If you'll let me indulge more personally in this prelude, I've always had a rather complicated relationship with Sly 2. I mean, I never hated it, I always liked it even, but as I somewhat stated on my Sly 1 review, this was actually the last game of the trilogy I played, having picked it up around 2008 or 09, meaning that while I did indeed grow up with it, it wasn't nearly the same amount of time as the original, strictly linear and sometimes arcadey platformer, and especially the finale of the PS2 trilogy which refines (to a point, but we'll get there when we get there), and extends what this brought onto the table, while also making sure to have the first game's aspects back in. After beating it for the first time all those years ago, I thought it was really good, definitely better than the first game, but not quite to the level of 3.
Then, around mid-2010s, Youtube videos about Sly Cooper were beginning to crop up, which of course I made sure to check out. Only, there was something that felt pretty unexpected to me. A number of people were saying *2 was the best one, and that 3* was an underwhelming game compared to not only that, but even 1, and to a select few, 4. Nowadays I try (keyword, try) not to get too absorbed as to what random people online say about my favorite games, but being a late teen who was much more emotional about this sort of thing for whatever reason... yeaaaa didn't take that lightly, in fact I think I viewed 2 more negatively as a result which in hindsight was rather silly, it wasn't the game's fault things happened the way they did.
So this replay I decided to set expectations to around the first time I played it, which is seeing what this does to improve and expand the first game, and see where refinement of 3 starts, and where the missing magic creeps in (obviously though not like, worded like that in the minds of a 9 or 10 year old). The result, after doing a 100% run again, was something I kind of figured I'd settle on: It has some of the best moments of the trilogy, and it's a major blast for a majority of its runtime, but there's a few nagging instances that, while not enough to keep me from calling it a masterpiece, is something I'd easily say are some of the low points of the trilogy.
Now, getting the obvious out of the way, the writing and overall presentation has seen a major boost. What was already great about the first game's fronts has been made even better, and gave more depth and characterization to Sly, and especially Bentley and Murray, who now feel like actual friends and cohorts with one another, especially now that you can not only play as the other two, but some cases have you swapping or incorporating them to do something. Even Carmelita has been improved upon, actually feeling like a rival force to the trio's motives and planning due to becoming more involved within the plot and stakes, having a voice actress that better delivers her lines (though I still think she stilts the intented tone here and there) instead of feeling like a neat character that shows up every now and then until the finale. Coupled that with even more impressively fluid and distinct animations, wittier and flat-out funnier plays of humor, a cleaner comic book and cel-shaded style, and one of the best OSTs around this time, it's no wonder this has held up rather tremendously. The only thing that's aged is that it isn't all too bright, I already mentioned this on my S1 review but holy SHIT playing this on an HDTV with standard cables can this game darker than it actually is, I'd even say certain chapters become harder to move around in unless you crank up the brightness, and is pretty much why I'm sticking w/ PCSX2 for this replay.
The villains also got a bit of an upgrade. They have more of a chance to show off their personality this time around, as well as the fact they're a little more involved with the current predicament, and especially with how the finale, despite how mixed I am about it overall, reveals that each individual's own plan and motive all comes together for The Big Bad's scheme. From Contessa's crooked cop nature, to Jean Bison's more brawn-and-simple dialect, to Neyla's intrigue (yet rather abundant and really funny) of double crosses, and to one of my personal favorites from this era, Dimitri, being just the funniest lizardman and Frenchman I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with in a video game, the roster of baddies this time around I can definitely say are better and more intricate than before, only weak link being Rajan who I still rather struggle to come up with any noteworthy traits outside his fight in Chapter 3, but even then he's not like, awful.
With that said... I don't think I can say the same for the boss fights. Not in the "oh unfortunately this is a downgrade" sense, to be clear, I appreciate that it's more consistent in a way, since now it's mainly 1-on-1 brawls... but because of that there's not that many "unique" encounters this time around, only popping up rather scarcely, which is a shame because that was something I always liked about 1's boss fights. It's more of an unfortunate disappointment than anything, cause it's at least all-around good.
And on that note, let's talk about the gameplay, or rather, the shift of it. There's some other small aspects to talk about, like the feel of the controls (EXTREMLY satisfying and much better handled), some issues still lingering (I've experienced more overlap circle button stuff here than in S1, unfortunately,) and a mix of both (the camera isn't as janky as last time but it still gets stuck every now and then), but as I said before, 1 is the only game that's strictly platforming-focused, cause 2 onward take on the sandbox, mission structure approach with multiple characters to play as. Platforming is still a thing, don't get me wrong, it's just that it isn't as involved by comparison until around the second half. While I can see this being a disappointment to some, speaking personally, there's a lot more good to this new formula, and even a few improved iterations from the old one that I feel made the move a great call. The overhaul of powerups and coins are two good examples, this time you can just outright buy them from a new shop called Thiefnet, mixed in with the regular Clue Bottle hunt which I'll get into in a bit, and a lot of them are very damn good. Sly gets the most of the bunch, and I use and swap around which ones here more than I ever did in the first game. If there's a moment where using something could even the odds, or even get you out of there, chances are it's worth using. Bentley and Murray also get some, but most of them are usually just utility purposes, and rarely did I ever swap out of the ones I had unlocked, though I could see some room for experimentation being made.
Next are the clue bottles. Now, I thought I'd go into this saying that I felt they were a downgrade from an already poor application, but surprisingly enough, I actually enjoyed getting them this time around, and the upgrades they have are usually more worthwhile, like the Knockout Dive, Voltage Attack, Music Box, and Long Toss than just bland gimmicks, like Shadow Power (idk why they made the last one an invisibility move, which in hindsight is really funny cause that retcons the invisibility move from 1). Finding them is something you can either do all at once, which is what I usually do, or do every now and then while traversing the hub, all while hearing the little dinks as indication on whether they're around or not (pro tip: turn the music volume wayyy down in the options, this is something I just learned for the first time and could probably help you a lot), as it's something to do while you go around the hub for stuff to do or steal. So yea, replaying this made me appreciate them a lot more now.
Another aspect to do outside of bottle hunting is treasure hunting. There's the standard pickpocket stuff where you get neat loot, but there's also special treasure to get in each world, there being three in total (though I think the Paris world has a secret fourth one, been a while since I checked though), and doing so nets you some serious cash to spend once sold. Alongside being another source of doing cool acrobatics shit as Sly, some could be booby-trapped, which gives a good tool to try and find the best way to get back to the safehouse ASAP. It's very satisfying to do once you got the hang of things, and should you fail, you can just retry it again later.
Wow that was a lot of positives to list out here, what did this game do wrong again? Oh right, be rather repetitive and tedious on occasion, while also feeling like some aspects could've been cut down. Granted, it isn't all that common, but I'll point to Chapter 5 here since it's when I really noticed it: The first half has some cool stuff to do as the trio, but then the second half is just doing the same thing over again, three times (or more, but they really love the rules of three here so it's usually that) when it could've just been tied altogether as one obstacle, or perhaps doing a random minigame that, much like last time, is either fun or pretty damn boring and rather confusing to include (I never had problems with the tank controls even when I first played it, but I know some people do). And as much as I like Jean Bison, that dude seriously did not need two whole chapters to himself, feel like it would've been possible to just bridge Chapter 6's first half in with Chapter 7's second half and not lose much.
Also, this being one of the more common critiques, the sandbox stuff kinda sorta don't work as Bentley and Murray. It's weird, there's more missions available as Sly by comparison, you do have upgrades to buy to make Bentley and Murray's movekit more able to do vertical movements, and overall there's only two worlds here I can easily say only ever works out for Sly, so overall it isn't THAT bad if you're focusing solely on playing the main game... but that's just it, you're never given any reason to explore as the other two, since Sly's the only one that can actually do like, any of the side stuff, and it takes a good while to even unlock those two's upgrades to make their traversal a little more open. The way Sly 3 tries to refine this is another odd instance, but again, we'll get there when we get there.
There's like, other stuff I can say, such as Chapter 8's underwhelming finale to such a strong, strong story, but this review is getting so long and other people have talked about it in a more concise manner that I want to get to the main point here: Even despite some of the underwhelming and tedium, the way Sly 2's overall package works and tells its bittersweet tale of change and unfortunate cruelty of the world , combined with most of the meat being Super Fucking Good, easily makes up for those slumps. If you bounced off this before, I suggest try giving it another chance, as there's a reason this is seen as one of the all-time greats by many.
Then, around mid-2010s, Youtube videos about Sly Cooper were beginning to crop up, which of course I made sure to check out. Only, there was something that felt pretty unexpected to me. A number of people were saying *2 was the best one, and that 3* was an underwhelming game compared to not only that, but even 1, and to a select few, 4. Nowadays I try (keyword, try) not to get too absorbed as to what random people online say about my favorite games, but being a late teen who was much more emotional about this sort of thing for whatever reason... yeaaaa didn't take that lightly, in fact I think I viewed 2 more negatively as a result which in hindsight was rather silly, it wasn't the game's fault things happened the way they did.
So this replay I decided to set expectations to around the first time I played it, which is seeing what this does to improve and expand the first game, and see where refinement of 3 starts, and where the missing magic creeps in (obviously though not like, worded like that in the minds of a 9 or 10 year old). The result, after doing a 100% run again, was something I kind of figured I'd settle on: It has some of the best moments of the trilogy, and it's a major blast for a majority of its runtime, but there's a few nagging instances that, while not enough to keep me from calling it a masterpiece, is something I'd easily say are some of the low points of the trilogy.
Now, getting the obvious out of the way, the writing and overall presentation has seen a major boost. What was already great about the first game's fronts has been made even better, and gave more depth and characterization to Sly, and especially Bentley and Murray, who now feel like actual friends and cohorts with one another, especially now that you can not only play as the other two, but some cases have you swapping or incorporating them to do something. Even Carmelita has been improved upon, actually feeling like a rival force to the trio's motives and planning due to becoming more involved within the plot and stakes, having a voice actress that better delivers her lines (though I still think she stilts the intented tone here and there) instead of feeling like a neat character that shows up every now and then until the finale. Coupled that with even more impressively fluid and distinct animations, wittier and flat-out funnier plays of humor, a cleaner comic book and cel-shaded style, and one of the best OSTs around this time, it's no wonder this has held up rather tremendously. The only thing that's aged is that it isn't all too bright, I already mentioned this on my S1 review but holy SHIT playing this on an HDTV with standard cables can this game darker than it actually is, I'd even say certain chapters become harder to move around in unless you crank up the brightness, and is pretty much why I'm sticking w/ PCSX2 for this replay.
The villains also got a bit of an upgrade. They have more of a chance to show off their personality this time around, as well as the fact they're a little more involved with the current predicament, and especially with how the finale, despite how mixed I am about it overall, reveals that each individual's own plan and motive all comes together for The Big Bad's scheme. From Contessa's crooked cop nature, to Jean Bison's more brawn-and-simple dialect, to Neyla's intrigue (yet rather abundant and really funny) of double crosses, and to one of my personal favorites from this era, Dimitri, being just the funniest lizardman and Frenchman I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with in a video game, the roster of baddies this time around I can definitely say are better and more intricate than before, only weak link being Rajan who I still rather struggle to come up with any noteworthy traits outside his fight in Chapter 3, but even then he's not like, awful.
With that said... I don't think I can say the same for the boss fights. Not in the "oh unfortunately this is a downgrade" sense, to be clear, I appreciate that it's more consistent in a way, since now it's mainly 1-on-1 brawls... but because of that there's not that many "unique" encounters this time around, only popping up rather scarcely, which is a shame because that was something I always liked about 1's boss fights. It's more of an unfortunate disappointment than anything, cause it's at least all-around good.
And on that note, let's talk about the gameplay, or rather, the shift of it. There's some other small aspects to talk about, like the feel of the controls (EXTREMLY satisfying and much better handled), some issues still lingering (I've experienced more overlap circle button stuff here than in S1, unfortunately,) and a mix of both (the camera isn't as janky as last time but it still gets stuck every now and then), but as I said before, 1 is the only game that's strictly platforming-focused, cause 2 onward take on the sandbox, mission structure approach with multiple characters to play as. Platforming is still a thing, don't get me wrong, it's just that it isn't as involved by comparison until around the second half. While I can see this being a disappointment to some, speaking personally, there's a lot more good to this new formula, and even a few improved iterations from the old one that I feel made the move a great call. The overhaul of powerups and coins are two good examples, this time you can just outright buy them from a new shop called Thiefnet, mixed in with the regular Clue Bottle hunt which I'll get into in a bit, and a lot of them are very damn good. Sly gets the most of the bunch, and I use and swap around which ones here more than I ever did in the first game. If there's a moment where using something could even the odds, or even get you out of there, chances are it's worth using. Bentley and Murray also get some, but most of them are usually just utility purposes, and rarely did I ever swap out of the ones I had unlocked, though I could see some room for experimentation being made.
Next are the clue bottles. Now, I thought I'd go into this saying that I felt they were a downgrade from an already poor application, but surprisingly enough, I actually enjoyed getting them this time around, and the upgrades they have are usually more worthwhile, like the Knockout Dive, Voltage Attack, Music Box, and Long Toss than just bland gimmicks, like Shadow Power (idk why they made the last one an invisibility move, which in hindsight is really funny cause that retcons the invisibility move from 1). Finding them is something you can either do all at once, which is what I usually do, or do every now and then while traversing the hub, all while hearing the little dinks as indication on whether they're around or not (pro tip: turn the music volume wayyy down in the options, this is something I just learned for the first time and could probably help you a lot), as it's something to do while you go around the hub for stuff to do or steal. So yea, replaying this made me appreciate them a lot more now.
Another aspect to do outside of bottle hunting is treasure hunting. There's the standard pickpocket stuff where you get neat loot, but there's also special treasure to get in each world, there being three in total (though I think the Paris world has a secret fourth one, been a while since I checked though), and doing so nets you some serious cash to spend once sold. Alongside being another source of doing cool acrobatics shit as Sly, some could be booby-trapped, which gives a good tool to try and find the best way to get back to the safehouse ASAP. It's very satisfying to do once you got the hang of things, and should you fail, you can just retry it again later.
Wow that was a lot of positives to list out here, what did this game do wrong again? Oh right, be rather repetitive and tedious on occasion, while also feeling like some aspects could've been cut down. Granted, it isn't all that common, but I'll point to Chapter 5 here since it's when I really noticed it: The first half has some cool stuff to do as the trio, but then the second half is just doing the same thing over again, three times (or more, but they really love the rules of three here so it's usually that) when it could've just been tied altogether as one obstacle, or perhaps doing a random minigame that, much like last time, is either fun or pretty damn boring and rather confusing to include (I never had problems with the tank controls even when I first played it, but I know some people do). And as much as I like Jean Bison, that dude seriously did not need two whole chapters to himself, feel like it would've been possible to just bridge Chapter 6's first half in with Chapter 7's second half and not lose much.
Also, this being one of the more common critiques, the sandbox stuff kinda sorta don't work as Bentley and Murray. It's weird, there's more missions available as Sly by comparison, you do have upgrades to buy to make Bentley and Murray's movekit more able to do vertical movements, and overall there's only two worlds here I can easily say only ever works out for Sly, so overall it isn't THAT bad if you're focusing solely on playing the main game... but that's just it, you're never given any reason to explore as the other two, since Sly's the only one that can actually do like, any of the side stuff, and it takes a good while to even unlock those two's upgrades to make their traversal a little more open. The way Sly 3 tries to refine this is another odd instance, but again, we'll get there when we get there.
There's like, other stuff I can say, such as Chapter 8's underwhelming finale to such a strong, strong story, but this review is getting so long and other people have talked about it in a more concise manner that I want to get to the main point here: Even despite some of the underwhelming and tedium, the way Sly 2's overall package works and tells its bittersweet tale of change and unfortunate cruelty of the world , combined with most of the meat being Super Fucking Good, easily makes up for those slumps. If you bounced off this before, I suggest try giving it another chance, as there's a reason this is seen as one of the all-time greats by many.
Reviewed on Aug 20, 2022