Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

[Zack Burner]

This one is often considered the worst of the games, but it's not as bad as people say it is, just a little rough around the edges though, it does have some good moments if you dig deep. Sly just settled down with Carmelita Fox considering himself retired from thieving, though the itch returns when he discovers a new museum with some nice artifacts. But the real caper begins when Bentley discovers writing in the Thievius Raccoonus are disappearing, someone is tampering with time. The trio reunite to find out who's doing it and restore history, even if it means unintentionally messing up Sly and Carmelita's relationship back to the cops and robbers game (don't worry she shows up a little later, reluctantly joining the Cooper Gang). There are five different time and place locations ranging from Feudal Japan, The Old West, The Ice Age, Medieval England, and Ancient Arabia, each with different heists, as well as Ancestors of Sly and some costumes. The Ancestors each bring something different to the table, my favorites are Rioichi Cooper in Japan with his Leaping Dragon ability, voice actor Steve Blum, and his cool calm demeanor; and Tennessee Kid Cooper for his wild playfulness, gunplay, and his voice actor Sam Reigel (who played Donatello in the 2003 TMNT series). The costumes are a mixed bag some are goofy and not totally practical such as the Samurai armor and the Jailbird costume, though the last two Archer and Thief ones are not only cool, but fun to play as well. The writing here can't hold a candle to Sly 2's but there are a some good moments. One of the pluses is Carmelita becomes more playable than she did in previous Sly games even getting a challenging boss fight at one point compared to the ones in Sly 3 (Muggshot and Dr. M's monster were pushovers). I even have to mention Carmelita's voice actress is the BEST one of the bunch (Grey Delisle), perfectly matching her sassiness, short temper, and sweetness. If there is anything really disappointing it's the controversial anticlimactic ending which I won't reveal here, though it will have you begging for a 5th game, and to make matters worse there's currently no news of one coming yet, but don't give up hope. If you want to satiate your Sly Cooper apetite, you'll have to find a Fan Fiction called: Sly 5 Thieves and Robbers, this one is close to game-like as you like and with any luck this could be the one to adapt. Altogether to sum up this game, to quote Carmelita at one point "Not bad, a little sloppy though, don't you think?"