sly 2
Sly 2: Band of Thieves brings several new gameplay elements into the fold. In addition to Sly, the player can play as Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo. Bentley follows a more cloak and dagger approach to stealth. He can't climb poles or jump very far but he is equipped with a sleeper dart crossbow and countdown bombs to subdue and defeat enemies one-by-one or sabotage enemy equipment. Bentley can use his computer skills to hack villains' computers, bringing the player to a top-down shooter-like mini-game. Murray is much more direct. His brute strength allows him to take on groups of strong enemies by himself with powerful hooks and upper cuts. He can pick up objects and enemies to throw around and his "thunder flop" attack can stun and destroy enemies. His strength allows him to help the gang with heavy duty tasks.
Each character now has a health bar and a special bar. Health is diminished every time the character gets attacked, hits a hazard, etc. If it is depleted entirely the player must restart any current mission and respawn at another location. The orange special bar depletes whenever a character uses a gadget move (some gadgets don't require special use). If it hits zero, manual gadgets moves can not be used. Some gadgets must be purchased in order to complete certain missions. Both of these bars (health and gadget) can be refilled by finding red "health" icons by breaking objects or destroying enemies.
Missions are now connected to a main hub of the location Sly and the Gang are operating. A safehouse located in the hub is where the player can choose which character to use and get away from pursuing guards. This hub can range from a city to a lumber camp in the wilderness. Enemies patrol around this area although its usually a secluded spot, and there are no objectives until a character arrives at a mission beacon.
Another new feature is pickpocketing (Sly only). When Sly sneaks up behind an enemy, he can reach out with his cane and grab coins out of their money pouch. The coins come in clusters, and they go directly to Sly's coin count. He does not need to pick them up. If there is an aura around an enemy's coin pouch, they are carrying an expensive item (i.e. Ruby, diamond, gold watch, etc.). Once Sly gets all of their coins, he can grab the enemy's item and sell it later back at the safehouse.
Most powerups and extra moves are now bought from the safehouse instead of safes. Using collected coins, Sly can buy powerups from an in-game online store (Thiefnet) for each character. Sly's powerups focus on stealth, Murray's on power, and Bentley's on gadgets. Most powerups need to be assigned to a button, but some give a constant effect. Items stolen from guards can be sold for money in the safehouse to help fund upgrades. Special upgrades and moves can be found after a number of clue bottles are found in the main hub and a hidden safe is unlocked with the code. Certain valuables can be found around the field and can be stolen and then sold at the safehouse for a large amount of money; these valuables range from portraits to vases, etc.
The game also makes use of the PlayStation 2's optional USB microphone allowing the player to use the sound of their voice to distract and attract in-game enemies. This in turn adds a new twist to the stealth elements, as the player has to refrain from noises such as talking or coughing or risk creating in-game noise.
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