Sound

The Quick and the Quiet

In Thief II, essentially there are only two options. You can either stay still and make no noise - thus never getting caught - or you can move, make noise and risk getting busted. Of course, neither staying still nor running around like a maniac is going to win you the game, so it's up to you to find a good balance. You must know when to move, and when to stay still.

Nothing like a trusty sword

He looks contented in death

Naturally, it's not quite as simple as it sounds at first. How do you know where to run? Well, listen for the guards or the "cameras". Try and take a peek around the corner or throw the little scouting orb around to scout out the area first. Is anyone walking there? Any robotic cameras checking out the area? No, then it looks clear, right? Make a dash for that shadow in the corner and.... ooops. You just ran across an iron grating, making more noise than a 2 year old on a sugar high. Now that the guards are scouting the area, hiding in shadows isn't good enough. Think fast! You can still sneak around, and maybe find your way out of the room until the guards get tired of searching.

My my, Garrett's bloodthirsty tonight

So many doors...

The Sounds Themselves...

Looking Glass clearly took a lot of effort to make believable yet functional sounds. For example, Garrett makes a LOT of noise even when sneaking around. For some reason, he insists on wearing hard leather boots on every mission of his. Yet, to be honest, it feels more like the boots sound so loud so as to give you a good indication of how likely he is to be heard. If he were really making that much noise, he'd be busted the moment he arrived on the scene.

So many buildings!

The Hammerites don't like you no mo' :(

The environment sounds are also very believable. Doors creak open (alarmingly loud at that, but they never seem to attract guards), guards sound all manly and buff until you put an arrow in their throats, while regular civilians panic and scream for help (sounding like the squeaky-voiced teenager from the Simpsons), and so on.

Most impressive was the speech in the game itself. Much of the plot and background story is conveyed through what characters might be saying to each other - with you overhearing them. The characters' voices all sound clear and loud, with the proper tone and sound to their voices.