The whole of Sly 3 is lesser than the sum of its parts.
It's a real shame I can't rank this game higher, because it clearly has a lot of hard work put into it, but Sly 3 is so uniquely-unsatisfying to play that a six out of ten is the best I'm giving it.
The game has little-if-anything to do with the previous two, making it a very anticlimactic note to end the trilogy on, but it's also jarring and disjointed within itself. The abrupt shift from disconnected chapter to disconnected chapter becomes more jarring each time as the cast becomes more oversaturated and the gameplay becomes more unfocused. The game has moments of excellent gameplay and sharp writing, but it isn't consistent in any aspect of its quality outside of getting weaker: Sly 3 has a near-perfect downward turn in quality as the game progresses; I liked each chapter just a hair less than the one before, and I wasn't enjoying it at all by the end. The game also has some pretty bad plot holes and poor storytelling.
Sly 3 has some wonderful characters and strong gameplay sequences, but nothing in the game is given the attention or development it deserves: Most villains are underdeveloped, most heroes are underutilized, character arcs disappear between chapters, and there are far too many gimmicky, one-off gameplay sequences. I respect any game that attempts all this for its ambition, but a game is going to far if it has: a canal chase with guns, a crane minigame, a scuba minigame, a sequence where you fight a giant sea monster with fireworks, dogfighting, a section where you feed guards to an alligator or mow them down with a wolf(this game got dark), an all-out brawl in a lemonade bar, a section where you catch giant scorpions in a giant truck, RC car driving or helicopter flying, and a tedious section where you shoot guards with a turret attached to a tiny camera. Seriously, to the people who worked on this game: calm down. Do any of the activities I just listed sound like they belong in a stealth game?
The tragedy of Sly 3 is that I see so much quality within it, but I never feel tempted to replay it. If you're someone who takes video games moment-by-moment and doesn't read too deeply into things, you'll probably like this game more than I did. I wish I liked Sly 3 as much as 2 or even 1, but sadly, it's not to be.
It's a real shame I can't rank this game higher, because it clearly has a lot of hard work put into it, but Sly 3 is so uniquely-unsatisfying to play that a six out of ten is the best I'm giving it.
The game has little-if-anything to do with the previous two, making it a very anticlimactic note to end the trilogy on, but it's also jarring and disjointed within itself. The abrupt shift from disconnected chapter to disconnected chapter becomes more jarring each time as the cast becomes more oversaturated and the gameplay becomes more unfocused. The game has moments of excellent gameplay and sharp writing, but it isn't consistent in any aspect of its quality outside of getting weaker: Sly 3 has a near-perfect downward turn in quality as the game progresses; I liked each chapter just a hair less than the one before, and I wasn't enjoying it at all by the end. The game also has some pretty bad plot holes and poor storytelling.
Sly 3 has some wonderful characters and strong gameplay sequences, but nothing in the game is given the attention or development it deserves: Most villains are underdeveloped, most heroes are underutilized, character arcs disappear between chapters, and there are far too many gimmicky, one-off gameplay sequences. I respect any game that attempts all this for its ambition, but a game is going to far if it has: a canal chase with guns, a crane minigame, a scuba minigame, a sequence where you fight a giant sea monster with fireworks, dogfighting, a section where you feed guards to an alligator or mow them down with a wolf(this game got dark), an all-out brawl in a lemonade bar, a section where you catch giant scorpions in a giant truck, RC car driving or helicopter flying, and a tedious section where you shoot guards with a turret attached to a tiny camera. Seriously, to the people who worked on this game: calm down. Do any of the activities I just listed sound like they belong in a stealth game?
The tragedy of Sly 3 is that I see so much quality within it, but I never feel tempted to replay it. If you're someone who takes video games moment-by-moment and doesn't read too deeply into things, you'll probably like this game more than I did. I wish I liked Sly 3 as much as 2 or even 1, but sadly, it's not to be.