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: M PEGI: 12+
Media/distribution	CD

Thief II: The Metal Age is a 2000 first-person stealth game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It is the sequel to Thief: The Dark Project. Set in and around a steampunk metropolis called the City, the game's plot follows Garrett, a master thief, as he works to uncover a conspiracy. The player assumes the role of Garrett and undertakes missions that range from theft, to kidnapping, to sabotage.

While designing Thief II, the developers sought to build on its predecessor's foundation. They emphasized the urban stealth elements that were used occasionally in the original game, and minimized sections that included supernatural opponents. As with its predecessor and System Shock 2, the game was built with the Dark Engine, which was modified to provide better graphics.

Thief II received positive reviews from critics, and its commercial reception was strong. However, Looking Glass faced extreme debt problems and revenue from Thief II was processed slowly, which led to the company's closure in 2000. ION Storm and Eidos released a follow-up to Thief II, entitled Thief: Deadly Shadows, in 2004.

Gameplay

Gameplay itself remains mostly unchanged, but based on feedback from the previous installment combat and action elements were de-emphasized in order to focus more on stealth gameplay.

In order to assist the focus on stealth, the game uses large levels, which are strategically populated by enemies, items and objectives, and can take upwards of two hours to complete. Several technological additions were also made in-game, including cameras and mechanical sentries introduced by the Mechanists faction. The game is split into linear missions that follow the game's story. Missions include escorting a character, breaking and entering and casing buildings.

Plot

The plot continues some time after the events of the first game. The "Metal Age" has come, and the city has changed with new technology, like cameras and steam powered robots, brought forth by the Mechanists, the current most powerful religion in the city. The sheriff Gorman Truart rules over the city attempting to clean up the streets, including the cynical protagonist, Garrett, who wants nothing to do with saving the world. Like the original Thief, the story takes place in three "Acts"—each one "punctuated by a cutscene that will further progress the storyline", according to Thief II level designer Emil Pagliarulo. The first Act sees Garrett as a "master thief, performing classic thieving runs", while, in the second, he becomes more of a "private investigator" character. In the third Act, Garrett is cast as a "James Bond-type agent, working from a 'base' and setting out to accomplish specific missions".

Characters

For information on recurring characters, see Thief (series).

• Garrett: The master thief continues his life of crime, which has become somewhat difficult given the advent of new technology provided by the Mechanists, a spin-off sect of Hammerites that have become a major influence in the city. Soon enough, Garrett again finds himself in a middle of a plot that threatens the very balance of civilization; a balance the secret Keeper Order is trying to preserve.

• 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.

• Viktoria: A former enemy of Garrett and right-hand of the now-deceased Pagan god Trickster himself, Viktoria, the mysterious dryad from the chaotic world of nature, is a last major leader of Pagan religion that exists in and around the City. She is forced to create an unholy alliance with Garrett in order to stop Karras and his plot of life extermination.

• Keeper Artemus: Artemus is the Keeper who Garrett attempted to steal from in the beginning of the first game, and was the one who introduced him to the Keepers. He accompanies two Keepers who summon Garrett to the Keeper Libraries after Garrett arrives at his safe house. Artemis helps Garrett by giving him information on who wanted him dead. He finally tracks down Garrett on personal emotion to inform him that Viktoria is assaulting the cathedral, towards the end.

Development

Thief II began development in January 1999. During the early stages of production, the team set up regular "movie nights" for inspiration. The films they watched included The Third Man, Metropolis, M and The Phantom of the Opera.

Thief II was announced in May 1999, as part of a development agreement between Looking Glass Studios and Eidos Interactive to create four new games in the Thief series.

The game utilizes the upgraded version of the game engine, the Dark Engine, used in System Shock 2. It supports 16-bit color, more polygons in character models, larger textures, color light and weather effects. Other changes include an increase in the number of AI behaviors, some guards raise an alarm rather than try to fight, and their awareness levels will increase if they see something out of place. Items have been upgraded or introduced, such as a remote camera and flares. Supernatural enemies such as zombies were mostly removed.

Cooperative gameplay for up to four players was originally announced but this did not appear in the final game. One planned gameplay mode, dubbed "Theftmatch", saw players on opposing teams racing to steal the most in an NPC guarded building.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
GamePro
PC Gamer US	89%
PC Zone	8.2
Computer Gaming World
Computer Games Strategy Plus
GameFan	95

Thief II received positive reviews from critics. Many noted its similarities to the original Thief. The game's graphics were commonly cited as a weak point.

Technical design

Herold of The New York Times praised the game's artificial intelligence, which he believed was a "remarkable impersonation of real intelligence".

GameFan wrote, "If you liked Thief, you'll love Thief 2: The Metal Age; it's more of the stuff that made Thief great, with less of the annoying stuff".

Several reviewers praised the removal of the perceived combat-oriented levels of the original game.

Story and direction

Charles Herold of The New York Times found its story "slight".

Vincent Lopez, writing for IGN, commented: "A big part of Thief's strength comes in the storyline, which is dark, completely original, and absolutely enthralling"

Aftermath

Despite Thief II's fast sales, Looking Glass did not receive the money from royalties quickly enough. As a result, the company was closed, with Thief II their last release. A follow-up, Thief II Gold, was in development, but it was canceled, alongside several other projects, as a result of the company's closure.

Fan expansion

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 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." In a discussion of game modding in general, Computer Games magazine called it "Arguably the biggest and best mod of the past year." Jolt Online said that for a fan of the Thief series "there was simply no excuse not to play T2X".

External links

• Thief II: The Metal Age at the Internet Movie Database
• T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age