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jp's Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS2)
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| [June 18, 2008 10:46:59 PM]
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I've just finished this game. I only got a 98% completion (I know exactly what I'm missing, but I can't be bothered to get 100%), and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. The experience of playing this game has been quite enjoyable indeed. I wouldn't say that it's a very hard game, but that's not the point. I guess I feel that the game was a hit with me for the following reasons:
(1) Great music/audio that really set the tone and mood.
(2) Great animations that complemented the setting, tone and mood.
(1) and (2) are what made me feel that I was participating in a cool heist game. However...
(3) Platforming made easy.
One of the hardest things to get "right" in a platforming game is helping the player avoid stupid mistakes due to the lack of depth perception. Basically, jumping to places, and gauging the distance to places, is pretty hard. This game REALLY, REALLY, did a great job with this. I'm basically talking about the "auto-land". I don't really know what else to call it. (essentially you press "O" in the air above a some piece of geometry that has a "special visual effect" on it and you automatically land on it, the "special visual effect" is basically a sparkly look that you'll usually find on pipes, ropes, pointy things like the tops of spires and that sort of thing). I feel like this game mechanic single-handedly made me feel like I was actually controlling a master-burglar. Rather than being an awkward puppeteer, I could glide, dive, flip, balance, and dodge with the best of them. It really is a joy to control Sly Cooper and I would often just roam around enjoying that, seeing where I could go and what kinds of places I could go.
I'm excited about looking into the sequel now and a bit sad that Sucker Punch seems to have given the series some rest. I wonder why there aren't any versions on other consoles?
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| [May 28, 2008 11:19:09 PM]
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I did a little more "research" and it turns out that bad guys will hear some things. They can hear when you smash stuff, but I think they can't hear when you collect coins. Need to work on this some more. I also think they can't hear you splash in water.
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| [May 23, 2008 02:24:03 PM]
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The other day my son picked up the box for this game and asked me. Who's this?
Sly Cooper, I said.
What does he do?, he asked.
He's a thief, I replied.
There was a slight pause and then he asked me. Is he a good guy?
And then I didn't know what to say. It took me a while until I was able to mumble something like "Well, he's a thief who steals things from people who are really bad". I know that I didn't answer his question directly, but I couldn't come up with anything else. Why? Well, the truth is that I don't really know what Sly Cooper (and his gangs) "ethical and moral" position is. I mean, Robin Hood is a thief, but his whole thing is "steal from the rich to give to the poor". I don't know where Cooper stands. I know he's a not a "bad, evil person who wishes to do harm", but I don't know WHY he steals and what motivates him to steal. If I knew, I might have been able to come up with a better answer to my sons question.
Funny thing is that so far the issue of the ethics and morals of Cooper and his gang HAS come up in the game, but always in some sort of veiled reference to the 1rst game, which I haven't played. I guess I might have to find out about that...
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| [May 20, 2008 12:49:55 PM]
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I've just finished the 4th chapter (episode?) in this game with a 100% completion rate so far and an overall rate that is just shy of 50%. I assume I'm pretty much halfway through.
Yes, I'm still having fun and enjoying the new environments (so far, each episode takes place in a different, self-contained, geopgraphical location). I have been thinking about a few things I thought were interesting...
(1)
I was skulking (sneakily, is there any other way to skulk?) around the other day when all of a sudden the camera stopped following Sly and, as he walked away, he got smaller and smaller. Because he was further away. It sounds really stupid, but it made me realize how rare it is that games play around with this sort of perspective. The farther away you are, the smaller you look. Yes, it does happen, especially in games with a fixed camera, but not in those with dynamic cameras. The camera always follows the player, so he never really moves away. This little "incident" also made me realize that the camera is an object. Again, I know this sounds stupid, because as a player you have control over the camera when you move it around. However, I had gotten used to the idea that the camera was a VIEW on the gameworld (as it is, sometimes) rather than an object IN the gameworld. In this case, what had happened is that the camera got stuck on something in the scenery. The camera was actually IN THE gameworld, although no one could see it, it did interact (collide) with objects in the world. I had always assumed that the camera object was always set to "no clip", and that it couldn't collide with the world.
(2)
My second observation is also related somewhat to the camera issue, but I had thought about it before that. In this game you can smash objects which often release coins you can collect. When you get a coin there is a loud "tinkle" noise. The noise is pretty loud and I wondered whether or not the enemies would hear it. When I first started playing I consciously avoided picking up some coins in fear of alerting enemies! Essentially, I was confused by the diegesis/non-diegesis of elements in the game.
Normally, there are two distinctions: stuff that can be heard/witnessed by the audience/player but isn't heard/witnessed in the medium/experience and stuff that is. (I always forget which is which). So, in a movie, the audience hears the score, but the characters in the movie don't. I think that games introduce another flavor. Things that are "in the game" but that not everyone in the game can see/hear/witness. In the case of this game, splashing around in the water isn't something that enemies hear, but it does actually happen in the gameworld.
Hmm..stuff to think about...
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| [May 9, 2008 10:00:58 AM]
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Apart from the Sly Cooper games, how many "heist-games" are out there? I don't mean games where you steal things, but rather those that present themselves in a style or manner similar to movies in this type. In other words, games where you have a colorful cast of characters, where you plan and recon for a heist, execute it, and then get away. The planning part, or putting it all together, is one of the more salient features. There are plenty of games where you have to sneak into a some facility/place and steal/locate/capture something. However, at the moment I can't think of any that place a strong emphasis on the planning aspect.
Any ideas?
I'm not sure how the Thief games worked, but I have the impression that you got missions and then snuck into a place to carry them out. (ie, plan as you go along) I'd appreciate any feedback!
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| [May 4, 2008 07:03:04 PM]
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The only reason I picked up this game is because I paid $2 for it (on a special sale at Best Buy). Although I had read marvelous things about Sly Cooper (and all his games) my experience with the first game in the series left me rather lukewarm, to say the least. I mustn't have played it for more than an hour at a friends place, and I felt that the controls were rather confusing and that I had problems with the camera. Maybe these first impressions were off-base and maybe I'd have a different opinion if I went back to the original game, but I digress.
I played a few missions last night and was rather surprised. On the one hand, I felt that the gameplay, camera, and controls worked nicely. I didn't feel like I was having much trouble moving Sly around and I feel EXTREMELY GRATEFUL to the fact that you can "auto" walk on ropes! At last! The characters and general presentation were also quite pleasing and I like where it's coming from (a sort of campy 70's heist movie feel... I think). The graphics, however, were another story. I felt like the screen was darker than I expected (haven't checked any settings on this yet) and often, the characters looked pretty "jaggy" and pixelated. This last bit came as quite a surprise since I have a vague recollection that the game looked beautiful. I'm still not sure if this was an issue of age (dated graphics already?) rather than one of design (the poor graphics rear their head occasionally, in the transition sequences and so on, not so much in the game itself).
Anyways, I'm about 4% into the game and looking forward to more of it.
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jp's Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS2)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Sunday 4 May, 2008
GameLog closed on: Wednesday 18 June, 2008 |
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This is the only GameLog for Sly 2: Band of Thieves. |
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