The first time I slammed a nice, fat billy club on the back of a guard in Thief II I thought to myself, man, it's good to be back. If you enjoyed the first game (and why wouldn't you have?) then you'll feel right at home back in Garrett's shoes. His personality's intact, his insights and comments are once again witty and snappy, and the world that he inhabits is just as vivid, if you can use that word for environments that are squintably dark. If this is your first time in the world of Thief, get ready for one of the most mature, well thought out action games of the year.

Our previews have done a good job of fleshing out Garrett's new adventure in Thief II, but just to recap, the game takes place over a year after the original events in Thief I. Hammerist separatists, the Mechanists, are up to no good, and somehow the new Sheriff is involved. The streets are getting cleared of the riff raff, and Garrett suddenly find himself being the focus of Sheriff Truart's wrath. How do these connect, and what's up with those big gold robots? You'll have to play to find out. A big part of Thief's strength comes in the storyline, which is dark, completely original, and absolutely enthralling. Since this is a sequel, a lot of the initial thrill of seeing the past/forward environments in The Metal Age is gone, but in its place is a solid sense of security and momentum. Loking Glass has gotten comfortable with both the gameplay and the storyline with the sequel, and it shows. The game plays even smarter (and slower, in case you were wondering), and they've gone to great lengths to include tons of details and crucial story points within the levels themselves, elaborating on the strengths of the original game. Thief I was a risky concept to pull off, and the team has said before that they were pulling out all the stops for the sequel, given that they knew there was an audience for a thinking man's sneaker/shooter.