenarios you can choose from , though I always immediately went for the infinite play. You can adjust several game settings before you start to make your rise to wealth and power slower or faster. But the fun really starts after that. Starting with limited resources (money & ships) you are eased into the gameplay by starting out with a buying and selling goods; incredibly handy is the option to assign a key to switch between time settings; that way you can greatly cut down on idle time in the beginning of the game (later you'll likely be way too busy to use anything but the slowest speed); but the real excitement is all the other stuff you can do: build more and better ships; construct buildings to collect rent, or to produce or process raw materials that can be sold to the people in different cities as finished products; all of this serves to not only increase your wealth but to also gain the favor of the citizens in order to achieve your ultimate goal: to become elderman of the Hanse; not to mention that on your path to this goal you can become mayor of a city and take on all kinds of responsibilities that come with this, such as fighting off invaders and expanding the city; and did I mention you can also explore the far reaches of the seas, i.e. discover ports all over the owrld and bring back rare goods? or that you can decide to engage in some less legal profiteering such as sending out your ships on pirate raids? A word of caution though (perhaps really 2 points of caution): 1) if you get into this game and like it, prepare to spend countless hours doing so (for why, see below); perhaps the only other games I have ever spend more time on are Morrowind and GTR2; the first because the world it offers for explorations is just insanely huge; and the latter because it really is open-ended by design 2) the game is SLOW; especially later in the game when you will be manage a huge network of trade and supply routes to keep your production going and the people in different cities happy, you will likely play at the slowest speed settings at which a single day takes around 15 minutes (if my memory serves me well); now, even constructing a simple apartment complex or basic manufacturing buildings take a month or more to finish; not to mention that should you want to claim the mayor's seat in a city of your choosing, it will take a full year for new elections to commence