Thief 3: Deadly Shadows Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First thoughts on Thief III, which I played for about 3 hours last night.
Fun, but not quite as fun (so far) as the first two. On my system, it's a little laggy, but that's probably because my video card is about middle/low end, as far as their specs go (NVidia 5500 FX) and I don't have the money to upgrade to the top of the line vid cards they want. Graphics are not as fabulous as I've heard, but again, I've got a middle of the road vid card, and I can live with it.
I dove right in without reading the manual, so of course, the re-mapped weapons keys came as an unpleasant surprise. I had gotten so used to hitting '4' to get my water arrows in the first two games, but that's '8' now. They also swapped the blackjack and sword (dagger) keys, so I kept pulling out the dagger instead of the blackjack. And honestly, I don't miss the sword, but then I never used it in the first two except to cut down wall-hangings. I never kill guards, and only the occasional spiders. But, these key mappings can be easily changed, so I'm not complaining too much.
Pros/Interesting positive changes:
The training mission rocks for getting you up to speed quickly. It explains all the buttons, and many of the changes between this and the first two games in terms of actions and dynamics.
The dynamic lighting is nice. You can now extinguish candles and other lights (but, strangely, not torches) by walking up to them and 'using' them.
I haven't tried out the third-person mode yet. "First-person" is not what people traditionally think of as first-person in games - it's just like the camera is mounted on Garrett's forehead. I like it, as it lends a little bit more realism to things - you can look down and see his feet, turn and see his arms. It takes a little getting used to, but I like it.
Garrett seems to comment a lot more in this game too. If you pick up an item and try to put it down in a spot where it won't fit, he'll say "uh-uh". He'll make little quips about locations like he did in the first two, but it seems like there's more of those.
Lock-picking is a lot more involved and a lot of fun so far.
There are pieces of loot that are special - they're worth more than regular loot, and are often figured into the objectives. Loot glint is actually helpful, although I can understand the complaints that it makes things too easy. But at the same time, they made loot and non-loot look a lot more alike in this game, and they still managed to hide some loot in out of the way places where you can't see the glint from normal eye-level.
The City mode is a lot of fun. I already ransacked Garrett's landlord's apartment. Just a word of advice - don't blackjack someone in the middle of the street in front of three witnesses. (*whistle* I hit the wrong button, so sue me. I was trying to pick his pocket)
With a few notable exceptions (see below), the physics are a lot more realistic. Almost everything Garrett touches can be moved - he can knock over chairs, knock swords out of sword racks, push large tables and crates, knock cups and plates onto the floor. On normal difficulty, the guards will come if they hear the noise, but they don't seem to notice things being out of place. I imagine on the higher difficulties, they'll start investigating.
Everyone complains about there not being any swimming and the substitutions of climbing gloves for rope arrows. I haven't missed either so far. The loading zones are mildly annoying, but not too bad - they kind of sub-divide missions into smaller chunks. I really didn't mind them too much.
Nitpicks/Little funny issues:
The bright blue "use" highlight is annoying. I can deal, but it's still annoying.
I miss the briefing movies. There are cutscenes, but when you enter a mission, Garrett just reads the text while it's on the screen. No pretty movies.
The physics of the unconscious/dead bodies is really funny. I blackjacked a guy and he bent over backwards in a position that probably should have left him paralyzed. It's now possible for Garrett to trip over the bodies and make noise. No longer possible to "stack" bodies in quite the same amusing way as the original, although that's probably for the best. (No more setting it up like the servants were messing around....)
I managed to make a guard kill himself - I blackjacked him while he was carrying a torch, and he fell on the torch and died.
There's not really an option to quietly set things down either, which is somewhat annoying. (Maybe there is, but I just couldn't find it?) I picked up a cup up from a table without realizing it wasn't loot (still getting used to the loot glint vs. the bright blue "use" highlight.), and when I hit the button for drop - he literally dropped it, it rolled off the table, clanged onto the floor, and attracted a nearby guard.
Overall: Fun, so far. I still prefer the first two, but then I'm only one mission into this one. It felt like Thief, though, which was the most important thing to me. More later!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Thief 3: Deadly Shadows

Welcome to the Ultimate Stealth Experience!Product InformationYou are Garrett a Master Thief rarely seen but never caught. Movingsilently through the shadows you are able to sneak past any guard pick anylock break into the most ingeniously secured residences. Stealing fromthe wealthy is all in a night's work.In this intense thriller of murderous conspiracy you must use your stealthtactics to uncover a sinister secret that lies within the city walls. Willyour skills be enough to save the dying city can you survive betrayalassassins and war in the labyrinth of city streets?Product FeaturesTension-fuelled stealth as enemies see and hear track evidence searchfor intruders give chase and fight to the end.A variety of gameplay - Break and Enter Steal Combat Ambush andAssassinate.A huge arsenal of Thieves' Tools at your disposal: Mechanical Eye FlashBombs Fire Arrows Wall Climbing Gloves to name but a few.Fully supported 1st and 3rd person perspective - it's your choice!Darkness is your weapon; conceal your presence sneak silently past guardsand strike from the shadows.Windows RequirementsWindows 2000 XP Vista1.5GHz processor256 MB of RAM3 GB Hard Disk spaceSupported graphics chipsets: ATi – Radeon 8500 Radeon 9 Series (90009200 9600 9800); nVidia – GeForce 3Ti Series GeForce 4Ti SeriesGeForce FX Series GeForce 6 Series. Graphics card must support Pixel Shader1.1. Unsupported graphics chipsets: nVidia – GeForce 4MX (460 440 420)GeForce 4 GO Quadro FX GO nForce 2 nForce 3DirectX 9.0b compatibleSound Card (minimum); EAX Advanced HDsupported – requires Sound Blaster Audigy range of Sound CardsDVD-ROM drive

Get 56% OFF

Click here for more information about Thief 3: Deadly Shadows

Read More...

How to Get Fabulously Rich (Red Apple) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)How to Fight a Girl is a great book with lots of activities in it. This book is one of the best books I ever read because it has people causing mischief, getting dirty, and a little fighting.
I liked this book because it's a very exciting book just like How to Eat Fried Worms. This book has people spraying wipped-craem on windows; that reads BF+Am, Billy+Amy, or Billy Forrester+Amy Miller. The book has a trail bike that Billy rides with Amy, and Billy and Amy kiss in the chapter called Super Girl. If you want to know the rest you should read How to Fight a Girl.
I recommend this book. Out of 1-6, I give it a 5.50 because it has great word choice. I think kids 9 and up can read this book because I think it would be a little complicated for kids at the age of 8 and under. How to Fight a Girl is a super book and if you ever read it I think you will enjoy it.


Click Here to see more reviews about: How to Get Fabulously Rich (Red Apple)

Click here for more information about How to Get Fabulously Rich (Red Apple)

Read More...

Halloween Day Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)ISBN 0060275677 - My run of Halloween books for kids continues and I consider myself a very happy reviewer. Halloween books are some of the most fun and creative holiday books for kids and finding great ones is wonderful. The cover image and the title of this book are so simple and straightforward that I worried about finding a really boring book, but it turns out that sometimes simple is just... simple!
A young student narrates the story, introducing her classmates one at a time, as she guesses who is in which costume. The costumes range from basic to elaborate and the narrator has a kind word to say about each of them. On the left-hand page, she says the person who is in the costume and on the facing page, there is an illustration of that child at the moment when he/she was inspired. Accompanied by a mysterious fairy godmother, the children have a Halloween parade before snack time back in their classroom. There, their fairy godmother magically makes cupcakes appear, then reveals herself to be none other than their teacher.
There's not exactly a story here to criticize, which would normally be a criticism on its own. Instead, the lack of an actual storyline works all right here, a bit like how not having classes in school works on Halloween. It's Halloween and we're just here to look at the costumes and have candy, right? Anne Rockwell's text is simple for beginning readers and the illustrations, by Lizzy Rockwell, are adorable, filled with fun details. This is a good book for those days when you're trying to get your own child to choose what they want to be for Halloween, allowing them to see what inspired the children in the story to make the choices they did.
- AnnaLovesBooks

Click Here to see more reviews about: Halloween Day

Click here for more information about Halloween Day

Read More...

Sounds of Murder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Patricia Rockwell is an academic with an extensive portfolio of publications, journal articles, textbooks and presentations. She holds a doctorate in Communications. This is her first book of fiction. With her solid and prolific background in academics, it would be easy to think the transition to fiction might be a bit weighty, or overly academic. This is absolutely not true of Dr. Rockwell. She has written a cozy novel in an untapped area of the study of sound waves that is very definitely readable. I chose to review this book because I'm fascinated by all kinds of science, and love cozy mysteries. I was not disappointed.
"Sounds of Murder" does take place in a university, and sprinkled throughout, the politics of a university come dashing through. But this is a murder mystery set in a faculty dealing with communications. As in all cozy mysteries, there are several interwoven characterizations. Anyone who has gone to, or worked in, a college or university will appreciate the diverse personalities they find there.
Our heroine, Pamela Barnes, specializes in Acoustics, the study of sound waves, voice patterns, and basically anything to do with sound. She teaches this at a graduate school in the university. On this night, she has a three-hour class and has just made sure that her student assistant, Kent, has locked the Communications Lab before they go to class, since the school is usually empty at this time of the evening and there is a great deal of very expensive equipment in there.
The author's characters range from meek to extreme behaviour. Dr. Charlotte Clark is one of the latter and very quickly the story takes off with a terrible argument between Dr. Clark and the Head of the Department, Mitchell Marks. Pamela has just come into the front of the main office to get her mail and the strength of the argument is coming right through the Head's office door. She can hear it, although she can't hear the words, When she hears Charlotte getting louder as she approaches the door, she hurries out of the office and into class.
On leaving at the end of the evening, Kent is sent to double-check that the door to the lab is locked. Next thing she hears is Kent running and calling her to come to the lab, he has found the door wide open and a body slumped at one of the special computers. Now our story is really underway as police arrive and question them both together and separately, only with a brief pause for Pamela to call her husband Rocky to let him know she would be late.
From this point on, the action begins to build, everybody seems to have a motive of some type, but as well, we are witness to all Pamela's thought processes, which I found to be unique and fascinating. Her mind goes over and over but jumps to inane things in between just as a person who has met with trauma would do. Here I began to have the feeling of being inside her head, a remarkable piece of storytelling. This happens a few times as the investigation moves along, but the reader almost always knows what Pamela herself is thinking. Though this may be anticipated to be monotonous, in reality it most certainly is not; there is even some humor to be found in this method. One thing she is thinking is that she may well be the only person available with the expertise to possibly solve this case or at the very least present compelling evidence, because she has a small sound byte on a CD that she knows she is the most likely to be able to analyze it.
Meanwhile, Rocky and the lead Columbo-like Detective Shoop both try to stop her from "sticking her nose in" but she just can't leave it alone. This is a well-written mystery, with some unique features. I do enjoy finding cozies or any book that has something new and different. This appears to be the first in a series, and I certainly hope so. There is humor and pathos, surprises, lots of interaction of characters, and a most tempting house to come home to. Regardless of the murder and political academia, this is essentially a warm friendly story, a perfect cozy to curl up with.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Sounds of Murder

Click here for more information about Sounds of Murder

Read More...