Looking for a challenging game that tests your mind and your reflexes? Thief 3 rewards stealth and strategic thinking with glory and loot!

If you somehow missed the first 2 episodes in the Thief saga, you are ... a thief. You live in a medieval world full of murky inns, cobblestone streets and questionable denizens of the night. You get told of interesting items to steal by your fences, and do your best to acquire them.

In many ways, this compares favorably to splinter cell, albeit of a different era. Your task is to stay hidden in the shadows. You have to pay careful attention to the level of darkness where you stand, and the type of surfaces you walk over, to not draw attention to yourself. You have interesting tools at your disposal - noisemaking arrows to distract, water arrows to put out candles.

The graphics aren't *quite* up to the level of Splinter Cell, but then again, not much is. You still get gorgeous shadows, dust motes twinkling in light streams, textures on floors and walls. The human figures are a bit clunky, but only a bit.

That being said, the cinemtics are exceptional, both graphic and sound-wise. You really get drawn along with the story.

The sounds are nicely done. This isn't a game of jamming rock music - it's a game of stealth. There are ambient noises that warn you of approaching guards, of a dog in the next room, of conversations of nearby people. The soft music, when it comes in, helps to add to the spookiness and tension.

The AI really deserves special praise. The people around you don't just walk a beat that you watch 10 times in a row and then use. They react to situations with intelligence, keep an eye on things they should be guarding, and take proper caution when tracking down a problem. If they catch sight of you, they don't just go for you and give up. Now that they know there's a strange person in the area, they actively hunt for you.

Sure, you can blackjack people if you have to. But the game isn't about violence. It's about avoiding being seen, avoiding being caught.

Highly recommended!

Buy Thief 3 from Amazon.com