Warning: Jaded Gamer Ahead

Seeing Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus at this year's E3 didn't do much to dissuade me from pronouncing Sony's booth the worst-of-show. Games like Ratchet & Clank and The Getaway seem so soullessly calculated that I didn't want to bother with them. Outside the booth, grinning Sony reps handed out little PlayStation bags with demos and ads, and a playable Sly was included.

Back home, sorting through the press avalanche, I carefully opened the demo package and popped the Ratchet & Clank disc into my PS2, which hadn't seen too many platformers. Decidedly unimpressed, I played my way through and made a note to never mention it to anyone again.

I had even less hope for Sly Cooper. It just had so many strikes against it: the name was sort of silly, the visuals were rendered with oh-so-trendy cel shading, and Sly had a huge bushy tail that screamed 16-bit mascot. To my surprise, the demo kept me interested, and darn if I didn't feel some of that spark come back.

Stealing Heaven

So what's the deal? Why Sly? Well, in this case, Heaven is in the details. The game is put together masterfully and evidently with a lot of love, and you have to respect that.

It's very refreshing to make my way through a title like this and not have thoughts of focus groups interrupt my concentration every other level. Sly Cooper is not a 100% original by any stretch, but there is a major difference between derivative pandering to a market built by someone else and an homage to the greats. All through the game, I recognized elements from other games, besides the aforementioned furry-critter syndrome. The difference is that whenever I was made to think of another game, the memories were generally pleasant and appreciated.

Maximo jumped to mind most of all - not a bad thing, since I was hungry for some more Maximo. But there is a lot more to this title than just platforming. Various shooting levels pop up here and there, some reminiscent of Robotron and one that combines elements of Asteroids with the hacking sequences in Shadowrun. Of course, there will also be comparisons to Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear. Heck, there's even an ability that mimics Max Payne's Bullet Time. One of the enemies . . . well, I won't spoil it for you, but I will say the phrase "I gotta believe!" came to mind.

Crouching at the ready amid all these disparate influences is the heart of the game, Sly Cooper himself - an amazing mixture of Sonic the Hedgehog and Strider Hiryu, sans most of the offense. Supremely confident, phenomenally skilled, and stylishly uh, stylish (there's one for the ads), the hero is a joy to control. The plot doubles as a device for introducing power-ups: the titular Thievius Raccoonus is a book of thief trickery and how-to, and as Sly recovers more of its pages, his impressive array of abilities grows.

"They're a Pack of Monkeys. How Can I Lose?"

Sly’s repertoire comes in mighty handy, as the search for the Thievius Raccoonus thrusts him into myriad dangerous predicaments all over the world. There are five main maps, subdivided into ten or so missions apiece. As mentioned above, not all of the game is platforming, and the shooting and racing and dodging levels keep the game feeling fresh from beginning to end.

Each of the five maps is treated as a separate episode, complete with its own Saturday-morning-cartoon opening title sequence. After a map is cleared, a wrap-up movie runs. Just as in a cartoon, these ending spots leave the characters pretty much where they started, in position for their next adventure. All that’s missing is a cheesy theme song and light-hearted closing credits. All movies are replayable once they are unlocked.

Most of the areas in a map are linked to mini-hubs, so that you may have to clear a group of three-to-five stages before proceeding to the next group. The stages in each hub can be tackled in any order, and any stage can be exited at any time. In one of many, many nice touches in this game, all you need to do to switch levels is pause the game to access the map and select the stage you want to go to. As long as you cleared that stage, you will be transported there in a (PS2) flash.

You will want to revisit stages, since you sometimes won’t gather enough clues on your first run through to unlock the safe that contains the next page of the Thievius Raccoonus. This never becomes a chore, since none of the stages is overly long, and some of the powers unlocked along the way allow you to utilize different approaches the second time around.

Even at the onset of the game, Sly is a platforming god. Those who gasped in delight when Mario climbed the fence in Bowser’s castle and flipped the trapdoor around will be left in wide-eyed wonder at what Sly can do. Dashing like a mammal possessed, Sly grabs onto objects, swings from them with the greatest of ease, and flies to the next one. He scurries along ropes and can climb up neon tubes – heck, not even Spider-man can do that! Of course, he can sneak around with the best of them. (Developer Sucker Punch even threw in a cartoony “tiptoeing” music effect.) Control is pinpoint-precise, though the camera can be finicky and a little lazy.

The environments are huge, but the action is fairly guided. While not strictly on rails, there is a definite path running through each area. There is plenty to interact with, and Sly will spin generators, open safes, and set off a lot of fireworks during his quest.

The enemies are fairly easy to avoid, as are the searchlights and laser traps. When you do get hit by a foe, he will mug it up with joy. Seeing bulldogs bow and crabs “raise the roof” in self-congratulatory celebration is just the right mix of cute and frustrating.

It Takes a (Master) Thief

One more note before I lay the closing score on you. Anyone who says the game is too short or too easy probably hasn’t finished it. There is a percentage counter displayed on the pause screen that keeps a running tab on how much of the game is completed. Finding all the pages and beating all the bosses leaves Sly about 85% of the way through. Beyond that, there is a series of Master Thief Trials – time trials on some of the stages in Maps 1 through 4. These are very difficult, but successfully passing them unlocks a making-of movie and bragging rights over 95% of the people who’ve played this game.

Like most great games, it’s all in how you play it.

· · · Nick