Sucker Punch weighed in on September 23, 2002 with the now classic 'Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.' The game is essentially a platformer, with a few minor stealth elements, as well as nods to generas such a double stick shooters and cart racers.
The heart of the game is the platforming elements, which are accomplished masterfully. When you jump, you can push the circle key to perform a flourish that allows you to land on very tiny spots and narrow ledges, or permits Sly to grab onto a pipe to clamber up to a new area. It's a clever trick that makes the player feel like they are really accomplishing something fantastic. At the end of the game when you have to quickly chain moves together into a fluid whole, the brilliance of the design becomes apparent. in other words, I felt like a total bad-ass as I guided Sly through his paces.
While the platforming mechanics are second to none, there are a series of mini-game levels that are not quite so wonderful. There are several section where you pilot a variety of vehicles, but they all move with the left stick and shoot with the right. The control feels very soft and loose, making precise movement an impossibility. This leads to many frustrating and pointless deaths. There also several sections where you race a van against 4 other competitors. It is very arcade style, with the only controls being the left stick to steer and the square button to trigger power ups you pick up along the track. Again, loose, floaty controls make these sections more frustrating than fun. The platforming sections are so enjoyable however, it is easy to forgive and forget the exasperation.
The boss fights are exciting, challenging, and annoying. They play more like puzzle sections, in which you have to figure out the right sequence of moves rather than just be quick on the trigger. There is still a twitch element, especially with the Frog and Panda bosses, but once you figure out the gimmick for the fight, it is often over very quickly. However, you will be seeing each stage of the 3 or 4 stage boss fights repeatedly - because if you make one wrong move you are turfed back to the first form, no matter how far you've gotten. The game really forces you to learn the patterns of the fights very well. One of the more interesting bosses is Mz Ruby, who through a quicktime events at you. But, she tosses actually representations of the playstation button symbols, which you then dodge by pushing the same buttons in the same rhythm. It is a clever way to do it, rather than have them arbitrarily flash on screen.
A real gripe that I have is with the "life" system. I really believe that it's a hold over from previous generations of platforming games. It's like the developers put it in there simply because "that how games are." If you loose all your lives you go back to the beginning of the stage you are on, but don't have to recollect any clues, and you have an infinite number of continues. So it is punitive, but not whole heatedly.
Sly Cooper really rewards you for sticking with it when you run into a difficult section. The difficulty seems to be dynamic - ramping up when you are doing well, but lending aid when you struggle. It will give you charms - first a silver, and then a gold - to increase your chances. And it seems to slow down some sequences and/or make them easier if you are having trouble. For players that conquer the game, there are timed master thief runs that challenge you to master all the special moves you unlock in the game. Even the most obsessive compulsive gamer will be challenged to finish everything in Sly Cooper. The reward for beating a levels master thief sprint is a special developer commentary, which makes me wish unlocking them wasn't such a pain since I'm sure they are worth listening to.
If you haven't played this game yet, do yourself a favor and go pick it up for the few dollars it costs - it will remind you of why you like gaming so much. It is also interesting to compare it to Sucker Punches' most recent game - Infamous. Playing through both at the same time really made me aware how much of Sly Cooper went into Infamous, as well as seeing what lessons the developers learned from the series. This game is highly recommended.
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