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Recently, many older PlayStation classics are either getting remastered, reduxed or even receiving completely new series entries for the PS4 console generation. The “Spyro” series got an entire trilogy remaster. “Crash Bandicoot” got an entire trilogy remaster and an additional new entry in the series.
“Ratchet and Clank” got a remaster…and a whole ass movie! However, did the franchise that brought Sucker Punch Productions, the video gaming juggernaut responsible for the “Infamous” series and “Ghost of Tsushima” to the forefront, get a remaster or any of those other nice new properties? Nope. Sly Cooper and the gang did not receive anything more than a throwaway teaser in “Infamous Second Son” during the PS4 console generation, and that is a travesty that needs addressing.
What Is The “Sly Cooper” Franchise?
The “Sly Cooper” franchise is a stealth platform series that follows a trio of anthropomorphic animals as they mature into the world’s premier band of thieves. Premise a bit wacky? Yeah, sure, but that was the standard back then. Sly is the ultra-cool, agile, suave, raccoon pick pocketer. Bentley is the brains of the group who’s afraid to get out of his shell (literally…he’s a turtle). Murray is a (hungry, hungry) hippo who provides the muscle and serves as the heart of the gang. Throughout the series, the gang pulls off numerous elaborate heists while encountering dubious villains and Sly’s forbidden love who works on the opposite side of the law, Carmelita Fox.
What Made The “Sly Cooper” Franchise Great?
There’s much to love about the “Sly Cooper” games. Over the four entries, the franchise offers consistently good platforming and combat, and the heists truly are something to behold. Most of all, though, the witty writing and characters, the world design and art style, and the music make this franchise a highly underrated classic.
Witty Writing And Characters
Sly Cooper is one of the most debonair and alluring main characters in videogame history. He’s such a fun main character to root for. Additionally, his relationships with Maury and Bentley carry real weight.
While playing, you’ll be invested and feel the mounting stakes for the gang. On that same token, the adventure and growth the group makes will stick with you even after you’ve completed the final entry. This is all bolstered by well-written dialogue and banter. The interactions between members of the trio, Sly & Carmelita, or any number of quirky baddies are genuinely funny and can make a grown man(child) laugh.
World Design + Art Style
The “Sly Cooper” franchise segments its games into chapters, and each chapter is its own contained sandbox level, vastly distinct and unique from the last chapter and to the next. For instance, in one chapter from “Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves,” Sly and the gang pull a heist in a reimagining of Paris, France, and in the next chapter, they are in the Australian Outback. This allows for a lot of variety in the series, with each new location offering a new environment to explore.
While this continuous jumping from location to location could be jarring in a lesser series, the art style’s utter coolness prevents this. Extravagant and colorful character and world designs make this game feel almost like a globe-trotting cartoon more than a videogame, with the cutscenes bordering on something out of one of your favorite animated films.
Music
Another great aspect of the games’ globe-trotting is that the soundtrack will take cues from where the gang is in accordance with the world. For instance, in the aforementioned Australian outback from “Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves,” some didgeridoo is mixed into the instrumentation, and in an Indian-based locale in the fourth entry, “Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time,” there is some sitar. It’s a small touch, but it really adds to the world-building. This small detail, plus the general James Bond-esque, super sneaky, undercover theme music (present in all the games) that will play whenever you’re sneaking around with Sly or another character from the group makes for excellent music to accompany each level.
What’s Next For Sly Cooper And The Gang?
Sadly, the most likely next step for the “Sly Cooper” franchise is probably obscurity. Since the release of “Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time,” the lackluster fourth entry for the PS3 developed by Sanzaru Games, there really hasn’t been any momentum or promise of new things with Sly and the gang. There was talk of a movie, with a trailer releasing in early 2014, but that project was ultimately scratched. If you look hard enough, you will find forums discussing the change of course from the movie into an online web series, but that hasn’t materialized into anything real either.
It’s really quite a shame seeing one of the better, early, pioneer-worthy games go out with such a whimper. Sly Cooper and the gang received an uninspired (though not out of a total lack of effort) final entry and a scrapped movie teaser as their parting gift. While other classic PS2 entries are being revitalized and revamped, the “Sly Cooper” franchise is just collecting dust, and that is a real shame.