Review

How did they improve on the previous game in quite literally every way? This shit was so good. Firstly, we need to talk sugar about the animations. I commented while playing the first game that I really liked the animations. They were well-done and made for some very charismatic characters when paired with some good character design. But the actual movement and animation work does a lot here. Sly in particular. Look at that little shithead! He's comin to steal your stuff while smiling. I love him. He is such a great design in general and the tiptoeing through the levels looks better than ever.

But now we also have Bentley and Murray as playable people. I really like what it does to the feel of the game in general. They were there in the first game but relegated to a couple select missions. Murray doing some racing or Bentley doing a hack. But now we've got proper little guys. It feels great having everyone together. I would say that it's never quite as fun playing as Murr or Bentles, the levels are clearly made with Sly in mind. But as I said, having them out there doing things does do a lot of work for the overall feeling of the game and everything is better for it. I see that the devs just watched Ocean's Eleven and now we're all about heists. I could not be more supportive. It's a great idea that fits well with all the gameplay. I love when heists go exactly according to plan. And I love when they don't and we gotta improvise.

Speaking of gameplay, though. Something in particular I must point out. This game somehow manages to make nearly every single mission different. How does it do that? No two missions are quite the same. You're using the same verbs, but for slightly different tasks. It makes everything feel so fresh. I never get tired of anything and am always interested to see what adventures we get up to next.

This is a pure game. It is kind and it is full of love and care. There were literally countless moments where I just ran into this little quality of life moment or feature. Something that showed a deft touch from a dev or designer. Fail at a race? Let's immediately begin it again and skip all the dialogue. You don't need to hear it again. There's no reason to, that isn't fun. Want some upgrades? Let's give you the things that perfectly accentuate the moves that you already have. Sly can silently skate through levels using his Nightingale powers gifted from Nocturnal herself. Murray can fry enemies to a crisp with his flaming hands of justice. Bentley gets a bunch of silly little gadgets and gizmos to make up for his small stature.

Just so good in every way. I have no complaints.

Moving along to Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves (2005)

Links

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UgLs1BOgQM80tJjmZYVPyCC0RgB9kmm