Sly 3 is bigger, longer, and follows up quite nicely to the 2 predecessors on the PlayStation 2 console.
Like the previous games, Sly 3 starts with a flashback of Sly's past. The usual thing, his parents were murdered, he was next in the Cooper family, yada yada yada. This time, you journey along with other thieves that join your gang later on, to gain access to the Cooper vault, which is being overrun by an evil genius named Dr. M, a mandrill (hence the M) who has been trying to open the vault for years. The vault contained the Cooper family's treasures over the years of theiving, and Sly Cooper was next to experience what's inside the vault.
Like usual, the gameplay is still the same. You're still opening up a can of whoop ass at times and using stealth like you're playing a third person version of Metal Gear Solid. There are new characters you can play as, as well as every minigame you can possibly imagine. The fellows at Sucker Punch is who you can thank for that. Like in the second game, you have a health bar in the top left corner of the screen as well as how much power you have to use a secondary attack or stealth move (like the Smoke Bomb). You can assign different moves and abilities by pressing Select, and assigning button arrangements for a move (ex: Smoke Bomb, press L1). Simply press L1, L2, or R2, and the action will be assigned to the press of that button. However, not all characters can do that.
As well as how the gameplay goes, unlike the second game, you can replay missions or do challenges by selecting an episode then picking the job/challenge you want to play. However, sometimes the challenges are too easy to complete and replaying the jobs get easier by every play, but they are still satisfying and are worth your time.
The graphics are cel-shaded like the other 2 games in the series. When you get hit, the character's outlines blink red, which is kind of cool. However, the game suffers sometimes with frame-rate problems, but that really depends on what activity is going on in the game. Too many characters and actions equals a slower frame rate. There is also a 3D option you can use if you have the 3D goggles that come with the game. Do the same thing with replaying jobs, only press the Square button to enable 3D mode. It's a great experience, but if you play too much of the 3D, you'll end up with a migrane later, so if you're done with the 3D mode and want to play regular mode, take an asprin first depending on how much time you spend on 3D mode, and do yourself a favor and don't overdose yourself.
That still doesn't beat the sound and music. The voice acting is top notch, however they changed Carmalita Fox's voice...again, but it sounds better than the second game. The music is really catchy, and has that beat that you cannot resist. Not only that, when you defeat an enemy, a lot of times you'll hear a trumpet blast just like in Batman, which is really cool.
The game is longer than the other 2 games and will take you about 8-12 worth of your time, will take a couple hours more to complete the challenges, but you'll find out that it was worth playing this great sequel to a great series. Overall, any PlayStation 2 gamer would want to get this.