Saturday, March 25, 2023

PrinceWatercress plays Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time - Part 1 of 48


My first PlayStation 3 Let's Play! It was only a matter of time with this one...but how is this one going to stack up compared to the PS2 games?


After the events of the third game, Sly Cooper is still faking his amnesia from the end of the third game in order to foster a relationship with Carmelita Fox. Sly wants to pull one last heist before getting out of the master thief business for good, and he has found the perfect target: an art museum by a hotshot up-and-coming art collector. However, Sly thinks something is up, as he has heard that the collector is dealing in black market antiques worth millions. As Sly comes up with a plan, Bentley shows up and the two of them get together again.

Bentley has completed a new lab and some new projects with help from Penelope, who are now in a serious relationship. Suddenly, Penelope has vanished, then he noticed that the words of the Thievius Raccoonus were suddenly vanishing off the pages. Without a moment to lose, Bentley headed to Paris to find Sly.

Before doing that, Bentley tracked down Murray, who has gone from being a race car driver to an undefeated demolition derby driver, as the many crashes he had been in made it impossible to get sponsorships due to the high insurance premiums for the van from said crashes. It was there that Bentley and Murray reunited, bringing the Cooper Gang back together again in Paris.

Bentley then explains everything that is going on before revealing the time machine that he teased in the ending of the third game, which is now completed and modified to fit in the van. However, in order to travel through time, the time machine needs an artifact from the desired time period. The first destination is feudal Japan, and the art collector's collection has a samurai sword. It is then and there that the Cooper Gang are back on the heist.

Paris Prologue: I Smell A Rat

You'll start as Sly. When you move forward, you'll find out that there are a lot of choppers about and that the museum is on lockdown. You can smash the chests nearby with Square to get coins, which you'll need to buy skills from ThiefNet.

You move with the left analog stick only. The D-Pad can not be used to move like in the previous PS2 games. You can jump with X, and if you press X in mid-air, you'll do a double jump just like in previous games. Thankfully, the path here is pretty linear. You can also jump into ledges to hang onto them when needed.

You have a health bar in the upper-right corner. It won't matter much here, but it will later.

You'll soon see a copter overhead. If you get caught in the searchlight, you'll automatically be caught and you'll have to start the section over. (At least you have infinite lives.) You can move the right analog stick to move the camera to look for things with blue sparkles. If something has blue sparkles, you can press Circle to interact with it. This will allow you to do the rope walk and spire point jump like in previous games, which you'll need to do here. 

Eventually, you'll see Murray on the van, moving into position. Walk forward on the rope, and from here, take out the rats when you see them. There is a mini-radar screen on the lower-right corner that allows you to see what is around you, and you 

Pressing Select gives you the full level map. You can zoom in with the left analog stick and move the map around with the right analog stick. You can also see your mission status on this screen. Press Circle to back out.

Pressing R3 (the right analog stick as a button) lets you look through the Binocucom for a first-person view. This time, you use the right stick to move and the left stick to zoom in and out.

If you press L3, you'll activate the compass. This causes an arrow to appear near your character, telling you where to go next.

After walking across a ledge, you'll need to avoid another couple of spotlights as you climb your way up. After another rope walk, you'll scale a wall.

From here, you'll need to climb up a water tower without getting caught and getting zapped as a result. You'll then be able to slide down a rope, where a cutscene has a pipe bend on Sly, causing him to take an alternate route.

You'll be on a balcony. You can get behind the enemies and press Circle to steal from enemies. Press Triangle and then Square for the stealth slam. You'll need to find a ledge to walk on. As you sneak around, you'll see some silhouette talking to other silhouette.

From here, climb up. You'll see what looks like a greenhouse. You can jump over the fence by leaping from a fixture to an antenna and then the roof with the X and Circle buttons. Avoid the spotlight as you get the Sly Mask, which is out in the open. By collecting one Sly Mask, you'll get the "Cooper Calling Card" trophy. The Sly Mask will unlock secret things as you collect more.

Get back around and climb to the ledge next to the antenna. From here, you'll need to head to the skylight. Follow the path and avoid the spotlights while smashing things for coins. You'll eventually find an enemy with some keys; get up to them from behind (but not too close) and press Circle until you steal their keys. From there, you can press Triangle followed by Square to hit the Stealth Slam. You can then go up to the Sly icon on the skylight to unlock the skylight. From here, you'll play as Bentley.

Bentley controls somewhat like Sly, but he has a hover jet on the double jump if you hold X. Also, Triangle lets you set bombs. Set the bomb, then get away so the explosion doesn't hurt (or kill) you. Use this ability on walls with the bomb icon to blow them. If you need to know where to go, keep pressing L3 to activate the compass. As always, destroy things as you go so you can get as many coins as you need.

You'll eventually learn to use the hover jet, but I've mentioned it already: hold X on the second jump for a little extra hangtime. There is a yellow gauge below Bentley's health, and when it fills up, the hover jet cuts off until the yellow gauge empties.

You'll also have to throw bombs from a distance to blow things up from far away. To do that, hold L1 and use the left analog stick to aim. The green arrow will point at where the bomb will land, and the red circle will be the impact point. Once the arrow and the circle are where you want it, throw the bomb with triangle, then get away so you don't get maimed. 

Also, don't land in the water on the way. It will kill you and kick you back to an earlier point.

You'll eventually have to drop a bomb on a manhole cover. Once you do that, drop down into the control room after Bentley has a close shave with a laser field. You'll need to use the double jump and hover to get past the laser fields, and at the control panel, interact with it with Circle to do a hacking mini-game.

Interestingly, Bentley now has the same controls for pickpocketing as Sly this time.

The tank-like hacking mini-game returns! Use the left analog stick to move around, and use the right analog stick to fire. Moving both sticks in different directions allows you to move in one direction and fire in another, and you also have an aiming reticle for just in case. You'll need to shoot down firewalls to get to areas and collect data keys to put them in locks and open up other areas. The cannon can also be used to fight the red enemies, which can fire back at you.

The green turtle tank is the default tank, but the purple panzer tank can be used to destroy purple crystal barriers and shoot mortar shots at enemies. The green turtle form must be used to take data keys to the locks; you cannot do it with the purple panzer tank. Interestingly, your two forms do not share health and have individual health bars, which you can take advantage of to save yourself.

Eventually, you'll reach the exit, and you'll be able to play as Murray. Murray plays a little different compared to the PS2 games. Holding Triangle performs a spin attack, and pressing Triangle in mid-air executes the Thunder Flop that takes enemies out from above. Square just does an infinite punch attack. That's it.

By pressing Circle as Murray, you can stomp and get an enemy in your hands. Triangle will slam the enemy down onto the ground, Circle will shake the enemy down for coins and treasure, and Square will throw the enemy.

Take out the enemies as you go, and if you find any red crosses from crates or enemies, collect them to refill health. Stay on the move to ensure you don't get attacked, as these guys will fly around on their jetpacks and shoot at you with their guns.

You'll eventually enter the loading dock, and a bunch of rat guards will dogpile on top of Murray. Mash the Circle button to get them off. From here, you'll need to go up to a barrel-producing machine to stomp a barrel into our hands with Circle, then face a junction box and throw the barrel at it with Square. If you see the purple arrow pointing at the junction box, you're looking at the target. This is when you can throw and hit the junction box with perfect accuracy. There are two junction boxes in here, and when you destroy them both, you'll be able to get out.

You'll then be able to steal the sword with Sly. Just press Circle to steal the sword...only to get busted and caught out by Carmelita. So much for the relationship. After this, Sly will jump onto the roof of the van, and you can press Circle after the sword is in the time machine's receptacle to punch it. From here, it's on to feudal Japan after a brief title sequence.

Back at the Cooper Gang hideout, the gang catches up with Dimitri Lousteau (who is now acting as hideout security, is voiced only in the game's trailers and is never voiced at all in the game). Dimitri now acts as communication on the other side in case anything happens to the words of the Thievius Raccoonus.

From here, the gang makes it to feudal Japan, the home of Rioichi Cooper, a master thief and the inventor of sushi. His sushi restaurant acts as a successful cover to him being a master thief, but unfortunately, Rioichi has been captured due to supposedly serving bad sushi and the sushi restaurant is heavily guarded. So stars the first episode of the game, "Turning Japanese." (As if this game needed a reference to The Vapors.)

When you're in the hideout, you can access ThiefNet. Use the left stick and the X button to buy things, and Circle to back out. The Gadget Grid from the PS2 games is gone now, and moves are now a natural part of one's own controls at this point. Outside of ThiefNet, you can select your character, and if any character has an icon above them, they have a job that you can complete. L1 and R1 lets you move around in the hideout to go back to previous areas and jobs, play mini-games and even look at treasure and costumes. You'll have to unlock things to interact with them, however.

Collectibles:

Sly Mask #1: From here, climb up. You'll see what looks like a greenhouse. You can jump over the fence by leaping from a fixture to an antenna and then the roof with the X and Circle buttons. Avoid the spotlight as you get the Sly Mask, which is out in the open.

Sly Mask #2: If you go into this nook in the sewers, you'll find the other Sly Mask for the prologue.

Trophies:

Cooper Calling Card: Collect one Sly Mask.

Controls:

Left analog stick: move
Right analog stick: move camera
X: Jump and double jump (hold X on second jump for hover jets as Bentley)
Square: attack
Circle: 
  • interact (usually with anything that has sparkles) (Sly)
  • steal from enemies (from behind) (Sly, Bentley)
Triangle:
  • knock enemies upwards (from behind; press Square to slam enemies down for stealth slam) (Sly)
  • throw bombs (Bentley)
  • Thunder Flop (in mid-air) (Murray)
  • spin attack (hold to perform) (Murray)

L1: bomb aim (Bentley)
L3: activate compass
R1: run (hold while moving to perform)
R3: Binocucom
  • Right analog stick: move
  • Left analog stick: zoom in and out

Start: pause menu
Select: map
  • Left analog stick: zoom in and out, switch between map and status
  • Right analog stick: move map
  • Circle: back

No comments:

Post a Comment