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I realize that someone has already beaten me to the punch on this one, but its been going around in my head since I played and loved Art of Theft. So... for your consideration, my Art of Theft Zero Punctuation Fan-Fiction Review Thing.

"Art of Theft is the latest AGS release from Yahtzee, and as the name would imply it's a stealth-theft game starring the author's most beloved character Trilby. Of course, you must keep in mind that by "beloved", I mean the only one with any distinguishing characteristic whatsoever, in this case a hat. Trilby is a gentleman thief, and so I'd say it was nice that he was getting back to his roots, if it wasn't for the fact that his previous exploits have all been in the "fighting Lovecraftian Horrors" tally, rather than the "thieving" one. But hey, it's a prequel so lets run with it.

The game-play consists of what you would expect the standard stealth 2d platforming elements to be, if it wasn't for the fact that a similar game refuses to come to mind: you skulk around like the Hunchback Prince of Notre Persia, stealing things and cracking safes, while avoiding a host of things that will make annoying sound effects if you get too close to them. The game supposedly takes place in America, but you could have fooled me, considering that no one is packing heat, and in even the most secure facilities, guards will obligingly hold their hats and quiver as you slowly approach them with an umbrella tazer. This, incidentally, I found to be the best part of the game as I will completely get behind anything featuring a flashing skeleton sprite, and so went around gleefully shocking everyone in sight until I realized I was being penalized for it. This element seems rather counterintuitive to me: why would a game give you Chekhov's zappy-fun-stick if it didn't want you to use it? I suppose Trilby's pacifism is supposed to ensure the player stays on his side, morally, but you'd think the fact that you're apparently going up against Adolf Von Satan's Mind-Raping facility would be sufficient to get us behind the charismatic anti-hero.

Of course, mission-based games like this aren't meant to be played, so much as replayed to perfection so that you can unlock all the bells and whistles that are now useless because you've scored A+++ on everything the game has to offer, so what's the point? Anyway, even in this aspect there are some flaws: the game is rather inconsistent as to what previous knowledge Trilby is able to remember when he redoes a heist. Security codes change, but the wire-boxes don't, suggesting that Trilby has a mild form of autism wherein he can remember colors but not numbers. This doesn't actually take anything away from the fun, but its just odd that Trilby can remember how to open the secret entrance of the government's sewer facility, but not to look behind the washing machine without being reminded by a note someone thankfully keeps leaving time and time again.

Key to this OCD system of level repetition is the ability to restart your mission once you've buggered it, but the most difficult mission of the game refuses to let you do that, which is the kind of thing that causes keyboard to be thrown against walls. Yes I realize that it's not realistic for Trilby to magically smoke-bomb his way from a secret government facility, but then again neither is how he is apparently able to tuck and roll beneath lasers while carrying 6 paintings and a vase, so you have to ask who's fooling who here. Even this wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the fact that the game won't even let you quit to Windows during this sequence. Listen game, the only reason I granted you space on my hard drive that could have otherwise gone to bootleg SNES roms, is my expectation of a certain amount of control. If I want to quit you and play Spider Solitaire, I feel that's my prerogative and you shouldn't force me to lose a button-mashing mini-game to get that option back, all right?

Anyways, this game will feel very familiar to anyone whose played Yahtzee's 1213, sharing as it does many of the mechanics, along with the vaguely-British-conspiracy- with-ill-defined-goals-run- by-a-shadowy-man-in-glasses- leading-to-an-awkward-boss- fight-with-an-exploding-round- thing. Both games really push the AGS system to it's very limits in their design, only I'm not so certain that's a compliment: It's like complimenting a sewing machine for making a good sandwich or a Klik & Play game for being vaguely tolerable... it may be true but it sort of misses the point for what it's designed for. Art of Theft is a great game, but one gets the feeling that Yahtzee's ready to move on to more complicated systems like ZZT or something. "

So there you have it. Keep in mind that my tongue is firmly planted in cheek throughout: I thought the game was great, and the minor issue I attack take nothing away from its excellence.