Sly 2 serves to be a stealthier, lengthier experience than its predecessor, and PS2 owners should look into this.
The story picks up two years following the events of Sly 1. This time Sly, Bentley, and Murray set out to various parts of the world to go after the Klaww Gang, who each member has parts of the villainous Clockwork, the robotic owl responsible for the death of Sly's family. Along the way they'll still be keeping an eye out for Inspector Carmelita Fox who is still fixated on capturing the Cooper Gang, as well as her new partner Constable Neyla. The game is much more story focused this time around and it is rather engaging and well-executed.
Sly will not be alone on the field this time around, as you also play as his old pals Bentley and Murray, who each have their own specific missions catered to their skills, and they are a blast to play as. Sly is all about sneaking around, pick-pocketing enemies for goodies, and reconnaissance. Bentley is not as agile as Sly, so to amend those limitations he can put enemies to sleep with sleep darts and use a variety of other gadgets you can purchase. He is a demolitions expert, so you'll obviously being blowing up certain things like weak structures. He is also an expert hacker, so there will be missions where you get hack into computers and it will be simulated as an arcade-styled shooter where you reach a specific point, activating a couple of switches, and destroying everything in your path. At points you will be taking control of one of his RC Choppers to take down enemies from below. Murray is the muscle of the group, so his missions are more combat-oriented. You will be beating up different bad guys and picking things up and throwing them. The game certainly adds more variety this time around, and thankfully the variety is excellent. Complementing the excellent gameplay are the silky smooth controls and generally excellent camera. There are eight different locations to go through in the game, ranging from Paris to Prague, and even Canada. These areas a fairly large and very creative.
Everything mission you do takes place in a hub world in which you are required to pull of various jobs, like pick-pocketing, hacking, beating up guards, tailing your enemy, and much more. The jobs are very well constructed and are cannon to the overall goal of the episode. All of these jobs come together to help you pull off a grand heist at the end in which you are given the opportunity to get after a Clockwork part and stop that member of the Klaww Gang. The only complaint about these jobs is that they are pretty easy to complete. A new addition to the gameplay is the Thief Net, which acts as a store where you can use coins you collected, as well as valuable treasures you can sell, to buy new upgrades. Only a couple of upgrades are needed to help you beat the game. And like in the first game you are given the option to collect clue bottles, which are scattered around each hub world to open a vault for various little extras. All of these missions and gameplay will take a good weekend to finish, but if you really want to hunker down it can take about 8-10 hours to beat. It's not terribly long, but it's definitely longer than the original.
Just like the first game, Sly 2 features amazing cell shaded graphics with a very unique art style. The environments are well varied, colorful, and excellently designed with a unique art style. The character models look great and animate very nicely The sound the design is just as good, featuring great music matching each location ( jungle like beats and sounds for India and an eerie, haunting score for Prague) and improved voice acting from the last game, along with some great writing.
To sum things up:
PROS:
-Really crisp and beautiful cell-shaded graphics that help make this one of the best looking PS2 games
-Characters animate pretty well
-You now get to play as Bentley and Murray, both of which are a blast to play as
-Smooth controls
-Lots of new moves to chose from
-More stealth options which really enhance the experience of being a thief
-Plenty of creative and large open worlds
-Creative missions
-A more interesting and engaging story
-Good voice work
-Great music that respectively go with each level
-Lengthier than the first
CONS:
-Pretty easy
Fans of the first game should instantly fall in love with this title. Take everything that made the first game great and improve on it in every aspect. Such is the way of any good sequel. Sly 2 is a great recommendation among PS2 owners and platforming enthusiasts.