Thief

Huh, so from most of my friends, and indeed, the internet at large, it appears Thief is a mediocre-to-bad game. I should clarify, none of my friends have actually played the game, but the reviews (presumably critical and user alike) have firmly implanted a bad taste in everyone's mind. Which I personally think is a shame. Thief may not be the greatest game of all time, but it is a good game, only occasionally tarnished by sometimes buggy controls, and odd level design.

In fact, I have enjoyed it so much that I have invested in excess of 60 hours on my first playthrough (yes, I am an obsessive collection player). From the get-go I cranked the difficulty up to Master, playing through ghost-style (so long as loot collecting permits), no kills, no takedowns, sans Focus - and it's challenging and fun!

Now a little more detail. Thief boasts a nice slick look and feel, from its steam punk aesthetic to polished assets, down to the detailed animations when you pick up or pilfer items. I especially love pick pocketing. The many mini-games, eg lock picking, pick pocketing, setting combinations, built into the many larger puzzle elements, eg level navigation, general sleuthing, makes a solid basis for good gameplay.

The plot is new, with only incidental references to its predecessors (Garrett's mechanical eye, odd mentions of the Trickster), and delivers a contemporary story line. It doesn't have the same pizzazz as the original of course ("they took my eye!") but few titles since then ever have.

Those are certainly my highlights from the game. The things I didn't care for, and can't ignore here, are things like "swoop" being stuck on - such that movement in any direction suddenly results in a swoop. Very tiresome when you are trying to sneak up on someone, or making a precision movement in a scene. Fortunately, this behaviour was rare, but it really soured a good hour of gaming. I am also puzzled by The City's odd divisions. I presume it's due to the game's troubled past, but also the many platforms it has been released to, including older 360 and PS3 platforms. As well, not a criticism of Thief alone but all Unreal titles: I am continually dismayed by the total lack of progressive loading. Load screens kill games.

Anyway, I am really enjoying Thief. I have described it as having done for the original Thief what Deus Ex: Human Revolution did for its predecessors, for better or worse. I think Syndicate also enjoyed some notoriety for its departure from canon, and was also a good game in and of itself.

Either way, I would recommend Thief, especially if you enjoyed Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Thief exhibits the same care and polish, and has a lot to offer of its own.

Give it a try!

ohGr, Undeveloped

Picked this up recently. I have to say, I am wondering if Nivek Ogre is afflicted with the Star Trek curse: every other work is a great one. Not to say his off albums aren't good, and let's face it four albums is hardly a sample from which to draw a trend, but I definitely feel as though his second and fourth albums now, Sunnypsyop and Undeveloped are not as strong as his first and third, Welt and Devils In My Details respectively.

Er, but enough of his other works, there are actually some incredible gems here, like comedown and screwMe:

"helpless stranger looking out to understand what it means to be real, I had the life we always dreamed in, but life is not what you expect"

Just an excerpt that really caught my attention; you really need to hear the rhythm to get it though. I don't know how many times I have played these tracks over and over. Most other tracks are interesting and support the album, like pissage - where Nivek's wicked lyrical rhythms carry the track. 101 and the interludes I could leave, hence the only slightly-less-than-stellar recommendation here.

If you're already an ohGr fan you will have this. If you have never heard of ohGr, I would go with Welt over Undeveloped.

I suppose if you're taking it a la carte you could definitely take comedown and screwMe.

Ok, since first writing this, Nitwitz has grown me!

Front Line Assembly, AirMech

So, at the same time I purchased Echogenetic, I found FLA had released another album, though not necessarily canon Front Line. They produced a soundtrack for the RTS/MOBA AirMech.

In short, I love this disc. Similar to Echo, it features classic FLA style rhythms and beats with that new dub polish. The whole listen is very easy and enjoyable, but it really takes off with track 8, Lose - starts slow, quiet, and building into this bitter and remorseful reflection, trapped between periodic mechanical beats; a ghost in the machine, an echo of human hubris. Ya, I love that track. Wub wub.

We then pick things up with Burning Skyline, which has a typical progressive intro, layering on sounds, like random chemicals stirring, then it combusts into this mid-range aggressive beat with melodies leading the high range. It doesn't take long and before you know it, you're flying! Wub wub wub.

Stealth is where things take a different bend. It's night time and there's this constant reverberation, a building tension that releases into phrases of elegance and beauty.

Which leads us to the terminal Death Level, where we see our first glimpse of something dark and malevolent. It broods with a kind of malice until it finds you and unleashes these bursts mechanical rage. Then it simmers and the tension mounts as you hear it build toward another attack.

Then like the calm after the storm, we have Prime Empiricism, which seems to peaceful and distant by comparison that it may be a requiem to a world that has been ravaged by never ending war and travails, but not entirely without hope.

Again, no secret I love my Front Line, but I have always had a soft spot for their instrumental tracks (The Chair, Sex Offender, Mortal, Silent Ceremony, to name just a few). To get a full album in this sort of space is a real treat.

In a lot of ways, this takes me back to the MechWarrior 2 red-book audio days.

Whether you are an FLA fan or not, I definitely recommend this as a must-have for your catalogue.