Sly, you sly devil you…
It’s been many a year since Sly Cooper graced the gaming scene, not counting his appearance in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale and his own HD collection last year. Many had assumed Sly had retired more than taken a break, but finally the master thief is back in this time-travelling adventure…
The story makes fun of Sly’s absence and how much his crew has missed their heisting days, but when pages from the Thievus Racconus start vanishing, it’s clear that someone is messing with Sly’s family history, but the only way to go to a specific time period is for Sly to steal an object from that era, which of course doesn’t please his girlfriend Carmella.
Through the game you will play as Sly and his ancestors in platforming stealth moments, while Bentley has wheelchair platform sections and mini-games where he hacks computers and Murray just smashes everything in his path. Murray’s sections are the weakest of the bunch, but thankfully they aren’t that long overall. It’s a great return for Sly and the time-travelling antics are a great way to revive him for the PS3.
Those expecting a challenge will be disappointed though, checkpoints are frequent and plentiful and there’s little reason to replay the game for anything other than collectables. There’s no multiplayer to speak of, but you can also transfer your save between the PS3 and Vita and play the game on-the-go. It’s also a pretty affordable game, which is great considering you get a code for the alternate version of what you bought.
The cel-shaded visuals are great to look at and the anime cutscenes look ripped straight out of an 80’s cartoon, in other words it’s fantastic to watch. If there’s a complaint to be had, it’s that the cutscenes do drag on a bit and the levels do too at some points. Overall though it’s a great experience that’s big on laughs, it just outstays its welcome a bit. Voice-acting is priceless as it ever was and the story is great from start to finish, while the music is catchy too.
The Verdict
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is a great revival of the series and while it hasn’t evolved that much, it’s still an enjoyable game that is difficult to fault for its efforts. It may not bring much new to the genre, but it’s a very welcome one that any fan should treat themselves to.
