Thief and Thief II over at Good Old Games

I received this info this month while visiting Cheap Thief Missions recently. It seems as though GOG finally got a hold of Thief Gold and Thief II: The Metal Age!

Going over there to have a look at the games’ pages, the user reviews are in and it’s 5 stars all round – and it should be, because these truly are classic titles that served to inspire further games that took a more stealthy route rather than all-out gunplay.

They both currently go for $9.99, but that price may well drop as time goes by, as the average price for games on GOG is about $5.99. But still, both games for $20 – that’s not too bad at all. Of course, these are digital downloads and both game are a bout a CD’s content in weight. For those of you who don’t have a decent internet connection, you can still get these games as retail products, with boxes and manuals – everything. And they’re not too expensive. Really, from Amazon you can get Thief and even full Thief series bundles (including Deadly Shadows) if you shop around a bit for less than $9.99 and shipping is free. So while digital might be more convenient for those in the first world, in my opinion GOG should lower the price for competitive reasons soon.

Now all they have to do is get System Shock and System Shock 2 on there – they’ve been two of the most demanded titles yet to appear on GOG for some time now. Then the Looking Glass collection would be a little nearer to being complete.

TDM FM Review: A Night To Remember

This is a review of one of The Dark Mod’s (a mod for Doom 3) fan missions. It may contain traces of spoilers. You have been warned.

Author(s): Fieldmedic
Version: 1.0
Date released: 2011-10-31
Other info: Halloween Speed Build Contest 2011 entry 
Theme: Mansion/Haunted
Download FM here

This FM takes a different turn to fit in with the horror theme expected in this contest. You are a nobleman who moonlights as something a more disreputable (but just barely): a thief. This is an inside job. Instead of having to break in to the mansion, you begin inside one of the rooms. You’re here as a guest but right off the bat, it seems as though somebody knows your ulterior motives.

You exit your room and wander around the mansion. There are no guards about as the lord of the manor does not want any patrols inside. This seems to make life easier as you explore the rooms that aren’t locked. Most of them are and you don’t possess any lockpicks or much equipment at all, initially. There’s a fair bit of lockpicking involved, but numerous doors actually require a key.

Judging by the design and the dates in the journals, Fieldmedic has practically ditched the Middle Ages in favour of a more modern feel, possibly Victorian or Colonial era – perhaps even later. But this isn’t anything new seeing as his previous mission, “Reap As You Sow”, exhibited a similar style. With the large, sprawling, practically empty estate, I couldn’t help but feel that this reminded me of one of my favourite horror-themed games of all time: Clive Barker’s Undying.

You make your way up to the study to steal some blueprints for an airship named Gottfried II – but it seems as though you might be too late. The rest of the mission is spent chasing after an individual who seems to have the same idea in mind as you.

 

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There are sections which contain ghostly figures who patrol the dark corridors of the servants quarters’ hallways and passages the lead to the more stately rooms of the manor. Getting near these spirits will damage you. If one of the beings spots you, you die instantly. So extra caution is advised in avoiding these spirits, much like Thief: Deadly Shadows’ infamous Shalebridge Cradle mission. There are pianos that play all by themselves, and you can hear the constant cries of torment coming from the ghosts of the beheaded servants.

Fieldmedic is an FM author who experiments with new ideas, such as “Reap What You Sow”, and obviously knows a little about scaring the player, which was evident while playing an earlier FM of his in “Betrayal”. Here he’s turned TDM in to yet another experience: that of fully-fledged horror, instead of just mildly tense. Once again it feels like a mod for a mod and not just an average FM. You lack most of the gear and weapons. You’re, for the most part, defenceless and vulnerable.

But like “Reap What You Sow”, it is flawed. ANTR has bugs – maybe some of you have experienced these, and others haven’t. But there’s a bloody annoying save game bug where if you save the game after a certain point, the game crashes. Saving the game before you come across the first ghost in the servant’s quarters works; after that point, it doesn’t. As long as you don’t save you’ll be fine. Some people play TDM this way by design. They shouldn’t have a problem (this bug seems to have been fixed since I installed TDM version 1.07 and restarted the FM).

When I first played this FM with this bug present, I hated it. But after I had patched TDM and replayed it, I realised how good it really is.

Pros:

+ Atmospheric.

+ Feels different from the normal FM.

Cons:

- Some bugs.

- Might be too much of a departure from conventional TDM gameplay.

FM score: 8.9/10

The Dark Mod FM Review: The Siege Shop

This is a review of one of The Dark Mod’s (a mod for Doom 3) fan missions. It may contain traces of spoilers. You have been warned.

Author(s): PranQster
Date released: 06-10-2011
Theme: City/Pagan
Download FM here

PranQster, to date, has made one FM, and I’ll say right from the start, that it’s a great one – all ready featured on my list of favourite TDM FMs available to date.

It’s called The Siege Shop, and the very beginning is misleading. You start off in the sewer, and after a minute or two of trying to squeeze in to the narrow pipes on either side of you, you eventually get the idea and climb up the ladder to the surface. After opening the door, you are greeted by a sight completely opposite to what you were expecting a few minutes earlier (perhaps a mission similar to “Special Delivery”).

You enter a cobblestone courtyard and are attracted instantly to two things: the horse (in a non-sexual way of course), and the hot air balloon. This is what you must use to get on to the rooftop of the siege shop, as the drawbridge over the moat is up. And knocking out the balloon operator isn’t enough. You have to jettison him from the craft, otherwise you’ll be too heavy to make it to the roof – very clever bit of programming, and realistic to boot.

I was impressed so far.

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Another thing that I found was a nice touch was being able to steal arrows from the quivers. Most of the guards you encounter here are armed with bows and the not the usual swords. So you can get at least a dozen broadhead arrows by pinching them from the guards’ quivers, and you can also obtain special arrows from the quivers in the guards’ quarters on the upper floor. Very handy if you forget something in particular from the buy screen before the mission started, such as not enough water arrows, for instance. And this is good seeing as there are plenty of extinguishable light sources in this mission.

On the floor below this, I heard some funny banging noises and I assumed that it was just somebody in a workshop with a hammer – this was after all, a siege shop. I was certain that some degree of construction must take place here. But another floor down and I, like some others who had played this mission, was flabbergasted to see something moving towards me. It lit up the floor in front of me with an inextinguishable light and made a terrible racket. Even though part of my form was caught in the beam as I desperately hugged the wall, I wasn’t noticed by the contraption – this steam beast had no eyes. This was the first time so far that I’d witnessed any sort of robot in a TDM mission, and I was understandably taken back to those days of Thief II: The Metal Age – the fear of coming across any one of Karras’ dreaded Builder’s Children.

Overall, this mission boasts originality, and like I’ve mentioned above, there are some nifty things that this author put in to make it an unforgettable experience. A very good effort for his first map, indeed.

Pros:

+ Level design.

+ Very inventive and original mission, this.

Cons:

- A few bugs.

FM score: 9/10

TDM FM Review: House of Theo

This is a review of one of The Dark Mod’s (a mod for Doom 3) fan missions. It may contain traces of spoilers. You have been warned.

Author(s): Theothesnoop
Version: 1.0
Date released: 2011-12-04
Theme: Castle
Download FM here

It’s great to see this year that more and more first-time-mappers are getting their FMs done and uploaded to the web for us to enjoy.

I’m not complaining about the existing mappers in any way, but it’s just good to see some new, refreshing ideas perhaps.

Theothesnoop is one of these new mappers on the scene, and after reading the title of the FM, I thought I was in for an adventure with Gary Stu (hey, somebody criticised one of my Thief fanfics like this once – now I’m the critic for a change). But I gave it a go like I do with all TDM FMs.

I started off in the snow on a hill overlooking the sunset. My mission was to infiltrate the castle and uncover some information. Upon turning around, the first thing that caught my eye was this rather large castle standing atop the hill. Conveniently, someone had left a window open and there just so happened to be a wooden beam above it, with a lantern acting as a neon sign highlighting the area. So I had my entry point thrust in my face.

Lighting is an issue in this mission. There’s too much of it for one – too many fire-lit torches, and not enough water arrows. So that might present a bit of a problem. Trying to dash across a corridor, I was sighted by a guard who then followed me down the stairs to my hiding spot and promptly cut me to ribbons.

Another issue this mission has is there’s initially too much backtracking. The mission isn’t entirely linear which is good, but when you creep along a path and all seems well, until you reach a door that can’t be picked and you have no key, forcing you to go all the way back to the area you started in – it feels a bit frustrating, to be honest. Initially the choice of path is just an illusion – there seems to be but one way. Once you get some keys, more pathways are open to you. But I suppose you could look on the bright side of life, and say that at least the mission doesn’t rely heavily on lockpicking for a change. There are several keys needed to make your way through the castle.

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I get the feeling while playing this mission that it’s quite like the new Bond game, GoldenEye: Reloaded. You’re often forced to look for other ways around the place, because an area might be too well lit; there’s too much activity, patrols, etc.; you don’t have the damn key, and you can’t pick the lock.

Having said that, there’s a nicely achieved balance when it comes to guard activity. There aren’t many guards in some areas – maybe one patrol if you’re lucky (or unlucky if you come across one in what seems to be broad daylight). Nearer the more important areas like the armoury, and chambers belonging to the royalty such as King Theo, there’s a larger guard contingent and even tougher, more heavily armoured guards are to be encountered at that.

The level design around and inside the castle is rather good – better than I originally anticipated. From towers to wide walkways, this mission does remind me a good deal of the first proper mission from Thief: Deadly Shadows – Garrett’s hunt for the Blood Opal at Lord Julian’s (or was it Lord Ember?). There are several different levels, and these can be accessed from ladders, stairs, and even an elevator. One section of the FM even sees you using a dumb waiter.

The backtracking that initially frustrated me then kind of made sense as the mission progressed. It made it more of a challenge. Without it, this FM probably would have been quite a lot easier, because it’s not that long or particularly difficult if I’m honest.

I quite liked the little side stories that were encountered in the mission, with one readable explaining why the attic was locked. But like with quite a few FMs available for TDM, there’s seemingly no larger plot revealed. Just get in, get the job done, and get out. A somewhat quick, not overly complicated, solid mission, then.

Pros:

+ Different approach to gameplay, whether intentional or not.

Cons:

- Lighting affects gameplay somewhat negatively, perhaps.

- Too much backtracking initially.

FM score: 8/10

TDM FM Review: Samhain: Night on Bone Hill

This is a review of one of The Dark Mod’s (a mod for Doom 3) fan missions. It may contain traces of spoilers. You have been warned.

Author(s): PranQster
Version: 1.0
Date released: 10-9-2011 (Oct. 09, 2011)
Other info: Halloween Speed Build ‘11 entry
Theme: Haunted
Download FM here

This is the first entry in the Halloween Speed Build contest of 2011. The title and loading screen that shows up is quite striking. It could be the name of a horror movie – probably not a very good one, but still.

In this FM, you’re off for a bit of tomb raiding, similarly to “Down in the Bonehoard” from Thief: The Dark Project perhaps. The ultimate goal is to nab a ruby which belongs to a noble family which came from pagan roots. And you plan to do this on the night of All Hallows Eve.

You start off in the graveyard outside and notice that you’ve somehow recently developed the very sneaksie ability to levitate – very handy. This is a bug that has been reported by several people (but I noticed it was fixed on my second playthrough using v 1.07). After deigning to set your feet down on the ground, you make your way past the tombstones and on to the entrance to the mausoleum. Here you see a group of pagans leaving after having paid their respects to their deceased relatives. PranQster was very keen to show off the new “plaque mask” here that was made by Nosslak, as well as the pumpkins by Springheel. But the masks don’t always appear for everyone which meant some had to download the texture separately.

Seeing the candles and the pentacle at the entrance, I got a feeling that things wouldn’t be so serene for long. Inside the mausoleum there’s some nice marble textures, and ahead lies the ruby you’re after. Just snatch it and it’s mission accomplished, right? Wrong. I almost bought in to it. But then the floor gave way and I ended up in water-filled tunnel below. The skeletons down in the water give an ominous look in to what lies ahead. It looks like I wasn’t the first sure-footed* thief to go after the treasure…

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Inside the caves there’s a nice showing off of lighting and colourful hues – reds, oranges, blues, greens; all colours of the rainbow from nicely placed light sources. Lovely. The place is filled with spiders, too, and this has led to some of the more anxious types being unable to progress in this mission. There’s some original ideas here, such as bats flying around which cast a light on the walls and ground, so there’s an extra bit of a challenge in avoiding being spotted by the spidies.

And being able to get to the crypt level where the sarcophagi are by climbing the spider’s web is a nice touch. PranQster demonstrated this knack for being inventive and introducing some fresh ideas in his previous, and first ever FM: “The Siege Shop”.

In the crypt area you need to find several switches or levers to find your way around, and this is all while having to put up with zombified skeletons who have sometimes erratic and unpredictable patrol routes (which was intentional on the part of the author). The King’s crypt is in this area and you’ll get some of your objectives here. Some of the loot is hard to obtain though and requires a bit of negotiation. You can also tell that there wasn’t a lot of beta-testing in this FM, as some people would lock themselves in the King’s crypt, and were unable to get out. Beta-testing was closed for this FM, according to the notes accompanying the download.

There are some other rooms that will open up as you accomplish objectives, and one of these areas even has a maze to navigate.

Samhain isn’t a bad mission. It’s got some good ideas. Not doing any beta testing is a recipe for disaster though, generally speaking. I understand that this is a speed build, and it shows off at least above-average quality for such a build - at least superficially, minus a few missing textures and such. But technically it could have used more time in development to get rid of some annoying bugs.

* sarcasm

Pros:

+ Original ideas.

+ Creepy.

+ Not a bad looking mission at all.

Cons:

- Some bugs.

- Some silly mistakes.

FM score: 8.1/10

New TDM Campaign Announced: The Crucible of Omens

I remember reading some time ago on the TDM FAQ or another source where it it was asked if there would ever be an official TDM campaign. It’s been two years since the mod’s release (version 1.07 was brought out just the other day). During this time there have been over 50 fan missions released by various mappers.

But finally the day has come. It was announced just this week that there is a campaign that has been in the planning stages at least for the last four years, whereas for the most part has really existed in earnest for the past year or so. Some of the screenshots shown over at the forum thread where the announcement was originally made look familiar to me – particularly the ship.

The campaign is called “The Crucible of Omens”, and will follow the story of a thief and adventurer named John Welland Hadley. You’ll traverse several different locations of the TDM universe (covered in the Wiki to some extent), and will no doubt go on a tour of probably every possible environment; you’ll bump into new AI factions, opponents and NPCs to interact with. The campaign also promises animated briefings, cutscenes, scripted sequences like conversations between characters. Let’s hope the production quality is on par with the original games by Looking Glass Studios – a bit ambitious, but I think it’s possible. Look what the people behind T2X did – it was a bloody good effort.

Chief mappers for this campaign include Bikerdude, jdude, Fidcal, and Melan. Some of the best mappers for the mod. If you chucked Sotha and Jesps in there at some point, you’d have a full house.

It all sounds terribly exciting, and like one forum dweller commented: "It’s about time”.

----

Sources:

http://www.thedarkmod.com/posts/a-dark-mod-campaign-in-the-works/

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/13280-announcing-the-crucible-of-omens-a-campaign-for-the-dark-mod/

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/announcing-the-crucible-of-omens-a-campaign-for-the-dark-mod

https://twitter.com/#!/thedarkmod/statuses/148540518224244737

TDM FM Review: The Creeps

This is a review of one of The Dark Mod’s (a mod for Doom 3) fan missions. It may contain traces of spoilers. You have been warned.

Author(s): Mortem Desino
Version: 1.0
Date released: 2011-10-30
Other info: Halloween Speed Build Contest 2011 entry
Theme: City/Haunted
Download FM here

MD or Mortem Desino is a name I’m sure I’ve read somewhere before, but to my knowledge this is his first mission. And it’s not too bad.

When starting up, I was greeted with a voiceover during the briefing section, which felt very Thief: Deadly Shadows-esque. A little bit of extra effort there, then. Indeed, at several points during the mission there are some voiceovers.

The mission is to sneak inside a “superstitious” family’s home while they’re out for the night, and case the joint. You begin on the streets outside as usual and make your way towards the tree in the centre of the courtyard. From here you fumble your way around, interact with some frobbable objects, and get inside a tower of sorts.

You eventually get around to jumping out the window and on to the roof outside. There’s plenty of open windows and multiple entry points in this mission – especially the Creeps’ manor – making for some interesting routes to take – and limited replayability. Most of these alternate ways you’ll only discover after having gone the long way perhaps.

After entering the Creeps’ household through one of several entry points, you’ll likely stumble upon the main focal point of the building: the dining room. Here you have a few surprises waiting for you.

There’s always the promise of some sort of encounter in this mission. I was expecting to run in to something or someone. I thought I’d be facing off against pagans – who rarely make an appearance in any TDM FMs, or maybe some zombies or a haunt. But there was hardly anything. It’s not really scary at all – maybe moody; a tad tense, perhaps. That’s the aim of the contest I suppose. Zombies and the like are so old hat; overdone, and not many players really like “undead missions” anyway. I don’t.

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I definitely noticed the contrasting use of colour and lighting between the starting point of the mission and the area in and around the Creeps’ place. It went from the more traditional blue, brown and grey hues you’d expect, to yellow and orange. This complements the Halloween theme and the season of Autumn (or Fall) quite nicely – even though it’s Spring over where I am at the time of writing this fan mission review.

But all that I’ve spoken of so far is what you’ll encounter on the surface level. There’s also a subterranean section which you’ll need to find in order to finish the mission (especially as far as loot goes on the highest difficulty setting). Here you’ll needless to say, get most of the loot, plus experience some scares, too – predictable, but it’ll make you jump, nonetheless. The style of scares is almost right out of a commercial title like F.E.A.R. – but the first one, which was best in the series. Let me just say that it’s very difficult if not impossible to get a perfect stealth score in this mission.

There was one nice touch that I liked in this mission, and that was another sort of object – an obstacle – to interact with. Up until now I’ve come across locked doors that you either need keys for, or you have to pick; there’ve been locked chests, too. These are the main two obstacles separating you from success, and after several FMs, I’m dying for a little originality. Well, it’s here in this FM, in the form of a mere padlock. You can only interact with this padlock once inside the house, but when you pick it and the window swings open – I must confess that I thought that was rather nifty. It’s a small thing and yet it adds positively to the overall impression I get from this FM. Also, the massive tree outside with the falling leaves was great, if a tad unrealistic. That tree drops leaves faster than my cat sheds hair.

There was that and a bit of texture misalignment, plus some messy management of heights as far as negatives go. You can climb on top of roofs and look in to the empty abyss which is the skybox that surrounds the map. It takes away from the good that this mission had going for it. That and there was another small error in mission objectives depending on difficulty settings. Playing the medium difficulty or “Spirit” was just the same as playing on easy, or “The Wind”, because the loot goal was exactly the same.

But all in all, for this author’s first FM - it’s quite good.

Pros:

+ Multiple entry points for some buildings.

+ Extra effort with the voiceovers.

+ Some tension and atmosphere.

Cons:

- Silly mistakes that could have been avoided.

- Quite short.

FM score: 8.4/10