Sly Racoon (PS2)

As anyone's mother will tell you, stealing is wrong. Anyone's mum except Sly Cooper's, it seems, because he managed to get born into a family of morally challenged thieves whose most prized possession is a book explaining how to execute all their various cat-burgling skills. Ironically, as the game starts the book gets stolen and it's up to Sly to defend the family dishonour and steal it back again.

Although the basic gameplay of Sly Raccoon is that of a fairly ordinary platform adventure, complete with linear levels full of bizarre architecture and fairly dim bad guys, things are livened up considerably by Sly's ninja-like thieving skills. As well as having to duck and dive between moving headlights, laser-beam gates and the like, Sly also begins to gain such enviable skills as being able to turn invisible and use banisters as slides.

The graphics in Sly Raccoon are excellent too: cel-shaded so they look like 3-D cartoons and very nicely detailed with particularly impressive cut-scenes. There are downsides, of course--the game's not terribly long and the stealthy bits take a back seat to more mundane platform sections a few times too many--but overall this is a classy adventure for platform, raccoon and/or burglary fans everywhere. --David Jenkins

The premise behind the game is that Sly Raccoon is from a family of famous thieves who get kicks out of swiping stuff from other thieves. Their knowledge has been scribed into the 'Thievius Raccoonous' - the book of thieving knowledge. But before Sly Raccoon gets his mitts on this it's stolen by five criminal masterminds who tear up the book amongst themselves. You, as Sly Raccoon, must jet off across the world, curiously starting in Wales, and retrieve pages of the book, therefore opening up special moves for Sly. Roughing up the criminals as end of level bosses can be taken for granted.

It's a simple premise and one that's been done a hundred times before. The game even includes rule #7 of platform gaming: one hundred coins equals an extra life. Mario should have patented that one.

Despite being cliche Sly Raccoon is an enjoyable distraction. The cell-shading graphics are cleverly done along with some sweet animation. You could scoff at the notion that cell-shading may be a passing fad but Sly Raccoon gets away with this by encompassing the whole game into a cartoon setting. The cut-scenes are superbly put together, along with a mostly witty script and likeable characters. The only negative is that the voice for Sly Raccoon is a tad bland, which isn't too helpful when he's the protagonist. But on the whole, Sly Raccoon looks, feels and plays like an interactive show from the Cartoon Network. Basically, it's fun to play.

The cartoon element might cause gamers of a twenty-something age to immediately dismiss this, but you shouldn't. The level design is acceptable, the puzzles provide enough of a challenge and you do feel as though you're progressing through the game. It is linear, but in a good way. The set-piece jumping challenges and the enemies that you must combat constantly mean that you've always got to have your wits about you.

Let me use a completely unrelated analogy. Who would you rather see play a game of tennis, Pete Sampras or John McEnroe? Almost everyone would want to see the latter. Sampras is arguably the greatest player ever to grace a court but McEnroe is a memorable character because of his energy, passion and tantrums. It's as though he wants a response from the crowd. It's the same with gaming. Spryo the Dragon back on the PSone was a fine game but it lacked heart. I couldn't be bothered controlling an immediately dislikeable pink dragon. Eventually the developers of Spryo would go onto to rectify their errors and produced the fantastic Jak and Daxter. A game with plenty of 'umph'. Sly Raccoon has some of this 'umph' too. See what I'm getting at?

If you have a Gamecube, I still recommend Mario Sunshine, and the PS2 does have the aforementioned Jak and Daxter on budget.


Best Platform Game On The PS2   July 17, 2004
Sarah Korrok Thomas (Scotland)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Sly Racoon is without a doubt the finest platform game yet released on the PS2. Forget Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and their ilk - Sly beats them all.

In the game, you play as Sly, a racoon burglar from a family of famous theives. It's your job to steal back the book taken from your family - the Thevius Racoonus - and defeat the gang who stole it. Doesn't sound too special, yet the plot is simple but effective.

The levels are beautifully detailed, with fantastic backgrounds. Sly himself is cell-shaded and animated to perfection. But most impressive about this game is the wonderfully smooth control system, which allows for you to execute all of Sly's moves with ease and without bogging down gameplay. Jumps, swings and suchlike are also extremely smooth, with responsive controls for fantastic accuracy.

The variety that you find as you cross the various sections of the game is also enough to really keep you hooked. Even after you complete this game, which admittedly shouldn't take too long, you'll still want to replay the levels. It's really that much of a joy to play.

My criticisms with the game are that the sub-games are less than interesting, although not too difficult, that it's a little on the short side, and that the "Master Thief Sprints" that you can access at the completion of the game are often far too difficult. But if you're finding the game simple, then they'll give you the challenge you crave.

Overall, this is a perfect platformer and worth having for fans of the genre of all ages. Happily, Sly 2 has a release date in September - so when you're done with this, it's not too long till the second installment.


So worth buying!   May 24, 2004
Jordan Elizabeth (Gravesend, Kent United Kingdom)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

I bought this game on a whim. I saw it in the shops, liked the look of the game and story line by reading the back of the box and decided to buy it, not knowing anything of the game beforehand. I started the game and fell headfirst into the role of a spy. It was Fantazmic! I played for hours and hours and hours... then I realised i had a math exam to go to so I stopped... but started playing again as soon as I got home.
If you've got the money. BUY THIS GAME! You'll be so happy that you did. :)


Superb Platformer   January 22, 2004
R. Forssman (UK)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

How do you know when you are enjoying a platform game ? For me if I get to the end of a level and I want to carry on with that level and not only pleased to have reached the goal. Sly Rac is a classic platformer with excellence all round.

I really enjoy the interplay with your team at certain points in the game to help you along. The animation is great and very seldom do you find yourself having to be pixel perfect with your positioning inorder to make a jump. The game cleverly ensures that once you have worked out the path or strategy, you have fluid gameplay and dont find yourself being frustrated. I enjoy redoing levels which is not something I can say for Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank etc.

The music and environments are great and you can roam freely around (avoiding all the baddies of course). The spotlights are very original and work in two modes. Once one catches you it turns red and then you get fried if it catches you again. The great thing is you can cancel them out by smashing the hooter which controls them and get maximum satisfaction.

Overall this is a superb game and I am so pleased I went against sales figures as they could not be further wrong. All ages for this one. Go get it and you wont be disappointed.