Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Written by Matt Swider  on May 28, 2004

Hands-On Preview: Surprised that they didn't go with the name: Sly and the Family Thieves.

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Sly Cooper single-handedly stole some of the limelight away from duos Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank in 2002. Although both the Jak and Ratchet franchises have been followed up with successful sequels and have a third game in the works, Sly stayed silent until this past March when Sly 2: Band of Thieves was announced. Two months later, the game was shown off at E3 where Sly was back in the spotlight to steal some more of that limelight. However, he won't be doing his thieving single-handedly this time. Instead, buddies Bentley the turtle and Murray the pink hippo have a hand in the cel-shaded, but shadowy operations. Their emergence as playable characters gives the sequel some much needed variety among its missions thanks to their unique skills and comical traits that contrast Sly Cooper. But, no one can show up Sly, who's as slick as always and uncertain of himself never. Sucker Punch is also sporting more of its classy cel-shading styles, further proving that the unique visual technique is no fade, but a fine artwork that's meant to be stolen.

Much of first Sly Cooper game still exists as the foundation for Band of Thieves. Sly Cooper can, again, walk across tightropes high above city streets, swing from latchets with a crowbar, avoid being zapped by lasers, scale buildings by climbing pipes, and pass undetected in the midst of guards with flashlights. Bentley also does the majority of this, but Murray weights a little too much to make it across the tightropes, so he's an asset in other areas. But, while there's a lot that has stayed the same, much has been changed as well. The most significant change is the fact that characters come with a health bar instead of a single hitpoint and hasta la vista. This means that falling off of a tightrope or being shot at by a guard doesn't guarantee that you'll have to restart the operation all over again.

The operations with Sly still involve stealing loot, but it often takes Bentley and Murray to make it to the goal or gold. Bentley can blast through doors and key structures with bombs as well as take out guards with sleeper darts. Murray takes a more physical approach by punching, stomping, belly-flopping and throwing objects at his enemies. This causes words like "WHAM!" to appear along with the appropriate sound effect, which fits the game's cartoony-caper theme well. The 360 degree up-and-down camera rotation will serve players well now that it's easier to see more in the vertical direction. I personally enjoyed the linear camera rotation from Sly Cooper since it gave off an old-school feel and simplified the camera-work, but it's more practical this way. And, it's possible to see some subtle Sucker Punch artifacts like Rocket: Robot on Wheels, the developer's first game from the N64 era, which can be found in the museum.

Callbacks to Sucker Punch's sleeper hit creation aren't the only objects found in the museum level; there are destructible and interactive ones as well. For example, hanging from the museum ceiling is the skeleton of a whale, or what was a whale. Sly bounces off of an ancient drum, lands on the back of this skeleton, and runs down its snipe to flip a power switch for the elevator. This is where Bentley enters to disable the security system as a NPC. Following the end of this level, which turns into a Crash Bandicoot-like chase stage, there's a second level where Sly trails some one named Dimitri into a disco. This is where Bentley begins as a playable character in the demo. His job entails taking out guards with a sleeper-dart shooting crossbow and using bombs to blast the building's support beams. This shows just how different the gameplay is from that of Sly Cooper. And, it doesn't stop with Bentley because Murrary also have a different job in the level after that.

Murray has to bust three alarms throughout the streets of Paris. This is accomplished by stomping on the ground to gain a throwable object and then tossing that object at one of the alarms. Each time, it triggers the alarm and a swarm of beret-wearing enemies appear. However, none of them surrender without a fight, even though the Eiffel Tower is clearly in the background. So, Murray does punches and belly flops until they are eliminated. Although it's fun to perform Murray's moves, his idle movements even better to watch. He attempts to flex with his muscles despite a fat physic, pats his stomach and it ripples in a Homer Simpson-like fashion, and he drops he belt and bends over to pick it up. I guess the best advice on that last one is to not point the camera directly behind him as he bends over. But he'll provide you with the best laughs along with the overly cautious Bentley and collective, cool Cooper.