Sly 2: Band of Thieves

"Thieving goodness"

Sly 2: Band Of Thieves review
To many, Sly 2 is just a cartoony game that imitates Metal Gear Solid. However, it is a solid game that demands a deeper second look at. From jumping from roof to roof, perching on chimneys for a good scan on situations or pickpocketing the guards, it is a great experience to be playing as the thief raccoon.

Sly 2 brings over gameplay element from the first Sly Cooper, but have expanded upon it. No longer do you take control of just Sly Cooper, but also his other companions to set up “jobs” for the big “heist”. While the other characters are fun to use, they never overdue their playtime and the main focus is almost always Sly Cooper. There are elements of gameplay that makes it a fun game, such as being able to purchase abilities that aids on missions, but is not a necessity.

The levels themselves never seem to stray too far from a basic formula, just a massive area that acts as hubs for the band of thieves to pull their heist. However, the jobs do get the variety treatment and often times fun to play in. These levels still get repetitive at times as it does not stray from the same basic ‘level hub, jobs, heist' cycle. Though the levels themselves do present sorts of a challenge, it just shouts monotony as the cycle never truly ends.

This game carries over the same graphics as from the prequel. The cel-shading that is presented is very pleasing to the eye, and fans will be pleased to find that there is no lags that had played the prequel at certain points of the game. However, the game suffers from the ‘dark' effect at which the areas are always dark and are lit only. This disallows colours that have been the main attraction of cel-shading graphics.

Sound is mainly negligible in this installment of Sly. Most of the time it is the sound effects that stands out in the game. There is no background music, which adds to the thieving mood of the game.

For those that demand replayability should not look at Sly 2. While the main game takes a good chunk of time to complete (around 20 hours), there is not much left to do after that. Of course, there is the time challenges and maybe to look to hundred percent while trying to save enough coins to attempt to buy all skills, but these side quests do not actually serve as any big bang on the replay department and is mostly negligible.

As it is, Sly 2 improves in almost every respect of the first Sly and is a great buy to anyone who play with the likes of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. While it strays away from these games by being more cartoony, it is very malicious to immediately scoff it. What's here is a precious game that deserves more than a second look.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/04