Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

About Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus launched on PlayStation 2 back in September 2002 from Sucker Punch Productions. You play as a raccoon thief named Sly who leads a trio to steal back pages from an ancient book called the Thievius Raccoonus. The story picks up after his parents die and a villainous gang steals his family's legacy, leaving him to track down five specific criminals across the globe. The game features distinct cel-shaded graphics that give it a cartoonish look while maintaining a serious tone about revenge. It arrived just as 3D platformers were dominating consoles, offering a fresh mix of heist planning and parkour movement. This title set the standard for stealth-based adventure games during the early PS2 era before moving to other systems years later.

Gameplay

You spend most of your time sneaking through levels that feel like giant puzzles with guards patrolling the area. The core loop involves reaching a specific spot to grab a key while avoiding searchlights and tripwires that trigger alarms. Each level has secondary objectives like finding clue bottles hidden in corners. Collecting all those bottles unlocks a safe containing a new page from the book, which teaches you a fresh move like climbing fences or holding your breath underwater. After clearing a world, you face a boss fight using these new skills. Some stages include timed sprint sequences where you must dash to the exit before time runs out. Bentley handles hacking and distractions while Murray provides brute force when you need to smash through obstacles. The controls feel tight, allowing you to vault over railings or drop silently onto enemies without breaking stealth.

What Players Think

Players on PlayPile rate this title highly with a Metacritic score of 86 out of 100 and an IGDB rating of 80.8 from 169 user reviews. The average playtime hovers around 12 hours for a standard run, though completionists spend closer to 15 hours hunting every clue bottle. Community moods lean heavily toward nostalgic appreciation with a 94 percent positive review sentiment among long-time fans. Users frequently mention the satisfaction of mastering the stealth sections after failing multiple times. One common comment notes that finding the hidden pages feels like earning a genuine reward rather than just grabbing loot. The game holds a 98 percent completion rate among those who finish it, suggesting players rarely quit halfway through. Critics and casual gamers alike praise the consistent quality from start to finish without feeling repetitive or tedious.

PlayPile's Take

This is worth your time if you like methodical platformers that require patience rather than just fast reflexes. The price point varies on retro markets but usually sits under 20 dollars for a digital copy. There are no online achievements to chase, so the challenge comes purely from beating the game cleanly. You will spend hours perfecting routes and timing your jumps to avoid detection. It is not for people who want chaotic action or open-world exploration. The lack of modern quality-of-life features might annoy some players used to auto-saving and fast travel. Still, the tight level design keeps things engaging until the final boss. Pick this up if you want a complete experience that respects your intelligence.

Storyline

Sly Cooper comes from a long line of master thieves (the Cooper Clan) who only steal from other criminals, thus making them vigilantes. The Cooper family's heirloom, an ancient book by the name The Thievius Raccoonus, records all the secret moves and techniques from every member in the clan. On his 8th birthday, Sly was supposed to inherit the book and learn all of his family's ancient secrets which was supposed to help him become a master thief, however, a group of thugs by the name "The Fiendish Five" (led by Clockwerk, who is the arch-nemesis of the family clan) attack the Cooper household and kills Sly's parents and stole all of the pages from the Thievius Raccoonus. After that, the ruthless gang go their separate ways to commit dastardly crimes around the world. Sly is sent to an orphanage where he meets and teams up and forms a gang with two guys who become his lifelong best friends, Bentley, a technician, inventor and a talented mathematical hacker with encyclopedic knowledge who plays the role as the brains of the gang, and Murray, a huge husky cowardly guy with a ginormous appetite who plays the role as the brawns and the getaway driver of the gang. The three leave the orphanage together at age 16 to start their lives becoming international vigilante criminals together, naming themselves "The Cooper Gang". Sly swears one day to avenge his family and track down the Fiendish Five and steal back the Thievius Raccoonus. Two years later, the Cooper Gang head to Paris, France, to infiltrate Itnerpol (a police headquarters) in order to find the secret police file which stores details and information about the Fiendish Five but during the heist they are ambushed by Inspector Carmelita Fox (towards whom Sly develops a romantic attraction), a police officer who is affiliated with Interpol and is after the Cooper Gang. The gang manage to steal the police file and successfully escapes from her and the rest of the cops. With the secret police file finally in their hands, the Cooper Gang manage to track down the Fiendish Five.