Sly 2: Band of Thieves

"Sly and his band of thieves have returned to the PS2"

I'm a huge fan of Sly Cooper and when I heard they changed the game play for the sequel I was a little apprehensive about Sly 2. I rented the sequel hoping for the best and was completely blown away by what I found. I purchased ‘Sly 2: band of thieves' a few days after returning the rental unable to stay away from the extraordinary platform action.

Graphics - 10 out of 10
The art style of Sly and company have been revamped, but hold true to the cell-shaded saturday morning cartoon style fans loved from the first game. From the first FMV to the last I was pulled in and held to the very end.

Sound - 10 out of 10
The cast of the first game is back as Sly Cooper, Bentley, Murray and Inspector Carmelita Fox. And just as the first game the voice acting and sound effects are top notch. A play can actually find the hint bottles by simply listening for their distinct sound and judge their distance from you and aid a player in locating them all.

Controls - 10 out of 10
The controls work perfectly no matter which of the gang your playing with.

Gameplay - 9.5 out of 10
The level design of the first game was fresh and innovative, the sequel did a great job keeping the feel of the first game, but due to the objectives taking place in one huge level rather than individual levels makes for somewhat repetitive game play, but the game is still fun and entertaining. The Sly Cooper's missions have the same game play and action of the first game, while Bentley's missions are more stealthier and Murray's missions are more straight forward beat'em up actions. Some of the mini games from the first game are back such as: computer hacking, turrets, vehicle combat, etc.

Camera - 9.5 out of 10
The camera angles are completely controllable and their only problem is once in a rare while the camera sticks.

Story - 0 out of 10
In the first game Sly was hunting down the members of the claw gang to recover the stolen pages of his family's ancient book of thieving. In the sequel Sly and company break in to steal the clockwork parts (the remains of the final boss from the first game) and find them stolen. So Sly and the gang hit the road to track down the members of the new claw gang who are the bearers of the clockwork parts. And so the fun begins…

Overall - 9 out of 10
In the end…the game is a great sequel!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/04