The Sly Cooper Trilogy
Some months ago, I finally signed up for GameFly. On the first day (Hell, the first half hour) I filled my queue with games. A few weeks later, I was expecting the next game to arrive to be Mafia II. But I guess they didn't have any copies in stock at the time, so they sent me the next game in the list, Sly Cooper and The Thievius Racoonus. I was disappointed. While I've always wanted to play it, there were tons of other games at the time I had more interest in playing. "Oh well." I said, "I'll just play it and get it over with."
After the collective eight to ten hours it took me to complete it, I was in a shock.
Sly Cooper and The Thievius Racoonus was one of the best games I've ever played!
I went in the game expecting some slick and stylish stealth/platforming gameplay in varied luscious cel-shaded environments, and that's what I got. But what I didn't expect getting was genuinely likable protagonists, clever and funny dialog, a non-token romance subplot that actually develops the characters involved in it, and a unique and pretty dark story that was reminiscent of the stuff people and studios like Disney, Don Bluth, and Cartoon Network used to produce before they either lost popularity or jumped the shark.
It was a damn amazing game!
So naturally I got the sequel in ASAP.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves made significant improvements to the gameplay and visuals and still retained the great characters, funny writing, and quality story.
I wouldn't consider it better than the first, but it was still a fucking great game!
By the time was I gleefully waiting for Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves to arrive, I read on multiple pages and websites that its considered the weakest game in the series. So I was prepared to be slightly let down.
After completing a segment early in the game that had me playing as a paraplegic turtle competing in an opera singing contest with a lion crime boss, those little doubts in my mind were euthanized. Sly 3 was still just as fun and refreshing as its two predecessors, and once again still had the quality characters, writing, and story that kept me coming back to the series.
The ending was a double edged sword.
It was a great ending(which is why I'm not gonna spoil it)! It was one of the few instances in games that just had me all tingly and warm inside. But then I was brought down slightly when I realized that this was it. No more Sly games. Still, I didn't mind all that much. Sly 3 wrapped up everything nicely, and I was still satisfied.
I now consider The Sly Cooper Trilogy to be my all time favorite game franchise. All three games aren't perfect, but they really showcase exactly the kind of creativity and uniqueness video games today are capable of.
Now that a Sly 4 is possibly in the works, I really need to consider getting a PS3 soon.
