Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

"What do you get when you throw Crash Bandicoot, Solid Snake and a Raccoon in a bag? Sly Cooper of course!"

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is one of the most unique Playstation 2 games to date. Not only does it blend superb graphics and excellent audio with an involving storyline, it does it all while getting a wholesome ‘E’ Rating by the ESRB. Many gamers have the mindset that ‘E’ games are boring and childish, but this game blows that theory out of the water. In fact, if I were rating it, I’d give it a teen rating because there are quite a few instances when a wide array of words are used by the characters that some small children probably wouldn’t understand. What can I say! This game is sophisticated!

I first discovered Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus while walking by a large rack of games at Electronics Boutique. The basic, yet effective box cover caught my eye and I decided to pick it up. Liking what I saw, I decided that it couldn’t be too big a risk, after all I really enjoyed Crash Bandicoot and this basically looked like a Crash in Raccoon form. I bought the game, plopped it into the PS2 and this is what awaited me.

Story---“Hot chick with gun busts slimy toad”

The prelude starts off with Sly Cooper as a young raccoon. He had been learning from his father, who was born into a long line of criminals who stole from other criminals with the aid of the family heirloom, the Thievius Raccoonus. One day while spending time with his father, a group of five shady figures busts through the door. The defenseless family of raccoons is forced to give up their prized book and is left in shambles. Shamed by the attack, Sly’s parents gave him to an orphanage where he meets Murray the hippo and Bentley the turtle. Murray has always had a natural liking for all things mechanical and he became Sly’s getaway driver. Bentley on the other hand took a liking to technological stuff like computers and information. A whiz with satellites and computers, Bentley invents all sorts of useful items that make a job for Sly as easy as can be. Not only does he invent stuff, but he also provides you with useful information on new moves, dangers ahead, and even cracking the code for the vaults. With a duo like this, you’re virtually unstoppable!

All in all, Sly Cooper has a very well thought out story. For a small time game maker like Sucker Punch, I think they’ve really outdone themselves. Unlike its eerily close in nature competitor Crash Bandicoot, it gives a more insightful introduction on what happened and why he’s motivated to get the book back. The game also includes follow up videos before and after every mission, which makes the game much more inviting and addicting. To put it simply; if you liked the Crash Bandicoot series, then this game is definitely for you!
9/10

Gameplay

Gameplay is yet another fine category in Sly Cooper. As I have said before, the basic guts of the game are similar to those of the Crash Bandicoot series. There are themed worlds with groups of five to ten different sub-levels. After completing each level, you must fight a boss. It’s a basic strategy that seems to be effective when trying to reach a large audience. Don’t let the basic similarities get you! That’s exactly where they end. Instead of enemy-free warp zones used in Crash Bandicoot, there are wide sprawling levels ridden with enemies, traps and other fiendish attempts to keep you away from the boss. Once you get inside the sub-levels, the fun doesn’t stop there! Your task is to make it through the level unharmed with the key, which is placed at the opposite end of the level. Once you have beaten all the levels, and have obtained the key, you will have unlocked the path or route or whatever it is in the level that takes you straight to the boss. Once you reach the boss you fight him, win, move on. It stays basically the same throughout the game, but what types of differing factors can you include in a game like this?

Getting through the levels is easy with the amenities provided throughout the game. There are horseshoes hidden in levels that can be used as protection against bad guys. You see, if you are attacked by a villain, or touched by a laser beam while its red, then your automatically toast. But with horseshoes, you are given a second chance at life. Finding them in levels isn’t the only way you can get them either. If you collect 100 coins, then you are gifted one horseshoe. Other than that, there is no way to be invincible in this game.

With what’s been said, I believe that there was a high degree of attention paid to this game while making it. The gameplay is rock solid throughout the game. Even with the fact it’s almost a forgery of Crash Bandicoot, it’s still a great game.
9/10

Graphics

Graphics are probably one of the best elements in the game. I just can’t say enough about them. They’re almost picture perfect. There are never any glitches (Although there are some moments where the camera gets frustrating) and there really isn’t much to complain about. Sly Cooper runs at a rock solid 60 FPS and throughout the game, I never really came to a point in the game where they slowed down. The characters are stunningly crisp, but the cell shading style of animation might be a pretty big contributing factor. Even so, the characters are fully 3-D; so get that image of Paper Mario out of your head. On the other hand, the backgrounds are not cell shaded. Like many other action games, the backgrounds are normal three-dimensional objects/items, which are pretty impressive in their own sense.

You would have to be crazy to shun this game because you think the graphics are sub par. There are games out there that get mixed reviews in the graphics department and this should not be one of them. From the moment you pop the disk in to the day you beat the game, there should never be a time where you are frustrated with the graphics.
9/10

Sound

To sum the sound up in one word, I would say “Excellent”. The background music is quite mood fitting. For instance when you are in a level and you’re just sneaking around, there is a slight action tune playing in the background. As soon as you are spotted though, it is pure mayhem. The music changes to something comparable to what is heard in Syphon Filter (Except it is not so annoyingly techno-ish). It really helps to support the atmosphere you are in. I personally really liked the tunes a lot. For example, in the Paris level at the start of the game, the music sounds very French with a nice accordion supporting the whole thing. Sucker Punch didn’t have their heads in the toilet when they created this soundtrack.

As for the sound effects you ask? Well they are very good as well. You get the odd grunt from an enemy, thuds, smashes and crashes. It’s all good. The air swishes when you jump and you can hear your staff slice through the thick air with a swooping noise most of us have heard while throwing a javelin or something (okay bad example). Another thing I found interesting was the attention to detail with metallic sound effects. When you jump on a car, it makes a squeaky noise that would probably be heard if you jumped on a car (please don’t try this kids) and as your staff ricochets of metal it makes an intriguing ‘Clang!’ noise.

Can I say anymore about the audio in this game? It’s absolutely great. A lot of games mess up (whether it be visible or not) with soundtracks, but obviously this was just one more category that this game dominates in. I would say that this game has the best soundtrack on Playstation 2, but Metal Gear Solid 2 and the Grand Theft Auto duo take that prize.
10/10

Controls

Not the best part of this game, but they are still way above the rest of the PS2 crowd. The control scheme is pretty easy to figure out and once you get the hang of it, you will seldom find yourself dying because of a lack of control. When you gain new moves they are explained to you reasonably well, and you are given chances to experiment with each new move. Once you gain a new move, you can switch back and forth between which new move you will use and then press one of the buttons. For example, say you want to do a roll. Press L2 until you reach the roll command and then press triangle to execute. It’s as simple as that. The thing that really annoys me though is the camera angles sometimes get mixed up with the controls and you can find yourself dying in a sticky situation and it’s a totally useless death. It’s happened to me a few times and it is really starting to bother me now. Other than that, the controls are perfect. Not too sluggish and not too tight.
8/10

Difficulty ---- Easy to Medium

As with many games with a global audience, Sly Cooper must be accessible by a larger audience. Some of them are small children and luckily they aren’t left out. For a 10-year-old child, this game should be relatively easy, and young children can understand the logical problems in it too. But that’s not to say that this is an easy game. During the later half of the game Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus can get quite difficult. With a little persistence it shouldn’t be too hard to beat though.

Replay Value

I have mixed opinions on this element of the game. On one hand the game is sort of fun to play through a second time, but on the other hand it can be quite an arduous task to beat it so the replay value from some might drop. Like many action games this game is worth a good playing or two, but after a while it just doesn’t feel like it used to.
7/10

Conclusion

To sum this game up in a paragraph… It’s awesome. So few games of this nature come out now that really captures the minds and imaginations of universal audiences. Sly Cooper has proven itself to me and to others that a game based on a Raccoon isn’t half bad at all. Solid gameplay mixed with a great story and good graphics, can you go wrong? This game should be in everyone’s collection, and I would not be surprised if this game became a member of the greatest hits club for PS2. There is no reason a game like this should fail. Go out and rent this game! I promise you will not be let down.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/02, Updated 11/15/02