Genre: Platformer; Sub-genre: Stealth
ESRB: E10+ (use of cartoon guns and anthropomorphic cleavage)
Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 24/16
Developer: Sanzaru Games
The ESRB is flawed. The concept that blood and gore are acceptable while anything remotely sexual is automatically a no-no is nothing new to anyone living in the States. But I don't want to get into that argument. I bring this up because the rating of this game makes no sense. It's too soft for a 10+ kid. When I was that age, I had already outgrown Contra. By 12, I was sneaking in some game time with some blood-soaked first person shooters. What effect that may have had on me is debatable, but the point is that games like this one weren't terribly exciting to me. I can only hope parents pay attention to these ratings, but if this is inappropriate for 5-10 year olds what does that even leave? Bejeweled?
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| Sly reminds me of cartoons of my childhood. Particularly this one. |
Here's where the rating starts to matter: the story and tone. This game has such long cutscenes filled with over-redundant dialogue and slow moving actions that it feels like it's for really little kids. And nothing of consequence ever happens; IE no one dies. Sorry if that's a spoiler. But come on. Anyway, when I was 10+ I was at a stage where I would have skipped every long cutscene I could. The game is definitely made of child-proof cushioning so it's hard to find any depth in anything. Every character just wants to steal something and only has to fear being sent to jail (from which they can immediately break out). There's a lot of creativity given to establishing each villain, but the motives and powers/abilities attributed to them are completely arbitrary. Why would an armadillo be able to grow in size? I have no idea. And that's something I can't stand: using "it's for kids" as an excuse to be lazy. Having wacky ideas is nice, having wacky ideas that click and are clever is better. I will give points for the conflicts of the love interests. The two relationships in this game are simplistic, like everything else in this game, but they are surprisingly human at times. It's funny that such an obvious thing is barely touched by video games, but movies lean on it like a crutch 100% of the time. The use of boobs could have been toned down a little, though. But it doesn't shine through in subtle jokes that only the adults will get. Sly 4 sticks to acting silly, making light of serious situations, and word puns. Although one time Carmelita turns down Sly's help during an ice age level and explains that her Shock Pistol will keep her warm. Ladies? Is that a thing? Do you ever call your "best friend" a Shock Pistol? Pretty sure I'm just stretching... mostly sure. One last thing: Sly never gets to go to the future! That could easily be explained with more nonsense!
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| She's actually wearing more clothes than the other characters. So... something. |
I really couldn't get into the gameplay on this one. There were glimpses of challenge and diverse tactics needed, but too many things were watered down to Prince of Persia-style auto-pilot. And, as I mentioned, the lack of any consequences or connection with the action going on on-screen dimmed the value of it. For the beefy gameplay hours, this game relies on two things: hard to find collectables being spread out across large sandbox-type levels along with many of them requiring late-game upgrades to reach and long, numerous cutscenes. To sum up, this game is too dumbed down. Which is a mistake because anyone who's played a multiplayer game over XBox Live knows that kids are really freaking good at video games these days. Add that to some missed opportunities for fine tuning- like the camera fighting me when I try to point it down to make hard jumps and the clunky combat- and the end result is two stars: good, but not extraordinary. Ugh, the combat. I understand you want us to use stealth, Sanzaru, but why is the brawler (Murray) victim to the awesome uber timing and priority of all the enemies? I had to kite and pick at a certain boss with the edge of my elbow drop explosions because he couldn't go toe-to-toe with another boxer. And Sly himself is the world's greatest beat-'em-up character (he only attacks by swinging side to side and has no downtime because his combo is infinite AND he can attack while walking and sprinting), but every enemy has unbeatable priority! You're just taunting us, Sanzaru!
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| The 2D animated cutscenes are the real deal. |
Conclusion:
I'm not sure who this game is for. It's well-made, but the ESRB is misleading. I'd say it's a great game for the little ones and anyone with more patience for kiddie stuff than me. You'll need a PS3 to play it, though.
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