What can I
really say about the Sly Cooper Franchise?
Probably
that it is the greatest stealth oriented platformer to ever grace the
Playstation 2 Console. At first I wasn't
so keen on the idea of the game however upon playing the first one I was
instantly hooked on the series.
So if you
assumed I was excited for Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (aka Sly 4) you were
absolutely right. Heck I even bought the
Sly Collection on the PS3 because I heard the rumor of the Sly 4 teaser in it
(which sadly to say, I never unlocked).
Now Before I
go on, I must warn you....THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SLY 3 AND SLY
4. IF YOU DO NOT WISH THESE GAMES
SPOILED FOR YOU PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Alright. Anyone who has beaten Sly 3 knows that at the
end of the game, Sly is last seen with Carmelita Fox, apparently with amnesia
and now working for Interpol. However,
like many of us guessed by watching the semi-cliffhanger at the end, in Sly 4
it reveals he was faking it.
Figures.
Sly, though
enjoying his new life, starts to crave his glory days and decides to pull off
one more heist. However as he's making
plans, he bumps into his old pal Bentley who reveals that not only has the
turtle's girlfriend Penelope disappeared, but the Thieveous Raccoonus (The
Cooper Family history and Guide to be the ultimate Thief) is erasing itself due
to changes in the past. Once again it's
up to Sly Cooper and the Cooper Gang to restore it. Conveniently, Bentley has been building a
Time Machine since the end of the Sly 3 that can take you to any point in time
as long as you put a item from the era where you want to go into the machine
which hooks up to the Cooper Van. Also conveniently,
the item in question that they need to steal is located in the same place Sly
has been scoping out for a heist.
So Murray,
Sly, and Bentley use their "master" skills to bust into the place and
steal the Japanese Sword....dagger....thing.
You get a few hints of who the bad guy is, a bad guy conversation to
listen in on, some good use of all three characters so you can learn to play as
them, a run in with Carmelita Fox who finds out Sly is back to his old tricks
the hard way, and a good old Back to the Future Time Jump Reference. Sweet.
As the game
progresses you meet up with past members of the Cooper family that you only
heard about in the previous games. This
is kind of cool, however most play rather close to Sly, only missing some of
his moves, and having a few moves that Sly hasn't learned. Also through your adventure you gain
Carmelita Fox as a playable character which is pretty fun as well.
Honestly the
Gameplay is where the game really hits home.
While containing enough new abilities and gameplay elements to keep it
fresh, they keep rather close to their old Sly Cooper Series roots. And they cover just about every aspect of
genre. There are DDR/Guitar Hero parody
segments (similarly to a Sly Cooper Boss Fight), Driving segments in the
van, Hacking scenarios with Bentley, 3rd
person Shooter sections, and of course Stealth oriented Platforming.
However it's
not all fun and games. While most of
Bentley's hacking mini-games are rather enjoyable, one uses motion
controls....with the PS3 Controller.
Maybe it works better with the Playstation Move, however I don't have
one, so I was forced to use my wireless PS3 Controller. It was way more complex and annoying then it was
worth. Also while the Dance themed
button timed events were rather fun, it was nearly impossible to enjoy the
visuals while doing them. The buttons
take up only like a 6th of your screen while the rest is filled with
distractingly funny (yet kind of awkward when Murray was dancing) scenes that
you really can't watch the first time through.
Now I think that was the idea they were going for with that mini-game
but it's still takes you from your element when you are forced to watch buttons
scroll across the screen rather than watch the hilarity of the guards drooling
over Murray dancing (and later Carmelita Belly Dancing. By the way the game is Rated E. So it's about the equivalent of watching
Looney Tunes dancing.).
The Boss
battles were rather impressive and I usually (keyword: Usually) only died
either do to over thinking their attack pattern or flat out doing something
downright stupid on my end. Only one
boss battle really left me feeling cheated.
That battle where you fight Miss Decibel. She has this one attack that I was unable to
find a way to dodge. I tried rolling,
slowing time, running, jumping, nothing.
And it does enough damage that it's not worth just letting it hit
you. However the rest of the fight, as
well as the others, were both creative and fun.
I also have
nothing bad to say about the music. The
music is fitting it every stage, never seems out of place, and even has a
Doctor Who Theme Parody at the Title Screen (complete with Spiraling
Backgrounds and Spinning Blue Vans).
While it may not be the best out there, I can say I was not disappointed
ever for the music.
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The Story is
where the game has issues. Yeah I know
Sucker Punch didn't make this game so it is to be expected, and for the most
part the story is rather good. It just
isn't as good as it could of been.
My first
complaint is Dimitri. If you played
through Sly 3 you know he eventually joins the Cooper Gang. However he just kinda doesn't do anything in
this one. He appeared in one of the
trailers but beyond that he just kind of appears in cutscene where he doesn't
actually speak. While his role is
semi-important for the story (guarding the book while you try to restore it) it
seems....poor. It really isn't a good
enough reason in my opinion to have cut him loose.
The Second
issue is Penelope. In Sly 3 she hooked
up with Bentley after getting over her crush on Sly. They hit it off rather well. In Sly 4 she goes missing. Now I had been expecting through the game
that she had been kidnapped or that she was erased or changed through
time. Nope. She's secretly evil. Yup.
Big cop out there game developers.
How'd the bad guys travel time?
Penelope was secretly evil and stole the Time Machine Plans. How did they get access to the Thieveous
Raccoonus? Penelope was Secretly
Evil. Where did all their tech come
from? Penelope was secretly evil. IGNORING
the fact that she HAD A FREAKING CRUSH on Sly on in Sly 3, she apparently has
HATED/DISLIKED/NOT SEEN EYE TO EYE with this whole time. Did she act like that in Sly 3 ever?
Nope. Her motivation is that by removing
Sly from the Timeline, she can remove his influence on Bentley allowing him and
her to rule the world. Why? She had absolutely no hint of a desire like
that in her previous appearance. In
fact, she was always portrayed as more interested in the contest then the
results (example: she secretly runs the Biplane Battles in Sly 3 and doesn't
really seem to care when she loses). She
also reveals in Sly 3 that she has no taste for traitors, yet she becomes
one. Uh...what happened to the
continuity with her? Everyone else was
gotten right (those that appeared at least).
They didn't mess with the story of any of the previous games. What the heck happened with her?
Lastly is
the ending. While Sly 4 was supposed to
solve the semi-cliffhanger ( I say semi because while it left thing open on
what was going to happen next, it really wasn't all that secretive.) it then
ends with a cliffhanger of its own. Now
I know I didn't unlock the supposed true ending, however I did see (via
Youtube) how that one turns out and it's just as much a cliffhanger as the
other ending. No offense but we've been
waiting nearly eight years to find out what happens next and you don't even
finish the story?! Yes I would like to
see a Sly 5, but I would have rather the developers made sure we liked Sly 4
first. Games shouldn't be made to sell a
sequel. They should be made to sell
themselves. If Sly 5 was the game with
the cliffhanger at the end I wouldn't complain so much. I would have known my opinions on the
developers and would have known if I wanted to see the series continue. But no!
Let's just assume that because we ported all the three Sly Games to the
PS3 with only graphic changes (that unless you have an HD TV you don't even
notice), and assume that's enough for everyone to trust us with a
cliffhanger. I mean c'mon. We didn't trust Bungie with a Cliffhanger in
Halo 2. Why the heck would we trust you
guys with a cliffhanger in a series your attempting to revive!?
Overall, if
you're a Sly Cooper fan you will NOT be disappointed in the game (unless like
me, in which case the Story really Sucker Punches you in the gut). And I believe newcomers to the series would
be able to enjoy the game as well as pretty much nothing of the first 3 games
will be ruined for you (unless of course you have trouble going back to early
PS2 era graphics). If you enjoy
platforming, not too complex stealth, Cartoon Animals, or Back to the Future
and Doctor Who References in video games, you might wanna check this game
out. Don't let the new Company scare you
away. And here's hoping that Sly 5 is
just as good if not better (at least do better on the story eh?)
Overall
Score is 8/10
Bang.
-TheRedAuthar
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