SLY COOPER AND THE THIEVIUS RACCOONUS (2002) REVIEW

The best Spyro game to be released in 2002.

Playstation 2 exclusive.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is a stealth platformer published by Sony and developed by Sucker Punch for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Vita.

GAMEPLAY

Fluid, responsive, impressive and downright fun for the most part. Not many games can offer the top quality platforming that the game provides, let alone all the special moves, stealth elements and mini games. The different approaches you can take with different tactics in a level are also a welcome feature to any game and Thievius Raccoonus does well with that concept, even if it’s a stealth game at heart.

A couple of bugs can cause frustration; I encountered one that forced me to exit the game at one point. A couple of the boss fights felt somewhat uninspired, such as the Mugshot fight, which didn’t really make much sense.

STORY

Nothing done awfully, yet nothing done in an outstanding style, the story of platformers is rarely important, but some nice touches thrown in before entering new areas can really give you more of a feel for the characters or what’s going on.

GRAPHICS

Great art direction, cell-shaded graphics look great. It really shows the power of the PS2

SOUND

Voice actors and SFX are all good

Okay, well, it sounds a bit brash but this game has quite simply the worst soundtrack I've ever heard in a game before. I don't think I've ever played a game where I feel the experience was brought down by the music. All of it seems bland, boring, unispired and I was even questioning if the music had broken at some points because it didn't sound right, but no, the soundtrack really is that bad. Listen to the swamp home world music (The Swamp's Dark Centre) to understand what I mean, does it sound like music you'd familiaze with a swamp? No. Does it sound catchy, interesting, or like any effort was put in? No. It's just two notes repeating and repeating. I listened to a bit of the composer's other work and it sounded alright, so I don't know what went wrong here.

VALUE FOR MONEY

It can be played by anyone of any age and offers anywhere between 7 to 20 hours, depending on how you play

OVERALL

The first Sly Cooper game falls just short of greatness, due to a dull soundtrack, a couple of minor bugs and the all annoying Master Thief Sprints. Make no mistake though, this is a must have for the PS2, show casing the consoles great aspects through the smooth gameplay and wonderful looking graphics.