Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves Review

By Kristan Reed Published 14 October, 2005

Stealing our hearts, yet again.

Version tested: PlayStation 2

We've never quite been able to get our heads round why Europe spurns the lovable Sly Raccoon games. They're among the finest platformers to grace any platform (never mind the PS2), more than holding their own against the esteemed Jak and Ratchet titles. Full of wry wit, charm, slick playability, wonderful visuals and top class production values, they should be routinely grazing the top end of the charts.

Which couldn't be further from the truth.

To put it into some kind of Sony-related context, even the alarmingly low-selling ICO (around 25,000 units shifted in the UK) massively out-sold the original 2002 Sly title - by an estimated nine to one. Estimated, because the Sucker Punch-developed platformer didn't even scrape the Top 200 PS2 best sellers of 2002 (that's less than 3,500 copies). And to add insult to injury, last year's superb sequel sold just over 7,000. How is it that an acclaimed series from the platform holders themselves can flop so dismally in a territory that loves its platforming titles? It's a mystery that Agatha Christie herself would have been proud of.

Normally, by the time the third game in a series arrives (on the same platform, in less than four years), we're slightly bored of running over the same ground. Not so with Sly and the gang. There's something heart-meltingly endearing about each of their adventures; it's the gaming equivalent of Scooby Doo or Danger Mouse. You know roughly how it's all going to play out, and the formula is so well worn that it's hardly going to inspire yelps of surprise from the household pets. But when a game manages to deliver 15, 20 or more hours of satisfying entertainment, we're strangely happy to get more of the same.

Band on the run

'Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves' Screenshot scurry

Sly's ability to scurry over narrow pipes allows for some pretty crazy level design.

As ever, the story is one of the main attractions, and Honor Among Thieves picks up where the last one left off. Poor old brainy turtle, Bentley, has suffered a crippling injury that's confined him to a wheelchair, and Murray - the hapless, lumbering pink Hippo - blames himself for the incident. Wracked with guilt, Murray troops off to the Australian outback to find inner peace. Hooking up with an Aboriginal guru, he rejects his life of violence for a life of spiritual meditation.

But when his old gang find themselves in a bit of a jam, they talk him into using his brawn for 'peaceful' means, and coax him back into the fold in time to do battle with their latest set of adversaries. In this instance, the nefarious Dr M is attempting to crack the Cooper family vault, and has gone as far as building a fortress around it - so in order to put a stop to these evil plans, Sly must put together an Ocean's Eleven-style gang of specialists to infiltrate the vault and claim back his family's legacy.

As with the superb second game, each 'episode' takes place in a hub-style environment where nine or so 'jobs' must be undertaken in order to progress. In terms of the feel and the formula, the gameplay hasn't really changed. In fact, the opening Venice-based level is almost a carbon copy of one of the latter stages of Sly 2, which tends to suggest the game's quick turnaround involved a fair amount of corner-cutting.

Sly return

'Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves' Screenshot bentley

Wheelchair-bound he may be, but Bentley's a mean pick-pocket.

Once again, each episode opens with a brief overview from nerd-central Bentley, giving you a whistle-stop tour of the plan at hand with a quick rundown of what each character's supposed to do. Not everything goes to plan, of course, but on the whole you'll play for the majority of the time as Sly, while the remaining missions are split evenly between Murray and Bentley (later, you even play as a variety of other characters, without wishing to spoil it).

Exactly like last time, each character has their own unique characteristics and abilities, and all are upgradeable. These are bought with the cash you harvest from broken objects and downed aggressors, but by far the most effective means of building up a stack of loot is to sneak up behind your target and pluck their coinage from the little pouches that dangle from their behinds. Some upgrades are obligatory, so it's always worth picking pockets and smashing up anything that looks fragile.

So, as you might have gathered, the core of the game remains steadfastly the same. Sly can still land on a sixpence, you'll still be able to pull off the same improbable jump manoeuvres as before (yep, the old 'double jump and circle' to land on anything that sparkles), and the combat combos are as basic-yet-satisfying as ever. Murray's still full of hilarious bravado and biff-bang-pow missions, and Bentley's as nerdishly loveable as ever - even more so now he's in a wheelchair and capable of hopping from side-to-side while in it. And, yes, the game's still pleasant to pick your way through, being just the right side of challenging when it needs to be.

Comic capers

'Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves' Screenshot splitscreen

Split screen action, but pretty throwaway stuff.

From a technical standpoint, it's just as lavish as it ever was, with that living-breathing cel-shaded comic book feel that no-one else has carried off with such aplomb. Every character has a bunch of cute distinctive touches that add to the experience; not just in terms of the little animations at which Sucker Punch excels, but the little audio flourishes that underpin everything the game does. From the first episode onward there are little interchanges that you feel like you're eavesdropping on, from characters singing away to themselves or snatches of conversation. Such things add so much colour to a game, and it's an area so few titles bother with.

Although we did stumble through one notable area of slowdown in a tiny segment of billowing smoke, the rest of the game comes across as a masterclass of how to make a videogame look fantastic. The way the platforms yield to your weight when you leap on them, even the way things break apart. Layer all of the animation, and the incidental touches we've mentioned with a fantastic script and sympathetically pitched soundtrack, and it's a game you can't help feeling good about while you're playing. Even the controls and camera feel spot on. There's barely an area that doesn't feel just 'right' - and that includes dumb sentry AI. Yes, even that seems to work perfectly within the context of the game. You know the rules, you know what you can and can't do, and the whole game works from that point onwards.

Given that almost everything about Sly 3 seems practically unchanged since the last time out to begin with, it's a pleasant surprise to find that there's actually much more to it than initially meets the eye. It's absolutely rammed with mini-games, for a start, with all manner of driving, shooting, sniping, chasing, and flying interludes breaking up any remote chance of the game settling into a monotonous groove. In the main they're top-drawer examples of how to turn a bog-standard platformer into a bewildering pot pourri of game styles. Some might find the 'here-comes-the-mini-game' parade a little wearisome, and wish Sucker Punch could just focus on platforming, but we enjoyed almost every one of these interludes. They're consistently well-paced, never outstay their welcome and add much needed variety.

Cooper trooper

'Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves' Screenshot sneaking

Sneaking over guards' heads is always the most efficient way to sneak around undetected.

Another new addition is the optional Master Thief challenges. Each episode contains around nine of them (to go with the nine or so mandatory jobs), and generally link up with tasks you've already pulled off but ask you to do them, say, within a time limit, or without taking significant damage. Interestingly, the game doesn't actually inform you that they're available, but should you go back to the game menu, there they are awaiting your attention - should you feel the need to go for 100 per cent completion. To be honest, most of the Master Thief challenges are just throwaway extras, but it's nice of Sucker Punch to go to the trouble of putting them there for the real diehard fans. Think of it as a 'hard' mode, which is probably as good a way as any of tackling the accusations that the game's too easy.

The presence of four individual Two Player challenges is another throwaway-but-welcome new addition. First up, you get a Cops and Robbers split-screen mode where one player controls Sly and the other takes charge of Carmelita Fox, with Sly trying to nick stuff in a Capture The Flag manner while Carmelita has to stop him. Nothing much to see here. After that, there's a co-op Hackathon game, where both of you control little spaceships while wave upon wave of attackers swarm you. Very Robotron, very retro, very throwaway. Next! Biplane Duel and Galleon Duel are, again, hardly essential unlockables, offering little in the way of long-term excitement. Are they nice to have anyway? Hmm, we could live without them.

One new addition we haven't mentioned yet that's pretty much entirely pointless is the '3D' mode, which lets players don 1950's 3D specs and get a headache while items of scenery pop out in front of their eyes. Given the fact that it's not compulsory, we probably shouldn't complain too much, but the effect isn't that great (it never has been, has it?), and it arguably only serves to put you off what you're doing. After a couple of sessions with it, you'll most likely just get on with playing the game the way your eyes can actually deal with. You'll save yourself a headache, at the very least.

More greatness

'Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves' Screenshot twoplayer

Two-player challenges: fun for a while, but that's it.

Given that most people around these parts never bought either of the first two Sly games, pointing out that the third one is kind of more of the same will be a bit lost on you. More useful, perhaps, is to simply point out that it's up there with the best platformers ever made.

Sly 3's rammed to the gills with heart-warming interludes, a lock-tight script that keeps you wanting more, and features some of the most loveable characters to have entered the pantheon of videogaming history. If they made Sly Racoon soft toys, we'd probably buy the set - and yours truly doesn't even own soft toys, if that tells you anything. That the game itself is still tugging at our heartstrings on its third incarnation is also a good sign. Sure, it's not especially new or revolutionary, but what it does is serve up a consistently varied and entertaining package of short, sharp tasks that rarely frustrate, and nearly always make you smile. Any game that manages to deliver gift-wrapped fun the way Sly does has to be worth a look. Just don't ignore it this time, eh?

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Derblington #1 6 years ago

    Oooh, you've got in early with this one!

  • kangarootoo #2 6 years ago

    I agree totally with the opening comments of the review. I played the first Sly game a bit for reasearch puposes and it is just such a well developed product.

    Just like I was whining on in a different thread about console FPS games not looking at Halo when building their aim assist system, anyone working on a platformer should definitely have this on their reference list.
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 13:53

  • Juninho #3 6 years ago

    the pre order of this is 17.99 over at play.com

  • tengu #4 6 years ago

    Niiiiiice!

  • Fozzie_bear #5 6 years ago

    Less than 10,000 copies sold of the first two? Bloody criminal!

  • krudster #6 6 years ago

    Well, in the UK at least. I think they do okay in the States.

  • kangarootoo #7 6 years ago

    " the pre order of this is 17.99 over at play.com"

    Everyone buy it for the love of GOD! If anyone is disatisfied I will refund them personally*


    *This does not consitute an actual guarantee of repayment and is for demonstration purposes only.

  • Huntcjna #8 6 years ago

    Can anyone link me to the first two for sale first? Before I jump in on part 3.

  • petebritish #9 6 years ago

    Sly 2 spent more time in our ps2 last winter than any other game so will definitly be getting this.

    What I would like to know is if they can bring a new game out every year why cant Ninty bring a new Mario game out every year. Just more of the same would do and it would get the cobwebs off the Gamecube.

  • krudster #10 6 years ago

    Sly 1 is a git to find, and goes for top dollar on ebay - I should know, having battled for about six auctions to secure one about a year ago.

  • itamae #11 6 years ago

    I bought the second game a little while ago and got horribly stuck about 30% in. After trying to get past one incredibly annoying jump sequence for about an hour I put the game back into the box and haven't touched it since. What a shame, I was really enjoying it up to that point. :-/

  • krudster #12 6 years ago

    Oh man, the rest of the game was ace. Shame you got so stuck. Sly 2 was corking.

  • RabidMonkey #13 6 years ago

    I picked up the first Sly Racoon game for £15 from the PlayStation site a few months back.

    So it's not that hard to find.

  • drumbaby #14 6 years ago

    I preordered this about a week ago. £17.99 @ Play

    Am as genuinely excited about playing this through with my son at Xmas as I am about getting stuck into any new DMC game. Great series.

  • RabidMonkey #15 6 years ago

    Here it is! (copy and paste)

    http://shop.uk.playstation.com/product_detail.ph p?partno=9431329

    It's £19.99 now, however.

  • Huntcjna #16 6 years ago

    I found the first one brand new for £19.99

    woot

    /orders

  • finian #17 6 years ago

    I now expect love an adoration from everybody, here be the link to buy sly 1 for 14.99 http://www.thegamexchange.com/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi the website is very good Ive bought from them before
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 14:29

  • smelly #18 6 years ago

    Meh.. kids game :-)

  • Huntcjna #19 6 years ago

    14.99!

    /cancels 19.99 + delivery order

    /places 14.99 inc delivery order

    /pats finian on the head

  • myiagros #20 6 years ago

    sly 3 £17.99 !! Consider it done.

  • finian #21 6 years ago

    So, who cares if it if a game is childish. Ill play any game that tickles my fancy. I just avoid platform games as a rule because of a crap megadrive platform game I think was called riskey woods. It soured me to platform games and I cannot seem to reverse this feeling, it isnt helped that some fps insist on platform elements

  • krudster #22 6 years ago

    Kid's game. That's such an insult, and probably the reason it never gets any marketing push here. It's as much a kid's game as Jak or Ratchet are, or a Pixar movie is a kid's movie. I'd prefer to think of them as universal, in the same way the Mario games are.

    Try it, you might just like it!
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 14:50

  • smelly #23 6 years ago

    notice the ":-)" at the end of my comment? Denotes sarcasm to all those chavs (of which there are many) out there who are bound to avoid it because its a "kids game" and therefor somehow below them... And subsequently why this game will sell, but nowhere near as many as it should do.

    Which kinda sucks.


  • krudster #24 6 years ago

    Fair enough. Some people do actually believe that, though.

  • Milk #25 6 years ago

    You getting paied comission on this or something krudster? ;)

  • Teeth #26 6 years ago

    /resets needle on the smelly broken record :)

  • OllyJ #27 6 years ago

    I've said this before in other Sly threads but I just didn't get on with Sly 2 at all, I absolutely LOVED Sly 1 and eagerly awaited news on a sequel to one of my favourite games on the PS2, I wasn't keen on the "hub" cities and felt there wasn't that much variation between worlds, it was all night time set and I felt it wasn't as playable as the first. I can see why some people loved it and it was only inches away from reeling me in, just too far removed from the original for my tastes.

    I know I'm in the minority here but I might have to give this one a miss.

  • krudster #28 6 years ago

    five bucks a comment, keep 'em coming!

  • barabbas #29 6 years ago

    Preordered. Thanks for the hint about the bargain at Play.

  • Hog-lumps #30 6 years ago

    bound to avoid it because its a "kids game"

    I agree to some extent but there are games out there that look 'kiddy' but still manage to sell well. For example, the excellent Pikimin looks incredibly kiddy but sold respectibly.

    I think sly's failure to sell has more to do with the fact that the main character is not that apealing to main stream tastes. I mean he's not got the immediate charm of Mario or the coolness of a Jack & Daxter........


    (Edited to show this statement is my opinion not 'true' as krudster quite rightly critises)
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 15:39

  • Decoded #31 6 years ago

    itamae: You completed Ninja Gaiden but are stuck beyond hope on Sly 2? What's going on, man?

  • krudster #32 6 years ago

    heh, is that *true*?

  • itamae #33 6 years ago

    "itamae: You completed Ninja Gaiden but are stuck beyond hope on Sly 2? What's going on, man?"

    Remember those hooks you can swing on using your cane? Right, I can grab those with pretty much exactly 50% probability, despite my best efforts. And since you have to traverse a series of them in one level and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong I randomly drop down to the bottom of the room. Not hard, just very very frustrating.

  • caligari #34 6 years ago

    See now if the bad guy in this had been CYRIL SNEER, I think I would have bought it.

  • myiagros #35 6 years ago

    caligari - See now if the bad guy in this had been CYRIL SNEER, I think I would have bought it.

    Have you not heard. IT IS. just with a diferenct appearence, name, personality and voice.

  • Teeth #36 6 years ago

    Sly 2 is awesome! I will certainly be getting this.

  • Bill-Lumberg #37 6 years ago

    You have to do a double jump then grab the hook!!

  • krudster #38 6 years ago

    Yes, double jump is your friend, whack circle button, and make sure to then hold back once your on the hook to give yourself an extra burst when you jump up again.

  • itamae #39 6 years ago

    Well, cheers for the help guys, but that's exactly what I did (a couple of hundred times in a row). And as I said, it works one out of two times. Which isn't enough to reach the top of the room. Bah, perhaps my controller is faulty. Highly unlikely though...

  • kangarootoo #40 6 years ago

    @Hog-lumps

    "I think sly's failure to sell has more to do with the fact that the main character is not that apealing to main stream tastes."

    I don't buy that (not aiming my wrath at you here BTW). A good marketing company could make a field of mouse traps appeal to an accident prone octopus. Sly is no less marketable a character than Mario, Spyro or Crash.

    Low sales in the UK are perhaps down to a bad marketing campaign, or a low marketing budget (the pr company could have done their best I concede) but the character appeal should be small fish under the might of a good sales campaign.

    EDIT: Just to expand on my response to your actual comment. I think "main stream tastes" are driven by good ad campaigns to a greater degree than is often credited. Selling snow to eskimos is the old cliche, which is born of fact.
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 16:18

  • captain-future #41 6 years ago

    more of the same. I noticed that they already did the first game so excellently that they couldn't add that much to the gameplay.

    I like the idea to play with the "foxy" detective ;)
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 16:42

  • Hog-lumps #42 6 years ago

    Kangaratoo,

    I whole heartedly agree that marketing is a major factor in the sales figures of a game. I'd be naive to think otherwise!! But I seem to remember there being quite a bit of media coverage and Ad campaigns for Sly 2 but it obviously didn't seem to help!

    I think the 'selling snow to Eskimos adage' also serves the game buying public an injustice. Yes the original NFSU sold mainly because of marketing (and its 'urban' theme) but would the same people have bought the sequel, if the first game was complete shite?! No, it’s because the first game was actually half decent…………….. (cant believe I said that \ shudders…….)

    I remember that GTA3 originally didn’t have much marketing to begin with. Through word of mouth (and developing notoriety in the press) it sold shed-loads! Of corse subsequent GTA’s had phenomenal ad campaigns, but you can’t deny that some games can sell okay without marketing by simply being good games…….
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 17:26

  • Zerimski #43 6 years ago

    I was thinking about getting this one. I managed to play Sly 2 and thought it was great...and this one has been tempting me for a while.

    So..£17.99 you say? Sold! To the man in the fez!

  • ekko #44 6 years ago

    So.... they're going to make another Rocket: Robot on Wheels then?

  • Sko #45 6 years ago

    Oooh, the review blew all chances of me even renting this one with the line....

    "It's absolutely rammed with mini-games"

    Wasn't keen on the minigames in the first one. Thankfully only rented the second and found more of the same. Hoped the third wouldn't be so reliant on this sort of filler. Oh well.

  • ClansOfIntrigue #46 6 years ago

    I'm actually playing Sly 2 at the moment (late starter), and would say it's one of the best games the PS2 has seen of any genre. Dunno where you get 15-20 hours of gameplay from - I've put at least 30 in and I'm only on 70% completed. So many wonderfully designed missions and environments, and great writing and art (shame about the voice acting for Neyla though!). It's right up there with Ratchet & Clank. I think the low sales may be because SCEE never had much faith in the game and didn't push it nearly as hard as they did Jak & Daxter (a much inferior game that the executives had far too *much* faith in). It was always sold as a kind of second fiddle cousin to the Jak games, something to keep you busy after you'd completed Jak + Ratchet (in that order). I know a lot of people that tried Jak, didn't like it, and concluded it wasn't worth looking at Ratchet & Sly because they were the lesser games... sadly far from the truth!

  • Talha #47 6 years ago

    Good to see a fantastic game receivng the accolades it deserves. It is right up there with Rachet & Clank, and I must admit, not without a slight twinge of guilt, that I have very rarely had as much fun playing ANY game.

  • mash the x button #48 6 years ago

    Yes please :)

  • Bill-Lumberg #49 6 years ago

    Yes I bought Jak 1 after playing Sly 1 and gave up after 40% as it was just no fun in comparison to Sly 1. R&C 1 was also a masterpiece but 2 and 3 were dreadful.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #50 6 years ago

    I think the reason it's not as big a success as it should be, and also the reason it's considered more of a "kiddie" game than Mario and Jak titles, is the way the narration and mission briefings are spoken in a frustratingly slow and excessively clear tone.. It really makes it all feel more kiddy-like, very awkward too, for a twenty-something gamer..

    I mean, I really liked the first one, and very thoroughly enjoyed the hard mode in the first game (which I'm proud to say I completed fully!).. The style and all, and the beautiful platforming gameplay is really excellent, but I feel the above-mentioned part restrains and colours the whole experience in a way that I feel I really can't love the Sly games 100%, I'm holding back quite a bit.

    If Sly could only be a bit more sly and snappy, it would all be, imo, soo much better.. And more successful too, I bet.
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/05 @ 23:04

  • kangarootoo #51 6 years ago

    @Hog-lumps

    I'm not saying good marketing is the only way to shift a product. Word of mouth is very powerful and the example of GTA3 that you mentioned is spot on. I'm just not sure that pure coverage alone if what makes a good ad campaign. A Sly poster on the side of every bus won't shift copies if the poster design sucks.

    Also, regards my snow to eskimos comment, last time I looked (which was admittedly about a year ago so things may have changed) about 80% of game purchases were impulse buys, with no reference to reviews or other objective comment. The sad truth is that readers of EG such as ourselves, who base their purchases on reviews that they trust, are in the minority. Most game sales occur purely because of a good ad campaign.

    Anyway, I don't want to split hairs and we do seem to agree for the most part.

  • Hog-lumps #52 6 years ago

    Kangarootoo,

    I agree 100%, it's definitely a sad (and depressing) fact that a large portion of purchases are made based on marketing and hype alone. It's criminal that games like Sly get over looked for more mainstream purchases like Fifa Street.

    But should we be so critical of peoples (arguable) ignorance to good games and the choices they make? As you say, we are arguably less vulnerable to buying games based on marketing because we are (arguably) more knowledgeable on games - but when it comes to buying a brand new car we may appear to be the equivalent of ‘Fifa street buying morons’ to Jeremy Clarkson

  • ClansOfIntrigue #53 6 years ago

    Finished Sly 2 yesterday - 100% complete after about 40 hours play I'd guess (I had to redo most of one level because a save game screwed up, but it was fun so didn't care much). The polish starts wearing a bit thin towards the end, but the level design and the "missions" are consistently excellent right the way up to the final scrap (which is, sadly, crap!). Got my pre-order for Sly 3 in at play.com and looking forward to it :D

  • dose #54 6 years ago

    Is there a 60Hz option?