Post by Iggy Marly on Nov 14, 2006 22:45:38 GMT -5
Sucker Punch's Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus was a lovely game. A lovely, little game. That was the main problem for many -- it was over in ten hours. Still, those fleeting hours were packed with quality and refreshingly straightforward gameplay, charming characters, and some beautiful sights. Now, two years later, Sly 2: Band of Thieves is upon us. It's a much different game than Thievius Raccoonus, and mostly a better one. Sly 2 is Sucker Punch firing on all cylinders, and it's a sight to behold.
As the title suggests, Band of Thieves places a greater emphasis on Sly's two pals, Bentley the genius turtle and Murray, a hippo strongman. Their goal is to gather the various pieces of Clockwerk, the malevolent mechanical owl from the first adventure. It seems the Klaww Gang is trying to put him back together, and the Cooper clan can have none of that. So, they plan a series of heists to get 'em all back. Of course, Bentley already has everything all planned out ... it's only a matter of execution.
Sly 2 was heavily inspired by Saturday morning cartoons, and it shows. The highly likeable cast (good guys and villains alike) are drawn with bold, sharp lines, and ooze with color and personality. They all exist in a world of talking animal people, and act with the broad gestures and exaggerated personality traits you'd expect of cartoon characters. The intro to each chapter features a lovely 2D animation complete with corny episode title, and even the pause screen sports the reassuring message, "We'll be right back!" Outside of some miscellaneous (and annoyingly unskippable) cutscene gaffes, Sly 2's presentation is slick as all heck.
