Summary

• Sly Cooper offers a unique, stealthy take on platforming compared to Mario and Sonic's speedy actions.
• Each game in the series offers varying playtimes, ranging from 7 to 20 hours, providing a mix of content.
• While the series has its ups and downs, completing all four games will take about 60 hours, making it accessible for new players.

One of the three holy pillars of PlayStation 2 nostalgia, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sly Cooper is a wholly unique take on the platforming genre. Whereas the likes of Mario and Sonic are content to bound along at brisk speed, hopping and bopping their foes with reckless abandon, Sly and his pals adopt a stealthier, sneakier approach. Being thieves, their M.O. is avoiding action as much as possible; we'd like to see that plumber loot the Louvre with the same amount of style.

The sticky-fingered raccoon has racked up a grand total of four mainline outings since his 2000s debut, and (narrative inconsistencies notwithstanding) they're all a riot. But just how much time can you expect to sink into rinsing the globe of all its riches? Let's tally the total.

A quick heads-up to those who have yet to discover the secrets held within the Thievius Raccoonus: we'll be touching on some moderate plot spoilers in this breakdown. Just for some added flavo𝐆ur! All the same, be warned.

Sly Cooper And The Thievius Raccoonus

7 Hours

That absolute mouthful of a title (it was simply changed to 'Sly Raccoon' in PAL territories) heralded the Cooper Gang's first heist on PS2. There are definite growing pains apparent in this one, and you can tell the good folks at Sucker Punch were trying to weed out what did and didn't work.

The game's setup is pretty basic. The titular Thievius Raccoonus, a tome detailing all of Sly's ancestral techniques, has been seized and torn asunder by the Fiendish Five. This criminal syndicate, spearheaded by a cyborg owl (yes, really) named Clockwerk, has a bone to pick with Sly, and they've already done his poor parents in. The race is on to reassemble the Thievius Raccoonus before Clockwerk's cronies prevail.

Unlike the subsequent titles, which are Assassin's Creed-esque open-world deals, Sly 1 is essentially a souped-up Crash Bandicoot clone. Levels take place in linear corridors, you die in a matter of two hits, and clue bottles take the place of Wumpa crates. There are only five worlds – and the wonky hit detection, combined with the maddening boss battles, makes Sly's inaugural quest one you might want to consider skipping.

Should you take the plunge, you'll be done long before you hit double digits.

Sly 2: Band Of Thieves

20 Hours

Contrary to the old adage, in Sly's case, the second time's the charm. Sly 2 redefined the series, upending the clunky pseudo-Crash framework and replacing it with a moveset appropriate for a master thief. Turned loose in an assortment of vast cities, you'll be scurrying on rooftops, picking pockets, and disappearing into the night.

The narrative, too, gets an upgrade. Sly, Bentley, and Murray find themselves at odds with the Klaww Gang, a mob with fingers in every criminal enterprise you'd care to name. They're trafficking illegal flora in India; forging paintings in France; and importing weaponry in Canada.

The diverse members of the gang (Jean-Bison, the buffalo from Ontario, is a scream) inject variety, and it all coalesces into a grand conspiracy that, somehow, involves Clockwerk. Again.

The gameplay is the true star of Sly 2, though, and it cannot be overstated what a glow-up this approach was in contrast to Sly 1. You're never quite sure what your next mission will be: will you guide Bentley, who comes armed with a crossbow, into the bowels of a seedy nightclub? Tiptoe around sleeping bears as Sly? Or belly-flop corrupt property magnates as Murray?

It could perhaps be argued that Sly 2 drags on a tad – certain worlds overstay their welcome, and Bentley's plans for the heists start to wear in their needless complexity. This aside, you're guaranteed a heck of a time; 20+ solid hours of it.

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves

15 Hours

It must have been a maxim carved into stone somewhere at Sony HQ in the mid-2000s: 'If thou art a third installment in a popular platforming franchise, thou shalt merely do more of the same.' Just look at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Jak III; trilogy cappers c🌜oncerned not with pushing the envelope, or itera♋ting drastically on their proven formulas, but just delivering another copious helping of what players loved.

The same holds true for Sly 3, which, if you squint, could almost function as a meaty expansion pack for Sly 2. It runs on the same engine, and pretty much walks, squawks, and talks exactly like it, right down to the open-world format. Not that that's a bad thing, of course, as Sly 2 was ace – and this threequel brings a few wrinkles of its own to the table.

The core conceit this time around is the sheer abundance of playable characters. Dastardly simian Dr. M has laid claim to the Cooper family vault, so Sly and co. must assemble a team of fellow thieves, Avengers-style, to thwart him. There's Penelope, the tech whizz on whom Bentley develops an adorkable crush, and The Guru, Murray's Aboriginal spirit guide, to name just a couple.

Swapping between the rotating cast of oddballs keeps things fresh, and overall, Sly 3 is far better paced than its bloated predecessor, clocking in at a more digestible 15 hours or so.

Sly 4: Thieves In Time

15 Hours

To date the last Sly Cooper installment (and the first to hit an HD-capable console), Sly 4 went through a tumultuous development cycle, to say the least. Initially under the watchful gaze of Sly's usual custodians, Sucker Punch, the team became too entangled in the latest Infamous title and opted to pass the reins to Sanzaru Games.

Sanzaru had previously produced the HD remasters of the original trilogy, and had worked in an assistive capacity on other Sucker Punch projects, so they were certainly the best available♏ fit.

The result, after a few more years of development hell, was Thieves In Time; the fourquel that arrived a whopping eight years after Sly 3. It made good on its promises of a bigger, grander Sly adventure that encompassed the one frontier the Cooper gang had yet to conquer: time. What with the constant references to Sly's ancestors throughout the franchise, finally meeting them seemed a logical step.

Sly 4 has failed quite badly, however, by its writing. Murray and Bentley are reduced to 'the fat one' and 'the smart one' respectively, abandoning much of their character growth. The antagonist, Cyrille Le Paradox, is a less intimidating retread of Clockwerk, his connection to the Cooper clan tenuous at best. And let's not get into poor Penelope, Bentley's squeeze, who is inexplicably recast as a bitter twist villain.

Make no mistake, though: Sly 4's got it where it counts, in that classic Cooper gameplay. The sumptuous PS3 visuals make the open worlds a joy to roam, and the boss battles are the best in the franchise. Getting to play as Sly's family, including the gun-toting Tennessee Cooper and the assassin Riochi Cooper, adds another dimension to the proceedi🌠ngs, to boot.

Playtime-wise, Sly 4 is roughly a match for Sly 3. Expect your file to read 15-20 hours or so; you'll be pushing 30 if you go for all the trophies for the secret ending!

How Many Hours In Total Does It Take To Beat Every Sly Cooper Game?

Sly Cooper's adventures may be on hold for the moment (c'mon Sucker Punch, we've been stuck with Sly 4's cliffhanger for over a decade), but that doesn't mean it's not a great time for new players to check out these classics. Let's tot up the total number of hours that fresh recruits to the Cooper Gang will have to invest.

This comes to a very modest 57 hours; let's be realistic and round that up to 60, to account for breaks (and dying to that bloody eagle mission in Sly 2 a billion times). Compared to some franchises, that's a very accessible number – you could experience all of Sly's antics inside of a week, if you wanted.

However you choose to dive into the series, one thing's for sure: Sly's stolen all our hearts (and a federal reserve's worth of gold), and he's likely to filch yours too. Carmelita can't be far behind now...