Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
Developer(s)	Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher(s)	SCEA
Engine	modified Sly 2: Band of Thieves engine
Release date(s)	September 26, 2005 September 27, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 17 2005
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10+) PEGI: 3+ OFLC: G
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	DVD

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves is the third game in the Sly Cooper franchise. The game was released on September 26, 2005 in the United States. It is presumed to be the final game in the Sly series. Sly 3 is 3-D compatible, and it comes with a pair of specially designed cardboard-made 3-D glasses inside the manual. Despite being rated less than the predecessor, the game received generally positive reviews from the gaming press. It has an 84% rating on gamerakings.com.

Plot

The game begins at the end, in which Sly faces his final moments; the entire game is played through his memories, with the final chapter taking place in the present. His memories center on the steps taken to gain control of Kaine Island and access to the Cooper Vault, found on the heavily guarded island. Breaking into the Cooper Vault, the goal of the game, requires the recruitment of new members to the Cooper Gang, a task undertaken throughout the storyline. The player must defeat bosses and overcome certain obstacles to gain the trust of the prospective member. Two prospective members are also bosses of the past Sly games. These two are Panda King (a former demolition expert/member of the Fiendish Five) and Dimitri (a former member of the Klaww Gang).

Characters

Playable Characters

(In order of Cooper Gang recruitment)

• Sly Cooper — Since his escape from Carmelita's helicopter, Sly has learned some new skills. He is now a master of disguise, able to become any one of a variety of identities. He is also now attempting to penetrate the Cooper Vault, a secret storehouse that contains all the loot the Cooper Clan has stolen over the years. Upon finding the island that a past Cooper Gang member named McSweeny tells Sly about, Sly finds that the island is already owned by a mysterious Dr. M, and that it would be nearly impossible to enter. So Sly starts searching for thieves that will help him break into Dr. M's island.Dr. M appears to be a member of Sly's dad's Cooper Gang as the brains.

• Bentley the Turtle — Bentley is worse for wear from his participation in the battle with Clock-La. Now a paraplegic, Bentley is confined to a wheelchair. However, he's not about to be stopped, and has equipped the chair with multiple features to stay in action.

• Murray the Hippo — Murray suffered the worst psychologically from the Klaww Gang ordeal. Blaming himself for Bentley's injuries, he left the team and took up a life of non-violence and solace, studying under The Guru. However, Sly and Bentley's recruitment of a new Band of Thieves quickly pulls him back into the action. Murray is rerecruited in Venice.

• The Guru — A shaman from Australia, known as "Guru of the Stone". Murray goes to him as his student. Guru has magical abilities like using the dreamtime to blend perfectly into his surroundings, and possessing other people. Guru speaks Diksha, but everybody seems to understand him. He is recruited in Australia and he is the only person in the Cooper Gang that doesn't use metal equipment.

• Penelope — Although only briefly playable this female mouse possesses an RC Helicopter, like Bentley's RC Chopper, and a RC racecar. Bentley has a crush on her. She likes Sly at first, but gradually falls in love with Bentley. She is recruited in Holland.

• Panda King — Former member of the Fiendish Five. A demolitions expert and master of explosives and fireworks. The Panda King was recruited by Sly in China to help overthrow Dr. M's Fortress. His daughter is captured by the maniacal General Tsao, and Sly promises to help get her back.He is recruited in China.

• Dimitri — Dimitri Lousteau was a former member of the Klaww Gang; he became a popular dance instructor on a cruise ship after the fall of the Klaww Gang. Later, Dimitri becomes a free agent and is recruited by the Cooper Gang as a frogman, or water specialist. He is recruited in Blood Bath Bay.

• Inspector Carmelita Fox — Carmelita is not actually a member of the Cooper Gang; however, she unknowingly (and comically) helps the gang out of several tight scrapes. She later decides to help the gang out, and is essential to certain missions.

Gameplay

Features

New variations in the game include additional playable characters besides those of Sly, Bentley and Murray. Firstly, Inspector Carmelita Fox is a playable character in some of the minigames and a couple times in the game. Secondly, previously unintroduced characters, including a shaman named The Guru and a mouse named Penelope are included, as well as those previously mentioned such as Dimitri from Sly 2: Band of Thieves and the Panda King from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.

The game also contains 3-D sections. 3-D glasses have been distributed with each copy of the game, and are used in certain parts of the game. However, 3-D is optional in these sections, allowing the player to switch the levels into normal once more. Some levels are playable in 3-D from the beginning, while other levels require the 3-D feature to be unlocked, another feature being objects in the levels are only visible when being played in 3-D. The 3-D effect is focused upon certain objects in the background rather than the characters themselves, minimizing the necessary blue/red separation and making it easier to watch someone playing in 3-D without a set of 3-D glasses.

Also, to increase replay value, an offline multiplayer mode is included, along with challenges and extra movies unlocked with specific game completion percentages. The multiplayer games are: "Cops and Robbers," "Dogfighting," "Hackathon," and "Galleon Duel." Challenges are missions that are set with specific standards, along with a Treasure Hunt mission for each world attained at the end of the game.

Murray and Bentley can now pickpocket. Murray hoists stunned or unsuspecting guards above his head and shakes them down for coins and loot. The coins must be picked up off the ground after the guard is shaken. Bentley uses a fishing rod like magnet to reel in coins and loot. When the magnet attaches Bentley moves away from the guard to reel in the goods.

Loot no longer needs to be sold back at the safe house. The amount an item is worth is added immediately to the coin count. Special treasure is absent from the over world.

Sly 3 also features new gameplay elements and skills, such as safe-cracking, aerial combat, disguises, pirate ship battles, and conversations.

Locations

Prelude: The Beginning of the End: Found on Kaine Island in the South Pacific, the prelude is where "Honor Among Thieves" takes place.

Hazard Room: Not really a level for it being optional this is where the Cooper Gang learn their tricks and abilities. Recommended for first-time players. Possibly based off the Danger Room of the X-Men comic book series.

Episode 1: An Opera of Fear: This episode takes place in Venice, Italy, where Sly and Bentley go to convince Murray to join back with the gang and encounter Don Octavio, a mobster obsessed with opera.

Episode 2: Rumble Down Under: The next location for the Cooper Gang is in Yuendumu, Australia, where Murray's master the Guru lives. Upon arrival, they find that miners have taken over the area and kidnapped the Guru, leaving no one to watch the Mask of Dark Earth.

Episode 3: Flight of Fancy: Episode 3 takes place in Kinderdijk, Holland, where the next member-to-be, Penelope, has agreed to join if the gang can defeat her boss, the Black Baron, in the ACES dogfighting competition. After beating the Black Baron, it turns out that he is really Penelope. Also in Holland is Muggshot, a former member of the Fiendish Five, who is also taking part in the competition.

Episode 4: A Cold Alliance: The gang heads to the Kunlun Mountains in China to recruit the Panda King, much to Sly's chagrin. Upon meeting with him, they learn that his daughter, Jing King, is being forced to marry the cruel General Tsao.

Episode 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales: The fifth location in the game is the fictional Blood Bath Bay and Dagger Island in the Caribbean Islands. The gang was brought here by Dimitri to find the diving equipment of his grandfather, and in exchange, he will join the gang. It is here that the gang encounters Captain LeFwee, the self-proclaimed "smartest man on the seven seas."

Episode 6: Honor Among Thieves: The final location of the game, the fictional Kaine Island, where the Cooper Vault is located. In order to get to it, the gang must defeat the evil Dr. M. The level continues after the prologue in the game's beginning where Sly loses his cane and is in the claws of Dr. M's monster.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released by Sucker Punch for Sly 3, below is a track listing of the tracks on the CD.^[1]

1. Main Title and Credits
2. Penelope's Mighty Sky Chopper
3. China Palace Grounds
4. Dr. M's Island
5. Dr. M's Aerial Attack
6. Bentley and Penelope Suite
7. Murray the Ghost
8. The Shaman Rides
9. Sly the Pirate insults Pete
10. Pirate Fight
11. Gauntlet of the Ancestors
12. Bamboo Fight
13. Feeding the Croc
14. Lemonade Drinking Contest
15. Zombies' Army
16. Carmelita vs Muggshot
17. China Palace Interior
18. Venice Chase
19. Hotel Lobby with Muggshot
20. Fight with the Black Baron
21. Dimitri Underwater
22. The Great Sea Battle
23. The Treasure Island
24. Venice Espionage
25. Holland Dogfight
26. Murray fights the Hybrids
27. Canada Train Station (bonus track from Sly 2: Band of Thieves)
28. Sly's Great Train Robbery (bonus track from Sly 2: Band of Thieves)
29. Sly in Paris (Theme of Sly 2: Band of Thieves)

Trivia

• Clue bottles are absent from this game. This is the first time the trademark clue bottles have been missing from any Sly Cooper videogame.
• Out of all three games, Sly 3 is the only game where other criminal organizations are not involved in the storyline.
• In the China level, circling junks can be seen in the river. However, no western Chinese river connects to the ocean or any other major body of water so for water currents to carry the Cooper van into the Kunlun mountain is impossible. Plus, rivers flow outward to bodies of water from mountains, not to them. The locale itself is kind of a series in-joke; one episode of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus takes place here.

See also

• Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
• Sly 2: Band of Thieves

References

1. ^ Track listing image of Sly 3 soundtrack

External links

• IGN Preview of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
• Official Sony Website
• Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves at MobyGames
• Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves at GameSpot

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