The Sly Collection Review (PS3)

1) Introduction

This is a HD Collection exclusively on PS3 that contains remastered versions of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. The physical version also has minigames that require you to use PlayStation Move. All three Sly games have remastered visuals as well as Trophy support. All three games are stealth platforming games.

2) Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

Take control of the gentleman thief, Sly Cooper.

This is the first game in the series. Pretty good game, and I highly enjoy the level designs, gameplay, story, and excellent art design. However, I am not a big-fan of one-hit kills in this game, which can be frustrating to new players like me. Not much replay value unless you collect all of the clue bottles and find all Thievius Raccoonus pages. Some of the boss fights can be problematic, especially the last two bosses.

This is my favourite Sly game so far, as it has perfect length, good platforming sections, good humour, good variety of level designs, and good story.

Score: 9/10

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Good story.
- Good cast.
- Good humour.
- Simple yet effective gameplay controls.
- Good music.
- Great art design.
- Good music.
- Perfect game length.

Cons

- One-hit kill system.
- Some questionable game design on certain sections.
- Not much replay value.

3) Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Take control of the whole gang.

This is the second game in the series. Pretty much improved a  lot on gameplay department such as variety of playable characters, skills acquisition, combat, as well as boss fights. The bigger maps is also a welcome addition, but I find that many Jobs in this game are repetitive, and the game's length feels a bit too long for me. This game has the best story with slightly darker tones, as well as some good villains. Great art design and memorable music too.

This is my least favourite Sly game, due to the slightly longer length of the game as well as many repetitive Jobs throughout the game. However, it is still a great game.

Score: 8.5/10

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Interesting story.
- Good cast.
- Good humour.
- Simple yet effective gameplay controls.
- Better health sustem.
- Bigger map design.
- Good music.
- Great art design.
- Good music.

Cons

- Weak final villain.
- Too many Jobs, making the game feels a bit too long.
- Some questionable game design on certain levels.
- Not much replay value.

4) Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves

Sly is back with new additions to the Cooper gang.

This is the third game in the series. Much more variety of playable characters with their own unique levels. The game is also a bit shorter than the previous game, although I greatly prefer the shorter length as the story pacing is much better in this game compared to Sly 2. However, the overall story is weak compared to Sly 1 and Sly 2. Also, no Clue Bottles in this game, but there are Master Thief Challenges to be done in this game as well as some Multiplayer minigames.

By far, this game has high replay value, and this game is my second favourite Sly game to play despite the weaker story. This game also has better minigame variety compared to Sly 2, but some of it still has some questionable designs that might frustrate you while playing them. There are also slowdowns in some levels, but not gamebreaking.

Score: 8.5/10

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Good cast.
- Good humour.
- Simple yet effective gameplay controls.
- Better health sustem.
- Better variety of Jobs.
- Good map design.
- Good music.
- Great art design.
- Good music.
- Good replay value.

Cons

- Slightly weaker story  than the previous Sly games.
- No collectibles.
- Some questionable game design on certain levels.

Conclusion

Great collection of three great games.

This is a good collection of three good games. Anyone who is interested with stealth and platforming games should try out this collection. Highly recommended.

Score: 9/10

**Screenshots are from official PlayStation game page.