I had a lot fun playing this game, the humor and personal interaction between the gang members is at its peak, because it is the first game in which they actually feel like friends and less like colleges. You also get too see more sides to the characters, like how they are when they are away from each other. The minigames test different skills which is fun too. The game is sadly way too easy.
so much of this is great but so much of it isn’t. it feels like they took the perfect formula from Sly 2 and worked backwards, overcomplicating it and overworking it.
adding in a bunch of gimmicky characters but taking out clue bottles and treasure leaves it feeling both empty and bloated at the same time. it just doesn’t come together.
but then the standout moments really do stand out. the ship stuff, Holland and fighting the wuxia chicken on the bamboo are all series highlights. and it all ends so well, managing to conclude the trilogy with an actual emotional pay off.
shame they made Thieves in Time.
adding in a bunch of gimmicky characters but taking out clue bottles and treasure leaves it feeling both empty and bloated at the same time. it just doesn’t come together.
but then the standout moments really do stand out. the ship stuff, Holland and fighting the wuxia chicken on the bamboo are all series highlights. and it all ends so well, managing to conclude the trilogy with an actual emotional pay off.
shame they made Thieves in Time.
On paper, I feel Sly 3 should probably be the best of the series. It keeps the fun heist format from Sly 2 while trying to throw in more variety in the mechanics and reducing the repetitive "steal 6 keys" style objectives that bogged the second game down. I just found myself getting bored playing with this game though. Perhaps I was just getting tired of the formula. The increased variety comes with more people joing the gang who have their own special mechanics as well a pirate segment with ship combat. A lot of these new mechanics do wear out their welcome and I wanted a return to the stealth platforming. It's a decent wrap up to the series that perhaps needed a rest.
As Michael Rosen might say, “It was great. Really great.”
Sly 3 is not as strong overall as Sly 2, but still has some great moments and keeps the great storytelling that made this series so investing for me, capping off Sly’s adventures in a satisfying way. (Until it’s officially made canon, I am not accepting Thieves in Time as that)
The biggest difference is the larger variety in mission types. I didn’t realize it before, but Sly 2 did rely a lot on similar gameplay throughout. I never minded it too much, but I do understand that grievance looking back.
This game has tons of different stuff to do and characters to play as well. While not all have full control, they show up often to give their own spin on the usual gameplay and are pretty fun to play as to boot. Again, not all are winners, but it helps the games pacing overall.
The one big difference here though that unfortunately hurts the game the most…is the removal of clue bottles. While they were a bit annoying to find sometimes in Sly 2 (and especially 1) I did like them as a reward for exploration and using your platforming skills to traverse every inch of the maps. Without that, there’s not much use in exploration. You just look at these maps as set pieces for missions which…isn’t terrible, but not exactly as interesting as that game.
With all that said, Sly 3 is still great and a worthy end to this Goated trilogy. It’s endlessly charming and has been on my mind a ton ever since I beat them all. Seriously, someone needs to bring this series back! I know Sly’s story is done, but surely others in the cooper lineage could have their own stories after.
But that’s just wishful thinking. And me wanting to forget about Thieves in Time.
Sly 3 is not as strong overall as Sly 2, but still has some great moments and keeps the great storytelling that made this series so investing for me, capping off Sly’s adventures in a satisfying way. (Until it’s officially made canon, I am not accepting Thieves in Time as that)
The biggest difference is the larger variety in mission types. I didn’t realize it before, but Sly 2 did rely a lot on similar gameplay throughout. I never minded it too much, but I do understand that grievance looking back.
This game has tons of different stuff to do and characters to play as well. While not all have full control, they show up often to give their own spin on the usual gameplay and are pretty fun to play as to boot. Again, not all are winners, but it helps the games pacing overall.
The one big difference here though that unfortunately hurts the game the most…is the removal of clue bottles. While they were a bit annoying to find sometimes in Sly 2 (and especially 1) I did like them as a reward for exploration and using your platforming skills to traverse every inch of the maps. Without that, there’s not much use in exploration. You just look at these maps as set pieces for missions which…isn’t terrible, but not exactly as interesting as that game.
With all that said, Sly 3 is still great and a worthy end to this Goated trilogy. It’s endlessly charming and has been on my mind a ton ever since I beat them all. Seriously, someone needs to bring this series back! I know Sly’s story is done, but surely others in the cooper lineage could have their own stories after.
But that’s just wishful thinking. And me wanting to forget about Thieves in Time.