As far back as I can remember, I have always loved 3D platformers, from the early days of “Mario 64” and “Spyro the Dragon” to the modern platformer/action-adventure games like “Uncharted” and “Assassin’s Creed”. Between these generations came a golden age of 3D platformers, where you couldn’t turn your head without being assaulted by some crazy cartoon mascot. There were some obscure titles like “Ty the Tasmanian Tiger” and “Tak & The Power of Juju,” but “Sly Cooper” was of one the more prolific series. At least, I think so. If you were a kid during the early 2000’s with a PS2, or knew a kid with a PS2, and played games consistently, you’ve probably heard a bit about it. If not, allow me to educate you.
The “Sly Cooper” games follow the titular character Sly Cooper, an anthromorphic raccoon, and his merry band of thieves as they rob other animal criminals blind in search of treasure, artifacts or the Cooper family’s stolen ancient thieving techniques. The original trilogy on the PS2 was pretty good. They offered a solid blend of platforming and stealth along with providing a charming cast of characters and solid stories. They did flub a little bit with the third game and added an assortment of frustrating mini-games, but the other two are good enough to make up for it. If you have yet to play these games, there is a HD collection of them on sale now and I highly recommend you pick it up, before playing “Thieves in Time”.
I have spent most of this column talking about the other games because “Thieves in Time” is a game that is for fans of the original games and there is not much to say about it. “Thieves in Time” picks up where Sly 3 left off and follows Sly Cooper and company as they travel through time to stop a villain from destroying the Cooper family legacy. This premise actually didn’t turn out as awful as I thought it would. In fact, Sanzaru (the developer behind this entry in the series) did a pretty good job. The game play is essentially unaltered from the other entries, so it is one heck of a good time sneaking across all the period locals you would wish “Assassin’s Creed” would go to: feudal Japan, the American Old West, dinosaur times and medieval England. The only area I feel the game comes up short is the character department. Sanzaru does an OK job at capturing the personalities of the cast, but it is only a slightly bad job and Sly Cooper is hardly Jean Valjean in terms of characterization. If you are fans of the series, I highly recommend you pick up “Thieves in Time”, but if you are not then you should go find the HD collection of the original trilogy. You can probably get it on the cheap at this point and it is hours of silly platforming fun.
