A very conservative platformer that still manages to surprise by virtue of its inmense diversity and great characters. You really feel like you're the leader of the gang by the time you're done with the first world, and the fact that the game doesn't diverge much from its main course makes it very enjoyable. The main thing that I would set against it (aside from some implementation and camera issues) is the fact that you don't really get to know these characters beyond their superficial introduction, which is a shame because it seems like they could come to life if given more room to breathe.

Sly Cooper is a fun short platformer that came out back when a lot of these games were being made. It's unique twist is the focus on stealth but its levels and boss fights still play out like a standard platformer of the day. It also has a bunch of gimmick levels that are an excuse to use different vehicles. Still, it was quite a decent one of these games. It has extra moves you can unlock; although I rarely found myself using them but it's a decent reason to actually do the collectible hunt which isn't difficult at all.

Played on the PS2. First by USB (had cutscene stutter) and then through SMB. Play it as is since the forced 480p makes it look chunky and a lot of the edges look jagged. The game runs at 60 fps most of the time barring explosions and dense scenes.

Some levels are annoyingly hard just to pad the runtime but overall, really enjoyed it. One critique though is that the right analog stick is inverted for this game.

The story is what it is and it is fun and the Sly Cooper himself is charismatic. There is the lewd 2000s humor in there like all the newspaper pages with the way they refer to the Police Fox Carmelita which just feels so odd as does the last kiss. Personally, not for me.

The levels themselves are great and I really liked the traditional get the key levels with a mix of platforming and action. You can also collect the bottles to open vaults to get even more moves. I only managed one which was a dive attack. It is really fun to be stealthy in these sandboxes.

The levels themselves have a lot of variety like the racing ones (the first one sucked), The turret sections where you have to guide Murray and prevent him for getting hit. The jet ski one (with the piranhas (hated that too)) or the one where you have to get more computers while in a car or the arcade shooter like jet ski turret levels (which I did not really mind) or the chase levels (which were also pretty fun) The hacking one which is irritating again.

Ten we have the bosses. The first frog one is fine and it gets progressively harder to move from platform to platform dodging him. The second is one a dog I think and you have to use mirrors while dodging his bullets to burn him. Then there is the crocodile. It is a rhythm section thing and I hate it and it sucks. The panda king is very easy and rather basic. The final boss has multiple stages to him. First you dodge mini bullet hell like scenarios then you jump through hoops while shooting him and lastly a platforming section until you destroy its head.

This game pisses me off for doing so many things right and then a couple things wrong that just bother me so much.

I have not died in this game without feeling like I was cheated. Sometimes it's that I can't see where I'm going, sometimes it's that I fall in water, sometimes it's that I pressed circle at the ladder and the game says no that was wrong now you plummet to your death, sometimes it's that I move too fast and get punished for it. Like I know how to do what I need to do but when I try something kills me. It feels like the movement is fucked or the stages are fucked.

This combined with the die in one hit is not a good combination.
Also, I never know when I have the horseshoe, where should be an overlay when you have it.
When you loose all your lives, you just respawn as if you never reached game over. So if you're not trying to be a hard game, you just have 1 life to annoy me by having me respawn 10 times to redo the same monotonous section?

I feel so limited in everything I do. The bottles you collect are put in easy ass spots that are just enough out of view that you miss them. When you miss one bottle, you can't open the safe. The safe gives you more powers with triangle, so yeah, you're damn right I'm gonna collect ever bottle if you reward me for doing so.

But every level, you're probably gonna miss one fucking bottle, and then guess what? You gotta redo the whole level over again with all the enemies respawned.

And when you do end up getting the safe, you get some horseshit that doesn't help AT ALL. I just end up never using triangle and hit shit with my cane, which is boring as hell.

The pacing is so slow, and I don't find the characters charismatic. And the whole "Murray, use the right analog stick to stear the car" or Bently going on some smartass tangent about some mechanic and then Sly going " YoU mEaN pReSs ThE cIrClE bUtToN?" Wow nerds suck right fellow gamers???

The rest of the game is fine, like the art direction is cool, Sly and Carmelita's thing is fine, the story is good, the platforming is cool IN THEORY. Ugh. This game should be easy but it ends up infuriating.

Despite some issues due to the nature of its age, Sly 1 is a largely well-designed 3D platformer experience. For many, Sly Cooper was a major PlayStation icon, yet I never had any real experience with the series until now.

While I still have plenty of quintessential 3D platformers to play, I feel somewhat versed in the genre, and what Sly Cooper's goals were. For the most part, I think Sly 1 does a great job of crafting linear 3D platforming levels with enough exploration, combat, and stealth sequences to make them more interesting. Sly Cooper can sometimes feel like a product of its own ambition (with a side of "first-game syndrome") by churning out a little bit of jank and some frustrating vehicle levels. Thankfully, there are certain remedies provided to make some of the slippier and annoying aspects of platforming more of a breeze with constant upgrades easily obtainable throughout most levels. Grabbing every single collectible within a mission to upgrade Sly isn't so much of a deal thanks to the bottles being easy to find, as well as levels generally being pretty short. Upgrading Sly allows you to get a better hand of the platforming within Sly, which remedies so many issues; it is a shame, though you have to play a decent amount of the game without it.

It's also rather sad that Sly can sometimes lean a little too hard into the vehicle level love. Driving minigames in platforms have largely been more miss than hit, and Sly 1 is no exception to that rule.

Despite it's lack of polish, Sly 1 is a truly solid 3D platformer that's aged rather well... for the most part. I'd definitely say that if you grew up playing games like Sly, but never actually played Sly, this is well worth a shot. If you could care less about the 3D platformer genre, then you're not missing out at all.

Not sure why it took me so long to play this since 2 and 3 were some of my childhood favorites but I'm glad I did. The gameplay is a bit rough around the edges with a few annoying minigames and one-hit deaths but the presentation still has a ton of soul. Movement and whacking enemies feels good and the artstyle is really nice. The voice acting was surprisingly lively and fun despite its age and I really appreciated that. The game was also really short and the level design was very straightforward but the atmosphere was good and the boss fights were generally fun and creative. Overall it was definitely weaker than 2 in every way but it was a solid nostalgic experience that held up better than I expected.