Sly Cooper: Theives in Time Review

Ten years ago, Sly Cooper appeared, immediately becoming one of Playstation's favorite heroes and making a name for Sucker Punch studios. Hailed for incredible balance and climbing abilities, this thief did good for the world by targeting some of the most dangerous criminals. In Sly Cooper, Sly began his adventures by tracking down and ruining every member of the gang responsible for murdering his father. In Band of Thieves, he took on another violent crime syndicate, this one using dangerous pieces of machinery to improve their villainous operations. In Honor Among Thieves, he traveled the world, recruiting some of the most revered thieves to aid him on a mission to collect his displaced inheritance. Now, eight years after the Honor Among Thieves, Sanzaru Games has resurrected Sly and the gang for a fourth installment. I was given an opportunity to play a mission back in September, and now, at the game's release, I am anxious to play the finished product.

The story involves Sly Cooper coming out of retirement in order to rescue his ancestors who seem to be vanishing from history, along with Bentley's girlfriend Penelope. Bentley's time machine brings them back to points in history where Cooper family members would have existed. The gang begins to find people and technology that have no business in that time or location, and must unravel a mystery unlike any they had faced in their other adventures.

The new art style allows Sanzaru to make their game stand apart from Sucker Punch. The game play is about the same as before, and I only had a few problems navigating the world. They stuck to the same world as used in Sly 2 and 3, with an open world hub with certain missions straying into enemy operations. The collectables system includes bottle-and-safe puzzles from the first Sly, treasure runs from the second, and Sanzaru's own idea of hiding Cooper Gang logos around the areas.

Rioichi Cooper sneaking around Japan

Playable characters have always added value to these games, and this is no different. The list includes Sly, Bentley, Murray, Inspector Fox, and a Cooper ancestor that fits with whatever time period you're in. The four heroes play mainly the same as the did in Sly 3, but the ancestor is usually just Sly's move set with some new ability. From Bob Cooper's ability to climb straight walls, to Tennessee Kid's ability to shoot guards and obstacles from a distance, you'll find yourself excited waiting to see what your next ancestor can do.

This game is not without it's flaws. There is an unhealthy amount of Sixaxis control challenges, and the game is bogged down with mini games. There was a Bentley hacker puzzle about every three missions, and one of the puzzle types was a Sixaxis. There were entire missions of just mini games, and most missions squeezed one in. Though most of the boss fights were incredibly entertaining, the final boss was entirely made up of quick time events, making it look nice, but somewhat uneventful.

Overall, I thought this game was fantastic. It may be heavy on the mini games, but it has an interesting plot, fun game play, and was a good continuation of one of my favorite series. I am interested to see what Sanzaru does next, with Sly or on another project.

8/10