4/5 ★ – Dima064's review of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.

Completed as of writing this review: Base Game w/ some optional things Decided to play this after it was recommended to me by a friend and it didn’t disappoint! This game really gives off these old-school cheesy hardcore vibes. It’s obvious it was very inspired by Crash Bandicoot in many aspects. Because of that the gameplay can be unforgiving due to being given no chance to be hit unless you get a horseshoe or two. The linear level design and sometimes the music also feel very inspired by Crash, however the backtracking can be poor sometimes. The fact that there is even a very challenging Master Sprint says it all. Of course it’s not some shameless clone of Crash, as it has a lot of it’s own spin. The main plot with it’s premise and everything else is well-written. The villains all have their reasoning to become evil, Sly as a character is very like-able, while his crew is mostly a comic relief and the interaction between him and Carmelita can be funny. Gameplay-wise Sly is the only sane one here, as Carmelita’s missiles are not that hard to dodge and his crew is useless, because you have to save Murray’s ass almost all the time and Bentley helps you only once, if we’re not talking about opening safes. By the way why doesn’t the game gives you an opportunity to guess the safe’s code? Could’ve been useful for speedrunning. On the side note Sly’s abilities are basically useless, except for diving into enemies. The level design is pretty fair all things considered. But there are mini-games that are, while fine by themselves, sometimes feel like padding. I’d generally choose one normal stage instead of like five of those. The bosses is the weakest part, as some can be unforgiving, some can be too easy and generally their gameplay design is uninspired pretty much. The presentation is amazing in the 2D animated cutscenes, really fits the aesthetic. The art-style in 3D though can be bleak and dark, which doesn’t fit most of this game’s comical plot moments. Music is fine but not that catchy. Overall a solid game for it’s time and no wonder it got sequels, as it’s very good but also has things to correct. Highly recommended to play if you like platformers!