Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Review

[Dreadman75]

I just recently played through and Plantinum'd this game and I have to say...not a bad first effort Sanzaru.

I do have a few gripes though:

1. The characters and the general mood of the whole game seems more lighthearted than the premise would suggest. In the first three games there were still jokes, sarcastic comments, and good ol' tough guy talk but here the game just seems overly saturated with it.

For all the...cartooniness of the first three games there was also a seriousness the balanced it out really well. Sly was plenty funny but he knew when the to make jokes and when to be serious. In this game it seems that, with a few exceptions, he's not taking it very seriously at all.

Maybe I'm wrong, I haven't played the original 3 in a while and haven't gotten the Sly HD collection yet, but something just seems...off about this game compared to it's predecessors.

2. The villains don't seem all that threatening compared to the ones of previous games.

Even Le Paradox, the main baddie, just seems like a step down from guys like Clockwerk and Doctor M. But like before that may be just me.

3. The game feels kinda short and rushed at points. And the difficulty seems a tad easy.

But despite these minor complaints, I liked the game. I think it was a pretty decent first effort by Sanzaru, and I really hope that if/when there's a sequel these points get addressed. If they do then I think the next game will be a truly incredible experience.

1. I'll agree that it's a little more wacky than the other three, but in this day and age I think that's the point. Personally I think there's a bit too much seriousness in gaming... especially where it doesn't belong (looking at you, Jak). I actually have more respect for Sanzaru that they went 'Sly is cartoon animal Lupin III, and we refuse to darken the mood for the mainstream, you will take your sugary humor and you will LIKE IT'.

2. True, but the game DID start up a recurring villain that will be a semi-shock for some Sly fans, and you should at least give them props for pulling that twist.

3. Not sure, but I'm guessing this game is actually the longest of the series. The Sly series is usually anywhere from 8-12 hours, usually without much replayability. This one has relatively challenging collectibles to gather, and doesn't resort to time challenges or harder minigame challenges for fluff. Personally I think they found a happy medium with this title.

1. I'm not saying that the next Sly has to go Jak II levels of dark and serious. But the first 3 games had such a good mix of humor and seriousness that to see the ratio shifted like that is a bit jarring.

2. As for the recurring villain...I will give Sanzaru props for having the stones to do what they did. But on no level do I like the twist itself, it makes no fucking sense! The reason for it would have been better if...

Spoiler

Doctor M. hadn't made the EXACT SAME ARGUMENT and the end of the third game. God I hate that twist so much!

3. When it comes to game length and replayability, you may have a point. I like just about everything about the first 3 games. I loved taking my time and seeing everything, I liked the minigames, and I loved hunting down all the collectibles. For me each game dragged me in in such a way that I didn't leave, or really want to leave, for what seemed like forever. I just didn't get that feeling from this game, which is kinda disappointing to me. Maybe the next game...

 

[Lucane]

Each of the games' levels are set up in a quasi-open world environment,

Oh god. I guess i won't be getting this game after all.

I loved the simplicity and straightfowardness of the first Sly Cooper. And got more and more annoyed with the open-world of the second and third games. I found them to be horribly implemented. Which is surprising considering how the dueling titles of Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter got the whole 'open-world' thing just right. And also how their later title of inFamous also did a great job of creating an open world game.

The game is basically straight-forward still like once in each time period do you get an option of 2 different jobs at once that both tie into the mission after that otherwise it's the one mission at a time in order the (hub) is mainly for settings hidden treasure and clue bottles though a 1/3 of the jobs rely on the hub map for their missions

As a bonus you can see Clockwork in seveal moments threw time standing out of reach at some points in time though always in the full metal body.(I haven't personally seen him in all 5 time periods yet just 2 so far.)

I only saw him once in Medieval England sitting upon a clock tower. I spent a good five minutes staring him down. It was one of the most emotional moments of my gaming experience.

Yeah that the second time I noticed him in Japan you can spot Clockwork over the roof (in the distance) of the Geisha house during a certain mission I think when Sly is doing surveillance in the area. He looks the same way as he does in England though.

 

[Terramax]

Great... another Vita title I'm gonna have to pick up now...

 

[Norix596]

This seems like a better use of the Assassin's Creed premise than Assassin's Creed. What's the point of having the Desmond framing if there's only going to a single setting taking up the vast majority of the game. This whole, ancestors across the globe and timestream is really neat to explore.

 

[putowtin]

It seems a shame Sucker Punch no longer makes or has control of the Sly games (come on guy's if you're giving up sly at least make inFAMOUS 3) but Sanzaru Games seem to have done a good job.

 

[The White Hunter]

Now if only it would come out in Europe this month and I wouldn't have to avoid spoilers like the plague for nearly 2 months. [sub]Seriously, if somebody spoilers, I wont be pleased at all[/sub]

But it's nice to see something like this come out, now we just need to convinve Sony that we'll buy a new Ape Escape platformer.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Oh man, I'm so excited about this game!

Sly 2: Band of Thieves is one of my all-time favourite games and this one looks to be pretty much on the same page. It looks like the bottles are back as well! I absolutely loved collecting those in Sly 1 and 2 but for some reason they axed them from Sly 3 which made me sad.

To be honest, a lot of the "problems" Paul mentions here were in the other games as well. There was quite a lot of explanatory cut-scenes, lots of tell and not show, repetitive objectives and there was even a rhythm action boss battle in the first game. Damn she was a *****! But none of that diminished my enjoyment.

This looks like an honestly polished Sly game and a very good start for Sanzaru Games.

 

[FFP2]

Thanks to everyone that replied to me If I ever get a PS3 this will be definitely the first game I get... how much do used ones go for these days?

 

[Jamous]

Played these on the PS2 when I was smaller. I think I might just have to look into this.

 

[Rooster893]

I am having an absolute blast with this game right now... it's working its way up to one of my top 10.

Get this game. You won't regret it.

 

[cookyt]

the series was the first game i ever played on a playstation 2. and it was quite nice.

damn i'm old..

You can't be THAT old. (It was my first PS2 game too)

This is one of the few times I feel bad for not having a PS3. I remember when I played the first, I was angry at it for weeks for because I beat it 100% and there was nothing left to do but start over Good times.

 

[Ljs1121]

...I need a PS3.

I've been waiting for this game for eight years. And I can't even play it.

Maybe I can just rent it and see about playing it at a friend's house. Because I need to play this freaking game.

 

[PinkiePyro]

sly 1-3 are my favorite ps2 games

but I have to wonder what happended between 3 and 4

Spoiler

I mean at the end of 3 he basically retired from thieving (by faking amnesia) so he could get some from Carmalita did they break up?

I hope they are not lazy and write it off with a time pardox or something

 

[Raggedstar]

sly 1-3 are my favorite ps2 games

but I have to wonder what happended between 3 and 4

Spoiler

I mean at the end of 3 he basically retired from thieving (by faking amnesia) so he could get some from Carmalita did they break up?

I hope they are not lazy and write it off with a time pardox or something

The first cutscene explains it. It's not technically a spoiler since most of these details were revealed in E3 2011 when the game was first shown as well as various trailers.

Basically the Thievius Raccoonus' pages start vanishing, and Bentley has to use the time machine he's been working on (not as random as you think. Bentley says he was making one at the end of Sly 3) to find out what's going on or else Sly will lose his family's legacy. In order for the time machine to work, he needs to find artifacts of the time period they need. Sly, who has been having an itch for his old life as a thief, agrees to help steal an item they know a famous Cooper was from in a creepy looking museum. Then they grab Murray and are on their way.

As you can figure, Carmelita wasn't too pleased. They did technically break up later, but more from Carmelita finding out Sly has been playing her the entire time and hasn't changed a bit.

 

[themilo504]

3d platformers are my video game panda so I?m always glad when a new one come out.