Decent platforming fix for anyone looking for one.
Sly Cooper was developed by Sucker Punch and was released in 2002. I was interested in this title because frankly it looked really fun and looked like a good mix between a plat former and a stealth game. Although Sly Cooper delivers on some of these expectations it also shows its limp game play coupled down with a few annoyances.
The game's story circles around Sly who is descended from a long line of Master Thieves. As an eight-year-old child, his parents were killed by a ruthless gang called the Fiendish Five, who sought Sly Cooper's family heirloom the Thievius Raccoonus. After the Fiendish 5 take and scatter this precious book , Sly is alone and is put into a adoption house, there he meets Bentley the turtle and Murray a pink hippo, together they band together to help Sly retrieve his lost heirloom . Although there is more to the story, you have to play the game to learn it. (I'm avoiding spoilers)
The strong suit in Sly Cooper has to be the graphics which blend cel-shaded graphics into the game play very well. The only problem with these great visuals is the lack of anti aliasing around corners and the frame rate which sometimes takes a dip when you're fighting several foes. The animation within the game is well animated and never feels stiff. Aside from these minor flaws the graphics department is a visual feast for the eyes.
Now to the game play, which is one of Sly's weakest departments. Firstly I have to say that it plays well but it is plagued by a sloppy camera. I often died more times from missing a jump then I did fighting foes. The jittery camera makes jumping an instant death or sometimes decides to lock its self in place which makes jump a guess .( Keep in mind I'm not talking about the chase sequences which are exhilarating as you run for your life trying to avoid a monstrous beast .) Another problem I found that atrophied the game play and caused several frustrating moments were the controls. The control set up within itself is great but sometimes it doesn't register what you hit, which makes a certain boss battle seem unfair or a certain stealth jump an instant death. Now to the good part, the game relies on a one hit your dead mechanic like Crash, (You have a horseshoe instead of a mask), which makes you cautious around enemies which is a nice feeling around a stealth based plat former. Along your adventures you collect bottles and acquire vault code numbers which are used to earn you pages from the Thievius Raccoonus, which in turn expand your repertoire of moves. This ranges from changing into an electric rolling ball or freezing time. It makes scouting exploring levels more entertaining and rewarding. The game play also changes time to time from on rail shooting stages to a racing mini game, which changes up the standard action. They're not very complicated and serve as a deterrent from Sly. Sly's parts consist of whack guys with a cane and plat forming. It's a fairly linear adventure which will last you about 5 hours. After completion of the game you can retry beating levels in a predetermined time. To bad that once you beat the adventure you won't want to go back. The levels look different but they feel the same game play wise, luckily the boss battles very different from one another which are a plus.
Overall Sly Cooper is a decent game which is hampered by some boring design choices and bad camera.