The Sly series's first Sucker-Punch-less entry can be best described as 'confused but got the spirit'. It's clear that, by and large, Sanzaru Games has the best intentions with Thieves in Time and that this isn't just a quick and dirty cash grab for them.
Gameplay-wise, Thieves in Time is fine. It's certainly safer than the acrobatics of Sly 3, and the platforming, while still satisfying at times, is not quite as smooth or seamless as in previous entries. To be clear, I don't really have a problem with Sanzaru taking a safer route for their take on Sly. It feels like an amalgamation in many ways of elements from all three games prior, which makes sense given that they want to appeal to long-time fans as much as possible. However, as a result, it all kind of meshes together quite awkwardly, and no single part of its gameplay structure stands out as exemplary.
There's also an overabundance of Bentley's hacking sections and mini-games this time around. The former is particularly egregious, as although they change things up by providing three different types of gameplay for the hacking sections now, they increase the frequency of hacking sections as a result. In the previous two titles, hacking was something you had to do at key intervals that were few and far between, so it never really got in the way too much. Here, however, it feels like you're doing it on every other level. Again, the new gameplay types for it do give it a fresh spin; however, that starts to wain when you're playing these sections so often.
It's also not doing itself any favors by having several segments dedicated to the gyro in the PlayStation controllers. It's an acceptable gimmick the first time, but not so much after a dozen more.
As you may have already heard or read, probably the biggest mark against Thieves in Time is how it handles the story and characters. Again, there are parts of its narrative that are decent, if a bit derivative of past Sly Cooper story traits. That being said, this entry seems all too keen on reestablishing the status quo and seemingly undoing much of the characters' development from the past games. As many have put it, the recurring cast become flanderized, reduced to one-note archetypal versions of themselves, almost like parodies. There are flashes of depth, sure, but then it's quickly back to goofy, wacky business as usual. It's really a shame, after what Sly 3 brought to these characters, to see them written like this.
And yes, that one controversial plot point is indeed mean-spirited and unearned in the grand scheme of things, being an addition mostly for the sake of dramatic effect and little else. But then, it's been discussed many times before, in greater depth, and by people much more eloquent than myself, so it doesn't really bear repeating at this point.
Thieves in Time is an understandably safe entry, arguably too safe—with some misplaced narrative and gameplay concepts here and there. Honestly, it's not that bad, but the things it doesn't do well, it really commits to, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit slapdash in places. It's close to being a decent game, but it's held back by some baffling decisions along the way that nearly bring the whole thing down as a result.
5/10
Gameplay-wise, Thieves in Time is fine. It's certainly safer than the acrobatics of Sly 3, and the platforming, while still satisfying at times, is not quite as smooth or seamless as in previous entries. To be clear, I don't really have a problem with Sanzaru taking a safer route for their take on Sly. It feels like an amalgamation in many ways of elements from all three games prior, which makes sense given that they want to appeal to long-time fans as much as possible. However, as a result, it all kind of meshes together quite awkwardly, and no single part of its gameplay structure stands out as exemplary.
There's also an overabundance of Bentley's hacking sections and mini-games this time around. The former is particularly egregious, as although they change things up by providing three different types of gameplay for the hacking sections now, they increase the frequency of hacking sections as a result. In the previous two titles, hacking was something you had to do at key intervals that were few and far between, so it never really got in the way too much. Here, however, it feels like you're doing it on every other level. Again, the new gameplay types for it do give it a fresh spin; however, that starts to wain when you're playing these sections so often.
It's also not doing itself any favors by having several segments dedicated to the gyro in the PlayStation controllers. It's an acceptable gimmick the first time, but not so much after a dozen more.
As you may have already heard or read, probably the biggest mark against Thieves in Time is how it handles the story and characters. Again, there are parts of its narrative that are decent, if a bit derivative of past Sly Cooper story traits. That being said, this entry seems all too keen on reestablishing the status quo and seemingly undoing much of the characters' development from the past games. As many have put it, the recurring cast become flanderized, reduced to one-note archetypal versions of themselves, almost like parodies. There are flashes of depth, sure, but then it's quickly back to goofy, wacky business as usual. It's really a shame, after what Sly 3 brought to these characters, to see them written like this.
And yes, that one controversial plot point is indeed mean-spirited and unearned in the grand scheme of things, being an addition mostly for the sake of dramatic effect and little else. But then, it's been discussed many times before, in greater depth, and by people much more eloquent than myself, so it doesn't really bear repeating at this point.
Thieves in Time is an understandably safe entry, arguably too safe—with some misplaced narrative and gameplay concepts here and there. Honestly, it's not that bad, but the things it doesn't do well, it really commits to, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit slapdash in places. It's close to being a decent game, but it's held back by some baffling decisions along the way that nearly bring the whole thing down as a result.
5/10
Sometimes I like to replay the whole series to remember how good they were and then remember how thoroughly this one killed the franchise outright.
These dudes were so fucking lazy that they just allow you to make a shit ton of money in level 1 and just always have a high ass stockpile to always buy upgrades that you'll never really use. Every treasure that you find on the map is rarely over 150 coins yet just pick pocketing guards will have a 2/3 chance to net you a 200 or 500 coin worth item, completely negating the point of bringing treasures back. And for some reason ALL OF THEM ARE TIMED but not because they're booby trapped or something realistic like that. They just are and they vanish instead of blowing up if you aren't fast enough to get back to the hideout.
I'm probably the only person irked by this specific change but I really hate that if you jump from a high spot you will now have a hard landing animation on Sly when his whole schtick is being nimble and light on his feet, and makes movement just a little worse. Speaking of movement this game has the most innacurate system for environment interaction out of the entire franchise. You'll try to land or latch onto something and regularly you'll be flung to something off screen or the animation will just give up and you have to reclimb something or fall into a pit, or with the spire jump if you jump off too quickly the game will give you this short hop that will just fling you into pits. I didn't know I was playing every Assassin's Creed.
I ain't usually easily offended but as a black man myself The Grizz is a fucking wild ass character that for all intents and purposes should not have been allowed to exist. That is just out and out no debate a racist caricature of a black person. Like not even Tsao and Mz. Ruby were this bad.
This game overall is just a case study in character assassination but anybody who knows anything about this game has heard this insanely valid criticism ad nauseum so I'm not gonna repeat it.
Your existence.
Is God's failure.
These dudes were so fucking lazy that they just allow you to make a shit ton of money in level 1 and just always have a high ass stockpile to always buy upgrades that you'll never really use. Every treasure that you find on the map is rarely over 150 coins yet just pick pocketing guards will have a 2/3 chance to net you a 200 or 500 coin worth item, completely negating the point of bringing treasures back. And for some reason ALL OF THEM ARE TIMED but not because they're booby trapped or something realistic like that. They just are and they vanish instead of blowing up if you aren't fast enough to get back to the hideout.
I'm probably the only person irked by this specific change but I really hate that if you jump from a high spot you will now have a hard landing animation on Sly when his whole schtick is being nimble and light on his feet, and makes movement just a little worse. Speaking of movement this game has the most innacurate system for environment interaction out of the entire franchise. You'll try to land or latch onto something and regularly you'll be flung to something off screen or the animation will just give up and you have to reclimb something or fall into a pit, or with the spire jump if you jump off too quickly the game will give you this short hop that will just fling you into pits. I didn't know I was playing every Assassin's Creed.
I ain't usually easily offended but as a black man myself The Grizz is a fucking wild ass character that for all intents and purposes should not have been allowed to exist. That is just out and out no debate a racist caricature of a black person. Like not even Tsao and Mz. Ruby were this bad.
This game overall is just a case study in character assassination but anybody who knows anything about this game has heard this insanely valid criticism ad nauseum so I'm not gonna repeat it.
Your existence.
Is God's failure.
tennessee kid cooper my beloved
Story is shit, but I don't really care about that all too much because this is Sly Cooper gameplay at it's finest.
If the pretty big downgrade in art style wasn't a sign of things to come, then I don't know what is. Even besides that, the game just felt like a step back in many other regards.
It makes me sad that this is Sly's swan song after Sly 3 ended so perfectly. The story and characters in Thieves in Time are silly and childish. The characters feel like bad parodies of themselves, and I can't take any of the villains seriously. The Cooper ancestors don't really add anything to the story.
I could possibly forgive this game a little if it was at least as fun as the original trilogy, but everything has been copied in a way that's just slightly off. The characters feel weirdly heavy to move around and the double jump isn't as snappy. The game still consists of a series of missions in a small map that lead to the big heist, but these missions are painfully linear and handholdy, and the costumes mechanic is horribly slow and clunky to use. The Cooper ancestors are all just Sly with one extra ability that doesn't make any meaningful difference to gameplay and only has a use where it's required to progress in missions. On top of all of this, the load times are extremely long and the framerate is inconsistent, making the game feel a lot less smooth than the trilogy.
I really tried to enjoy this game for what it was and form an opinion separate from the popular fan consensus, but even ignoring the bad story, it was rarely fun. There were some good missions but they were few and far between. It seems the new dev team didn't quite get what made Sly good.
I could possibly forgive this game a little if it was at least as fun as the original trilogy, but everything has been copied in a way that's just slightly off. The characters feel weirdly heavy to move around and the double jump isn't as snappy. The game still consists of a series of missions in a small map that lead to the big heist, but these missions are painfully linear and handholdy, and the costumes mechanic is horribly slow and clunky to use. The Cooper ancestors are all just Sly with one extra ability that doesn't make any meaningful difference to gameplay and only has a use where it's required to progress in missions. On top of all of this, the load times are extremely long and the framerate is inconsistent, making the game feel a lot less smooth than the trilogy.
I really tried to enjoy this game for what it was and form an opinion separate from the popular fan consensus, but even ignoring the bad story, it was rarely fun. There were some good missions but they were few and far between. It seems the new dev team didn't quite get what made Sly good.
If you don't like this game, you are wrong, and you are also cringe.
This game FUCKS, YOU'RE ALL WRONG
One of the best gameplay formulas in gaming history JACKED UP by the power of next gen, the SPRAWLING level designs are PACKED with creative platforming sequences and secret areas. LEAPING ACROSS T-REX FOSSILS BEFORE PARAGLIDING THROUGH SNAKING CAVE SYSTEMS. HOPPING ACROSS ROCKS GLISTENING IN THE GUSHING RAVINES OF FEUDAL JAPAN'S GRAND CHASMS. SLIDING ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS AS A 19TH CENTURY LOCOMOTIVE SWERVES AROUND THE CORNER BEHIND YOU. The scope is HUGE, who the FUCK told you this game was bad LET'S FUCKING GO
Enhanced by the ancestors and costumes. The worst thing about the Sly series is that it has INCREDIBLE platforming and CAPTIVATING characters... surrounded by the most dogshit minigame compilation you've ever seen. This game IMPROVES that, with much of the variety now stemming from these.
They keep the same core gameplay as Sly but with enough tweaks and changes to offer unique challenges; third person shooting, 2D platformer segments, some of Sly's moves but with different physics. They're EXTENSIONS of the core movement-focused gameplay rather than DISTRACTIONS FROM it, FUCKING fire... so anyway here's MOTION CONTROLS AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH
YA BLEW IT, WHAT THE FUCK. Control the most jacked caveman ever fossiled but UH OH, this loggy woggy is HEAVY WEVVY, to lift it tilt the controller left WEEEEE tilt the controller right WEEEEE tilt the controller le- EAT SHIT. Zonks, this door is sealed shut, guess it can only be fixed by TILTING A BALL THROUGH A MAZE, DON'T FALL OFF THE EDGES HAHA ROLLY POLY DOOPSY POOPSY. Shake Carmelita's ass. I'm serious, IN THIS GAME FOR 7 YEAR OLDS THERE'S A SEQUENCE WHERE CARMELITA GIVES A LAP DANCE, SHAKE THE CONTROLLER TO SHAKE HER ASSHOLE. "Mummy, what's that on my PS Vita screen?" "Oh nothing Eduardo, it's just LABIA"
The writing, WHAT THE FUCK WHY. This suave, quick witted rogue is now a BELLEND, moping whenever the girlfriend he lied to calls him out on his bullshit then busting out the corniest puns I've heard since my racist uncle was exiled from the family. MURRAY. LOUD. ALL THE TIME. HE'S LOUD LAUGH COME ON. PENELOPE, what the FUCK. Turning this SWEETHEART of a bb grill into EVIL BECAUSE MONEY.
"B-but she was Black Baron, Black Baron evil she was a bitch" YEAH because she was 1) alone in the world and 2) was fighting for survival, she had to use every trick she could. NOW SHE'S GETTING DICKED DAILY SURROUNDED BY PILES OF GOLD, BULLSHIT ASS
Overall though, the game SLAPS eat my SixAxis controlled ass
One of the best gameplay formulas in gaming history JACKED UP by the power of next gen, the SPRAWLING level designs are PACKED with creative platforming sequences and secret areas. LEAPING ACROSS T-REX FOSSILS BEFORE PARAGLIDING THROUGH SNAKING CAVE SYSTEMS. HOPPING ACROSS ROCKS GLISTENING IN THE GUSHING RAVINES OF FEUDAL JAPAN'S GRAND CHASMS. SLIDING ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS AS A 19TH CENTURY LOCOMOTIVE SWERVES AROUND THE CORNER BEHIND YOU. The scope is HUGE, who the FUCK told you this game was bad LET'S FUCKING GO
Enhanced by the ancestors and costumes. The worst thing about the Sly series is that it has INCREDIBLE platforming and CAPTIVATING characters... surrounded by the most dogshit minigame compilation you've ever seen. This game IMPROVES that, with much of the variety now stemming from these.
They keep the same core gameplay as Sly but with enough tweaks and changes to offer unique challenges; third person shooting, 2D platformer segments, some of Sly's moves but with different physics. They're EXTENSIONS of the core movement-focused gameplay rather than DISTRACTIONS FROM it, FUCKING fire... so anyway here's MOTION CONTROLS AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH
YA BLEW IT, WHAT THE FUCK. Control the most jacked caveman ever fossiled but UH OH, this loggy woggy is HEAVY WEVVY, to lift it tilt the controller left WEEEEE tilt the controller right WEEEEE tilt the controller le- EAT SHIT. Zonks, this door is sealed shut, guess it can only be fixed by TILTING A BALL THROUGH A MAZE, DON'T FALL OFF THE EDGES HAHA ROLLY POLY DOOPSY POOPSY. Shake Carmelita's ass. I'm serious, IN THIS GAME FOR 7 YEAR OLDS THERE'S A SEQUENCE WHERE CARMELITA GIVES A LAP DANCE, SHAKE THE CONTROLLER TO SHAKE HER ASSHOLE. "Mummy, what's that on my PS Vita screen?" "Oh nothing Eduardo, it's just LABIA"
The writing, WHAT THE FUCK WHY. This suave, quick witted rogue is now a BELLEND, moping whenever the girlfriend he lied to calls him out on his bullshit then busting out the corniest puns I've heard since my racist uncle was exiled from the family. MURRAY. LOUD. ALL THE TIME. HE'S LOUD LAUGH COME ON. PENELOPE, what the FUCK. Turning this SWEETHEART of a bb grill into EVIL BECAUSE MONEY.
"B-but she was Black Baron, Black Baron evil she was a bitch" YEAH because she was 1) alone in the world and 2) was fighting for survival, she had to use every trick she could. NOW SHE'S GETTING DICKED DAILY SURROUNDED BY PILES OF GOLD, BULLSHIT ASS
Overall though, the game SLAPS eat my SixAxis controlled ass
Functional sly cooper gameplay at best, horrible writing and overall level design really makes it not worthy of the sly name.
She sly on my cooper the way im so thieves with her time
what if we gave sly cooper a gun
good sequel reboot. not as memorable as the others.
Not as good as Sly 2, but I love this game a lot. In hindsight I can see a lot of the flaws pretty clearly... The ABYSMAL loading times come to mind, and I remember the game runs out of gas near the end (that final boss fight suuuuuuucckkksssssss), and to say nothing of the unfortunate cliffhanger it ends on. There's also that one twist regarding an old character most Sly fans hate, but as someone who didn't care about Sly 3, it doesn't bother me. I love Sly's relatives a lot. especially Tennessee Kid and Bob.
Hope this gets a remaster/rerelease some day, but with how Sony seems to hate any game that wasn't made in the last 5 years, and Sanzaru Games being trapped in VR game mines, I can't see that happening any time soon.
Hope this gets a remaster/rerelease some day, but with how Sony seems to hate any game that wasn't made in the last 5 years, and Sanzaru Games being trapped in VR game mines, I can't see that happening any time soon.
Fuck off
people didnt like this game? tbh i didnt play the others but it was still good
This so called game is an absolute embarrassment to the series and an insult to its fans.
This review contains spoilers
i don't.... hate it?? not as much i was expecting to based on the way people talk about it at least. the problems are there and they're pretty obvious - the story and especially the character writing are at their worst in the series by far. The beginning few minutes of the game are spent "getting the band back together" which is to say completely undoing everyone's development and reducing them to the most basic caricatures of themselves. Sly goes from not wanting to be a coward with Carmelita in 3 to being like "fuck it, I actually just love stealing way too much" and just comes off like an asshole. Murray (who gets a shockingly small amount of characterization in this game) goes from not wanting to be the muscle who just punches things, REFUSING to join the gang without approval from his guru to just abandoning his spirituality and saying "Yes I fucking love punching and killing things" and remains that way for the whole game. He has a brief moment of feeling inferior to a literal caveman because he can climb a wall, but then gets over it after beating up Grizz (possibly the worst villain in the series btw). Carmelita is briefly mad at Sly for lying to her for years but just kinda gets over it, she's given the status of actual member of the gang but then does fuck all but be a damsel in distress except for like, 2 missions. There are upgrades for her that are only unlocked after you've completed her last mission in the entire game. what do i need those for man. Bentley doesn't get much except for the Penelope thing, which is a bizarre twist and while I think what they do with it is FINE, it's not really earned, and it's not a satisfying ending for her character.
To praise one thing though I don't mind the villains, they're fun enough. El Jefe is raw and Le Paradox is very hateable. I really like the Cooper ancestors, each one brings one small change to the gameplay but adding these rotating new cast members with different personalities and levels of enthusiasm kept things fresh as you're taken to each new area, which are all pretty cool in their own right.
Aside from the way the ancestors were integrated, the story is fairly lacking. It's like, fine for the most part, until the ending???? it's like the Shenmue 3 thing that everyone made fun of, when it's basically a miracle that your game even got MADE in the first place why would you not do everything with the assumption that you're never gonna get this chance again and spend the game wrapping things up in as satisfying of a way as you can. But then again, just for Thieves in Time's story to even exist it has to undo everything 3 did, and a hypothetical Sly 5 would just have to undo everything 4 did in the hopes of getting to a somewhat satisfying ending.
So maybe story-wise this game should have never even been made, ok whatever. it's at least?? kinda fun???? i think the gameplay is GOOD. it doesn't necessarily feel as tight as it has in the rest of the series and playing as anyone other than Sly is not as fun as it used to be. But once you start getting upgrades and stuff it's still a nice satisfying gameplay loop. i don't think the level design is as fun to explore and platform through as it has been, but it's still fun and looks good.
what else?? i do like this game, it's just hard thinking of any actual things it does really well. i think all the character animations look really good, they capture a lot of everyone's personality. i don't know, not much else can be said really. too many Bentley minigames. clue bottles remain Ass. it's fine!!! i wish this wasn't how the series ended though!! game might have just been doomed from the start, not to fail but to just be kinda "eh" and perform at juuuuust the right level that it ensures a sequel will never ever be made
To praise one thing though I don't mind the villains, they're fun enough. El Jefe is raw and Le Paradox is very hateable. I really like the Cooper ancestors, each one brings one small change to the gameplay but adding these rotating new cast members with different personalities and levels of enthusiasm kept things fresh as you're taken to each new area, which are all pretty cool in their own right.
Aside from the way the ancestors were integrated, the story is fairly lacking. It's like, fine for the most part, until the ending???? it's like the Shenmue 3 thing that everyone made fun of, when it's basically a miracle that your game even got MADE in the first place why would you not do everything with the assumption that you're never gonna get this chance again and spend the game wrapping things up in as satisfying of a way as you can. But then again, just for Thieves in Time's story to even exist it has to undo everything 3 did, and a hypothetical Sly 5 would just have to undo everything 4 did in the hopes of getting to a somewhat satisfying ending.
So maybe story-wise this game should have never even been made, ok whatever. it's at least?? kinda fun???? i think the gameplay is GOOD. it doesn't necessarily feel as tight as it has in the rest of the series and playing as anyone other than Sly is not as fun as it used to be. But once you start getting upgrades and stuff it's still a nice satisfying gameplay loop. i don't think the level design is as fun to explore and platform through as it has been, but it's still fun and looks good.
what else?? i do like this game, it's just hard thinking of any actual things it does really well. i think all the character animations look really good, they capture a lot of everyone's personality. i don't know, not much else can be said really. too many Bentley minigames. clue bottles remain Ass. it's fine!!! i wish this wasn't how the series ended though!! game might have just been doomed from the start, not to fail but to just be kinda "eh" and perform at juuuuust the right level that it ensures a sequel will never ever be made
This feels like one of those episodes from a nickelodeon show where its thinly veiled feitish shit from the creator. In this game Sly goes back in time and gets cucked by his ancestors because his girlfriend is mad at him. Why was this made and why does every character end worse off than they did in the 3rd game
Performance is pretty rocky on the Vita but overall a pretty fun game. Collectibles and trophies can be kind of annoying but navigating the world is fun enough to counteract them a little.
I will admit I didn't care at all about the story. It's my first Sly game (obviously I should've started from the first) but I've heard this one is a little bland so I'm excited to eventually try the others.
I will admit I didn't care at all about the story. It's my first Sly game (obviously I should've started from the first) but I've heard this one is a little bland so I'm excited to eventually try the others.
OS HORRORES QUE FAZIA PARA REJOGAR SLY COOPER VOCES NÃO ENTENDEM
This review contains spoilers
yeah the ending is kinda lame, but people always pretend the game is just SOOO BAD when its literally better than sly 1 and 3 lol
I owe the original Sly Cooper trilogy a revisit, but I expect a ton of it will hold up super well. Fun, silly, creative, often mature, thematically rich, mechanically satisfying... very much one of the all-time great gaming trilogies. And by pure consequence of creation, Sucker Punch Productions coming out of nowhere to out-do Naughty Dog and Insomniac at their own "3D Platformer Mascot" game.
I mention all this because I do not hold the same enthusiasm for Thieves in Time. Sanzaru had a solid core here, taking the Sly 2/Sly 3 formula and rolling out a couple new worlds/characters to play with. If the series was to continue, the Cooper ancestors were a good avenue to explore. The first three chapters are all pretty solid. But...
Well, so, Sly 3 had such a strong, perfect ending to the series that at least one thing needed to be undone to justify this game's existence. Thieves in Time undoes two things. The first of these - pull Sly out of retirement - was necessary. The second of these, which gets spelled out at the end of Episode 4...
...well, there's a reason I put the game down for half a decade. I am rarely someone who pretends works of media don't exist, but I legitimately try to forget about Thieves in Time entirely because of how much that twist pisses me off. You can make an argument that that moment makes a certain character more interesting, but I dunno. Just feels like it was done to reset status quo more than anything.
Things sorta feel a little off in general, largely indicative of a different director/creative team. Sly this time around sounds a little more ironic and a little less soft-spoken in his narration. Dimitri's personality has been all but sand-blasted away. Most of the new characters look all right, but Le Paradox does not at all fit the series' general aesthetic. The game is back down to five chapters, the same as the first game, yet it feels like a lot more could be done here. The Cooper Ancestors we get are all fun, as are the environments, but I feel like one more would have rounded things out nicely (and staved off the cliffhanger ending).
Actually, supposedly, there was a whole 'nother level planned, but it was scrapped so the game could be released on Vita. ...that kinda sucks.
Oh! I forgot about this game's costume system. Some legitimately top notch animation on those. Sly pompously strutting around in samurai armor or crawling around in sabertooth tiger-skin is great stuff.
Thieves in Time is mostly there. Sadly, I feel like the places where it doesn't hold up are the most sensitive things that could have been botched. Sanzaru made a pretty decent effort, but all they managed to accomplish was to ruin Sucker Punch's precariously-balanced house of cards. Too bad.
I mention all this because I do not hold the same enthusiasm for Thieves in Time. Sanzaru had a solid core here, taking the Sly 2/Sly 3 formula and rolling out a couple new worlds/characters to play with. If the series was to continue, the Cooper ancestors were a good avenue to explore. The first three chapters are all pretty solid. But...
Well, so, Sly 3 had such a strong, perfect ending to the series that at least one thing needed to be undone to justify this game's existence. Thieves in Time undoes two things. The first of these - pull Sly out of retirement - was necessary. The second of these, which gets spelled out at the end of Episode 4...
...well, there's a reason I put the game down for half a decade. I am rarely someone who pretends works of media don't exist, but I legitimately try to forget about Thieves in Time entirely because of how much that twist pisses me off. You can make an argument that that moment makes a certain character more interesting, but I dunno. Just feels like it was done to reset status quo more than anything.
Things sorta feel a little off in general, largely indicative of a different director/creative team. Sly this time around sounds a little more ironic and a little less soft-spoken in his narration. Dimitri's personality has been all but sand-blasted away. Most of the new characters look all right, but Le Paradox does not at all fit the series' general aesthetic. The game is back down to five chapters, the same as the first game, yet it feels like a lot more could be done here. The Cooper Ancestors we get are all fun, as are the environments, but I feel like one more would have rounded things out nicely (and staved off the cliffhanger ending).
Actually, supposedly, there was a whole 'nother level planned, but it was scrapped so the game could be released on Vita. ...that kinda sucks.
Oh! I forgot about this game's costume system. Some legitimately top notch animation on those. Sly pompously strutting around in samurai armor or crawling around in sabertooth tiger-skin is great stuff.
Thieves in Time is mostly there. Sadly, I feel like the places where it doesn't hold up are the most sensitive things that could have been botched. Sanzaru made a pretty decent effort, but all they managed to accomplish was to ruin Sucker Punch's precariously-balanced house of cards. Too bad.
Not as good as Sly 2 and 3, but still a fun game in my opinion. Some of the choices they made with the story is dumb, but the gameplay is honestly great, and the game looks beautiful. It's definitely worth playing, few problems aside.
86/100
I used to think I hated this game, but I was just completely indifferent to it.
The original trilogy was very flawed, but also very inspired. So, when you follow up a unique, mature, and well-written trilogy of games with one of the most generic, neutered, and un-original children's platformers I've ever played, the backlash is understandable.
I have so many complaints about Thieves in Time: from the childish writing which clashed hard with that of the previous games, to the gimmicky gameplay lacking depth or ambition, to the weak story loaded with missed potential, to the flaccid cast of characters featuring easily the worst rough's gallery of any Sly Cooper game (El Jefe is the only one I can take seriously and Le Paradox is one of the worst villains I've every seen in a game). I have so many complaints to make, but none of them feel worth making (Except the one about Le Paradox, f*ck Le Paradox).
I'm so dispassionate about Sly 4 that it took me nearly a decade to re-play it and several days to crank out this review. The game is competent enough that I can't be angry about it, but if it were shockingly bad, I'd at least have more to say. As is, this game will leave my memory very soon, and I'll have made room for new games.
For all my problems with the first three games, I respect their maturity and ambition enough that I'll still revisit them in the future, but, for me, Thieves in Time is staying in the past.
The original trilogy was very flawed, but also very inspired. So, when you follow up a unique, mature, and well-written trilogy of games with one of the most generic, neutered, and un-original children's platformers I've ever played, the backlash is understandable.
I have so many complaints about Thieves in Time: from the childish writing which clashed hard with that of the previous games, to the gimmicky gameplay lacking depth or ambition, to the weak story loaded with missed potential, to the flaccid cast of characters featuring easily the worst rough's gallery of any Sly Cooper game (El Jefe is the only one I can take seriously and Le Paradox is one of the worst villains I've every seen in a game). I have so many complaints to make, but none of them feel worth making (Except the one about Le Paradox, f*ck Le Paradox).
I'm so dispassionate about Sly 4 that it took me nearly a decade to re-play it and several days to crank out this review. The game is competent enough that I can't be angry about it, but if it were shockingly bad, I'd at least have more to say. As is, this game will leave my memory very soon, and I'll have made room for new games.
For all my problems with the first three games, I respect their maturity and ambition enough that I'll still revisit them in the future, but, for me, Thieves in Time is staying in the past.
While the other games always had sly in the focus it still prominently featured the team itself. This one mostly focuses on sly, destroys other characters just for the sake of a shock and doesn't provide a worth sequel to it.
tHeY rUiNeD mY cHiLdHoOd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only played it the one time when it came out but I remember it being pretty good. Not the same level as 2 obviously but pretty close to 3
this was almost my first platinum but i had to sell my ps3
hate this game and my ps3 broke before the boss fight so fuck this