Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus Review

Genre: Platform, Stealth, Action-Adventure

Developer: Sucker-Punch Productions

System I Played On: PS2

Year: 2002

                               

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Back in my young youth, I fucking loved this game. I’m not joking how much I enjoyed it. I in fact one time while I didn’t have a copy, and my cousin did, broke his disc while trying to rip it out of the case. Yeah. But no need to worry, he got another copy, and I got my own… although I felt bad enough I still remember it. Anyway, yes, this review is going to be nostalgic centric. In fact, I think Sly Cooper might have been the first game I ever completed on my own, and nobody I knew had beat it first. It was all mine. But for those who don’t know, Sly Cooper follows the adventures of master thief Sly Cooper (that parts pretty obvious) and his two friends Murray and Bentley as they try to uncover a book that was in Sly’s family for generations, leaving all the lessons of past thieves. But as a child, Sly’s family was killed and the books remnants were scattered among the furious five, who are the five bosses you’ll fight in the game. There are also five main areas consisting of about maybe seven levels a piece, and a boss fight at the end. Along the way you uncover other pages within vaults, and that’s about it to the game. The story I remember to this day, and could have described the characters, even the ones exclusive to this game. The story actually is filled with interesting characters, and although not as fulfilling as the future installments, it’s still pretty damn good. The characters I really do like, especially Sly, who was once my favorite video game character of all time. (funny how all time never is really that long) But I still love the guy because you really are him in the game. Your ever move and every word are things that represent him, and they don’t have to be that emotional. They can be the best damn one-dimensional character ever, but if that dimension is kick ass, then that’s all good. And when I say the game-play allows you to be him, I mean it. You move very stealth like, while also fierce, and quick. You’re what a cartoon bad ass thief would be. All of your moves are slick and smooth. Gameplay is very easy to pick up, and anyone can play it, and it shouldn’t be that difficult… unless you’re like me, and you fucking suck at platfomers. But like always after so many bad decisions and miscalculated jumps, I made it through, and even as a kid no less. Maybe if I played this more I wouldn’t have had so much trouble with future games. Anyway, let’s talk about the art style. It’s very cartoonish, and it really helps out. You feel like you’ve jumped into a big cartoon, but spacious enough to go where you please. And this game may be more than a decade old, but graphics aren’t made by how “next-gen” or futuristic they look. They’re made by polish, detail, and fleshing things out. And you can do that on any system of any era. And I believe Sly Cooper easily has impressive graphics. But it’s not just the polish I like, there is art in the cut scenes or the backgrounds that I really enjoy. It has personality in every section, and you actually in the story go across the world, and it really feels like you have. Game-play and graphics I can stand by, and although some things now as a teenager I look back on aren’t as good (some of the voice acting was down right crap) I still had a ball playing through, and easily could again. Collecting clues is always fun, and really I couldn’t see the game without those. The boss fights were on and off, but none were bad. But anyway, Sly Cooper started a franchise that became one of my favorites. It introduced the characters I loved, and told a classic story I will never forget. (and will hopefully see in cinematic form in 2016) I don’t look at the game as something I played, but something I experienced as a child. It’s not a bright world, but a colorful world full of even more colorful characters. And it’s amazing putting it together one page of the Thevius Raccoonus at a time.

Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus gets a 5/5

Spoilers: That last mission man, that was really something special to me as a kid. It was back to back bad ass. Saving Carmelita, climbing the tower, and fighting Clockwork, that’s one of my gaming memories. And yeah, the cutscene after where he kissed her and tied her to the railing, that was the coolest Sly moment ever. And yes, I did get every page this time around, and it didn’t take nearly as long as it did when I was a kid… man I was a stupid kid not getting some of those clues

 

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