Dark Project 2: The Metal Age

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Dark Project 2: The Metal Age
Dark Project 2 Logo.png
Original title Thief II: The Metal Age
Studio United StatesUnited States Looking Glass Studios
Publisher United KingdomUnited Kingdom Eidos Interactive
Senior Developer Tim Stellmach
composer Eric Brosius
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 March 21, 2000
platform Windows
Game engine Dark engine
genre Stealth action
Game mode Single player
control Mouse , keyboard
medium 2 CDs , download
language German English
Current version v1.18
v1.24 ( unofficial patch )
Age rating
USK approved from 16
PEGI recommended for ages 12+

Dark Project 2: The Metal Age , also known under the English original title Thief II: The Metal Age , is the second part of the Thief computer game series , developed by Looking Glass and published for Windows in 2000 by Eidos Interactive .

Gameplay

The successor to Dark Project: The Master Thief follows on from the story of the predecessor and shows only minor changes in terms of graphics and game technology.

Some new elements or changes are the now much larger and more detailed levels as well as new equipment such as ivy arrows, new potions such as the invisibility potion or camera eyes that can be placed anywhere. Furthermore, the steampunk component of the scenario is represented even more clearly than in the first part. B. now surveillance cameras, alarm systems and guard robots make the progress of the player even more difficult. The AI of guards and other non-player characters has also been further improved.

After criticism of the first part was made that the gameplay would revolve too little about the actual thieving trade and that there are too many zombies (from level 2), the developers created the levels according to the wishes of the fans, so that the missions for the most part consist of various properties and other buildings from which the respective mission-relevant objects must be stolen. The second part is therefore a much more innovative game; alternating between zombies, forest spirits, human guards and robots as opponents.

On the part of the developers, more emphasis was placed on a non-linear design of the missions, so that the player has even more alternatives to reach his goal.

Development history

English-language logo with characteristic lettering

Development of Dark Project 2 began in January 1999. During the early stages of development, the team sat down regularly on movie nights for inspiration; the films included u. a. The third man , Metropolis , M and The Phantom of the Opera . The game was first announced in May 1999 as part of the agreement between developer Looking Glass Studios and publisher Eidos Interactive to create four new Thief games.

The game was developed on the basis of an improved game engine called the Dark Engine , which was also used in System Shock 2 . This supports 16-bit color depth , more polygons in the character models, higher resolution textures, colored light and weather effects. Further improvements include an AI which now reacts in a more flexible and complex manner, e.g. B. can trigger alarms. Compared to Thief 1, most of the supernatural enemies, such as zombies, have been removed from the game.

The development process is considered difficult. The heavily indebted development company was dependent on the income from one of its few successful brands. However, the development budget originally agreed with Eidos was exceeded and in the end amounted to 2.5 million US dollars. The publication date agreed for March 23, 2000 could only be met with great effort and numerous overtime hours. However, the agreed royalties initially did not materialize. A short time after publication, on May 24, 2000, Looking Glass finally closed its doors.

In 2010, due to a bug in the distribution of a developer SDK, the Dreamcast source code for the Dark Engine became unintentionally publicly available. In September 2012 a major update of the dark engine with patch v1.9 became available which retrofitted missing support for modern graphics and sound hardware and operating systems, probably based on the leaked Dreamcast source code . Together with other texture and mission fixes from the community, this engine patch was bundled into a community patch called Tafferpatch .

Characters

  • Sheriff Gorman Truart: A corrupt guardian of the law, the captain of the city guard and supposed opponent of Garrett in the first half of the game. Truart leads law and order in the city with a strict hand and does not shy away from means such as torture and bribery and seems to have a particular hatred of Garrett. He is modernizing the city watch from the ground up and installing new technical surveillance systems in Shoalsgate and parts of the city. In the course of the game it is revealed that Truart was bought by the mechanists and provides them with people for obscure "servant projects" at face value. The corrupt sheriff finds his death by a pagan in his own bedroom just before Garrett tries to confront him.
  • Father Karras: The initially charismatic leader of a Hammerite schism , called the Mechanists , reveals himself as a religious fanatic and a true antagonist of Garrett during the course of the game . Obsessed by technical progress and hating nature, the man invented all machines that are used in games as safety robots and the like. His real plan, however, only becomes clear at the end of the game: to destroy all life in the city so that nothing but him and his children (the machines) tarnish the shine of the builder, who even wants to accept the death of his followers. Ultimately, however, it is stopped by Garrett and Viktoria.
  • Lieutenant Mosley: One of the City Guard's two lieutenants and a silent opponent of Truart. Even if she admires him for his successes, she doubts the means and motives of her superior. She forms a secret alliance with the pagans, provides them with information and ultimately the key to Truart's estate.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Craig Pearson: Thief 2 Is Now On Good Old Games ( English ) Rock Paper Shotgun. February 7, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012: " [...] discovered that it suffers much of the same resolution and widescreen based trouble from the previous release, but this utility [Tafferpatch] fixed all my troubles [...] ] "
  2. ↑ a b "Le Corbeau": Thief 2 V1.19 & System Shock 2 V2.4 ( English ) www.ttlg.com. September 25, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012: “ This is an unofficial patch for Thief II: The Metal Age (T2) which updates the game from v1.18 to v1.19, providing improved support for modern hardware and correcting many known bugs. "
  3. ↑ James Fudge: Thief 2 Announced . In: Computer Games Strategy Plus . May 13, 1999. Archived from the original on May 21, 2003. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ David Laprad: Emerging From the Shadows: Thief 2 Developer Interview . In: Adrenaline Vault . July 28, 1999. Archived from the original on January 19, 2000. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  5. ↑ Amer Ajami: GameSpot's Preview of Thief 2: The Metal Age . In: GameSpot . January 31, 2000. Archived from the original on December 14, 2000. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ James Fudge: Thief II: The Metal Age Released . In: Computer Games Magazine . Strategy Plus, Inc. March 23, 2000. Archived from the original on May 25, 2003. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  7. ^ Robert Mayer: Thief II: The Metal Age: Raised on robbery . In: Computer Games Magazine . Strategy Plus, Inc .. March 19, 2000. Archived from the original on May 25, 2003. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  8. ^ Ahead of its time: The history of Looking Glass
  9. ↑ Quintin Smith: Dark Engine Source Code Found In A Bag ( English ) Rock, Paper, Shotgun. December 14, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2011: “ As of this weekend, Christmas has come early for the Through the Looking Glass community. A CD's been discovered containing the source code for the Dark Engine, aka the engine used by Thief, Thief II and System Shock 2 (not to mention Irrational and Looking Glass' canceled cold war spy game Deep Cover). "
  10. ↑ Tafferpatcher: unofficial complete patch for Thief 2 ( English ) www.ttlg.com. November 10, 2012. Retrieved on November 10, 2012: “ Included patches: - Patch 1.19 which eliminates all issues with modern hardware, widescreen resolutions, multi-core systems, etc. - Various mission, gamesys, model and texture fixes. [. ..] "