50 Games in 2012 – #6 Sly 2: Band of Thieves [PS3] (Completed February 8th)
Sly Cooper and the Thieveus Racoonus turned out to be a fun adventure romp that I realized lately I've sorely missed. Normally I'd let a series breath a bit before heading back in but because of my enjoyment thus far I decided to give Sly 2 a shot.
Immediately what stood out from the beginning was a feel of better production value. Sly 2 feels like the big name movie sequel with more money put into it. The audio is a lot smoother and the opening action sequence makes you realize immediately the steps Sucker Punch made in there short time between the two games. Also made clear quite early as well is that both Murray and Bentley play a bigger role in gameplay sequences. Although it's fun to control Sly this was a nice step to see knowing that more variety lay ahead in upcoming missions.
Sly controls largely similar to his previous adventure but with a noted change in that this time around he possess a health bar. Although a small difference the gameplay around the character and how you can tackle combat is greatly changed from this. In Sly 1 you were stuck in many situations praying not to get hit in order to avoid a restart. With the health bar added the game gives you a bit more leway and turns the gameplay to a more combat orientated experience. In a nutshell Sly 2 control wise takes everything from the first game and improves on the experience.
In the gangs adventure this time around your taking down the Klaww Gang and stopping the baddies from using the Clockwerk parts. Although a cool story this is where the game fell short for me. Much like the first game you take down each member of the Klaww Gang by infiltrating there hideout. This is essentially the same story progression premise of the first. Some tasks you set out to do are fun in these home worlds while others come off a bit repetitive. Luckily both Murray and Bentley provide different types of missions to break up the experience. Potentially this is just because I played Sly 1 and 2 back to back but the fact that the games story minus a different premise way layed out very copy and paste was disappointing.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves in almost all regards is a step up from Sly 1. Characters are more fleshed out and you get to experience a more detailed world with better gameplay to boot. In a vacuum Sly 2 is awesome but compared to Sly 1 you get the feeling of deja vu a little to often.
Date Finished: 2/8 | Sly 2: Band of Theives (PS3)
Pros: Improved controls, combat, health system along with more Murray and Bentley levels.
Cons: Similar plot and story progression to the first game.
Conclusion: Nearly better in every gameplay regard Sly 2 falls short of Sly 1 on it's story along with it's progression.
[8.5/10]