Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Today brings the 2nd of a 3 part series in the review for the Sly Cooper Collection. This time I take a look at Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Again, as noted in my prior review, Sly was on my radar but never seemed to make it into my collection the 1st go around with the PS2 so I was extremely excited to hear of the re-release and that Sony generously gave me the opportunity to review the series.

This go around takes place a few years after the original since Sly defeated Clockwerk. The game starts off with Sly and his merry band of critter compatriots as they break into a museum to destroy Clockwerk’s remaining parts only to discover that someone beat them to the punch. After an encounter with Carmelita Fox and her new assistant Neyla, Sly learns of a group called “The Klaww Gang” and they set out in search of them.

The game takes what worked so well the first time around and adds some new and interesting elements. In fact this time around, Bentley and Murray are playable characters each with his own unique approach to completing their tasks. Bentley is essentially the Solid Snake of the series. He uses stealth and sleeper darts to dispatch his enemies and sabotage equipment whereas Murray is a balls to the walls brute force kinda guy.

Each character has their own health and special meter now, the latter of the 2 is used for gadgets. Another new feature is the ability to pick pockets for the purpose of stealing coins or those characters items which can now be used to purchase power-ups and moves in the team safe house.

I really can’t stress enough just how much I’m enjoying the series. If you have yet to experience the entertainment value of this series, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. This is a must have gaming.

Feed Your Console gives this 9 out of 10

Pros:
Expanded gameplay over the original
Overall fun factor

Cons:
Final boss was more than a little frustrating