This is it, the Big 40th Review and home to probably one of my favourite stories ever crafted in a Video game, Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves, Sly 2 is almost a masterpiece, it’s almost right there but unfortunately there’s so many factors keeping it from to be that great, but it’s still pretty fucking great and i would dare to call it a perfect sequel, that takes elements from the first game while doing it's own thing to cohesively make this banger of a game, but where to begin? Well I guess from the beginning. Oh by the way i’m gonna be fully spoiling this game, i normally don’t put a spoiler warning on a game unless it’s game that’s story is it’s entire identity like Ace Attorney or a recent game but here i really want to you to play this game by any means necessary or at least experience it’s story so with the warning out of the way, let’s begin.

Part 1: Crafting An Great Continuation

Despite its pretty lukewarm commercial sales compared to its contemporaries, Sucker Punch knew there was something greater to this quaint little series and so instantly began development on Sly 2 after Sly 1’s completion. To make a gaming sequel now you’ve gotta ask, First: Is it necessary and second (around this time) is there a target audience? For Sly 2 both of these factors in my opinion were going against this game pretty hard, Sly 1 was a pretty open & shut game, there wasn't much left to continue apart from a pretty weak sequel hook of the return of Clockwerk but nothing too major (This will be important later in the series) but would have cool nonetheless to see these characters again, especially with how the romance with Carmelita ended, and the fast changing landscape of gaming after Grand Theft Auto 3 changed gaming forever, for better or for worse but that's a story for another time, for now the game changed a lot about my favourite genre along with another game, God of War. A lot of developers that weren’t Nintendo (I mean even then there wasn’t many major 1st party platformers after Super Mario Sunshine) didn’t know how to suite this change, some suck to their roots while expanding on the predecessor’s gameplay like Ratchet & Clank 2 Locked & Loaded, Pac Man World 2, Rayman 3 & Ty 2: Bush Rescue which did well while others mainly Crash & Spyro struggled to change with the times while others got overly edgy and missed the point of what made the games so great like Prince of Persia Warrior Within and uh, Jak 2 (I do not like Jak 2: Renegade) both of these games just feel off to play as they’re clearly trend chasing but don’t make the gameplay any better, just worse but again for another time. Sly 2 did the impossible and managed to do both things masterfully, right in the hotspot of Grand Theft’s Auto’s magnum opus, San Andreas. It told a deeper, darker & and more mature story naturally with the same cartoony charm of the first game while also having a new gameplay formula that instead feels like a natural evolution of Sly 1 and not trying to disregard everything that the first game did while also being a pretty fun in it’s own right and suiting the rapidly changing times, all of this is masterfully communicated by the prologue sequence.

The prologue sequence in the first game was already decent but this one just steals the show, first of all, gameplay wise it shows the new formula used in this game pretty well, it’s not an open world yet but the area you play is much more open than any level area from the first game, it shows the new health system & how it’ll be utilised, the multiple playable characters and what they’re gonna do and Sly’s moves, but more importantly story wise. In this game it not only perfectly justified its existence but also serves as a decent enough introduction to people who didn’t play the first game, our goal is set pretty clear, get da Clocktwerk perts, it’s not overly convoluted or doesn’t make sense in terms of the established world, it also serves as good enough driving force for Sly and the boys to stop the evil plan by the new group of villains as they have seen the horror that Clockwerk has done firsthand and know that these people are easily dealing with more that they can handle, speaking off you are given a scarily first impression by the Klaww Gang, they managed to steal all the parts without a trace, making them already a more competent force than the Fiendish Five. We’re also introduced to a mysterious new ally and character to bounce off to Carmelita, Constable Neyla who gives us the clue to the Klaww Gang, look I’m not gonna pretend she’s a twist villain in this game but it’s serviable enough twist until the end but since we’re far off that yet, she’s a decent enough new character. But easily, this prologue excels at reintroducing previous characters, Sly’s just a good as the first game but a lot more mature, he’s always has his head on the mission at hand while can also tell a joke, the biggest difference in his friends where he always backs them up and believes in them no matter what, speaking of the Cooper Gang has shown a greater amount of competence than anything from the first game, Bentely shows a great amount of courage being on his first time on the field and has is just as great as the first game and Murray, he’s almost a different character and in a good way he’s fully transitioned into the muscle of the group instead of the dumb fat character, his more booming vocal direction is great, his new design is great and the comedy that the tell with this character is great, making him like an over the top wrestling character was possibly one of oddest yet greatest choice you could make for the character, Carmelita is also there i guess don’t really have much to say, Zenigata but it’s a girl and a fox i guess that’s all your getting lol. This is all amalgamated in the chase at the end, showing the characters and new gameplay with the music that has been built up throughout the prologue, it’s flawless and we’re just getting started, Sly 2s greatness in terms of story, gameplay and presentation is masterfully exhibited, so I'm gonna go in depth with each subject in each part, first the gameplay, then presentation and finally the story so without further ado let's get this show on the road.

Part 2: Advancing and Reinventing Platforming Gameplay

Sly 2’s gameplay is both radically different and insanely amazing improvement to Sly 1, the idea of the series going Open World sounds like dumb trend chasing but it works gloariously, it feels natural seeing that this isn’t a simple Hub World, but rather a entire sandbox for you to play and tinker around with masterful level design that complements the character's physics and stealth elements along with fun and varied missions that follow a airtight structure along with a few new improvements such as a health system and removal of lives which makes the slight more in-depth combat system a lot more bearable, Sly feels a lot more agile with way more moves you can achieve making him really fun to play as now, a run button which has a pretty good risk reward system, You get a burst of speed but at the risk of alerting guards, speaking off Sly 2 ups the stealth element tenfold as the enemies in this game aren't a one and done thing, You've got Light Guards which have automatic guns when you're on their light and smaller guards that can jump or throw dirt at you, in return you can also pickpocket guards to get coins or items you can sell in Thief.net which can gain you new power-ups in the Gadget-Grid, some of them are necessary to complete the game but some are completely optional and even expand the combat or movement options, highlights being the Stealth Slide, Hang-glider and Jackpack with a fair trade off with them being a separate meter that depletes when you use them but your wondering what I mean by a Jackpack? Sly doesn't have a Jackpack? Well that's when Sly & his titular Band of Thieves come in.

Part 3: Minigame & Mission Mayhem!

Yes I know the multiple playable characters aren't a minigame but bare with me, Most platformers at this time that had multiple playable characters didn't do them very well, SA2 being a prime and InFamous example where each character is a different gameplay style and another one being Donkey Kong 64 where character balance is non-existent but Sly 2 manages to do Multiple playable characters amazingly, the ratio of playable characters is great, 50% Sly and other 50% being dedicated to the other characters (though i would say 30% Bentley and 20% Murray) so you'll play as the other characters not as often as Sly but still pop up every once in a whole but more importantly they don't stray away from a main gameplay style (plus they're fun to play)

Bentley is a lot less agile and instead is more focused on long ranged combat with his Bow and Bombs, he's probably least favourite character to play given how he leads to the minigame which I'll get into later plus he's a bit weak and slow without his Adrenaline Burst Gadget or other Gadgets but I still think playing as Bentley is decent enough due to how he's used in terms of the game as your never forced to fight enemies extensively, but playing as Murray is so damn good, he just there to wail on guards and I'm not complaining, not being able to jump and run while carrying things and he isn't as agile as Sly but it's just fun to smash things especially with his gadgets, like the Juggernaut throw were the enemy explodes on impact and his inferno moves, and the Guttural Charge all being elements of destruction when playing as him, so overall we've established that Sly 2 has great character gameplay but what about the missions and returning minigames? Well each Mission and Chapter for that matter has a clear structure that eventually follow into the Heists, some of these are great mainly ones that focus around platforming, smaller rooms that have self contained challenges, switching between different characters and the camera recons but some missions are absolutely awful, mainly the ones in the Chapter 4 & 5 most the missions that don’t involve character team-ups in Chapter 8, a lot of them in Chapter 4 & 5 focus on the verticality of the stage so for a lot of them you’re just awkwardly jumping around, plus as we’ll get to soon, the variety in them is not very good and Chapter 8 isn’t fun to traverse through even with Sly, it only gets fun when you get the Mega-Jump but for most of it feels way too big for its own good, the catalyst of this is the TNT run where you have traversal through this giant stage, but on the whole i’d say the missions in Sly 2 manage to keep my attention throughout it’s missions, the game does have a inconsistent difficulty problem and repetitive structure but i think the game throws enough at you to make each mission at least unique, for better or worse.

It’s time for the 3D Platformer Minigame round-up, Sly 2’s minigames are both a huge improvement and a huge step-down from the first game, some of are horrible, mainly the tank, it controls so awkwardly and doesn’t feel rewarding when destroying the other enemies, the hacking minigames are fun but there’s way too many of them, half of Bentleys missions revolve around them and it just becomes boring after a while, the Parappa Minigame was cool though i feel doing them at different times is a bit weird, protecting yourself from enemies using traps, and using helicopters/planes in Chapter 2, 5, 7 and 8 while cool gets a bit mindless after a while and finally you’ve got the 2000s Platformer classic: The boring and mindless Turret sections, but i feel Sly 2’s variety comes more so in the form of of giving the player unique challenges and places to traverse through a long with some fun yet pretty mindless combat sections which are mainly shown in the bosses rather than relying on the minigames as a crux of content like the previous did and it shows, Sly 2 clocks around 10-12 Hours and maybe an additionally 13-15 Hours 100% the game, speaking of i really enjoyed 100% this game, i liked finding all the clue bottles and buying all the power-ups since they gave me some fun skills to mess around with but i do wish they could at least shown like the last few when you’re done to mitigate the last crate syndrome seen in game’s like this, maybe with an upgrade you could purchase, but unfortunately, Sly 2 has basically no replay value once doing all of that, the only thing that come close are Treasures which are a nice distraction but once doing all Treasure runs, there’s nothing else, This is the moment where i wished there was a New Game Plus Mode where you could play the game again (maybe with skippable cutscenes) while also retaining your old moves and maybe upgrading them, along with just being harder, also wish you could replay individual missions and try to beat them as fast as possible, calling back to the time trials from Sly 1 like come on even Jak 2 did this, but it’s nothing to stress or hold the game over. So overall in terms of Gameplay, Sly 2 definitely hits it’s mark, Chapter 4, 5 and 8 are kinda weak compared to the rest of the game especially Chapter 8, the level design just sucks, it’s too spacious, big and not fun to traverse around , but still it is such a great game due to its strong level design, characters and missions, it may be a bit on the easy and long side (The Bug mission especially) but it can’t take away from what is easily one of the highlights from this era, and we’re not even done yet.

Part 4: Presentation!
The game doubles down on the Toon-shading aspects of Sly 1, making it a pretty cool game to look at, locations are mostly unique and are brimming with life throughout the game, though one compliant i have is that after Chapter 3, Contessa and Jean Biasons Act 2’s just look the same to me, Contessa's especially, with Jean you could say that one’s more ice themed while the other is more snow themed but maybe with the Contessa ones a mental asylum and the other is a castle? But they don’t really differentiate much honestly, one thing i noticed while playing both versions is that the PS2 Version is much darker, plus the excess motion blur and inconsistent 30fps return which are all fixed in the PS3 along with a higher resolution and framerate and uh, fading in and out audio clips, widescreen assets not fitting unless in overscan mode, removed bonus content like great making off documentary and the commercials, which is a bad emission in my opinion but alright.

There’s also another weird difference in that Sly’s Colours are made more accurate in the PS3 Version to his cutscene look which is cool i suppose but the definitive way is to play this with emulation mostly due to mods but that’s a discussion for another day, though one thing if i don’t know if is a result of the port is that the game is pretty glitchy, clipping through the floor, some cutscenes not working, dialogue cutting out and needing a restart were all problems i faced during the game, it’s certainly more than the first game despite me thinking that game was more unpolished, but two things that is a huge boost in quality is the music/sound design and voice acting. Nearly every track in the game is so good, emphasising the sneaky theme the sly games are known for along with each world having a varied and distinct themes throughout, i don’t have any stage highlights but one thing in-particular i like is how when the menu theme gets more elaborate and sinister as the game progresses, that’s a pretty cool detail, i also really love the sound design, especially when you hit an enemy with that Batman and Robin Sound effect, really making it feel like a comic book/TV Series that came to life, this is further shown through the new artstyle used in this and Sly 3, it looks a lot better to me, it feels less cheap imo (also the artstyle in the first game is used in a bonus video, Sly Cooper: The Second Season and was used in a demo so that’s nice)

But easily, in terms of Voice Acting, Sly 2 is the best in terms of improving the presentation set from Sly 1, returning VA’s like Kevin Miller and Matt Olsen return with a much better direction, sounding less stiff and more alive, Chris Murphy sounds like a completely new character, turning into a deep macho wrestler instead of a Gay Barney the Dinosaur which is cool given how he may have been replace but sometimes his voice can sound a bit jarring with the deeper voice but overall an massive improvement, and then you got the newcomers, Sergeant Johnson i mean David Scully does a great job as both the comedic Dimitri and the threaten/imposing Rajan, the late Gloria Manon did an great job at playing the Conteassa and Ross Douglas and Sam Mowry do a decent/serviceable job at doing their performances as Jean Biason and Apperggio respectively. The only one i’m quite mixed about is Alésia Glidewell, while her performance as Neyla is good both managing to balance threatening and gentle with a decent british accent her role to voicing Carmelita is a bit boring, the first game’s VA wasn’t amazing but with the right direction could have been up there with the returning VA’s but why recast? They also decided to remove her latina accent in favour of an American (?) accent, she’s just not a very good replacement overall, she sounds bored most of the time and says the same lines with the exact same tone and emotion which can happen with the other characters along with some instances of overacting but it’s especially the case with Carmelita but on the whole i really dig the cast, but are they given good material, well i mean you know the answer already.

Part 5: Sly 2’s Subversive and amazing story
There’s no way of cutting it, Sly 2’s story is almost amazing and it really only shits the bed at the end of the game but that’s for later, for now let me ask you this question; What makes a good video game story? Not a good story in a game but a good story that uses the medium of Video Games through it’s story, where it doesn’t have to sacrifice Gameplay for story exposition and tells the a story that can only be used in Video Games, A game like Far Cry 3 or Ace Attorney do this incredibly well while others such as most Modern Sony games while tell a good compelling story mostly do it at the expense of Gameplay, Obviously you need cutscenes to tell your story but in cases were you’re just walking in a straight line while a character tells you shit possibly masked as a loading screen isn’t that great in my opinion. But Sly 2 while doesn’t do it as well as those 2 still makes your actions in the story tied to the gameplay such as a mission structure, which can make playing the game being a bit repetitive but without further ado, let’s start from beginning, ah your already asking didn’t i already do the beginning and to that i say, Yes, Yes i did but there’s another beginning i haven't talked about, the prequel comic. Unlike Sly 3 where it explains plot details left out of Sly 3 this one is more of a brevity comic which brings back the Monaco chapter cut from Sly 2, the comic is more there to shed light on Sly's relationship with other people such as his father, The Cooper gang and Carmelita, Overall it's a very cute comic despite their being a bit of a contradiction with Murray's character but still, I really like Sly applying his father's philosophies to a heist in Monaco, Sly bonding with the Cooper gang as kids in the orphanage that they grew up in whilst doing a heist and my favourite, Sly and Carmelita meeting for the first time with different and exaggerated versions of the events of the comic, so overall a pretty fun comic with some fun dialogue, nothing necessary but you go give a read if your a fan of series, now back to the story.

As established I've already talked about the prologue, so in Sly 2 you start in familiar territory, France as you take down Dimitri, one thing you'll notice is that the villains aren't just your normal monster of the week archetype seen in Sly 1 and most platformers, each of the Klaww Gang are one cog in a spice machine, Dimitri being the distributor in the club's of Paris, Rajan being the Spice Producer, The Contessa being the hypnotist, Jean Biason being the transporter, Arpeggio being the leader/chief inventor and Neyla being the protege (also fun fact, Neyla was suppose to be related to Rajan but was removed due to “simplicity”, would have cool to see) all of the villains are part of a connected organisation that feels like you’re taking down a Band of Thieves at one time, Sly 1’s villains were good but Sly 2’s are on a whole nother level, each one being more sinister and competent than the last (until the end), and on the whole, the characters of Sly 2 are incredibly well-written, Sly is just as great as the first game, now being more mature and appreciative of his friends, Bentley and especially Murray have now have the screentime they desperately need and deserve, like the first game, the characters have a drive for their actions and damn well-witten arc mainly Bentley and Murray though Sly has a good mini arc at the end of the game, releasing that his friends can’t match up to him no matter what, leading to his characterisation in Sly 3, Bentely also grows from being a somewhat small, quiet kept person who is pretty much scared of everything in the outside world becomes the key to stopping the Klaww Gang and fighting Jean Biason, the biggest character in the game, using per-wit, Murray has probably my favourite character moments in terms of pure comedy and brilliance, can you tell i love this character? He goes from the dumb fat guy who you like but know is a bit incapable to a strong, courageous, fearless and badass hippo who his still a bit incapable (like he gets distracted with food all the time in this game like wtf) but is still a very good friend and even ally to have, Murray’s the heart of the team, staying optimistic in the worse of situations and when he’s given it, you know your in for deep shit. Murray’s is probably one of the best strong yet dumb characters i’ve seen in any media barring maybe Ed from Ed, Edd and Eddy, I wouldn’t even call him that dumb in most cases just unaware of his surroundings and doesn’t having much knowledge as say Bentely or even Sly, and it’s so heart-wrenching to see their new found confidence absolutely crippled (physically with Bentely), both of them hit an all time low in their mental state but still decide to help Sly get away despite him knowingly turning himself in for a good a while, completlingly their character’s arcs, Sly realising that his friends can prove themselves even unexpectedly despite them already doing that in the previous chapters removing the doubt he always had with them and the Cooper Gang growing more confidence despite the drastic ending, Carmelita is there too i guess, she’s a character that’s good but i don’t really have much too say much about, i like how she realises not all thieves are bad at the end of the game and sometimes in Chapter 6 & 7 but i don’t have much to say about her and finally Neyla, i think i’ll save her for later.

Sly 2 is essentially a story of building the confidence you’ve never knew you had in you, there may be times you’ll doubt your confidence but it’ll come back even stronger than before, along with strengthening your relationships with your friends and enemies, leaving the past behind/keep moving forward and taking things seriously when you need too, it’s a masterfully written story that is elevated by insanely well-written dialogue with any character, being both smart, witty, charming and funny at points, i love how it foreshadows future events such as Bentely not being able to drive stick, Murray’s fate with the contessa, Neyla’s true intentions and Carmelita’s feelings about Sly all are foreshadowed in the past events. But i’ve already hammered in why this Story is so amazing but what about it being subversive? Well let me take you through the story of this game, Chapter 1 is pretty simple, you’re greeted with the same Carmelita sting operation you’ve grown oh so familiar with in this game, even if you haven’t played this game your established a full success, in Chapter 2 your given the same affairs as last time both gameplay wise and story wise, Sly and gang pulling of scheme after scheme eventually leading to the heist that is until you realise Rajan escaped, the game pulls a fast one on you and subverts your expectations, especially if you’ve grown accustomed to how Sly 1’s villains fared, it’s the reason why having Monaco cut was such a great decision overall as it allows both old and new players to grow accustomed to how things will be run but here it’s completely turned on its head, especially how most games at the time with these types of villains are handle so in Chapter 3 you’re more on edge seeing how Rajan escaped again who knows what will happen next? That’s when Neyla comes in and helps you recover the heart piece while also beating Rajan with Murray’s newfound confidence, this is where you think you’d escape with the help of Neyla right? And that’s where the twist comes in, the game perfectly subverts your expectations once again with Neyla, this is the time were i talk about Neyla as a twist villain, i’ll admit, while i do love the idea of it the execution could be better though it’s not terrible, i do like the red-herring in the beginning of the game and her as character is great, especially in chapter 6 were she doesn’t decide to give up for anything and that’s where in my opinion she should have been killed off but that’s unfortunately not case but that’s until a little awhile, from the twist Sly and Murray captured leading to Bentley being the narrator for 3 cutscenes and the main star of Chapter 4, emphasising how this adventure will focus on the Cooper Gang not just Sly, this is where the subversive bit of the game ends, it’s mostly is pretty straight forward, this game doesn’t have the most mind blowing twists but it still delivers on a pretty great story, in Chapter 5 especially the game really wants you to believe you’ll fail again but in this operation you’ll really have to fight for the the Clockwerk parts in it, then in Chapter 6 you get all 3 Clockwerk parts making you at the height of your confidence, continuing through most of Chapter 7 until Rajan raids your safehouse and gets all the Clockwerk, leading to a high octane chase ensuing (which happens with all 3 characters by the way) as you stow away into the bunker and ride off to Arpeggio Airships, and then Chapter 8 shits the bed really hard.

Okay, it’s time Chapter 8’s gameplay and story is really weak I’ve already talked about that but story wise? It’s sucks, we’re introduced Arpeggio a villain who has a decent back story, we go do the photo recon then, Clock-La for some reason instead of doing something that makes sense, they do Clock-La, you see instead of wanting to fly like all birds for Arpeggio he wants to be immortal, but Neyla does as well and yeah this needed another draft, like i said earlier i think Neyla should have been done with Chapter 6 and have Arpeggio steal the show and not make him into a joke, like in my opinion Arpeggio should have been the main villain of this chapter and awakened Clockwerk, not as a vehicle like the original does but have him return, raising the stakes even higher, (i guess Arpeggio could die again, i don’t know) and the game essentially continues as normal but now Clockwerk takes stage.

That’s just way better than Clock-La in my opinion since it ties into the themes of this game and could lead to some great dialogue, don’t get me wrong it doesn’t make the other scenes and ending aren’t hampered by Clock-la but could have been a lot better (along with the whole of Chapter 8) but man the ending it’s kinda dark, the only game that apparently has a darker ending is Klonoa but that’s for another time, the team is in disarray as 2 of the members are heavily injured one mentally and physically as the team aren’t ready for any elaborate scheme this time, this leads to a great interaction with Sly and Carmalita how they have more in common with Carmelita realising that not all thieves are bad, unbeknownst to them,to the Cooper Gang help Sly escape as Carmelita vows to find him once again while Sly escapes on the hang glider, ending Sly 2 (except not as there’s post credit stuff with what the Klaww members are doing now plus the game tells you to touch grass so that’s nice) but i think I’ve stretched the story analysis enough, overall Sly 2’s story is awesome, it blends great and charming dialogue with a deep and mature story that naturally follows the first game and manages to subvert your expectations, while it doesn’t stick the landing all the time, it manages to still stay enjoyable through it’s characters, but anyway let’s wrap things up shall i?


Conclusion and Thank You
Yeah this game is very good, like holy shit it’s way better than any right it needs to be, it takes a completely new direction that is respectful to the original game both in terms of story and gameplay topped with presentation that makes you feel like your in a comic book, you can tell the developers really tried to make this game as great as it could be since they didn’t know that if Sly was a feasible series to continue with, i mean Rocket was a failure and at the time, Sly 1 was underperformed so the future of the company and series was up in the air, and it paid-off, over 2 Million Units sold and received critical acclaim both at release and retrospect, so i think to say Sucker Punch needed to deliver but would they, find out after i 100% Sly 3 i guess, this is where i would end the review except something unexpected while i was making this review i managed to hit over 50 followers, and i just wanted to say thank you, never did i imagine to reach this amount of people (especially this soon) when joining this site or if people would like the reviews but i’m glad my anixties are put to rest so i apolgise for the wait for this review but i hope it delivered (or it’s a horribly bloated mess, though i hope that’s not the case) but anyway yeah man you’ve probably been reading this for a while go outside.

I’ll be seeing you soon, Ringtail