This game is genuinely peak. I played Sly Cooper a lot as a kid, but when I made the jump from Sly 1 to Sly 2, it was like night and day. Sly 1 was a fairly fun 3D platformer with lots of fun stages and collectibles. Sly 2 takes a much more open approach, giving you a new map to explore with each chapter, and missions that slowly open up as you go about the heist. The maps are primarily designed around staying up high, and there's a lot of fun platforming and stealth checks to maintain these high routes.

I always loved how Sly 2 would break each chapter down into a particular heist, and each mission felt as though it was setting up that final mission. Every member of the team has some kind of role to play, and it helps a lot with the pacing of this game. Sucker Punch also got really creative with the ways you can use Murray and Bentley in this game, and they only pushed it more with Sly 3 and the ensemble cast.

There's definitely a couple of missions that tended to be tedious or frustrating, but for the most part all of the missions seemed well thought out and fun. I honestly don't have many critiques for this game, but I could absolutely be blinded a bit by my nostalgia.

This game is great and still holds up really well. It's crazy that this studio went from making Sly Cooper, to Infamous, to Ghost of Tsushima. Even in a game like Infamous, I can still see that Sly influence in its climbing and platforming. This game is really outstanding, and both Sly 2 and Sly 3 are worth your time!