Sly 2 is a masterpiece; the result of blending incredible graphics with flawless sound and level design.
User Rating: 9.4 | Sly 2: Band of Thieves PS2
Very rarely do I openly gush about games. I usually keep my opinions to myself, and only give recommendations when asked. However, in the past couple of days, I have been going out of my way to tell as many people as possible how incredible Sucker Punch's Sly 2: Band of Thieves is. It's a classic in every sense of the word. The graphics, character design, soundtrack, and level layouts are all at the top of their respective classes. You will not find a better looking, better sounding, or better playing action/platformer on any console right now, because Sly 2 has them beat in every conceivable area. Sly Cooper is a raccoon thief who, in 2002's Sly Cooper and the Theivius Racoonus, defeated his arch nemesis Clockwerk, a robotic Eagle who is fueled by his hatred of the Cooper clan. But in Sly 2, Clockwerk is back (kinda), and Sly gets help from his childhood pals Bentley (a nasally turtle who is the brains of the operation) and Murray (a clumsy pink hippo, who serves as the muscle) to take the Klaww Gang, a group of super-villains who are trying to re-animate Clockwerk by putting his severed parts back together. The 3 playable characters give Sly 2 a ton of gameplay depth: Sly can jump higher, grab onto rails and hooks, and shimmy across narrow ledges, Bentley can set explosives and knock out guards with his sleep darts, and Murray can just jump right into the action and bludgeon his foes with his mighty fists. Each character has his own inherent strengths and weaknesses obviously, and throughout the game, you can purchase special skills for each character. These skills range from a running turbo boost for Bentley to a super duper jump for Murray, to temporary invisibility for Sly. Most of these special skills are integrated into the missions, so you actually need to use them every once in a while, and most of them are very handy while just navagating through the levels. Sly himself can learn extra special skills by collecting all 30 clue bottles in a level, and then using the codes inside those bottles to open a safe somewhere inside that same level. Some of the bottles are pretty easy to find, but collecting all 30 in a given level can be very challenging at times, especially in the bigger levels. A lot of the time, you'll find maybe 20 or 25, then just give up on hunting for them and resume with your missions, and during the course of those missions, you'll run into the other 5 or 10. Speaking of missions, Sly 2's levels throw a bunch of incredibly varied missions at you. Bentley's computer hacking game can be described as "Asteroids meets Smash TV", as you use the Left analog stick to control your tank "bug", and the Right stick to fire your turret. These hacking levels are incredibly well designed, and it's one of those mini games that is great fun and an excellent change of pace, instead of an annoying chore that pulls you away from the main game. You will also man gun turrets, dance the tango (using rhythm based controls), drive a tank, and a bunch more. Each level, and there are 7 HUGE one's, has one or two unique, very fun mini games. The way you pull off each heist in Sly 2 is extremely entertaining. You don't just go from the beginning of the level and reach a final boss at the end. Most of the time, you must take recon photos so that Bentley has some information he can use to plan the operation. Then you will have to perform certain tasks within each level like, pick radio transmitters out of a bears mouth, or collect enough spice so that you can feed it to an elephant, thus making it go crazy and knock down a satellite array in the process. Each level throws different missions at you, and it never feels like you have done the same type of thing before. The game stays fresh until the very end, which is something you can't say about a lot of action/platformers. Sly and his gang all control incredibly well. The camera is fully rotatable with the Right analog stick, and even if you don't adjust it manually, it's always in the right spot. Double jumping with all 3 characters is a sinch, and every single mini game plays perfect. The only problem I had with the controls was a minor one. Sometimes, when you need to jump and then hit the Circle button to have Sly land onto a pointy spire or rope, Sly won't always land where you want him to. For example, if Sly is on a telephone post, and he can either jump right, onto the telephone line, or up, and climp up the pole, he won't always go where you want him to go. This is incredibly minor though, since the problem only happened to me in one level, on 2 telephone polls. Everything else in the game controls flawlessly. The first thing you will notice about this game is how incredibly beautiful it looks. The story sequences (the movies before and after each level) are spectacular. This game just oozes style, and if you have eyeballs in your head, you will fall in love with how gorgeous this game is. The character designs for each enemy and villain are excellent as well. From duck minor's who will bat rocks at you with their shovels to Jean Bison, the Canadian lumberjack who talks with a hilarious accent, whoever was in charge of character design should be given a raise. Each level is huge, and the action on screen only slows down ever so slightly if you are fighting 6 guys are once (which happened to me once in the entire game). You never see scenery just pop up, the lighting and shadows are mindblowing, and the animations are incredibly fluid. I can't tell you how impressed I am with this game visually. Every single thing that you see on screen is gorgeous. Not only does this game look amazing, the sound design might be even better. The voice work for this game is perfect. I could not find a single thing wrong with it. Every single voice in the game matches the character perfectly. Like I stated before, Jean Bison, along with some Canadian RC Car racing moose', have hilarious Canadian accents. Bentley's shrill, nasally voice fits his personality to a tee, as does Murray, who will sometimes refer to himself in third person as "The Murray." The game also supports the USB headset, which I used during the entire game, and it makes the experience even better. Not only is the voice acting great, but the music contained in the game is also first rate. Each stage has it's own feel, and the music fits that feel perfectly. Both levels in Canada have soundtracks that are absolutely perfect. The effects, just like the soundtrack, are great as well. How can you not love hearing the old 60's Batman effects everytime you punched out a bad guy (you also see words like "BAM!" and "THWACK!" on screen as well). One of the complaints a lot of people had with the first Sly game was that it was too short. You could probably beat it during a weekend rental. Well, that certainly isn't the case with Sly 2, unless you play it 12 hours a day for 2 days straight. I completed every level at 100%, which means I took the time to hunt for all 30 clue bottles, and I finished the game at around 24 hours. There really isn't much of an incentive to come back and play it a second time, although I certainly will, just because the overall game is so damn entertaining. Another one of the minor problems people had with Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus was that it was too easy. While Sly 2 won't make you rip your hair out and kick your dog across the room, it's not a complete cakewalk either. I found the difficulty to be "Just Right". I died a couple times during certain boss fights, but never did I throw my controller down in anger and say "Screw this game, I'm never playing it again." Sly 2: Band of Thieves is just one of those games that everybody needs to play. Not just PS2 fanboys, or just fans of platformers, but everybody. If you have an interest in gaming, then Sly 2 should be required viewing. Why? Because very rarely does one game blend incredible visuals with flawless sound and level design. It just doesn't happen much these days. If you play Sly 2, and don't fall in love with it after a couple hours of play, then you really aren't a gamer, and I would suggest you get a new hobby, like stamp collecting or bird watching or something.
