If I didn't love Lupin III so much I absolutely would have thrown this game in the trash as soon as I got to the third stealth section. The majority of people who play this game I feel quit after the first train level, which is SMART. Instead I decided to finish it... yay?

Lupin the 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King is a stealth/disguise game that feels loosely based around Part II era Lupin. The story is as generic as a lot of the movies seem to be, following the great Lupin plotline of stealing treasure, meeting generic anime girl #5 on the way, destroying a villain who wants the treasure for the wrong reason, and then taking the loot for himself at the end anyways (ugh, why can't Lupin kill people and be a total in-the-wrong evil dick anymore). But anyways, the game starts you off in a very classic Lupin scenario of putting on disguises, messing around with Zenigata, and escaping with the goods. It has terrible UI, controls, everything, but hey! I was playing as Lupin, and doing all the stuff he usually does in the show. That was enough for me. I got REALLY excited afterwards, where the game becomes a bit open world, allowing you to run around as Lupin and explore the town in Europelandia (they never specify it, but the town name sounds German but the environment is very French feeling). Good thing this cool segment lasts a total of 2 minutes! They even introduce a bar during it where the characters hint you will come back to socialize eventually. Well, spoilers, YOU DON'T.

The rest of the game has Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon segments. Lupin's parts all involve stealth and putting on disguises, Jigen's involve shooting, and Goemon's is... well, his sword, I guess, which you don't really have control over, just allowing you to slice rapidly in front of you like a wild madman. Oh yeah, remember those disguises from the first level? Forget about them. What? You only used one once for 2 seconds? Yeah, well that's all you need. There isn't even really a reason to use the disguises when shooting everyone with the sleep gun is infinitely easier and more fun. They try and convince you to use the disguises as you can pickpocket people, but the items you pickpocket never have a significance, minus the possible chance of getting a health kit.

The Jigen and Goemon sections are always very short, and involve choosing which to play as. My word of advice: ALWAYS pick Jigen. Goemon's sword is AWFUL to control. There is one segment where you have to play as Goemon, but it's bearable. Near the part where you have to play as both of them is when the game introduces the absolute worst necessary mechanic. Now you NEED to shoot things through the first-person perspective they off-handedly mentioned at the beginning. I ran around trying to kill a boss as Jigen for THIRTY MINUTES, until I finally gave up and looked online to see that you HAVE to start shooting bosses through the first person view in order to kill them at this point. It's AWFUL. You thought the controls were bad before? Well, take this!

At the end of the game, after completing five clone stealth mazes, and defeating all the bosses with your perfected first to third person mixed shooting, you finally get to the final boss, which... I can't lie, was SO stupid and gross looking it made me crack-up laughing. A final boss so terrible, it almost makes me love him.

I really don't recommend picking up this game unless you're absolutely DYING to play a Lupin III game, which I must admit can be fun in of itself (finally got to live the dream of being Daisuke Jigen for 5 minutes lol). Some of the cutscenes can be funny for Lupin fans, and they play the Part II opening theme song... sometimes, with the rest being filled in with stock music so bad my wife often made me mute the TV while playing it. But hey! It's Lupin.
And for that reason it's going to sit on my shelf, collecting dust, until the day I die, never to be played again.