Sly Cooper And The Thievius Raccoonus - PlayStation 2

Okay, caveat emptor right here at the beginning, my eyes and vision, as well as other related physical and psychological limits are going downhill fast, in this, mad world, and I don't have nearly the time or ability I'd like to playing video games more often. While I still think video game technologies and advancements have come a long way indeed, in barely a decade, a lot of the newer, FPS (first person shooter) games for the up-to-the-minute game consoles and PC, so popular these days (unhappily), leave me cold. Rare is it these days, that a video game shows any imagination besides the same old tired shoot everything that moves genre. With lots of gratuitous blood and guts and lots of very unpleasant events (GTA, et al), and silly music games offered with silly fake instruments and even more ridiculous results (folks, buy a cheap, REAL guitar, sheesh, learn a few chords, and let your imagination take you wherever), I wonder, even with PSP and Nintendo DS confusion, whatever happened to having FUN playing video games?I remember in the early days of the PSP, which I had considered buying at one time due to my vision problems, where early on, there were cracks and hacks out there, and even pushed by hosts of G4TV, back before G4TV turned to crap and got rid of most of their best shows, which allowed me to actually play Mario and countless other SNES and Sega Genesis, and other games. I don't know if it's even possible to buy PSP's hackable version to play old SNES and/or Sega Genesis classics, "THEY" probably put an end to that a long time ago.I, the humble, lower economic class owner of my beloved PS2, thus offer the following.While XBOX360/PS3/Wii fans may either live in nirvana of the new dayz or even long for a better (?) time, some of us older others remember and applaud when the GAME and PLAYABILITY was all important. For us, so many of the "next-generation" efforts in the way of graphics, are amazing but it's "in the game" beyond graphics, and so is the case with earlier efforts such as this, Good old Sly Cooper, in his original adventure.Dazzling graphics are one thing, and this game equals anything found on the newer (post-PS2), if I many say so. The colors and graphics here are second to none. And while deep down, I still believe the first three original Super Mario games, and Mario World, all for the SNES, still define the height console video games ever reached, this particular game, perhaps like Mario 64 and other such, questions that theory/belief. Not that other platform games, 2D or 3D haven't tried. Witness Spyro, Rayman, and Crash Bandicoot, etc., for examples. Take these general opinions and my personal philosophy of video games, for what its' worth. But for any platform game lover, this is a must buy if you have a PS2 or PS3 capable of playing older PS games.While I cannot talk of the Gamecube or Wii endeavors with Mario, since I've never owned those gaming systems, I do own and have for some time, a good ol' new version of the PS2 (which may never die, Thank God), and of all platform games I've played for the PS1 and PS2, this has to be closer to one of the best platform games of all time, and will I'm sure, not let down any casual gamer of any age. Experienced gamers might find it a bit easy, but that is to be expected among most gamers.Sly Cooper is a sly fox, yes he is. If one gets lost early on, as I did, I suggest you delete your saved profile(s), and start anew. Because there can be frustrations early on if you don't watch and listen to your help characters, from beginning onwards through each completed stage. Regardless of similar such games as this, this is fun and easy for all ages, and remains the best SLY COOPER game ever, and probably always will. For any PS2 game player not familiar with Sly and his merry bunch of accomplices and beautifully drawn and colored graphics, and especially for any true fan of platform 3D games, this game remains one of the finest and most excellent overall platform games ever.If you can still play PS2 games on whatever system(s) you own, and want a good, old-fashioned platform game, which is actually relaxing (no real timers hurrying you along) and easy but still challenging and quite cute at times without being unnecessarily frustrating, with superb graphics and replayability, you can't go wrong here. This is definitely one of the PS2's finest efforts, and still holds up to this day, for both young and old gamers alike. Dinosaur gamers like me with failing eyesight or cerebral ability to keep up with dozens of commands to make your onscreen character work, will love this, though advanced gamers, may find it the equivalent of one who mastered the Super Mario games trying to play Pong.Come to think of it though, Pong was, I still protest, a pretty cool game, and still is...as are the Super Mario games, and Tetris, and I'll just stop for now before I start discussing Ecco...

Game was packaged well and was just as described in the listing. Case and disc were in good condition. Game itself is good, played it when I was a kid. Disc played fine in my PS2.

I played this game as a kid at a friend's house. He was a control hog, so I never got to truly play it all myself until the trilogy collection came out on ps3.I do own that collection on my ps3, and it is wonderful, with the higher res and redone music and all, but there is a major thing that is missing that was there in the original: the developer commentary when you defeat the time sprints in levels.It was removed in the collection and while I can access it all online, i wanted to earn it for myself. Take that Brody, my town now.As for the actual game:The first entry of the Sly series is the odd one out. It plays like a typical 1-hit KO platformer, only it's in 3d and has nice branching paths here and there as you look for collectibles. Sly can do a lot of athletic feats, and you unlock more as you progress.A lot of levels are a point A to B, where you have to navigate them to reach your goal, the treasure keys. Every level feels unique and fits the world's themes though, so it's hard to get bored. Some levels even switch it up where it feels more like a side scroller, while others keep you moving as platforms get destroyed. Each world has a level or two that's a little different, like racing, turret shooting, or whacking chickens in a small space.The story is one that really fits Saturday morning cartoons. Sly is from a long line of master thieves, and as a kid an evil gang stole his family heirloom and left him orphaned. Now grown up, Sly seeks to take back what's rightfully his, with childhood friends Bentley and Murray along for the ride.The voice acting has definitely aged a bit compared to sly 2, 3 or even thieves in time. Sly definitely still has that snark and smooth sass that he always did, but his tone is a bit softer, more even. Murray sounds close to how he is later, while Bentley sounds...like Bentley. Lol.It's still an enjoyable game today even on the original console. You don't have to get I on ps2 specifically to experience it, but it's a piece of magic i recommend.

As far as gameplay goes, Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus is a great mixture of stealth and platforming across a variety of environments including a massive wrecked ship, a mesa town full of convicts and illegal practices, a necromancer's lair deep in the Haitian Jungle, and many more. Each of the main 4 stages will consist of an entry level which leads to a small overworld, and 4 separate levels to go into at your own pace. The main goal of the levels is to collect the key at the end of the level, and by collecting 3 you will unlock the second part of the overworld which contains 3 more levels, for a total of 7. You need to collect all 7 keys to progress to the boss fight, which is normally not an issue save for a few examples, like the abnormally hard racing minigames. One of the few complaints is that the minigames that make up some levels feel out of place and in each subsequent level, increase in quantity until they match or outnumber the core stealth/platforming missions.As far as quality goes, pay very close attention to who you're buying your copy of Sly Cooper from. Go to the "buying options" menu, and manually select a seller to insure you're getting exactly what you want. If your package arrives and unexpectedly is missing the case and the disc has had dicks drawn on it, it's probably because you didn't actually read the description of the object. My copy came new, shrinkwrapped and everything because I specifically chose a new copy.By default, Amazon tries to give you the listing with the best price as a default, but when it comes to collectibles like this you really have to be sure you know exactly what you're buying.