Sly Cooper and the Thievous Raccoonus Review

Sly 1 is a weird game even back when I first played the game, I know I preffered 2 but not sure I liked it over 3, replaying it again in 2021, Sly 1 is probably my least favorite game in the series. Having it played the PS5 version recently, I appreciate Theivious Raccoonous more than I did before, however the game does have it's flaws but I still think it's charming.

If you play the PS5 version, it mostly runs fine all though there are some weird crash issues where during the Ms. Ruby fight I rewinded a little too much and it caused the game to freeze up, I loaded the game from the save state and rewind refused to work but loaded it from the in game menu and it worked again. You may encounter this so be warned.

That out of the way, by far the weakest aspect of Sly 1 for me is the story, it's weird considering if you have seen Sly Cooper discourse on the internet, it tends to be the most discussed part of the franchise but for me, I just found the story to be interesting for a platformer story more than anything. It's super charming in that it looks like a typical mascot platformer for children and it has adult themes but it never gets overly indulgent with the latter. It's also nice that the game gives you context and a backstory reveal for the various villains the Cooper gang is about to steal from, it feels natural within the story and the cutscenes aren't overly long.

However, I do have some major issues with the story, if you look past the charming presentation, the actual story is kind of lacking. Bentley and Sly are overly hostile towards each other despite the fact that they have been friends for a while, this gets phased out the more it goes on but it can get grating. Murray is barely given anything to do outside of being cowardly and getting the team in trouble but the devs have to make him seem useful by conviently having the keys for Sly to progress.

Most of the interesting parts like Carmalita getting kidnapped and Bentley questioning why Sly would help her and Carmelita joining Sly are the most interesting parts of the plot. There isn't many twists and turns anything that doesn't revolve around, "Cooper gang steals X".

Clockwork is a weak villain who's motivations are too vague and all of his character is revealed towards the end of the game before Sly defeats him.

It's the framework for something interesting but on it's own, it's just okay.

The gameplay in Sly 1 is interesting in that it has first installment weirdness but in an interesting way.

Gameplay is esstentially Crash Bandicot Warped but framed as a stealth game. It's a platformer with a stealth theme, no this is not what I would consider a "stealth game" but using making a platformer that is themed around not being seen is an interesting concept since stealth games and platformers in some ways shares similar ideas.

The game is at it's best is when it's focused on avoiding enemy sightlines, lasers, and search lights. As much as I scoff at the idea of a contextual cover system to hide from enemies it is mostly done well here since there will always be parts to use it to avoid enemies with flashlights. One really nice thing about the game is that when caught by a search light or laser, it isn't a game over, Sly is given a second chance where the lasers will move faster and will instantly kill him upon touching it and you can decactivate this by destroying an alarm bell.

Another good thing about the gameplay is that most the abilties Sly gets after beating bosses gets actively used in the level design in the following level, cloaking being a bit of the exception.

This is something I wished the game leaned into since not all enemies are going to be unaware of your presence which is why I scoff at Sly being considered a full on stealth game. The Crash Bandicot enemies who only appear in front you and attack in one direction pretty much sap away the stealth fantasy of being someone who is efficient at being unnoticed. Another thing that ruins the stealth fantasy is that the guards who have sightlines will be alerted to you by seconds before you take them out from behind which also takes away from the fantasy since the whole point is to remain unnoticed.

Some other issues is that the mini games while most of them aren't bad, they can get in the way of what is a solid foundation for a platformer like this, you enjoy the platforming? Now do a mini game you don't want to do.

Bosses are mostly fine but Ms. Ruby is particularly bad since her boss is a rhythm game that doesn't even use the base game's mechanics.

The platforming also isn't the most polished since sometimes I press the circle button contextual actions and they work or sometimes they don't it makes the final Clockwork fight a massive drag since now you have to be precise with these circle button actions.

Overall, Sly 1 is a good game even with many of my issues but I really wished it leaned into it's more interesting ideas. It's still a game worth playing.