Sly's first visit to the next gen could be worth your while
Graphics
For this type of genre, the graphics are what you would expect, colourful and cartoony. However I can't help but think that they missed a beat in designing the game like this. After all, this is Sly Coopers first outing on the next gen consoles and yet it could easily be mistaken for a PS2 game. I was a little disappointed that there didn't seem to be any textures at all to give it that next gen make-over.
Sound
The music is well made and it does a great job in accompanying the style of the game. The voice acting was ok, but after a while I got a little sick of hearing a made up voice rather than a real one, i.e. Murray and Bentley. While we're on the subject of Murray, there was one mission where Murray trains the Ice-Age ancestor of Sly and I lost count how many times he said "The Murray". I got so sick of that phrase after that level.
Gameplay
They did a good job with the different missions and keeping things fresh from using one character to another. If you choose a Sly mission (or one of his ancestors), then it'll be about stealth, Bentley will mainly be about hacking and the various mini-games that come with that and 'The Murray' would just be fighting (or a really odd dance routine). I thought the stealth missions were the most fun, but I use the term 'stealth' as loosely as I possibly can. Stealth in this game means that a guard won't see you if you don't cross over into the torch light. You can walk directly infront of him, but if you don't step on the light of the torch shining on the ground, then he'll be completely blind to your existence. However I don't think that a 37 year old is really the target market for this type of game, it would be aimed at the younger generation that just wants fun more than realism.
So the missions that lead up to the boss fights are diverse, fun and enjoyable, but then comes the boss fights…O.M.G!! I've played many a boss fight in my time but never anything as tedious and as frustrating as these. Naturally with any boss fight there is a certain cycle to their moves, you monitor that cycle and strike when appropriate. This game takes that to another level. For example, in other games, yes there are cycles to each boss fight, but there is a certain level of freedom you can still exercise in fighting the boss. In this game however, freedom is taken out of your hands and the tedious routine of waiting, waiting, strike, rinse and repeat takes any fun out of the experience. It became a complete chore and instead of looking forward to face the boss to complete that time period, I was dreading the tediousness of it all. As I mentioned before, this game may not be aimed at my age group, so there is a certain ageist view to my opinion of these fights, but I think that this formula was followed so strictly that I don't think anyone of any age would actually enjoy these encounters.
Final Thoughts
I thought this was a fun game to have on the go. The missions were enjoyable, there was humour and a good story. However any fun I seemed to have was sucked out whenever I engaged in a boss fight. At 37 I think my view would be a little more harsh than say a 15 year olds, so I do understand that age is a factor here. But come on guys, give the younger generation a little more credit with their gameplay skills.