this fall. The PS2 has really taken the GameCube's crown in this area
producing some of the best platforming games ever. This fall we'll see the
release of "the big three": "Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves", "Ratchet and
Clank: Up your Arsenal" and "Jak III".
I've got them all pre-ordered via Amazon and Sly Cooper 2 was the first to
show up... so it's the first one I'm playing. ;^)
The level of polish in this game is unbelievable. Those that think that the
PS2's glory days are gone are sadly mistaken: this game is one of the best
(looking, sounding, and playing) on any platform.
The story is a mixture (like the first game) of classic "caper" films and
cartoony goodness. Although I loved the first game I disliked the ending (a
platforming thief game that ends with jet-pack battle against a giant
mechanical owl kind of dilutes the experience for me). However this game
takes up right where that one takes off: the various body parts of the
mechanical owl super villain have been stolen and put to use by a criminal
gang. Sly and the gang vow to get them back and dispose of them for good.
Each level is expansive and multi-layered. There is always a rolling, hilly
street level and a light-footed rooftop zone, but there are also docks,
under passes, towers and walls connected by traversable wires, pipes
swing-hooks, branches, vines and slides. All of this means that while Sly
can't fly he gets around in an amazingly realized fully 3-dimensional way.
To escape from a guard you can duck under a table, just run away or leap to
the rooftops.
Sly is completely fluid in his motion. There's no guesswork like in some
games as to what you may interact with as anything which allows you use your
thief skills sparkles gently as you approach. You simply get near the
object as press circle and you'll automatically perform the appropriate
action whether it's a side-step along a ledge, a spire landing on a point, a
tight rope walk or ducking under a table.
The freedom that this provides is hard to overstate. You simply don't have
to worry about things as much making moving quickly and gracefully through
the environment almost too easy. You can run along the street, leap to a
drainpipe to attain the rooftop, leap to a telephone wire running along it
to the next building and them leap to the top of an antenna for a better
view using just the stick and two buttons.
In addition to Sly you also get to play as the rest of the gang as well: the
brainy plan-meister turtle, Bently and the brawny, loyal but none-too-bright
hippo, Murray. Each area has several missions for each character (although
Sly sees the lion's share of the action) and you often have a choice of the
order in which the missions can be completed.
However the game is essentially linear. Each area culminates in a wildly
unlikely plan that requires the skills, in turn of all of the characters.
In one example Murray has to sneak to a secrete location and throw Bently
through an opening. Bentley then has to solve a puzzle to redirect water
from a fountain. Sly then has to sneak up on the repairman to steal his
truck keys and bring them to Murray who then has to drive the truck to front
of a building. Sly then hs to climb the building and catch the grappling
hook Bentley shoots to him.
It may sound confusing, but all of the missions are well explained, marked
on the area and flow incredibly smoothly from one section to the next. You
are really never confused for more than a few seconds about what needs to be
done.
Like the first game you can also choose to collect the 30 "hidden" bottles
around a level which, together, allow Bentley to determine the combination
of a safe. Inside that safe is a special move for your characters.
Speaking of moves this game also introduces some simplistic role playing in
that you can now spending money earning from thievery to buy power-ups for
your characters. This was little disappointing to me as each level offers
you exactly one option for each character and there's ample opportunity to
just buy everything as soon as you see it. There's no decisions or forking
to the character development. This isn't a bad thing, but the whole idea
could have been much deeper.
To gain this money you can collect coins from guards you whack or, if you
like subtlety, you can also pick pockets guards. The latter is often more
effective because some guards have special items that can only be obtained
through pick-pocketing. Also strewn throughout the level are special items
that must be taken back to your hideout intact (and damage taken will
destroy them) so that they can be fenced. These items are often
booby-trapped such that you have a time-limit to get them back or else have
them explode.
Pleasantly the game uses a trick that should be standard: when you destroy
an enemy, even if you shoved him off the end of a roof, all of the pick ups
resulted come flying to land near you. Unlike way too many other games
you're never standing forlorn looking at power ups out-of-reach of your
character or at the base of the obstacle you just spent frustrating time
climbing. There is a slight negative in that the pick-ups tend to disappear
very quickly, but it's not very noticeable since they always fall near you.
As an aside the game is very cartoony: there is no blood, no graphic
violence and only the barest hint of sexual content (flirtatious comments
and such). It's a blast to watch and may five year old (whose currently
nursing a broken arm) simply LOVES to watch me play it and help out with
spotting bottles, enemies and such. It's an all-around great family game
(although if you want to get technical it definitely glorifies thievery).
The level of variety in the game is astounding as you put all of your skills
to use in various missions. Some missions are brawls while others require
utmost stealth. Bentley has several "machine" missions like RC Helicopter
bombing runs and first-person military turret attacks. Bentley is also
forces to "hack into computers" on occasion which is represented as a very
slick looking old-style, top down space-ship game which seems to me a
mixture of "Berserk" and "Asteroids". Murray and Sly also have custom
mini-games tho' most of them are in the context of the level.
The game looks incredible. Most games, I think, don't pull off cell-shading
very well, but this is a glowing exception. Perhaps it's the general
darkness of many of the levels, but you'll not see a single seam or tear in
this game. At times there are several enemies, a fully interactive
environment and multiple effects going on and you'll not see any slow-down
either.
The enemies are well-designed if a little too easy in places to take out
(especially after you learn certain moves). They will gang up on you and
call for help, but most often can be easily fought or evaded. Each
character has own fighting style as well: Sly is a finesse player with his
cane, Bentley favors sniping and bombing while Murray is a straight-up
brawler.
I've never seen a game with a perfect camera but this one is in the top of
the pack. There have been a couple of times where the camera's gotten
stick, but they are very rare.
The audio is top-notch. The subtle but perfectly balanced "clink clink" of
the hidden bottles (often your best clue to finding them) is exceptional as
is all of the other sounds. Like many games of late there is very little
background music to be had so the game relies heavily on the wonderfully
produced ambient sounds. A nice touch is that if you have a headset
attached you'll only hear your teammates through that. It's not
ground-breaking, but it's really slick in practice.
The voice acting ranges from good to excellent. Individual performance
don't stand out like they do in other games, but no effort was skimped on
here (unlike some other game that could be mentioned that spend their entire
budget on one or two "name" actors and them leave the rest of the script to
talentless hacks). The script is well-done, if a bit hokey at times, but,
refreshingly, completely embraces the platform (the script often mentions
controller functions and button directly without evasion).
The script has very little depth, but still throws you a few twists and
surprises. What it does provide is very clever problems, zany solutions to
those problems, interesting bad guys and some genuinely funny moments.
I write this as I stand at the halfway point of the game (so it may still
disappoint me). This game is MUCH larger than the first: I've already put
more time into it to get to 50% than I did to complete the entire first
game. You can breeze through the game much more quickly just focusing on
the missions, but collecting the bottles, special items and enough money to
buy all of the upgrades adds significantly to the time required. I would
say, collecting everything, it will probably take me in the range of 30
hours or so but it might be blazed through in perhaps a bit more than half
that time.
So far, the game has been purely fun with very little frustration. Some of
the missions are difficult, but none are frustratingly so and I would expect
some people to complain that the game is "too easy". However I don't think
a game has to be insanely difficult to be insanely fun. I think that
sometimes game designers insert difficulty instead of gameplay (Jak II did
this in places for example).
I'm enthralled with this game. It improves upon every aspect of the first
without losing a single thing that made the first one great. It also adds
several new and welcomed tricks of its own. I'm having much more fun with
this game than I did with Jak II and I expect to like it more than Jak III
as well. For me, at least, it doesn't quite dethrone Ratchet and Clank as
top platformer but it comes oh so very close.
Jim Davis
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