Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves

I'll be frank with you: This is essentially a refined Sly 2 with some new additions. Everything gameplay-wise is all here: you'll still switch between characters completing missions in large semi-open world levels, and participate in various mini-games among other things.

That said, I still enjoyed my time with Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, despite the numerous similarities. It's many new additions such as more playable characters, and a multiplayer component, and refinements to the formula of its predecessor essentially perfect it, resulting in the lengthiest, funnest, and best overall Sly game yet.

Sly 3 picks up a little while after the events of Sly 2, with the gang, having now defeated Clockwerk for good, setting their sights on a new goal: Gaining access to the Cooper family vault. A feat that will take an army of thieves to accomplish due to the many defenses installed by the islands owner, and resident mad scientist, Dr. M, who's spent years trying to get inside the vault with no luck. This leads to premise of the game: heading off to various locals pulling off various operations to gain a new member for the gang, some of whom will be familiar to those who played the previous two titles.

Though playing them isn't really necessary. Sure, you'll miss out on some references, but the game recaps everything that happened up to this point, so it's easy to jump right in and know what's going on.

Gameplay is the same as it was in Sly 2 in that it still follows its mission based structure. Missions are found, and often take place in the large hub world of each episode. Each mission calls for a different member of the gang depending on what the objective is. Sly handles anything that calls for stealth, traversing treacherous environments, and, of course, theft. Bentley handles demolition and hacking. And Murray deals in all things combat. It's easy to tell who's needed, as each mission is marked by a beacon that show who the mission is for, along with the mission title which gives a vague idea of what's in store.

They don't tell you everything, though, as there are plenty of times where what seems to be a solo-mission becomes a cooperative one as you switch between characters to complete an objective. A lot of the time this involves a mini-game of some sort, like speeding on a boat through the canals of Venice, or providing cover fire with a turret or a remote-controlled helicopter among many, many others. They're all pretty brief, but they're fun to play, and add some variety.

When you're not busy with mini-games, however, your time will be spent traversing the game's many obstacle and hazard filled environments. Lasers, searchlights with mounted turrets, and bottomless pits and large bodies of water (since the gang can't swim) are only a taste of what awaits. Though as dangerous as they may sound, they're easy to get by, and don't present much of a challenge. All of the various security measures follow a basic movement pattern that only takes a few seconds to pick up on, and missing a jump simply results in a small loss of heath, which significantly lessens the threat of falling since you move right back to where you were before the fall.

Still, as easy as the platforming is, it's a lot of fun. Heck, even simply moving about the levels is fun, which is mostly due to Sly's many acrobatic abilities that allow him to climb just about anything. Spires, poles, ropes and wires... you name it. It makes getting around (and getting through platforming sections) a snap, thanks to how these can be used with the push a button.

The rest of the gang doesn't possess such abilities, which makes their platforming segments a lot simpler, and makes it harder to get around. But since jumping and climbing isn't their specialty, it makes sense. Well, that and their missions rarely involve platforming. Especially the new guys. They never have to do that.

Instead, they're always tasked with whatever their specialty is, whether it be possession, scuba diving, or something involving RC vehicles, though they don't come up very often. One appears every mission or two, but the missions mostly focus on Sly, Bentley, and Murray instead of the new guys.

Heists on the other hand focus on the whole gang instead of just one or two members, with the game constantly switching between characters as the heist goes on. The heists themselves are long, complex missions that involve a variety of objectives that require much cooperation between the crew to complete. Each one contains multiple objectives, and usually ends with a boss fight. The objectives are pretty simple, tasking you with things like getting from point A to point B, destroying something, or disguising yourself to gain access to certain areas. They also sometimes involve playing a mini-game of some sort.

One example is the Venice heist. In it, Sly and Bentley must get a detonation switch from local mob boss, and former opera singer, Octavio. To do this, Bentley must compete against Octavio in a opera duet to distract him while Sly unhooks the cables holding up a large globe just above Octavio. During this section, you play a Simon Says type game where you must press the buttons shown to match Octavio's singing. After that, the game moves to the canals as you chase him down by boat, thereby starting the aforementioned mini-game.

Not all the heists are that simple or as heavily rely on mini-games, though. There are plenty of 'em later on that have a more balanced mix of mini-game and non-mini-game.

As different as each one is, though, they all still end the same way: with a boss battle. The bosses, just like its predecessors, follow a pretty simple attack pattern that can be easily be avoided with some well timed jumps, which makes it easy to find an opening to attack. But as easy as their attack pattern are to learn, the bosses themselves do have some challenge to 'em. Though it's mostly due to how much damage each hit takes off your health.

See, unlike water and bottomless pits, which only take a small sliver of heath away, the bosses take a quarter or sometimes as much as half of your health away. This encourages a more careful approach to fighting these guys, as they have as much health as you, but it takes longer to deplete. So to survive these battles you'll have to make sure you don't carelessly start attacking and wait for an opening instead.

This also carries over to the standard combat as well, albeit to a lesser extent, with the challenge stemming from the sheer number of guards rather than them simply being tough opponents. Still, it does make mindlessly rushing in a bad idea. I should know, whenever I did it didn't take long for me to die.

Another source of difficulty is the Master Thief Challenges, which are unlocked upon completing an episode. What they're the same missions from that episode but with various conditions like time limits, or less health put in place that make them harder than before -- though not by much. The challenges are all easily bested with a bit of trial-and-error, and the limits aren't terribly severe. Having only half of your health is just enough to get by the challenges without too much trouble, and timed challenges all give you at least a minute's worth of time.

Aside from the challenges, the only other source of replayability is the new multiplayer modes for up to two players. There are four modes available, with one being a co-op based one where two players work together in a Geometry Wars style hacking mini-game to defeat endless waves of enemies, and the other three being competitive based games. Cops and Robbers pits two players against each other as one tries to collect various bits of loot spread throughout the area while the other attempts to stop them, and the biplane and pirate ship battles pit two players in a deathmatch type game where the objective is to simply defeat the other player.

Out of them, the best ones are the hacking Cops and Robbers games. Both provide a fun fast-paced experience that's works surprisingly well. Whereas the other two, while competent modes, feel much slower than the other two, which in turn makes them less fun and boring. Those two activities are great in the single-player, but they don't quite make the jump to multiplayer.

On the visual side, things haven't really changed. The cel-shaded style of the past games is still in effect in here, and still looks excellent. Animations all feature much fluidity, which makes Sly's various acrobatic abilities as much fun to watch as they are to use. There is also a new 3D mode in the game; however, due to my lack of 3D glasses, I was not able to check out this option.

Audio wise, the game features loads of excellent orchestrated tracks, all of which fit each of the game's locations and general tone perfectly, with simple, calm music as you move about the levels unnoticed, almost coming to a complete stop when in close proximity of a guard, with string plucks heard with every step. Whereas loud, fast-moving tracks play upon being spotted or during combat, adding to the thrill of battle. It all fits what's going on nicely, and helps you discern if guards are after you or not.

All told, Sly 3 may not make any huge changes like its predecessor, but the many refinements made to the formula of Sly 2 have essentially perfected it. The lengthy story, the sheer amount of variety, and the stellar gameplay delivers an entertaining experience that can be easily be enjoyed by just about anyone. The low level of difficulty is still present, but it's only a small blemish on an otherwise excellent game.