Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013)

The original Sly Trilogy are some of my favorite games of all time. The controls are some of the tightest of any 3D platformer, the aesthetic is tight af, the musical score for Sly 2 and 3 are some of the greatest video game music of all time (Peter McConnell is the GOAT), the voice performances are delightful (except maybe Carmelita, whose voice actress changes every game), and there's real character development both within and between the games (especially Bentley).

Thieves in Time is a perfect example of when fan-fiction goes wrong. The team working on this game were clearly fans of the originals, but fans that had done zero introspection as to why they actually liked the games, or what made them good. They remember the witty lines Sly said in the original games, but forgot that he was just as often quite serious. They remember Bentley being goofy and scared but forgot his moments of courage and growth. They remember that Murray is fat and dumb, but forgot his strength of will and love for his friends.

Our three main characters have been Flanderized to the nth degree. Murray is nothing but a big fat idiot, Sly is nothing but a wisecracker, Bentley is nothing but a nerdy naggy worrier.

Perhaps the perfect "this is bad fan fiction" moment is when Carmelita has to belly dance in front of a bunch of guards to serve as a distraction for the team. Is this something my thirteen year old self would have dreamed about while playing the original games? Absolutely. Is actually putting it in the game a good idea, though? I would argue not.

There's also the infamous treatment of Penelope, Bentley's girlfriend, who turns villain in this game for essentially no reason. It comes out of nowhere and does nothing to justify itself. Why ruin a character fans like for no reason? I don't get it.

The writing in this game, from an overarching plot level, to a sentence by sentence dialogue quality level is beyond atrocious.

The gameplay does a slightly better job acquitting itself. The controls aren't nearly as tight as the previous games, and every action feels slower and more sluggish than it used to, but it's not terrible. My main issue is that you spend a decent amount of time playing as Sly's ancestors, who (with the possible exception of Rioichi) all kinda just feel like a worse version of Sly with a dumb gimmick slapped on that gets old very quickly. It's often just straight up harder to traverse a level playing as them, which is weird. You'd think they'd have an easier time getting around their own time period, but often that's not the case. It's also harder getting around as Bentley and Murray than it used to be.

One of the smartest things Sly 2 and 3 did was make all the characters feel essentially the same to play, but Sly had extra traversal moves that made him FEEL more agile. However there were always alternative paths through the open world (mainly bounce pads) that made it almost as easy to get through as any other character.

Combine that feeling with the game just overall being shorter than Sly 3 and especially Sly 2 (which had 74 and 54 missions compared to this game's 42), and it just felt like I HARDLY got to actually play as Sly, in this long anticipated Sly sequel.

Oh and as a final wtf, the 2D comic style cutscenes have a COMPLETELY different art style that, well...I get that everyone has their own subjective taste but to me they are a mockery of what came before. Decide for yourself.

Putting aside complaints regarding its undoing of much of Sly 3's ending, Thieves in Time is a must-play for any fan of the series. It finally finds the right balance between having an open-world and maintaining storytelling momentum by utilizing the power of the PS3 to craft some gorgeous locations that are much more fun to explore than those in 2 or 3. The controls are tight, the storytelling is clever and funny, and the creativity on display is refreshing.

Back to the complaints re: Sly 3's ending - some of the choices here do hurt, especially the decision to turn Penelope into a villain. It is clear that the game was setting up sequels that never materialized and that leaves these choices as the final word on the Sly universe when they were never designed to be. The writers do deserve some flack for this, as you can't take such controversial swings without guaranteeing you can pay them off. The result is a game without a satisfying story conclusion, leaving a bit of a sour taste in one's mouth. Still, there's so much fun to be had along the way (in fact, maybe too much fun; the game could have been shortened a tad) that Thieves in Time deserves to be recognized as one of the best platformers on the PS3 and a competitor for the best entry in the series (although my vote still goes to Sly 1).

Watched a "movie cut" playthrough:

• I don't rate games I've only watched

My Thoughts: Geeeesh just from watching it alone, this feels like an odd entry to the series that completely undoes the Sly PS2 trilogy's ending. The best part of this game looks to be the increased focus on character animations that give them much more personality in both the 2D cinematics and in-game cutscenes, but at the same time, the art style shift loses the "cartoon" charm of the originals. There are funny moments too, like the "Rocky" workout sequence that stood out to me

Otherwise... what the hell did they do with the characterizations? Everyone feels like caricatures now. Sly is always sarcastic, which I do find funny at times but otherwise, he seems to constantly make inappropriate comments at the wrong moments. The biggest offender is what happens to Penelope who somehow becomes a villain and completely betrays the team with no build-up. While this could be in character, I'd appreciate more context that would lead up to this.

The ending segments gameplay-wise looks weak too, with underutilization of the Sly's ancestors (which I thought was a cool idea at first) to a final boss that's entirely quick-time events. Even so, the game ends in an unsatisfying cliffhanger.

... In the end I just don't get why this game exists. The new devs Sanazu looks like they did fine reproducing the series mechanically, but then miss out on why the PS2 trilogy was beloved. Sadly, it then looks like the series is now seemingly dead with no further sequels and even a canceled movie / TV since this post. Let's just hope it gets a revival kind of like the upcoming Ratchet & Clank reboot.