This was a lot of fun to revisit. I had never played the first game, but played a good amount of the second game and an absolutely insane amount of the third game when I was a kid. It was nice to have the opportunity to play these games in a widescreen format, albeit streamed through PlayStation Plus. The addition of trophies was super cool and it was nice to just have these games mostly intact. There were some strange modifications here and there, really crappy adjustments to widescreen with cutscenes, and so much lag in the third game (the pirate level especially). But besides that, these were all so much fun to go through and complete.
Sly 1 (5/10) - This was a bit rough to fully enjoy, but the levels were fun (only the Sly ones with proper platforming, none of the others). Some boss fights were fun, some were absolutely horrible. A mixed bag, but I was so happy to finally play the entry to this series after having missed it as a kid.
Sly 2 (8/10) - A sequel done right! The hub worlds are now way better and seen as pretty open-world, you get to play as Bentley and Murray, and there's a lot of story to this game. It's a fun time and by the end of the long journey, you will have learned how to play each character best. I will say the only downsides are lack of replayability after completing the game and design-favoritism towards Sly which limits what the other two can do when you play as them. It's the easiest of the three games to 100% as well. Fun, but lacking anything to do after completing the story.
Sly 3 (7/10) - Another great sequel that presents solid ideas with the Sly 2 foundation. The game is brighter, has more cool levels full of fun missions, and expands on what Bentley and Murray are capable of traversal-wise and in combat. Level design still favors Sly, but the other two can jump higher and pickpocket now. I'd say the downsides here are that the game is shorter than Sly 2, as it only has 5 full levels and a handful of missions for the ending versus Sly 2's 8 full levels, too much variance with other characters and gameplay styles, and a slight lack of replayability (mostly with the lack of clue bottles, no reason to come back to levels afterwards). Challenges are a neat addition for full 100% completion, and I will admit the treasure hunts do test your knowledge of each level in the game. There's a lot of great ideas, but some poor executions (such as with the overall story). Fun, but Sly 2 edges out.
Sly 1 (5/10) - This was a bit rough to fully enjoy, but the levels were fun (only the Sly ones with proper platforming, none of the others). Some boss fights were fun, some were absolutely horrible. A mixed bag, but I was so happy to finally play the entry to this series after having missed it as a kid.
Sly 2 (8/10) - A sequel done right! The hub worlds are now way better and seen as pretty open-world, you get to play as Bentley and Murray, and there's a lot of story to this game. It's a fun time and by the end of the long journey, you will have learned how to play each character best. I will say the only downsides are lack of replayability after completing the game and design-favoritism towards Sly which limits what the other two can do when you play as them. It's the easiest of the three games to 100% as well. Fun, but lacking anything to do after completing the story.
Sly 3 (7/10) - Another great sequel that presents solid ideas with the Sly 2 foundation. The game is brighter, has more cool levels full of fun missions, and expands on what Bentley and Murray are capable of traversal-wise and in combat. Level design still favors Sly, but the other two can jump higher and pickpocket now. I'd say the downsides here are that the game is shorter than Sly 2, as it only has 5 full levels and a handful of missions for the ending versus Sly 2's 8 full levels, too much variance with other characters and gameplay styles, and a slight lack of replayability (mostly with the lack of clue bottles, no reason to come back to levels afterwards). Challenges are a neat addition for full 100% completion, and I will admit the treasure hunts do test your knowledge of each level in the game. There's a lot of great ideas, but some poor executions (such as with the overall story). Fun, but Sly 2 edges out.
classique
Sly 2 is the best in the series. Love these games so much and I wish Sony would revisit him in a reboot.
great games but pretty terrible rerelease. like audio glitches here and there, screen overlays like the cinematic black bars and stuff just completely fail to cover the screen, which can take you out of certain moments. feels like changing that sort of UI is the perfect thing to add to a rerelease
3 good games but this is a terrible remaster. It looks sloppy, the sound mixing is whack (the main menu song for example is twice as loud as the rest of the game for some reason), a lot of the sound effects appear to be re-used and some portions of audio were static-y...for some reason? They also didn't remake certain parts like the animation of the camera returning to the base so it looks janky when suddenly they cut from the remastered graphics back to how it looked on the PS2 for 3 seconds.
Its biggest sin though is Honor Among Thieves. Sly 3 is a disaster. They added these stupid black bars that aren't timed with the game's fade ins and fade out so it just looks awkward, plus they don't always make it all the way across the screen. But even worse, they failed to properly format overlays for the game's resolution, meaning anytime you pause or they use an overly, it doesn't make it all the way across the screen and you can see behind it on the edges. This also happens during cutscenes and it's very distracting.
Overall, a very poor remaster.
Its biggest sin though is Honor Among Thieves. Sly 3 is a disaster. They added these stupid black bars that aren't timed with the game's fade ins and fade out so it just looks awkward, plus they don't always make it all the way across the screen. But even worse, they failed to properly format overlays for the game's resolution, meaning anytime you pause or they use an overly, it doesn't make it all the way across the screen and you can see behind it on the edges. This also happens during cutscenes and it's very distracting.
Overall, a very poor remaster.
Sucker Punch Productions captivated an audience with their incredible PS2 Trilogy. Providing worthwhile characters, fun settings, solid levels and a witty sense of humor. This collection should have been an easy high rating. But unfortunately Sanzaru Games treated this like my first apartment and gave these games the landlord special.
It isn't a complete mess but after a while cracks really start to show. If this is your only means to play these games you will still have a great time. But now that I've platinumed all three titles, I will stick with the PS2 versions when I want to revisit this series.
It isn't a complete mess but after a while cracks really start to show. If this is your only means to play these games you will still have a great time. But now that I've platinumed all three titles, I will stick with the PS2 versions when I want to revisit this series.
Instead of reviewing the collection, here's my thoughts on the individual games:
Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus: Pretty fun 3D platformer. Stealth is a lot more downplayed compared to any other Sly game, but it has fun levels and memorable characters.
Sly 2: Band of Thieve: Controversial opinion: this is probably my least favorite of the Sly Cooper franchise. This game is still really good, but I personally don't think it's quite as good as the others.
Sly 3: My favorite game in the series. Best story and best characters, but it is a little disappointing that they got rid of clue bottles and replaced them with the forgettable challenges.
Overall: The Sly Cooper franchise is probably my favorite series of 3D platformers and it sparked my love of stealth games too.
Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus: Pretty fun 3D platformer. Stealth is a lot more downplayed compared to any other Sly game, but it has fun levels and memorable characters.
Sly 2: Band of Thieve: Controversial opinion: this is probably my least favorite of the Sly Cooper franchise. This game is still really good, but I personally don't think it's quite as good as the others.
Sly 3: My favorite game in the series. Best story and best characters, but it is a little disappointing that they got rid of clue bottles and replaced them with the forgettable challenges.
Overall: The Sly Cooper franchise is probably my favorite series of 3D platformers and it sparked my love of stealth games too.