This blog entry is to act as a pre-game show sort of thing. The Ratchet and Clank collection is coming out August 28th. Apparently this remastering is pretty damn buggy, but there are 3 reasons why I want it. #1, it's freaking Ratchet and Clank. # 2, the game ported the multiplayer from Up Your Arsenal. # 3, it was recently announced that the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time demo will come with the North American release. I know a million people will do this, but depending on my work schedule (seems I'll have the morning to myself so far) I'll play the demo the day my game arrives, record it all, and give a commentary. I have no idea what it will include, and I'll go in 100% clean. I thought it might be fun, though also Possk will be pissed if I don't.
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| Squeeing initiated! |
First off, for those 3 people or so that both watch my videos and don't know what's going on, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time was announced at E3 2011, though it was teased for those who completed the Sly Collection in 2010. I'm not kidding when I say that I was on AIM at the time with Possk, who also loves the Sly games, telling her how I thought it was unlikely Sucker Punch would say anything about Sly (due to just releasing Infamous 2). This was 9:00. At 9:03 Sony announced a new game from a beloved family franchise. Aaaaaaand lo-and-behold I squeed like a little kid when I saw the Eiffel Tower, heard those alarms, and saw that silhouette. One of those times where you just love to be wrong. This was also the first time I really gave a damn about E3, so it did feel special.
The game is being made by Sanzaru Games, the team that is responsible for the HD Sly Collection, which of all the HD collections I have it's perhaps the best done. Sanzaru are a small team comprised of Sly fans who want to bring Sly into current-gen gaming. They asked Sony, and knowing them being nobodies asking for one of their most prized IPs, naturally they said no. Sanzaru then remade Sly 1 and showed Sony and Sucker Punch. The result? They were made responsible for remastering Sly's other games, and eventually a new sequel. At E3, Sanzaru gave a bunch of details and even some gameplay
Want an explanation of Sly 1-3's plot, just...play the games...please. They're required gaming for anyone with a PS2 or 3. They're dirt cheap and a lot of fun.
Now, Sly 4 takes place after Honour Among Thieves, where Sly fakes amnesia to get with his favourite cop, Carmelita...spoilers for an 8 year old game. The team is continued to be apart and Bentley is still making his time machine. Bentley has the Thievious Raccoonus and notices the pages are missing. Ssssssome stuff happens, Sly and Murray return to the gang, and using the time machine they go back in time to find out who's screwing with the book. And Carmelita is there somehow, no comments yet. In the game you can control Sly, his friends, Carmelita, and the various ancestors at that time period.
The rest of the article is going to be basically my take on various aspects of the game as they've been shown.
Developer
Ok, honesty time. At first mention that Sucker Punch wasn't involved, I got worried. A lot of people were. This is a fanbase just recently licking their wounds from a disappointing Jak and Daxter game. A lot of examples of failures in projects like this, and just because they're fans that doesn't mean the work will show quality. Notice how Silent Hill started to not be scary after being taken over by another team, and they took over the franchise after the original team had enough. Konami handed it over to an American team that claimed to be fans of the franchise and see where that got us. Not to mention Sanzaru's resume leaves a lot to be desired, only title I actually heard of was an unstable port of Secret Agent Clank.
Still, on the other hand, we have had successes in cases like this. Going back to Jak and Daxter, there was one successful game in the series not made by Naughty Dog. Remember Daxter? I hear a lot of good things about that one, and that was an inbetweenquel platformer on the PSP. About Sanzaru, in my eyes, they've earned it. Not only did the HD collection make them work for it, it did give them the oppertunity to study what went on in Sly games. The way you see how something works is to take it apart and rebuild it, and they did. And from what I've seen so far, I could tell something like this happened. Also, the Sly collection kicked ass.
Story/Premise
Story....ooooook so other than the basic premise not much has been mentioned of course. Even though it takes place after Honour Among Thieves, no mention on how many years after defeating Dr M it takes place. No explanation on who the big baddie is or any specifics on what's going on in the time areas. No matter, the premise seems alright at first glance at least. I'm sure Sucker Punch was joking around with the time machine, but Sanzaru pretty much went "challenge accepted, we'll base the entire game around it". Silly? Cliche? Sure, but then again Sly games are pretty cheesy to begin with. Time machine? Why not?
As for bumming around with the ancestors, that was one of the things on my magical Sly 4 wish list. While I kinda like leaving it to my imagination, it is pretty cool of an idea for story and gameplay. It's ground that Sucker Punch never treaded outside of just mentioning some bits, so Sanzaru has a pretty big zone to play in. It already looks like they're having fun with their creative license.
Characters
Again, not much on character development can be revealed at this moment, though at the very least the gang is back. Same voices (outside of Carmelita of course), and behaviour seems pretty similar too. I'll explain it more in my eventual Honour Among Thieves video, but I wasn't bought by the new characters (for the record, didn't sell me on Spyro 3 either). Sly 2 was perfect. Sure Bentley and Murray weren't as fun to play, but they had their moments and the game kept it's attention where it counted. Not to mention it really felt like a tightly knit operation where you were actually pulling a heist. In Honour Among Thieves, attention was spread between the original 3 members PLUS 4 additional members, PLUS Carmelita. Sheesh. Thieves In Time seems to be going in the right direction though. As far as we know, there's only the original Cooper Gang and the ancestor of the time period, which seem to control a lot like Sly except with new abilities. Not a problem at this point. Carmelita seems to be getting some action too, though I'm kinda unsure how much.
Only 2 ancestors have been shown in detail: Rioichi and Sir Galleth Cooper. Rioichi has been pretty silent, though it's been confirmed that Steven Blum will be his voice actor (gotta love the most popular anime dub actor playing the Japanese ancestor). I don't know too much about him, but that's kind of a good thing. He looks more like a quiet guy that sticks to the shadows...of his sushi operation (genius btw). Sir Galleth Cooper hasn't been talked about too much in Sucker Punch's games, without even a confirmed moves (though Sanzaru has adapted Sly's hook technique, and because of his time period also the rail walk and stuff), or on the Cooper Order, so that seemed interesting. Sanzaru is building him from the ground up. In here, he's a bombastic, arrogant, and cocky bugger voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (ok, anime fans at Sanzaru). So far I actually kind of like him more than Rioichi so far. I think I was won by this face right here.
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| D'awww, oh you! |
Also, while I've never been a fan of constantly changing Carmelita's voice, I kinda like her voice for this game. First game mentioned her as a Latina cop in one of the papers, yet she always changed not only voice, but accent. Some fans like it, I find it distracting. Still, doesn't change the fact that this voice so far is my 2nd favourite from the character.
And damn you Nolan North, stop invading my games!
Visuals
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| Sly - Gameplay |
This...has been a very big issue to some fans. My comments on the situation are this. It doesn't look like Sucker Punch's work. Mind you, not only are Sanzaru a completely new team with their own ideas, but there has also been a console generation between games. I'll admit that the E3 footage of Sly fighting El Jefe and getting really bugged by his design, mostly the chin and muzzle. But since then, the game has cleaned up so nicely. The final product looks so smooth. Different, but good. Murray is the only one that looks kinda weird (kinda bulgy) but by no means a deal breaker. Sly games have all been visually striking, and while this is no A Crack In Time, it's turning into one of the better looking games this generation in my eyes.
Ya, I can get what people are saying with the cutscene style, especially Sly's design. He's supposed to be older but...he's looking awfully fluffy. Carmelita has also had a pretty big change, mostly her muzzle being so long and snipey. I want to say it's a bit much, but at least she looks like a fox. Sometimes she looked like a squirrel in Sucker Punch's games. There's also more movement in the cutscenes. I guess I like the old way better, but I'll still be satisfied with this.
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| Sly and Carmelita - Cutscene |
And I'll just get it out of the way. Yes, I prefer Carmelita in her longer pants. No, I don't think she's wearing a miniskirt. I don't know why they made the change, though I'm not one to fuss about pants.
Gameplay
Judging the gameplay of this game is kinda tricky. Sly games especially are games you feel, not watch. Sucker Punch really did the little things right with tight controls with immersive and empowering gameplay. This is one of the answers I would have when I actually have the game in my hands.
I CAN make some comments though. If the pieces are in place (and they certainly might be), the gameplay could be better than Honour Among Thieves. The problem the game had was it's obsession with mini-games. It had a lot of variation, but it sidelined the stealth and platforming. Thieves in Time is keeping it's attention where it should be (unless they're hiding stuff). Bentley and Murray's stuff hasn't been explored in detail, but Murray's gameplay seems more or less the same (Murray's gameplay always had the least variation, but still solid). Bentley has an additional mini-game called "Alter Ego", though I can't say I'm all that into it. Carmelita's only mission revealed looks the same as before (which was pretty meh at best).
The way that the ancestors are being handled is basically a redone Sly with focus on different techniques (like Rioichi's edited spire jump and Sir Galleth's shield bash). Might seem kinda boring, but if it means that or floundering as Dimitri or fiddling with RC cars, I prefer that. Sly always had the most variation to his missions anyways and was always the most consistently fun. The missions seem to be very platforming focused (BIG plus), and even some ancient security devices. Warms my heart. Some pickpocketing too, so always nice. Costumes were a mechanic I was a little cautious about, but it has potential. We have the samurai armour to disguise Sly from guards, the archer outfit to launch arrows, and what I lovingly call the "Prince of Persia" outfit that allows Sly to slow down time (now THAT is cool).
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| In the cover of night at last. |
The overworld is expansive, reported several times bigger than Sly 3's. The millions of beacons is a bit excessive though. Sly games were never that hard to navigate. Other than that, they seem very well crafted. They look very organic, vertical, and simply gorgeous (especially Japan).
And no, not mentioning on anything Vita. I'm just so indifferent.
Also, am I the only one that thought it was funny when they said the trophies would be much harder? It's funny because the Sly Collection is one of the easiest set of platinums you'll ever get. We'll see what happens here...
Concerns
- Perhaps this sounds strange, but collecting is my least favourite part of platformers. Early off, Sanzaru announced the clue bottles would make a return. They weren't cool in Sly 2 either. Small collectables spread in a very expansive world...aren't fun. Payoff better be more worthwhile than Sly 2's. Also another thing added was the Sly masks unlocking stuff. These masks are told to be very difficult to find. Fuuuuuun.
- I don't dig "Alter Ego", multiplayer or not. Doesn't seem to be a big focus either.
- Bit hard to judge, but the game seems kinda easy. Someone said there was a button that would make platforming stupidly easy (either that or the writer misunderstood what the circle button has done since game 1). Also, a video showed Sly getting away rather easily after getting caught. Perhaps done in a specific demo build, but still makes me worried. Sly games were always easy, but they did punish you when they had to.
- Somewhere I found a "leak" of the level select that had very few levels. My concern is length. ALL Sly games are short, and this is looking like maybe a 6-8 hour game depending on difficulty and whether that was a final build. The difference here is that we've been waiting so long for this. It won't be Sanzaru's fault really, but it's nagging me.
My Ultimate Wish
Outside of my wishing this game is GOOD, there's one thing I'm hoping for the most, and that's a plot point in Sly 3.
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| Sly's dad...has some freaky long legs. |
Towards the end, Dr. M reveals he worked with Sly's dad (in the same role Bentley does with Sly). Something happened...but they never tell. Sly's dad never even had a picture and we never hear about the work he did. What makes this scene interesting is that the way Dr. M puts it, he genuinely makes Sly's dad seem like a jerk. We all know Sly is great, but what about his dad? This point never really brings the plot anywhere other than some explanation on why Dr. M had it out for the vault.
So maybe as a final chapter sort of thing, my biggest wish to Sly 4 is to cover what happened. Is Sly's dad at fault? Who was he? What did he do before having a family? Did Dr. M rat out the Coopers to Clockwerk? I'm just so curious. Since replaying Sly 3, it started to bug me.
Conclusion
Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time I hold with cautious optimism. I'm trying not to hold hopes TOO high, but I will acknowledge that there seems to be a lot of heart and effort behind the game, and as it stands right now is a day-one purchase. Most of the pieces seem to be in place, looking like the original games with some new ideas put in, and it could be Sly's big return. Platformers are an endangered species, and even though I would prefer a new wonderful IP onto the scene, we can't forget our old friend Sly Cooper. See you on Tuesday, Ringtail < 3.
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