It looks like we have come full circle on the Sly Cooper franchise from the breezy fun to the first Sly Cooper game to the horrible disappointment of the second Sly Cooper game. So that leads us to the third and maybe final game of the whole series, Sly 3: Band of Thieves. Now what was my reaction to this you wonder? Was it the thrill of the chase like the first or the somewhat boring Ocean's 11 capers of the second? Well, the answer in this case lies somewhere in between so let's dive into Sly 3.
It's been some time after the events of Sly 2 where the evil Clockwerk is finally destroyed but things weren't looking up. Bentley got severely injured and is now confined to a wheelchair, Murray blames himself for this and he has left the group on a quest for peace and the beloved team van is gone. But some time later, an old associate of Sly's father, McSweeney, comes by and tells Sly of the family vault where all the wealth of the various Coopers are stored on some island where the insane Dr. M has spent years trying to break into. With this knowledge, Sly is out on his biggest caper he has ever been in but first he's going to need help, a lot of help.
Now there is good news and bad news about the gameplay here. The bad news is that you still are doing those Ocean's 11 style capers but the good news is that they are entertaining to play this time. You don't have to worry about finding clue bottles and safes this time around. I'm sure you'll miss them but that feeling won't last long when you realized how much it sucked finding those things in the second game. Also, the cast of playable has expanded greatly. There's a cast of about 7 guys you can play as each guy has there own skill set to use to complete your various capers.
But I think the biggest improvement from the second game to this game is how much more fun everything is. Granted, it's still not as fun as the first game but it is close. The graphics still have that same cartoon-like, breezy atmosphere that the other games had. The voice-acting finally clicks where everyone gets into the skin of their characters, well except for Carmelita Fox who gets another voice-actress. The dialogue is fun and there's some great lines in there especially when The Murray is talking especially about flossing his teeth with a bad guy's spine!
However, there's an aspect of this game in where the mere inclusion of it blew my mind. This game has certain aspects in 3-D! No, not the graphics or the game itself but the 3-D where you put those glasses on your face and stuff pops out of the screen! The main problem with putting 3-D in games that has 3-D space is that the camera is constantly moving and there's many focal points for the 3-D to come at the player. In movies, there's only one and we can handle that. Thankfully, playing in 3-D is entirely optional and it was even more optional for me when I didn't get the 3-D glasses. But I did get it used so what did I expect...except it had the original box and manual in it.
So while this game is better than the second, it's not as good as the first one. The voice-acting is mostly good, the dialogue is fun. The capers actually make sense and there's almost a tangible effect to what you're doing this time. The gameplay and graphics still have that breezy quality to them. The 3-D....it's there and I think it's stupid that it was even attempted but since it's optional, I can't hold it against the game. Now the question remains after play all three Sly Cooper games, if there was going to be a fourth Sly Cooper game would I want to play it? The answer is when it's cheap. They're perfectly fine but not something I'd get right away.
7/10
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