Sly 2: Band of Thieves

A game’s title should carry some intrinsic meaning in relationship to the game itself. Sly 2: Band of Thieves is aptly named.

Unlike the original title, Band of Thieves incorporates the talents of both Bentley and Murray, as brains/demolitions expert and the brawn, in addition to furthering the acrobatic and stealth skills of Sly Cooper, the notorious raccoon thief in the pending PlayStation 2 release of this franchise.

Yes, the game still features cel shading, but the three dimensional world is huge and getting distracted from the primary path is easy. Should players be able to stick to the missions, they will find that this title is twice as big in terms of content and game time as the original.

They will also find that Sly 2 is entertaining, challenging and just a lot of fun.

Sucker Punch Productions and Sony hosted a Sly 2 day in Seattle and members of the media were invited along for a look at this game. Don’t look for spoilers here, folks, because there will not be any … well, nothing substantial anyway.

It can be noted that the game takes place in several stylized environments, like France and India, and even the wilds of Canada, and that there are several missions – some of which have several parts to them. The game essentially involves using the talents of this Band of Thieves to pull off big heists. You may have to sneak Sly into a nightclub to gather reconnaissance photos from which Bentley can plan the heists.

Or, maybe Sly will secure an item, and then you bring in Murray to tote it out.

All in all, this game features the primary missions, but otherwise very open game play. You can explore and evade guards, or take on the challenges.

This is an action/adventure game that is built on the principles of being a thief. Yes, there are some minor arcade-style elements, but just like the cutscenes and static graphical elements that introduce aspects of the game, Sly 2 has a flair all of its own.

The puzzles are not overly complex, but as players move through the game, the margin of error grows smaller. The game is very forgiving at the start, but gets tougher as you progress.

The control elements are very intuitive, and while the camera allows for free looks on the environment, it is easy to snap it back into place behind Sly or the others.

This was a somewhat early build of the game, and only the first couple of levels were available. Sucker Punch wouldn’t even divulge the number of levels that will be included in the final package, but did say that this game would be, at least, twice the size of the original title.

The game AI is brilliantly crafted to create guards that are not very smart, but which will doggedly pursue our band if they tumble to their thieving ways. However, you can loose them by using the environment to your advantage, just as any good thief would do.

The game’s sound is solid, but the real scene-stealer is the cel-shaded graphics. This game looks like a wholly-interactive animated movie. The character movement is solid and the game allows for some cartoonish moments (as it visually has popping up words for a particularly solid blow delivered to the opposition by our heroes) while still maintaining the theme of the game.

The puzzles themselves were not overly complex, but the game did have challenge.

Sly 2 does not release until September 12, and the build show was early, but with the player-friendly gameplay, the terrific animation and scope of the overall game, it is a safe bet that Sly Cooper 2 will be stealing more than just in-game treasures – this title will steal fans and rightfully so.

For more information on Sly 2 - check out the Gamer Day Event news