Recent reviews by Smegma Male Grindset

Deus DEFINITELY vult.

The great Toby Flenderson once said, "Michael is like a movie on a plane. You know, it's not great, but it's something to watch. And when it's over, you're like, 'How much time is left on this flight? Now what?'" In this case, Michael is Thief, and the flight is my weekend.

Coming from a fan of the originals, it's an alright game. It isn't incredible, but it isn't that bad either. The story and music are utterly forgettable, the characters are boring, but the stealth itself is usually pretty fun. Definitely don't buy it if it isn't on sale, and don't judge the previous entries in the series by this one. But if you're looking for something to do on a boring weekend and you usually enjoy stealth games, give this one a try.

Death to Spies: Moment of Truth is a WWII-era stealth game in which you play as a Russian agent named Semion Strogov, a man tasked with eliminating espionage-related threats to the Soviet Union. The missions that you must accomplish range anywhere from gathering intel to assassination, with the locations in which you will be inserted range from German military camps to an English hospital. The areas are varied, and you never feel like the developers ran out of ideas.

The gameplay of Death to Spies is very similar to the Hitman games, with most of the stealth revolving around disguises. While crawling through bushes and vents are a viable way to play the game, using the game's disguise system is the most reliable way to play. The disguise system in this game is usually pretty realistic, and the AI is consistent when it comes to detecting you (I'm looking at you, Hitman 2 Japan levels), so you always know why your disguise did not work, and what you can do to improve it. Certain disguises don't work in certain areas, and if you take the clothes of a high-ranking officer, the guards will recognize that you aren't the person you claim to be. Adding to that, in the higher difficulty settings, blood-stained clothes and clothes with bullet holes are unusable, so stabbing and shooting is a no-no. Much more reliable weapons are the garrotte and chloroform if you prefer a non-lethal approach. The game doesn't seem to punish you for taking the lethal approach (as long as you are merciful to civilians), unlike many other stealth games out there.

I can't speak much for the graphics of the game, since it doesn't seem to like my graphics card, washing out all the colors. This made the game look like an old movie, which in my opinion added to the atmosphere. The animations are nothing special, but they do their job and you can always tell what's going on. The music was mostly forgettable, but it always fits what's going on.

One thing I did not mention earlier is that this game is very difficult, and the poor shooting mechanics don't do anything to help it. Unfortunately, there's no tutorial in this game, so some of the more nuanced parts of the game must be learned through experience. I personally enjoy when games give me a challenge and didn't mind the lack of a tutorial that much. As for the shooting mechanics, this is a stealth game, so you shouldn't be shooting much anways. This game really shines when you're walking down the corridor of a German military base, doing your best to remain inconspicuous.

The thing that really sets this game apart from other games in this genre, and indeed, from other games period, is the amount of realism in this game. As I said earlier, if you stab people or shoot people, it renders their disguise useless, and people may recognize you if you take a unique disguise anyways. One of the options in the game is to make everyone speak their native language, adding to the atmosphere. Being a German speaker really helped me here, as most of the enemies in this game are German, and certain small hints can be drawn from their chatter. Strogov himself is, obviously, a Russian speaker, making all of the briefings and cutscenes in Russian with English subtitles. Death to Spies itself was a Soviet anti-espionage program during WWII, which I did not know originally.

Overall, I really enjoyed Death to Spies: Moment of Truth. People calling it a rip-off of Hitman obviously didn't see the game for what it is: a realistic spy game set during WWII. A disguise system and assassination missions don't make a game a Hitman clone. Though the story is mostly nonexistent, and the game's soundtrack is mostly forgettable, Death to Spies: Moment of Truth is a fun stealth game that, as long as they iron out some of the wrinkles in (hopefully) future installments, could become one of my favorite games. This game is a definite recommendation, as long as you don't mind a difficult game.

Thief II is a classic stealth game from a time when games were meant to actually challenge the player, force him to think, and punish him should he act hastily. This game will not hold your hand at all; there are no objective markers, no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ x-ray vision that pervades modern stealth games, and no option to play like it's a generic shooter. The game is very non-linear, with multiple pathways and options for stealth, and even some secret passages for one with a clever mind and sharp eye. The ultimate goal, however, always remains the same: steal some priceless artifact and escape, leaving no trace.

The few downsides I can think of with this game just stem from it's age: the graphics are very dated, and the AI isn't very advanced, but the latter can be negated by thinking that the game's main challenge comes from the environment, not the guards. In addition, the Dark Engine that this game runs on is a little buggy, especially when it comes to dismounting from a ladder and climbing up objects, but it shouldn't impede your enjoyment too much.

If you enjoyed Dishonored (which was inspired by the Thief franchise) or the real Splinter Cell games (the series up until Double Agent), you can't go wrong with this game.

If you love Splinter Cell, this game is a must have.