» Review: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

slycooper02-04-13 Sly Cooper is back. I’ve missed him.

Sly is a thieving raccoon who, along with his gang, steals from other thieves. It’s a livelihood handed down through generation of Coopers.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time introduces us to some of those ancestors as Sly must travel through time to prevent the elimination of past Coopers from the Thievius Raccoonus, the written history of the Cooper clan. Someone has been capturing the ancestors and stealing their canes.

The last new Sly Cooper game was in 2005, so it’s been a while since the cel-shaded adventures have been seen. This is the first game on the PlayStation 3 console. The series’ creator, Sucker Punch Productions, has since moved on to other projects. Sanzaru Games takes the reins for this game.

The whole gang is back in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Besides Sly, whose specialty is stealth, we have:

Murray, a brute of a hippopotamus who can bash skulls with the best of them;

Bentley, the wheelchair-bound turtle who is an ace computer hacker and gadget maker and;

Carmalita Fox, the police inspector chasing Sly.

Each of the team members share in the exploits as they travel to far-flung locations such as feudal Japan, the American Wild West, prehistoric times and medieval England to help Sly’s ancestors fight a master criminal who also has acquired the ability to time travel. UIn each story level, Sly and the gang have to free an ancestor of Sly’s who aids in the fight. Each level also features a boss who must be dispatched in a boss-like way. This means recognizing their attack patterns and using them to your advantage.

Gameplay for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is dominated by platforming, with some puzzle solving and combat. Sly can scamper across rooftops, slither along wires and cables and generally slink around just about anywhere, using his cane for attacks and balance.

Murray is the bash-em-all type, with the violence strictly of the PG variety – no one really dies, they just disappear in a “poof” when defeated.

Bentley does a bit of platforming, but most of his action is modeled after old-style gaming – side scrolling shoot-em-ups; top down action; even some vehicles piloted by remote control.

Heck, there’s even some music rhythm mini-game action.

Besides the main storyline, players can search for bottles, crack safes, steal treasure and gather coins for weapon and ability upgrades.

The action is painted in a colorful palette and, while it will never be accused of being overly difficult, it is nonetheless engaging from start to finish.

The game also includes a digital download of the game for the PlayStation Vita – the Sony handheld game console. Using “cross play,” players can save their PS3 game and cross save it to the Vita to continue play uninterrupted.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is an action-packed, fun romp that retains the best parts of the previous Sucker Punch games – the cel-shaded visuals, the snappy dialogue, the engaging characters and the non-stop action.

Sly is back.

Platform: PlayStation3

Manufacturer: Sony Interactive

Rating: Everyone

Score: 9 thievin’ chilies