Thief II: The Metal Age

aka: Dark Project II: L'Age de Métal, Dark Project II: The Metal Age, TMA, Thief 2, Thief 2: The Metal Age
Moby ID: 1261
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Description official descriptions

Following Garrett's previous adventure, the repercussions of his actions have changed the political landscape. The Hammerite religion has crumbled and a new leader named Karras has risen up to convert many of these fanatics over to the mysterious Order of Mechanists. Meanwhile, a new Sheriff has arrived in town and has been effective at cleaning up crime - maybe too much so. This is bad news for Garrett, whose profession of master thief puts him on the wrong side of the law. As the risk increases however, so too does the amount of treasure available to a skilled thief.

Thief II: The Metal Age keeps much of the same gameplay and abilities from the original Thief: The Dark Project, but also offers a few new items for the protagonist to use. Among them are scouting orbs, which can be thrown to see around corners and flash mines. The heart of the gameplay is still stealth, made up of Garrett's ability to stay quiet, stay hidden and keep signs of trouble out of anyone's view. Garrett's main weapons are his sword, his blackjack and an assortment of arrows, each with a special power. Each level features a variety of objectives as well as several items which don't belong to the protagonist, but are nonetheless valuable and can be stolen.

Spellings

  • Thief II: Эпоха металла - Russian spelling
  • 神偷2:金属时代 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

171 People (147 developers, 24 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 46 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 131 ratings with 9 reviews)

Thief 2: TMA

The Good
- Overall experience is more stealth-focused, no more sudden switches of genre. - Story has been improved, lots of characters with different agendas. - Some levels are very well-designed, also being real tough cookies. - Loyal modding community with it's own share of masterpieces.

The Bad
- Lots of levels are just not finished. Some have recycled maps from previous missions. Some are just extraordinary empty. - While it's more focused, it's also lost much of the Dark Project's charm. No more tomb raids or wacky environments, no horror or creature-slicing missions. - The last level is a 2 hour long maze with lots of backtracking and crafting elements, which is a bit overwhelming.

The Bottom Line
The game is the weakest installment in series for me.

Windows · by SanfordMorgan · 2023

Brilliant!

The Good
- Incredible Atmosphere - Great Sound/Soundtrack - Brilliant, Intelligent Gamedesign - Nearly Perfect designed Missions: Challenging, but not unfair - Less Undead than in the first Thief - Nice Storyline - Garrett is an incredible Character

The Bad
- Graphics are still not as good as they could be - Not a lot of new Ideas compared to Thief1

The Bottom Line
Actually not a lot of new ideas compared to Thief1, but all Ideas are even better executed in this Title! This game surely entered my all time top10 - everyone who is interested in intelligent and incredibly atmospheric Games should take a close look at this one!

Windows · by Daniel Martin (12) · 2001

How did Looking Glass go out of business with games like this?

The Good
It's more of the original Thief, with some improvements.

This game presents the best atmosphere of any game. Shivers will go up and down your spine as you hear the approaching steps of a guard.

The story line is present, and while not over-powering, does add to the game.

Graphically superior to the original, and right up there with the best of any genre.

Everything you need to is in the game. The sound is unprecedented.

The Bad
On slower PCs, load times take some time. Throw this on a gigahertz-plus machine, and you'll wonder what load times people are talking about.

Sometimes fighting more undead gets old.

Some people may find controls to be a little difficult. It takes some time, but when you combine mouse and keyboard, you have unprecedented control.

The Bottom Line
The game is a FPS with no shooting (unless you count bow and arrow). The idea is to sneak around. You need to pay attention to everything from people far off who could see you, to lights and shadows, to the noises of someone walking down the hall.

Don't like that shadow being cast by that torch? Douse it with a water arrow. Want to distract that guard for a minute? Let loose a noise-maker arrow.

Just try it.

Windows · by Cyric (50) · 2001

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Shadows of the Metal Age St. Martyne (3648) Jul 4, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Thief II: The Metal Age appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Covermount release

Computer Gaming World shipped the complete game on their January 2004 DVD.

Engine

Thief II was developed with an enhanced version of the Dark Engine.

Menus

On many of the menus used in Thief II, you can see moving gears and machinery through the glass which may look familiar. In fact the menus are identical to those of the original Thief: The Dark Project, only a faceplate ("fancy covering") has been added over the graphics of the machinery. As a result the sound of the machinery is also muted.

Mods

In May 2005, five years after the original release, fans of the game presented their unofficial expansion: T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age, with 13 new levels, 10 new weapons, new characters and over 3.000 spoken lines. You play as a female thief, Zaya. The expansion can be downloaded here.

Multiplayer

Thief II had unused and underdeveloped code for a multiplayer mode. Fans have restored the mode with some additional coding and released a multiplayer beta patch.

References

Brahm Gervaisius' ill-fated librarian in missions 13 & 14 is named Giles. It's probably not a coincidence that in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's watcher Giles was the school librarian.

Thief II: Gold

Thief II was to have a Gold edition with additional missions like Thief Gold, but the closure of Looking Glass Studios halted all development on the project.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2011 – #23 Top PC Game of the 2000s

Information also contributed by Sciere, Scott Monster and WildKard

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Will D.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, ClydeFrog, Sciere, Dae, Havoc Crow, Klaster_1, CaesarZX, St. Martyne, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added April 2, 2000. Last modified March 17, 2024.