Refreshing Yet Highly Unoriginal
I’m going to be honest with you, playing Sly Cooper Thieves in Time is my first real experience with the series despite it’s previous outings on the PS2. For one reason or another I was more of a Jax & Daxter and Rachet & Clank person, I’ve always intended to play the Sly series but just never got round to it until I was assigned to review Sly Cooper Thieves in Time. It’s a good thing I did as it appears that I have been missing out this whole time even if this latest Sly Cooper title isn’t on par with some of the best in the genre.
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time is a 3D platformer, yes very much like the ones who saw on the Nintendo 64 and it’s a pretty good one at that. Recently 2D platforms such as New Super Mario Bros, Rayman Origins and Donkey Kong Country Returns have all been taking the spotlight leaving the Super Mario Galaxy series to handle things in the 3D space. Unfortunately 3D platformers are rare these days, it’s an industry that’s moved on from cute mascots to generic military shooters so something like Sly Coopers Thieves in Time is extremely refreshing and welcomed.
My first reaction going in towards Thieves in Time was that it was going to be pretty bad, the original developers Sucker Punch had since moved on to making the inFamous games and I’d barely even heard of Sanzaru Games who were taking over. Surprisingly enough at least from a presentation level, Suzaru Games have completely nailed the look and feel of a Sly Cooper game.
Thieves in Time employs a cel shaded approach, it’s extremely crisp and clean with smooth animation throughout. It’s all running at 60FPS with only some minimal slowdown during some sections but never enough to affect the gameplay greatly which is essential in the platforming genre where anything less than perfect controls can hurt the game. Cut-scenes switch between using in game graphics and a more pleasing cartoon animated style which has me thinking that Sly Cooper would make for great Saturday morning kids show. Be it via in game visuals or animated cut-scenes, Thieves in Time is a very colourful and very easy on the eyes. It’s not the most detailed game on the PlayStation 3 but it’s art style isn’t really a very demanding one, the simple jump to HD is all the upgrading the series ever needed.
Further contributing to the game’s solid production values is a host of superbly delivered voice acting. It’s very easy for these types of games to do your head in with annoying voice overs but the stuff seen in Thieves in Time is usually rather amusing, it’s normally the quality of the animation that made me smile on several occasions Though my time with the Sly Cooper series in the past has been limited, I can assure fans that Thieves in Time looks and feels very much like a Sly Cooper game.
The story featured in Thieves in Time is similar to what we saw in the TimeSplitters series, it’s a case of Sly and the rest of the gang travelling through time to visit different time periods. It’s actually a pretty great setup as it allows the developers to create varied environments within the context of the game, you’ll visit ancient Japan, the wild west and several others throughout Sly’s adventure. Due to the fact Sony is barely acknowledging this game exists, I myself didn’t know much as to what I could expect so the excitement to see what time period I’d visit next always made for a nice incentive to keep pushing forward.
Thieves in Time might have Sly Cooper in the title but you won’t actually be playing as him all that much as he shares the spotlight with the rest of the gang. Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita Fox all return in playable form although the Murray sections are kept to a minimum because no one wants to play as the “fat” character in an otherwise silky smooth platformer. The fifth member of your time varies depending on the time period, you’ll have to rescue one of Sly’s ancestors first before they become playable.
Each one of Sly’s ancestors plays very much like Sly himself but offer up some unique abilities such as Tennessee “Kid” Cooper from the wild west era having the ability to shoot enemies. Rioichi Cooper of ancient Japan acts as the Ninja and to be really honest, they all often end up being more fun than Sly himself. Just as you start to get bored of a certain ancestor, you’ll jump to a different time period and the game throws a new ancestor with a host of new abilities into the mix. Bently’s sections are not too bad, it’s usually revolves around mini games that much like Sly’s ancestor’s, aims to mix up the gameplay to keep it fresh and it works for the most part. None of the mini games are all that particularly interesting or engaging but they’re over before you know it so no complaints here.
Murray & Carmelita Fox are also playable but I feel the game would of been better off without them, their inclusion don’t necessarily hurt the game so again, nothing major to complain about. You’re probably assuming Sly himself has been overshadowed by his ancestors and even Bently does a good job from keeping things from becoming too repetitive so what’s left for Sly? Upon visiting the different time periods, Sly himself gains new costumes which in turn result in new abilities. In Japan you’ll be able to disguise yourself as one of the guards whilst in the wild west you’ll don a prison outfit, the giant ball you carry can be used to hit and move large objects in various directions. Basically it’s a different form of block pushing but at least Sly can use also use it for some ball rolling action.
Growing up as a kid the platformer genre was my favourite, I was taught that gameplay mechanics were king and games like Skyrim do nothing for me as it just feels like a clunky mess by comparison. Platformers are all about smooth, precise, tightly tuned controls and in this area Thieves in Time is up there with the best of them. The genre standard double-jump is here along with some “Assassin’s Creed” style platforming , jumping and tapping the circle button allows Sly to automatically attach himself to parts of the environments highlighted by a subtle blue shine. It works great and lets you navigate the worlds in an intuitive way that’s not too demanding or clumsy, don’t worry it’s not “Uncharted” levels of automatic where you don’t even feel in control most of the time.
So far it all seems pretty good for Sly’s return and debut on the PlayStation 3, for the most part it is and it’s somewhat difficult to fault the game. Thieves in Time is an interesting case of “there’s not much wrong with it” as nothing particularly stands out as badly done. You’d think the Murray sections would be rubbish but it’s kept to such a minimum that it’s barely even worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things. The visuals are colourful and perform nicely, voice work is great, the music is always pleasant and fitting, controls are responsive, environments and gameplay nicely varied. Hell even the the game’s price is good, currently going for £20 on the PlayStation store and you even get the Vita version for free with cross save functionality.
The “problem” with Thieves in Time is so subtle that it’s easy to forget about it all together. As someone with a long history of playing many platformers in the past I can tell you that Thieves in Time isn’t very original. It’s a perfectly well designed game but at the same time it’s not really doing anything we haven’t already seen before, it’s pretty much a “by the book” platformer. On it’s own Thieves in Time works well but when compared to Mario, Banjo and even Sony’s own Rachet & Clank series, it simply can’t complete. It’s not pushing the genre forward nor does it add it’s own contribution, it’s simply content with being a combination of borrowed ideas from other titles.
In the end Sly Cooper Thieves in Time was a very enjoyable title for me, I often long for the days when 3D platformers were all the rage and the game succeeds at what it sets out to do. Perhaps it should of been more ambitious rather than playing it so safe, the crazy galaxy setting did wonders for Mario. The time travelling aspect of the game leads to a varied game but it’s a variation of things countless other titles have done in the past. It’s obviously not trying to reinvent the wheel but in the end it’s okay, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time is still good. I like to think of it as a nice tribute to 3D platformers.
