Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
While Sony's total game lineup looked fierce at E3, the whole of their first party titles - as usual - lacked that special something that the third party developers continuously provide their slick-looking black box with. After picking up Sly Cooper however, its easy to see what the highlight of their non-online first party titles is.
Sly Cooper brings its player into a cartoon influenced-linear-3D-polygonal world, one that not only looks beautiful but plays just as pleasantly. What's most clear when picking up the demo version we received at E3 however, is the uncanny amount of style that oozes from Racconnuses every crevice. This game really fits the system it plays on, out of any system, the PS2 is the one that seems to of had the most personality, and this game personifies that point exactly. Sly Cooper is delivered to us by Sucker Punch, the same people who brought us Rocket: Robot on Wheels during the N64 days (a highly underrated platforming game near the end of the 64s days).
Sly Cooper doesn't so much as try to invent new facets of 3D-Platforming as much as it does refine and polish what we've already seen. It does this through using an innately clever level design combined with simple/intuitive control features. From the second of picking up the controller on the show room floor - while chit-chatting with the head programmer of the game - to my completion of the demo in the comforts of my home, I was glued to the game every moment.
Sly Cooper is a young raccoon who's descended from a long line of great thieves. A manual which has been passed down through every generation in his family that outlines the secrets to the Cooper thieving practices has been stolen. Now Sly has taken it upon himself to reclaim the book. In his journey, he has a number of techniques that will aid him along the way. Being a platformer, the greater majority of the gameplay is based around jumping, but the raccoon also has grappling abilities, being able to catch hold of edges, ropes, scale buildings, and hop rooftops. The controls are simple, and move fluently and there's still enough depth to surely keep advanced players interested.
Through each level, the player must find a certain number of somewhat-hidden bottles that contain clues to help your partner in crime, Bentley (a nerdy turtle), to decipher the combination to these vaults at the end of each level. After obtaining all the clues, Bentley gives you the combination to open the safe, and inside lies your prize. In each of the vaults lies a new type of special theivius move, or pertaining to the story, another page from your families antique thieving book. This is one of the places where the inventiveness of the game really shows. So far from the demo, you can acquire 3 skills, a dive - to get you past those situations where running or jumping just isn't fast enough, slow motion jumping - to help you make more accurate jumps where need be, and a rolling feature where once you build up speed is much faster than running. All the features have a use and can be cycled through at will using the L2 and R2 buttons. Along with the special moves, Sly has your standard moves. Run, walk, tip toe, jump, hang and catch are all in his repertoire of moves along with zooming goggles that activate with the L1 and R1 buttons and can both pan and zoom.
As far as game play goes, this is your standard platformer. With the collection of every 100 coins you get a new life. There are floating horse shoes that will grant you another chance at life after being hit once, which will certainly come in handy considering if you're hit once, or fall in water, you die. If that happens, you then have to make you way through level again because you'll have to start at the last marker you passed or the complete beginning of the level. Another cool feature in Sly Cooper is seen during your missions trying to steel a set of keys in the demo. Sly sees these "unexplainable blue auras" every time he senses thieving opportunities, they consist of sneaking around posts, sides of buildings, peaking around corners for enemies etc, an ability of true master thief. The styling of Sly Cooper is takes a lot of influence from shows such as the pink panther, including the sneaky music while performing his thieving practices.
While the basics of this game remain in the normal realm of 3D-platformers, Sly Cooper's level design takes the genre much further than many previous attempts. The levels aren't quite as basic/simple as those in Mario 64 or as vast as those in Jax and Daxter. Instead, sucker punch choose a different route, one that takes a little more observation and thought to complete in its entirety. They keep this idea fresh with each proceeding level. For example, Sucker Punch uses the standard idea of laser sensors, spot lights, and booby-trapping in new ways. If you get caught by one of these detection devices, you're life is soon to be threatened, the lasers turn into death rays, the spot lights into fire lamps, and the booby traps well. kill you. The player is advised on certain courses of action from his good pal Bentley in times of need.
From my point of view, both Sucker Punch and Sony are looking to have a hit on their hands, and I think they just might pull it off too. With a large amount of levels, their clever programmers, and a sense of humor that rates sky high on your standard funny gauge, one should only expect to have lots of fun with this game. After all that's what video games are about, amusement, and this ones going to be quite amusing - to say the least. So until we receive the full copy, enjoy the shots we have for you, so be sure to have your eyes pealed for this one ps2 owners, til' then.
-silver