	The Sly Collection
	Developer: Sucker Punch Publisher: SCEE Release Date: Out Now Players: 1-4 (mini-games)	Words By:
Continuing the lengthening list of ‘tarted-up to HD PS2 games for the PS3’, The Sly Collection (Sly Raccoon, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves) stands out from the crowd as an excellent trilogy of underrated games from a classic era in early 3D platform adventures. Being around at the same time as PlayStation mascots Ratchet & Clank’s first ever release and Nintendo’s Mario Sunshine made life hard for Sly, but those who actually got to play the games soon realised they just as good as these more famous releases, and superior in several departments. In 1 you move from level to level, taking in various locations, in 2 and 3 versions of Paris and Venice as stylised as the rest of the game’s visuals are used, not only as large play areas but also as the central hubs from which you get you missions. In 1 and 2 you play as Sly Cooper, but in the third edition you get to play as Sly’s turtle buddy Bentley, who gives you tutorials, tells you what the missions involve and offers advice about how to complete them from his secret base, and Murray the bright pink Hippo, who will help you develop your fighting skills. You’ll also come across Police Inspector Carmelita Fox, Sly’s nemesis and possible romantic interest, who also crops up as a playable character in the Move minigames (more about those later.) The main games all use the same basic mechanic, gameplay style and controls: ‘X’ is jump, and a second tap gives you a longer double-jump; ‘Square’ is Sly’s melee attack with his ever-present hooked cane, ‘RB’ is sprint (handy for escaping from the many guards and enemies you’ll come across.) ‘Circle’ makes Sly grab a climbable surface, balance on a narrow ledge or cable, or sneak along a narrow ledge, as well as being the interact button for things like pulling levers or pick pocketing. ‘Triangle’ allows you to juggle an enemy into the air and ‘R3’ pulls out your binoculars so you can survey the area. In all three games you can smash loads of breakable objects you come across to collect coins with which you can buy powerups (like remotely triggered bombs, ‘Fists of Flame’ which turns your ordinary punches into fiery ones and smoke bombs) at Bentley’s HQ or collect to give you extra lives. You also have a number of collectible bottles to find and smash on each level which can unlock special moves. The Sly Collection also has a fourth section containing four unlockable PlayStation Move compatible mini games. These can all be played by 4 players with any combination of Move controllers and standard PS3 joypads. They’re all seriously lightweight, wishy-washy efforts that all seem to take an inordinate amount of time (50-60 seconds) to load, which, I suspect, is longer than many of you will spend playing them: Treasure Snagging – collect your coloured piece to score points. Press ‘X’ or the ‘Move’ button to snag and reel in your piece, like you’re fishing. As I mentioned you can play with a mixture of joypads and Move controllers and if you use a joypad, you use an upward jerk of the Sixaxis to reel your piece in. Guru Dart Shooter – shoot the enemy and not the Guru in a simple fairground shooting gallery-style game. Bentley RC Race – guide an RC chopper through the skies in a checkpoint race, avoiding the mines and other obstacles! Interpol Target Practice – shoot your coloured targets and prevent your opponent from shooting theirs by locking them so they have to be freed by pressing ‘X’ and then flicking the Move controller (or using the Sixaxis), before they can be shot. As good as the three Sly adventures are (and they get better with each instalment), it’s very noticeable that they’re all unrelentingly hard, way harder than games are nowadays. Although you can always find a spot where you can harvest a few lives this is hardcore old-school platforming with a hint of stealth and cartoon violence, with some wickedly mean checkpoint placements and vastly less forgiving than we have come to expect from modern platform adventures. Several enemies kill Sly with one hit and, unless you’ve gained a one-time lifesaving lucky horseshoe, its back to nearest checkpoint, which can be a long, looooong way back. Many surfaces that you might expect Sly to just land on require you to press ‘Circle’ to land successfully on, even if Sly is clearly right above it. And the game’s toughest moments include horribly difficult running ‘out of the screen’ pursuit sections, which never last long but could drive you to distraction with their unforgiving nature that will result in many untimely deaths, often due to the stylised look of many of the obstacles which make identifying the correct path extremely hard. The original Sly Thievius Racconius is probably a bit too hard for all but retro-holics and gamers who want a serious challenge as gathering all the trophies is a gargantuan task. 2 & 3 definitely ease up on the difficulty a bit and the gameplay is more varied and consequently more interesting. The ‘Move minigames’ are likely to be no more than a brief diversion but all in all this is a quality compilation of one of the PS2’s more endearing characters, and also shows us gamers where the makers of PS3 favourite inFamous cut their teeth.

Best Bits
- A lot of fun levels.
- Accurate platform action.
- Stealthy and sneaky bits are fun.
- Gadgets and powerups to unlock.

Worst Bits
- Some horrendous levels.
- Unrelentingly difficult and unforgiving checkpoints.
- Stylised graphics won’t appeal to all.


by: Diddly