Sly The Racoon Game Series

The Sly racoon game series features a band of thieves from different walks of life. The main Sly Cooper characters throughout the whole series is Sly the racoon, Murray the hippo, Bently the turtle and Carmelita the fox who is constantly tangled up in a Sly Cooper Carmelita love-hate relationship. Murray the big hippo who is mostly concerned with eating and solving problems using his fists prefers to make his presence known to his enemies and then proceed to bulldoze through the crowds to get what he wants. Bentley the turtle is a the nerd who uses special gadgets and crafty darts to poison, make his enemies sleep or even cause explosions, all from a safe distance because it would be very difficult for him to engage in face to face combat. Contrast to that, Murray is a one man army who can smash his way through hordes of enemy like toothpicks and come out barely scathed. Sly is the thieve who’s ancestry can be traced back to a family of master thieves is a more balanced character since he has the ability to scale up buildings that seem impossible to do so for his two companions and he is able to combine his strength and special abilities to fight. He can perform the stealthiest assaults or robberies of all characters and he has a variety of useful obtainable abilities and gadgets, making him the craftiest character of all and can offer more creative ways to engage or withdraw from combat if necessary.

There are also many collectibles to obtain in the game such as the hidden clue bottles and treasures that can be sold on ‘Thief Net’ for a sizable amount of coins in order to purchase new abilities. This will inevitably force the player to hone his visual and auditory senses in order to hear the subtle sounds that the clue bottles make and be able to spot all the hidden shiny objects that are proudly displayed on the treasure wall of your safe house after being stolen.

The original trilogy was re-mastered for PS3 with added trophies and although nostalgic fans such as me were really keen on reliving that experience from years ago we were really wondering if there will ever be a return for the game. Since the release of Sly Cooper 3 in 2005 there was not even the slightest whiff of news or rumors about a fourth installment of the game until another developer decided to do something about it in 2012.

Just as the series fans were losing hope of ever seeing this game making a comeback, Sanzaru Games Inc. has stepped up to the challenge and made a new Sly Cooper name because Sucker Punch Productions has decided to work on other games such as the Infamous franchise. Although this was an understandable move which proved beneficial to them because they were able to expand their fan base by bringing in new customers with more diverse tastes and preferences, a lot of followers were salivating at the prospect of buying a new Sly Cooper game.

The official title for Sly 4 was Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time which suggested that the developers of this game have explored Sly’s ancestors which he has to come in contact with in order to correct all the anomalies that the time travelling villain has caused. ‘Thieves in Time’ was a really interesting game because of the diversity of playable characters for free roam gameplay and missions was greater than previous games. In Sly 3 there were other playable characters but they were only featured in few missions for each stage and where not available for free roam gameplay. Contrast to that In Sly 4, the ancestors of Sly could be used after the completion of their missions and each one of them had unique abilities and characteristics and therefore adding more complexity and fun to the game. Additionally, Carmelita was also a playable character for free roam which proved to be a very powerful character.

The collectibles in the game were not limited to just clue bottles and treasures. There were also Sly masks which allowed players to make certain cosmetic changes to the game and there were more disguise costumes that added new abilities to Sly. Moreover, the safe house features two mini games; Table tennis which can be played by two and an arcade game which proved to be challenging and exciting at the same time. The unlocked costumes and obtained treasures are also displayed on the wall which give the players a sense of accomplishment after working so hard to obtain or rather steal those objects.

However, there was one major drawback to this game and it was evident to all players who managed to complete the story and that was the fact that it only made the fans to crave even more Sly Cooper. Aside from the fact that the game was so good, the story of ‘Thieves in Time’ ended on a cliff-hanger and it all depends on Sony’s decision on whether or not the 5^th instalment will ever emerge.

The latest news that we have about the franchise is that there is an animated movie coming out in 2018. A Sly Cooper film may seem a bit of a stretch but many people and me included are eagerly waiting for the release of the movie and hoping that there will be a final game in development that concludes the story since the ending of Sly 4 was not satisfying for the fans. However, since the trailer came out in 2014 the whole project was cancelled only to announce it again in 2017 so the future seems very bleak for any new developments. It’s perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in gaming because this game was incredibly successful and yet its future is hanging by a thread. Although the movie seems to be on hold or possibly cancelled, the Sly Cooper TV series was announced because the studio that acquired the rights to the franchised wants turn it into a children’s show for financial reasons. This is a questionable motive since the most devoted players that played the game 15 years ago are still interested in the game and are only adding to the confusion of the viewers.