Sly Cooper is a raccoon born into the family of the world's greatest thieves.  On his eighth birthday, Sly was given a family heirloom for his gift, the Thievius Raccoonus. This book contained all of the family knowledge, secrets, and thieving techniques, making it too much temptation for a gang of ruthless villains.  Sly had to watch helplessly as his father was overpowered and the heirloom stolen.  The villains took the Thievius Raccoonus, divided it amongst themselves, and used its knowledge to become filthy rich.

Ten years of past since that black day, and now Sly is a raccoon on a mission.  He recruits his gadget genius buddy, Bentley, who is long on brains but short on courage, and his eager and well-meaning but slightly clumsy friend Murray to help him take back what is rightfully his.

The five villains who stole the Thievius Raccoonus have hidden the book in pieces in each of their hideouts.  Each of these hideouts forms a separate game world each with its own unique theme: ice, underwater, bayou, Venice, and industrial.  We recently had the chance to play a preview copy of the game which let us give the game's bayou world a go.

The first thing you'll notice about the game is its unique look.  The graphics use a cell-shading technique to give the game the appearance of a 3D cartoon.  The environment is very stylized, filled with atmosphere, animations, and ambiance, helped by great lighting effects and object details.  So while the game may give a nod to cartoons for the inspiration of its look, it certainly looks better than any cartoon you'll see.  Sly himself looks great, with animation that conveys a feeling of agility and athleticism.  Controlling Sly both looks and feels fluid.

Speaking of controlling Sly, at the start of the game you'll have a few basic moves that you can use.  Sly can run, jump, and sneak, and also carries his trusty thief's hook.  The hook can be used to bash enemies or smash objects, the latter yielding gold coins; collect 100 coins and you'll receive a new life.  Sly can also perform combos when jumping and using the hook, but his initial repertoire is limited to a couple of basic moves. The hook also doubles as a grappling device that Sly can use to slide down wires, or hook overhanging cables so that he can pull himself up and move along the cable. 

In addition to collecting coins, Sly must collect 'clues' which appear in the game as bottles containing messages.  Once all of the clues in an area have been collected, Bentley will decode them (back in the safety of Sly's van) to provide a combination to the area's vault.  Sly can then open the vault to retrieve a page of the Thievius Raccoonus.  Each page contains the instructions for a special move or new ability that you'll be able to begin using right away.  You won't need to retrieve all of the pages to advance to the next area, but it will certainly make things easier for you down the road.  So how do you advance to the next area if opening the vault is optional?  You'll need to find the one or more keys hidden in the area that will unlock the obstruction barring your way to the next.

The game's great environments and unique graphics alone would probably make it an above average platform game.  However, Sly Cooper adds an entirely new element of play that really makes it stand out - stealth.  The villains' hideouts are littered with guards, traps, and spotlights designed to keep intruders like Sly out.  Get caught in a searchlight and red lasers go off, making it quite difficult for Sly to get anywhere.  You'll also find laser tripwire beams in some rooms, just waiting to turn deadly should Sly break one of the beams.  Luckily for Sly, these various defenses are usually tied to an alarm system.  All Sly needs to do is bash the alarm, and the spotlights or beams will be powered down.  Of course there is the slight issue of getting to the alarm in the first place...

One sneaky thief »