Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Developer(s)	Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Composer(s)	Peter McConnell
Series	Sly Cooper
Engine	significantly modified Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3
Release	PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation Network)
Genre(s)	Platform, Stealth
Mode(s)	Single player

Sly 2: Band of Thieves is a platform stealth video game developed by Sucker Punch and published by Sony Computer Entertainment released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. This title is a sequel to the game Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus and part of the Sly Cooper video game series.

The sequel has a variety of changes, particularly in level design; the ultimate goal is to acquire the Clockwerk parts, one of which can be found per "world". Sly 2 features a health meter for characters such as Sly, Bentley and Murray, replacing the "charm system" of the first game. It also now takes several attacks to defeat local guards. Other changes include missions where the player controls not Sly, but Bentley or Murray, who are given their own unique skills and are able to do much more than in the previous game. However, Sly remains the central focus and character despite these changes to character roles. Skills can be unlocked by opening safes in each world, as the previous game allowed (collecting clue bottles), but skills are also acquired by collecting coins and purchasing them from safehouses via Thiefnet.

A demo of this game was included in Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Music for the game was composed by Peter McConnell.

On November 9, 2010, Sly 2: Band of Thieves was released on PlayStation 3 as part of The Sly Collection, which was released onto PSN on November 29, 2011.

Gameplay

Main article: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus § Gameplay

Sly 2: Band of Thieves brings several new gameplay elements into the fold. In addition to Sly, the player can play as Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo. Bentley follows a more cloak and dagger approach to stealth. He can't climb poles or jump very far but he is equipped with a sleeper dart crossbow and countdown bombs to subdue and defeat enemies one-by-one or sabotage enemy equipment. Bentley can use his computer skills to hack villains' computers, bringing the player to a top-down shooter-like mini-game. Murray is much more direct. His brute strength allows him to take on groups of strong enemies by himself with powerful hooks and upper cuts. He can pick up objects and enemies to throw around and his "thunder flop" attack can stun and destroy enemies. His strength allows him to help the gang with heavy duty tasks.

Each character now has a health bar and a special bar. Health is diminished every time the character gets attacked, hits a hazard, etc. If it is depleted entirely the player must restart any current mission and respawn at another location. The orange special bar depletes whenever a character uses a gadget move (some gadgets don't require special use). If it hits zero, manual gadgets moves can not be used. Some gadgets must be purchased in order to complete certain missions. Both of these bars (health and gadget) can be refilled by finding red "health" icons by breaking objects or destroying enemies.

Missions are now connected to a main hub of the location Sly and the Gang are operating. A safehouse located in the hub is where the player can choose which character to use and get away from pursuing guards. This hub can range from a city to a lumber camp in the wilderness. Enemies patrol around this area although its usually a secluded spot, and there are no objectives until a character arrives at a mission beacon.

Another new feature is pickpocketing (Sly only). When Sly sneaks up behind an enemy, he can reach out with his cane and grab coins out of their money pouch. The coins come in clusters, and they go directly to Sly's coin count. He does not need to pick them up. If there is an aura around an enemy's coin pouch, they are carrying an expensive item (i.e. Ruby, diamond, gold watch, etc.). Once Sly gets all of their coins, he can grab the enemy's item and sell it later back at the safehouse.

Most powerups and extra moves are now bought from the safehouse instead of safes. Using collected coins, Sly can buy powerups from an in-game online store (Thiefnet) for each character. Sly's powerups focus on stealth, Murray's on power, and Bentley's on gadgets. Most powerups need to be assigned to a button, but some give a constant effect. Items stolen from guards can be sold for money in the safehouse to help fund upgrades. Special upgrades and moves can be found after a number of clue bottles are found in the main hub and a hidden safe is unlocked with the code. Certain valuables can be found around the field and can be stolen and then sold at the safehouse for a large amount of money; these valuables range from portraits to vases, etc.

The game also makes use of the PlayStation 2's optional USB microphone allowing the player to use the sound of their voice to distract and attract in-game enemies. This in turn adds a new twist to the stealth elements, as the player has to refrain from noises such as talking or coughing or risk creating in-game noise.

Story

Two years have passed since Sly Cooper defeated Clockwerk. The game begins with Sly, Bentley and Murray breaking into the museum of natural history in Cairo, in order to steal and destroy the Clockwerk parts, so that the threat will never return. After going smoothly, the heist is suddenly ruined, as it appears that the Clockwerk parts have already been stolen. Carmelita Fox appears and accuses Sly of stealing the parts, but her new assistant, Constable Neyla suggests that the Cooper Gang isn't actually behind it, and that it resembles a "Klaww Gang" job. After a quick getaway, they start their research about the mysterious Klaww Gang, and begin to pursue them.

File:Sly-2-band-of-thieves.jpg

The hero of the game, Sly Cooper in a confrontation with an enemy

The first Klaww Gang member is Dimitri, a misunderstood artist who now owns a nightclub in Paris. Dimitri uses the Clockwerk tail feathers for money printing. After a series of jobs, Sly defeats Dimitri and steals the feathers. Dimitri is arrested by Carmelita and Sly and the gang escape. The second Klaww Gang member is Rajan, a powerful Indian "spice lord" who is in possession of the Clockwerk wings and heart. After obtaining the wings, Rajan flees with the heart into the jungle. Obtaining the heart results in a fight where Sly and Murray get trapped, and arrested along with Rajan by the Contessa, who runs a prison center of hypnosis in Prague.

Bentley immediately heads for the prison, where he finds out that the Contessa is really a secret Klaww Gang member who hypnotizes prisoners to tell her where their loot is. He then manages to break Sly out and, after a series of jobs, they free Murray. After a break, they pursue the Contessa to her castle estate where, despite the small war between her and Neyla, they steal Clockwerk's eyes from the Contessa and she is arrested by Neyla.

After surviving the nightmare in Prague, the gang traces the spice sendings from Rajan and head north to Canada. Here, they find another Klaww Gang member, Jean Bison, who was once frozen down during the 19th century, but brought back to life due to global warming. The gang has to steal the Clockwerk's stomach and lungs from Jean, who uses them as machine parts for his trains. After stealing all the parts, the gang escape from the scene. The gang then follows Jean Bison to a wasteland of chopped trees, where he has a sawmill. On this location, he hides the Clockwerk talons, using them to cut down trees. The gang challenge him to a series of competitions known as the Lumber Jack Games, in which they cheat. Bison discovers this and they are put into custody. Jean later tells them that he found the Clockwerk parts in their safehouse and sold them all to the last Klaww Gang member Arpeggio, in addition to forcing the judges to give him perfect 10s during the competition under the line of threat (which was why he always won). With help from Sly, Bentley defeats Jean Bison in a fight, where the area is covered with traps that Sly controls on Bentley's command. Murray manages to make an exit, and they all rush to hide inside the Northern Light battery, which is lifted up to Arpeggio's giant air fortress. Jean is later arrested and jailed, though it is not shown.

Aboard the air fortress, Sly infiltrates the main blimp where the Clockwerk parts are being reassembled, and finds that Neyla has been working directly for Arpeggio. Confronting Arpeggio, Sly discovers that Arpeggio has converted his blimp into an enormous transmitter which will unleash a hypnotic light show of hate over Paris and (with its population having been made susceptible to hypnosis, courtesy of Dimitri feeding spice to the entire city), the lights will cause an enormous wellspring of hatred which Arpeggio will channel into the Clockwerk frame with him inside it, causing him to become immortal. Suddenly, right before Arpeggio enters the Clockwerk frame, Neyla pushes Arpeggio aside, entering the frame herself. She kills Arpeggio, names herself Clock-La, and flies off. The gang starts disabling the airship's engines to weaken Clock-La. They then send a signal to Carmelita who has agreed to help them, and she arrives in a helicopter. They engage in a final shootout with Clock-La, who then crashes into the airship's main engine and shatters the fortress and takes the Northern Light Battery which Bentley and Murray are inside it. Sly makes his way back to the Northern Light Battery after the fortress collapses. Sly beats Clock-La, and they crash land in Paris. Clock-La is then unable to move. Murray opens up Clock-La's head, so that Bentley can finish her by planting bombs around her hologram head and then remove the hate chip, the center of Clockwerk's power. On his way out of the mouth, Clockwerk's beak falls down and crushes his legs. Murray saves him, but Bentley is unable to walk for the rest of his life. The gang makes a quick exit as Clockwerk's body explodes.

Carmelita arrives in her helicopter and puts the gang under arrest, but not before destroying the hate chip, causing Clockwerk's parts to age and decay, destroying him forever and killing Neyla. Sly turns himself in, in return for letting his friends go because they're in no shape of making a fast getaway, and Carmelita accepts. During the helicopter ride to the station, Sly and Carmelita start getting more friendly and start talking about their previous adventures and personal likings, which Sly considered a first date. The conversation ends abruptly when Carmelita finds out the flight has lasted more than two hours than only a few minutes. Sly says he kind of figured since they flown past The Eiffel Tower seventeen times. Carmelita goes to the front of the helicopter to inspect, only to find that Sly's friends rigged the chopper, leaving enough time for Sly to parachute out. Sly then says that he could hear Carmelita say "I'll find you Cooper". As the ending credits role, the statuses of the Klaww Gang members are shown. It is also pointed out that Sly's whereabouts are still unknown and that Carmelita is still searching for him.

Reception

The game received very positive reviews from numerous publications. Its varied gameplay, intricate story and unique graphics were praised, but criticised for its lack of difficulty and length when compared to other platformers. 9.2 out of 10 from IGN. A from 1Up.com. 8.4 out of 10 from GameSpot.

It was awarded IGN's editor's choice award and GameSpy placed the game as #23 on their list of best PlayStation 2 games of all time.

References to other games

In the second Contessa level there are several gravestones in the graveyard that read 'R.I.P. Rocket'.