Title: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Platform: PS2
Genre: Platformer
I paid: $20.00 at Target
STORY -- 5/10
The story isn't really important here. Make it through the level to beat the boss. Here it is anyway. Sly Cooper is a raccoon and master thief. His family was killed by the Fiendish Five right before he was going to inherit the Thievius Raccoonus, his family's record of all their sweet thief moves. Each fiend took a page, and went off to their own level. Little Sly gets taken to an orphanedge where he meets Bentley the turtle and Murray the hippo. Sly, Bentley, and Murray team up to regain all the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus from the Fiendish Five. Bentley's the brains, Murray's the driver, and Sly's the sneaky thief. You'll be playing as Sly 90% of the time.
GAMEPLAY - 10/10
Sly is responsive, quick, and intuitive to control. I never forgot what a button did, and even the higher-level moves weren't hard to pull off. The controls can make the game a little easy, but I'd rather be able to finish the game than throw the controller in frustration ever 10 minutes. This is a game after all. We're supposed to be having fun, and it's genuinely fun to sneak, pick-pocket, and perform acrobatic manuevers as Sly.
Combat is not the main focus here at all. Enemies are killed in one hit, but unless you've found a lucky charm (max. 2), Sly dies after one hit, too. The challenge is getting from point A to point B without setting off alarms and taking out baddies without being seen.
Sly has plenty of goodies that can be found in each level. He can roll to move faster, slow down or speed up time, turn his hat into a land mine, all sorts of cool, interesting, and OPTIONAL abilities.
MUSIC -- 7/10
The music was above average for a platformer. I can't remember any of it now, but it was appropriate. I wouldn't buy the soundtrack, but if Sucker Punch was offering it for free download, I'd grab it and throw it on my iPod. This score might be viewed as a bit too high considering I can't remember it, but anymore in a video game I'm excited if the music doesn't detract from the gameplay experience, and I'm very surprised when it enhances it.
REPLAYABILITY -- 10/10
There are loads of things to do in Sly Cooper after you've played through once. Collect all the optional upgrades, if you haven't already. Play through the game again and avoid the ability upgrades. Beat all the Master Thief Sprints (time attack), which are ridiculously hard (I've only completed 10% or so). As a reward for completing the sprint, you get the option of listening to commentary when you begin a level, and the commentaries are well done. I've enjoyed each one that I've unlocked.
OVERALL -- 9/10
It would have gotten a 10, but Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is short. Too short. The replay value makes up for this some, but the fifth level should have been much, much more than it was. Also, I would have liked to play as a second character as an unlockable feature. Pick this game up. It's only $20, it controls great, and it's fun to play. It's the gaming experience Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time would be if it were a cartoon about a raccoon thief.
