Reviews

Thieves School (or Escuela de Ladrones, en español) is the latest 2008 game released by World XXI Soft in Argentina. It's a game for the 128K Spectrum, and consists of two sides to the tape - side A which runs a demo style background story (and which is optional), and side B, which is the game itself.

In the game, you play the part of one of two thieves - either Courage, in the Action/Robbery game style, or Mist, in the Stealth/Larceny game style. In the Action/Robbery style game, you must steal all the goods and valuables in each level, and eliminate all the witnesses with harmful objects you may encounter - you don't get any weapons to start with - you must collect them yourself. You must also re-collect your weapons once you have used them. You throw the weapons at your enemies - and the weapons bounce until they run out of energy, so if you plan your attack right you can hit several of your enemies in a single attack. When an enemy succumbs, they will drop a useful item.

In the Stealth/Larceny game, you must liberate the goods and valuables in each level - preferably without detection. You get no weapons. This style of game also includes safes, and you must pick the locks of the safes you encounter to liberate the contents.

The game also includes two player modes (two players at one keyboard), where you can play cooperatively or in "deathmatch" mode.

The level design of the game is excellent. You are eased into the game - the first ten or so levels are not too difficult, which gives you a chance to learn how to use the weapons in the Action/Robbery style without the frustration of getting killed all the time, and how to evade detection in Stealth/Larceny. The way the weapons work in Action/Robbery gives the game an extra dimension that most platform games don't have. The two game styles also gives the game a broader appeal - those who like action can have action, and those who prefer non-violent means have their day, too. The game also has custom options, such as "against the clock" style game play.

Finally, the sound track, by Factor6, is simply excellent. The menu screen theme is a superb AY cover of the exit theme tune of the Bourne series of films (Extreme Ways, by Moby) which transfers to the AY chip exquisitely. The in-game music, a different theme for each set of screens, is similarly well written. While a good sound track won't make a game with poor playability good, a good soundtrack makes a good game even better - and Factor6's soundtrack is just the icing on the cake for a fantastic game.

In summary, Thieves School is quickly becoming one of my favorite Spectrum games. Hats off to the developers.