The Sly Collection review

The first Sly Cooper holds up remarkably well. As we mentioned before, the focus isn’t beating up enemies – it’s sneaking into enemy strongholds and stealing shit. Usually that boils down to nabbing keys that unlock deeper sections of that criminal’s hideout, but the fetching level design and mission variation prevent this otherwise rote task from becoming boring. You’ll be avoiding lasers, scrambling across rooftops and perching on awnings like a raccoon Batman, all while ripping off other hardened thugs and staying one step ahead of copper Carmelita Fox.

By why all the thievery? Sly is the latest in a long line of expert thieves that target other robbers – after all, thieving a thief has got to be harder than ripping off some nobody, right? Problem is, Sly’s family was killed long ago and their Thievius Raccoonus, which contains all the family secrets, has been stolen and scattered among various evildoers. Now that Sly’s had a lifetime to train, it’s time to take his family heirloom back, and with each new page comes a new stealthy ability.

Best of all, Sly doesn’t have a lot of platformer bloat – the collectibles (clue bottles) actually award you new moves and abilities instead of just sitting there, and the various themed worlds, while structured roughly the same, have just enough going on in them to be meaty without dragging on. And just as it’s becoming too repetitive, the game’s over, complete with a lovely ending that ties things up nicely. That may not sound like a big deal, but part of great game design is knowing when to call it quits, and not keep piling shit on because you have the time.

There are a few control issues with the first game, namely your swing/hook grab move that occasionally misses its mark, and it’s extremely easy to walk right off the level into one-hit-kill pits or water hazards. Later abilities cancel these deaths out, but the first half of the game is filled with “oh what the hell” moments. We also noticed some lip synch issues that make the otherwise clever and charming dialog seem dethatched from the in-game scenario.

Like every platformer sequel, Sly 2 adds more of everything. In this case though, the excess is mostly welcome, as the animal-run world hinted at in the first game is fleshed out beyond a few scattered hideouts. Now Sly, Bentley and Murray team up in bases around the world (including highly stylized versions of Paris, India and Canada) and orchestrate much more demanding heists. The first game was Sly on his own, gathering keys until he was ready to fight a boss – now, all three members work towards a final mission that feels right out of Ocean’s 11, complete with a slideshow breakdown that gives reason and context to all this pilfering.

Above: Plus you get to dance with Carmelita, so that’s pretty cool, right?

You still slink around Sly most of the time, but Bentley and Murray have frequent outings. Bentley is equipped with sleeping darts and mines, and usually handles demolitions or tech-related stuff, while Murray, as the muscle, opts for more fightin’ than talking. But, as with the first game, each mission changes slightly from the last, so in the midst of sneaking you’ll also snap photos or pickpocket items of interest from guards. Again, this helps mask the tedium of repeating missions that usually choke platformers to death.

We’d say Sly 2 is the best of the bunch, even though it does drag on for just a tad too long. Everything is as enjoyable and varied as it could be, but there’s just so much going on in each world now that you start noticing how much time is spent running around the same map. Luckily, the enhanced presentation makes it feel like a fuller, richer world.

Sly 3 is the biggest, prettiest and lengthiest game of the trio, but after a hefty dose of Sly 2, the idea of even bigger levels with even more playable characters is a little intimidating. Make no mistake, the thieving is in full effect and the scale grows yet again, it’s just harder to bury yourself in another dense platformer. If you spread them out, say play through Sly 1, then Sly 2 a little later, then save Sly 3 for a month or so, it’s bound to be a better experience.

Sly 3 begins with a futile assault against a mandrill madman who’s trying to break into the Cooper family vault. When things look hopeless, the game punts you into flashback mode and you see how Sly and Bentley recruit a fresh new team of expert thieves, plus bring Murray back, who’s since left after the traumatic ending of Sly 2 (no spoilers, but uh, you can see Bentley in a wheelchair on the box).

The enlarging cast of characters and Sly’s dependency on them suggest the recently teased Sly 4could be a co-op heavy affair, putting you and a team of friends in control of an entire team of huggable thieves. If the series does move that way, we hope it’s an optional mode and not the focus – Sly works great on his own, and we’d love to see his PS3 debut bring things back down a notch.

As a collection, this is both a great deal and a much-deserved reintroduction to a fantastic set of seemingly forgotten games. If you’ve never experienced the Sly world before, this is the best possible way to see and play it - all in one place with copious Trophies for each title. The Move-enabled minigames, in our opinion, aren’t going to sway anyone one way or the other. They’re superfluous and quite uninteresting, but hey, you don’t have to play ‘em if you don’t want to.

Side note: We’re not sure why Sly was targeted for an HD remake over the Jak and Ratchet trilogies, but we’re happy to have him back. We just hope enough people check it out despite Sony’s lack of promotion – if this tanks, further HD remakes may be locked up for good.

Nov 15, 2010