Sly 2: Band of Thieves

...and he has brought his friends Bentley and Murray along with him. Sly 2: Band Of Thieves is the sequel to Sly Cooper, the superb platformer for the PS2.

BoT gives us an update on what has happened since the first game. It appears that the parts of Clockwerk, the evil owl boss Sly defeated at the end of the first game, have been collected by other thieves who are using them for their own nefarious means. Sly wants to eliminate Clockwerk once and for all and he, Bentley, and Murray work together to that end.

Of course, Carmelita Fox is still trying to bust Sly and there's also a wild card in Commissioner Neyla; who may or may not be an ally to Sly.

The game is split into 8 Chapters. Each chapter details a heist attempt to collect a Clockwerk part. You will control Sly Cooper (a raccoon) for the most part but you will also control Bentley the Turtle as he hacks PCs and Murray the Hippo as he uses his muscle to dominate opponents. Each chapter has about 12 missions to complete to finish it. It will take 2-3 hours for each one so multiplying it by 8 adds up to a long game. Along the way, you can make money by pickpocketing enemies or finding treasure. You can use this money to buy extra abilities through Thieves.Net. Also, the bottles are back and will give Sly even more abilities.

Everything you loved in the first game is back: Great platforming, winning characters, superb dialogue, gameplay, graphics, and sound, and a family-friendly image that's getting a bit lost in video games. While I do love mature games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I also want to play something much less foreboding that's just as fun.

By all means, buy this game. Also, watch for Sly Cooper 3:Honor Among Thieves. It's coming in September 2005 and it plans to be even more revolutionary than ever. Sucker Punch Productions rule!