OK. One sentence to sum it all up: Sly 3 is much weaker than Band of Thieves and Thievius Raccoonus. I mean, it's still a decent game, but its lack of visual style that Band of Thieves had as well as poorer designed control schemes are two of the major dissapoints.
See, Sly 3 goes completely against the visual style of the 2 other (better) games in the series. The game is chock-full of ugly and way-too-bright colors. Sly 1 and 2 were both at complete ease and over control with their visuals by immersing it into a dark environment and that blend worked beautifully. But the nighttime sequences in this game just don't work as well as they did in Sly 2, because the darkness of it all has been severely lightened and the colors have been overdone. It just doesn't match the original look of the others. And I HATE that because it takes away the hint of maturity from the other two.
Then there's the controls. Certain things have been programmed or redesigned to work differently from Sly 2. For example, now you can't pull off an uppercut at an enemy with Sly because the triangle is now the button for a special charge power-up, but using normal attacks really just gets the job of kicking the snot out of someone done a lot faster. Also, Murray doesn't stomp anymore unless he's standing next to an object which can be picked up, which is strange.
Some other dissapoints are that there are quite a few more noticeable glitches and parts that just make you go "What the heck?!" that could have easily fixed wihin the matter of hours.
...Say, what happened to the clue collecting, barrel-sneaking, and tons of laser dodging and spotlight evading? They eliminated the first two entirely and then missed a lot of opportune times to add in the latter at points. Of course, the clue collecting might have been because the level design wasn't challenging enough to traverse that it would serve as a challenge, but those fun barrel levels...gone entirely? That really stinks.
And then there's the voice acting, which isn't quite as phenomenal as it used to be. The game doesn't make you feel for the characters as much as you used to because of the voice acting. All of the lead actors' talents have noticeably dumbed down a bit since 2004.
The positive sides to this game are the loads of extra content. We now have fun side missions to pull off called Master Thief Challenges which give the game additional replay value. The 3D isn't as hot however, as nothing really seems to pop off the screen and actually "Wow" you.
The gameplay in Sly 3 is extremely fun, however. There's never been this much variety in the gameplay in the whole series, and that's where I give HAT a good pat on the back.
There are dozens of other things that I could talk about on the way that Sly 3 is an absolute drop in quality since Sly 2. But despite all of my criticism I still highly recommend this game because it isn't one of the wost games ever made. It's just the worst of the Sly games. But if you enjoyed the others you'll hopefully enjoy the most recent chapter to this wonderful franchise.
Graphics- 7.1
Presentation- 8.6
Sound- 7.9
Gameplay- 8.8
Lasting Appeal- 7.9
OVERALL (NOT AN AVERAGE) 8.1
See, Sly 3 goes completely against the visual style of the 2 other (better) games in the series. The game is chock-full of ugly and way-too-bright colors. Sly 1 and 2 were both at complete ease and over control with their visuals by immersing it into a dark environment and that blend worked beautifully. But the nighttime sequences in this game just don't work as well as they did in Sly 2, because the darkness of it all has been severely lightened and the colors have been overdone. It just doesn't match the original look of the others. And I HATE that because it takes away the hint of maturity from the other two.
Then there's the controls. Certain things have been programmed or redesigned to work differently from Sly 2. For example, now you can't pull off an uppercut at an enemy with Sly because the triangle is now the button for a special charge power-up, but using normal attacks really just gets the job of kicking the snot out of someone done a lot faster. Also, Murray doesn't stomp anymore unless he's standing next to an object which can be picked up, which is strange.
Some other dissapoints are that there are quite a few more noticeable glitches and parts that just make you go "What the heck?!" that could have easily fixed wihin the matter of hours.
...Say, what happened to the clue collecting, barrel-sneaking, and tons of laser dodging and spotlight evading? They eliminated the first two entirely and then missed a lot of opportune times to add in the latter at points. Of course, the clue collecting might have been because the level design wasn't challenging enough to traverse that it would serve as a challenge, but those fun barrel levels...gone entirely? That really stinks.
And then there's the voice acting, which isn't quite as phenomenal as it used to be. The game doesn't make you feel for the characters as much as you used to because of the voice acting. All of the lead actors' talents have noticeably dumbed down a bit since 2004.
The positive sides to this game are the loads of extra content. We now have fun side missions to pull off called Master Thief Challenges which give the game additional replay value. The 3D isn't as hot however, as nothing really seems to pop off the screen and actually "Wow" you.
The gameplay in Sly 3 is extremely fun, however. There's never been this much variety in the gameplay in the whole series, and that's where I give HAT a good pat on the back.
There are dozens of other things that I could talk about on the way that Sly 3 is an absolute drop in quality since Sly 2. But despite all of my criticism I still highly recommend this game because it isn't one of the wost games ever made. It's just the worst of the Sly games. But if you enjoyed the others you'll hopefully enjoy the most recent chapter to this wonderful franchise.
Graphics- 7.1
Presentation- 8.6
Sound- 7.9
Gameplay- 8.8
Lasting Appeal- 7.9
OVERALL (NOT AN AVERAGE) 8.1
