A very nice, compact mansion heist.

The architecture is creative and easy on the eyes. It's more adventurous and detailed than in Thief 2, but only a little -- it still feels largely like the same game, which is exactly what you want from an homage. Some of the exteriors evoke Thief Gold in a way that I wish I had seen in Thief 2. The interiors are diverse and have a lot of character, and the variety makes the map feel a little larger than it is.

Fierce Competition is a lot of fun to play. Objectives are well placed, and encourage the player to explore the map; moving around is fun and painless. I was pleased to find that despite the mission's small size, it managed to squeeze in multiple points of entry to several buildings. The only flaw in the mission's structure is that several locations are dead ends. Without connections to other spaces, they feel vestigial and less interesting than they could have been.

Though the story is simple, it offers just enough intrigue and scandal to satisfy the voyeur in every taffer. I enjoyed discovering Fierce Competition's cleverly telegraphed secrets.

In short, this is a solid mission by someone who really gets Thief. Strongly recommended for anyone anyone looking for a satisfying mission they can complete in one sitting.