Sly 2 really goes all out. They'd ditched what wasn't working from Sly 1 and carved out an IP all their own. I think if Sly 1 was closer to Sly 2 design-wise, this would be a perfect little trilogy.

Sly 3 is definitely a massive celebration to the franchise, as well as a farewell, bringing in heaps of new and old characters from 1 & 2. The disability representation from Bentley, especially from a 2005 game which had no requirement to do so, is very touching as well. Sly 3 and Sly 2 are pretty close, and could be joint 1st, but I have a personal bias towards 2.

What Sly 1 suffers from the most is lacking its own unique identity. It makes sense, since it was the first game, but you can tell Sucker Punch were hesitant in some design choices that they went all in on in later entries.

It feels more like a very well-budgeted fan game than a fourth entry into the series. You can see they tried, and it's not bad, but it lacks that charm the original 3 had.