A solid game but a step backward for the entire series.
Graphics wise the game continues the cel shade graphics of the old Sly. It is still good and works. You will see the ocassional hiccups in the graphics when you try to pull of certain move as animation doesn't seem to fit. For example when you steal something from an enemies pocket, the stolen item won't actually be in Sly's hand. There is a 3D mode but it really doesn't work very well and luckily could be turned off.
Sound also works well. The sounds efffects are great and so is the music in setting up the atmospehere of the game.
The game seemed rather short. You could probably beat it in about 6 hours. Of course in order to get the coveted 100% you will need to play the game more than once. Each Mission has to be played over in Master Thief mode which was brough back from the original Sly (missing in Sly 2). This mode almost seems like the creator of the game is admiting that the game is short and is a way to make you play the game over again. The only part of interest in doing the mission over again is the treasure hunt mode which is the only new mission in the Master Thief mode.
The game this time increased the amount of playable character again. This time instead of using Sly, Bentley and Murray there is tons of new characters that is playable. They aren't as cool as the original three but still adds to how many different things you can do in this game.
Sly 3 unfortunately took out some things from Sly 2 which really adds frustration to the game. For example, in Sly 2 you recieved moves by beating the board, finding bottles or buying them. In Sly 3 this system is replaced by buying them. This means that you are required to steal a lot of money to buy any of the moves for Sly and his friends could use. At the same time Sly 3 removed the special treasures that was in Sly 2 (it could be sold for a lot of money). So now an unbelievably long time is spent on stealing money which can get very boring.
Sly 3 is an excellent platformer. However for anyone who play Sly 2 it will definitely seem like it took a step in the wrong direction. Sly 3 unfortunately borrows more from Sly 1 then Sly 2. This makes the game still great just falls short of its former glory.