Third-Person Thief III [Jan 22, 2004, 4:59 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
The Game That
Pioneered Stealth in Gaming Reemerges in Eidos and Ion Storm's Thief: Deadly
Shadows is the press release announcing the addition of a third-person
perspective option in the upcoming installment in the stealthy Thief series. The
announcement is accompanied by
a few screenshots showing off the new point of view. Here's a bit:
In Thief: Deadly Shadows, gamers will be able to play in either third person or first person perspectives, and shift seamlessly between each on the fly. The new third person perspective will further immerse players into the role of Garret [sic] -- the master Thief. Sneaking through darkly lit environments, stealing riches and ambushing unwary targets in third person presents a new, visceral gaming experience to the Thief franchise. Still, the tension fuelled gameplay in classic Thief first person view is there for returning fans of the series and newcomers alike. Ion Storm's trademark dynamic lighting and shadow technology manifests in Thief: Deadly Shadows new levels of depth and tension to the game's environments. Characters and objects cast real shadows that effect stealth gameplay, requiring the player to manipulate darkness and light to create your own shadows to hide in.
I don't know whether it's guts or stupidity, but after the horrified response to the changes made for Deus Ex: I.W., ION Storm are sure demonstrating a willingness to live dangerously by announcing a console-oriented feature like this.
My concern is that I'm not sure it's possible for this to be merely a cosmetic option. In a game where so much depends on what you can see and what can see you, I think the perspective you play from has a real effect not only on what the player sees, but on the *gameplay* as well.
For starters, you can see a lot more from a 3rd-person view. Garrett can stand behind a wall out of sight, and the player can still merrily watch what's going on around the corner.
How will aiming weapons work in 3rd-person? Does it switch to 1st-person view, or does some kind of projected target appear? Will there be some kind of auto-aiming system employed?
If the gameplay is balanced somewhere between both viewpoints, then it's not totally tuned for 1st-person. I don't know; maybe the game automatically flicks some internal switches whenever you change views to tune the A.I. and everything else for your current view, so perhaps it all works out.
The one thing I do know for sure is that spending time on this feature takes time that could have been spent developing and tuning the other features, or fixing bugs. I'm still going to grab the demo as fast as my modem can get it, but this does nothing to ease my concerns...
Oh, and I like to think I'm not all _that_ graphics focussed, but even I'm surprised by the low resolution of the textures on those pillars beside Garrett. The overall architecture looks nice, but a texture resolution that low is *definitely* not expected for a PC game in 2004, ION Storm!!! Come on... Garrett has to spend lots of time hugging the walls and such; I kinda expected it to look sharper than it did in the originals...
My concern is that I'm not sure it's possible for this to be merely a cosmetic option. In a game where so much depends on what you can see and what can see you, I think the perspective you play from has a real effect not only on what the player sees, but on the *gameplay* as well.
For starters, you can see a lot more from a 3rd-person view. Garrett can stand behind a wall out of sight, and the player can still merrily watch what's going on around the corner.
How will aiming weapons work in 3rd-person? Does it switch to 1st-person view, or does some kind of projected target appear? Will there be some kind of auto-aiming system employed?
If the gameplay is balanced somewhere between both viewpoints, then it's not totally tuned for 1st-person. I don't know; maybe the game automatically flicks some internal switches whenever you change views to tune the A.I. and everything else for your current view, so perhaps it all works out.
The one thing I do know for sure is that spending time on this feature takes time that could have been spent developing and tuning the other features, or fixing bugs. I'm still going to grab the demo as fast as my modem can get it, but this does nothing to ease my concerns...
Oh, and I like to think I'm not all _that_ graphics focussed, but even I'm surprised by the low resolution of the textures on those pillars beside Garrett. The overall architecture looks nice, but a texture resolution that low is *definitely* not expected for a PC game in 2004, ION Storm!!! Come on... Garrett has to spend lots of time hugging the walls and such; I kinda expected it to look sharper than it did in the originals...
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