Summary: Thief II is everything from Thief, but more or better. But is it enough to give it a 10/10 in my book? Almost, but no.

Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

Before I start the review, note that I am going to review it compared to Thief. The game is very, VERY similar to Thief in every way, so the differences are what will be highlighted. Anything not mentioned can be explained in my Thief review.

Gameplay: The gameplay is very similar to Thief. You have your stealth gear (lockpicks, blackjack, different kinds of arrows, etc), but this time you can have items and weapons that weren't in the original (like invisibility potions, flash mines, and Slow-Fall Potions). This is great, because the system for giving the player weapons and items was flawless before, so the great system got -more-.

In Thief II, you do a lot of stealing of anything you can find that isn't nailed down (or made of crap). Very similar to Thief in this aspect. The differences are that the loot is hidden a lot more in this game than in the last. While playing through the game on Expert mode, plenty of times I couldn't finish missions for a decent period of time just because I needed more loot. Not always a good thing.

Unlike in Thief, there are no "creature" missions. Every mission has you taffing about, using stealth rather than cold iron. This is great because not only does this installment of the series have more missions, but each one is a quality mission, guaranteed to give you the same experience as the one before it...which as it ironically turns out, isn't the best thing. The game tries hard to mix it up while giving the player stealthy, stealing missions, but about half of the missions in the game felt quite similar to each-other. Because the similar missions weren't always one after another, and there were of course about 8 unique missions I did enjoy of course, I'd say there were about three times I truly wanted a different type of mission.

The AI is even smarter in this game, which made me wonder why the game wasn't named "Thief II: You Better Learn How Quicksave Works". The guards are very unforgiving. If they happen to hear you or faintly see you, you must be able to haul it to a hiding location WHILE not letting them see you more, or hear your footsteps (they will hear some pretty soft steps), or use one of your precious auxiliary items (assuming you bought something like a flashbomb or gas arrow). The guards will hunt you down like a dog if you let them know you're there, so hide the bodies, clean the blood, and tread softly.

The levels in Thief II are enormous. Not just enormous, but some were five times bigger than those in Thief (I'm not lying, they were huge). Combine that with obstacles at every turn (there are new types of foes and new types of traps to ruin you this time around), you will spend a lot of time in one mission, just trying to get around, exploring, or trying to pass an obstacle. You will get a lot more time spent in your missions in Thief II than in Thief.

The game was hard on Expert, which I am glad for. If I didn't want a game that was very hard, I wouldn't have picked that difficulty, or I would've restarted the mission on a lower difficulty. In general, the gameplay in Thief II is Thief, but more. More to the point where it is definitely worth noting, but some flaws keep Gameplay from a 10.

Story: The story in the second game is in the same type of context as the first one. Garrett likes money, and he doesn't like anyone else. Things get a little more intense in the story this time through, due to new people in town, and further references to the previous game.

What truly made me give Thief II's storyline a 10/10 where Thief only got a 9/10, is the fact that in Thief, not even half the missions were devoted to story building, and instead left a great frame story lingering at times. However, in Thief II, less than four missions will be fillers. You will have purpose to where you go about taffing, and you build a better story. Furthermore, you learn just how unique and solid some characters can be. Just like in Thief, Thief II doesn't give you any stereotypical story about a group of people out to save the world, it gives you the story of one person who finds a bunch of other people to be a pain in the ass. It is solid, realistic, and enjoyable.

Graphics: What can I say? It is Thief's graphics but better. You see some nice textures and great lighting. There's so many different textures and skins though, that it seemed to have worked out better in this installment. Not to mention time has passed.

Sound: What, you want me to explain improvement on perfection? The sound is great, and you get your money's worth. And if it matters, voices getting louder or softer based on distance and pressing you head against a door is done nicely.

Overall: Thief II is "Thief II" in a more legitimate and obvious sense than one can give it credit for. It is essentially Thief but with more, bigger, and better. There is no new engine, there isn't a groundbreaking change in gameplay. If you didn't like Thief, don't buy this. If you liked Thief, buy this. If you liked Thief but got a tummy ache by the time you did the last stealth mission, you won't like Thief II. In either case, do get Thief first, because the stories do intertwine.

And so I ask myself, what of Thief III...