Sly Cooper 2: Band of Theives REVIEW SCRIPT (suggestions if possible?)

Hello Donut Team communitty,

I am making a YouTube video reviewing a game, and I hope you guys can chime in and make some points that I may have missed.
begin
I have reviewed many games, but I never have touched a playstation exclusive due to my lack of a playstation console. And after playing this, I decided that the playstation exclusives like Sly Cooper are good at the worst, and great at the best. My only problems were, cringy humor, I will add cringe alert on the bottom of the screen for certain segments. Otherwise I enjoyed Sly 2, it is a well-crafted game that both adults and kids can enjoy, but me on the otherhand. I constantly face palmed from either cringy humor, or just common cliches. It still is a great game, but I couldn’t really enjoy the story and characters. But the gameplay sold me on this. I love the unique mechanics, and engaging gameplay. The game has some issues like plot holes and other things, but the gameplay is almost flawless. I will talk about this game in an unbiased, non-childhood influenced run due to once again, my lack of playstation consoles. Anyway, let's get started.

To begin, Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves, is a 3d collectathon platformer with mission based collectable gameplay, and cell-shaded graphics. This game is basically treated like a comic, and I like this. Something different and new for the platformer genre. Other than that, the game has a few mechanics that you don’t see today. It has your standard combat, rope walking, and more. For people to say this game doesn’t age well, you’re not aging that well. This game for a ps2 game, looks superb and the animations are smooth and slick. Time was taken to make the the animations great, but the modeling is where the ps2’s limitations come to show. The character models in-game look like they could use the power of the original xbox to add more polygons. (INSERT ROASTED CLIP HERE) Anyway, the controls are awesome, they are tight and responsive. This compliments the attention to detail with the graphics and overall presentation. The framerate never drops for any reason, and it runs at true 60 fps. There are 3 playable characters, Sly, Bentley, and Murray. They each have different abilities and uses within levels. And the controls are super tight, meaning any deaths attributed to not landing a platform are entirely the player’s fault, as there are barely any unfair deaths in this game. As a fair death is one a player sees coming, but un-fair is a death the player did not see coming.

The story is where I’m going to dock some points due to my feelings on it. This doesn’t mean this game is bad, or the story is bad, but I can’t stand it. The 3 main characters all have introductions like seen in a comic book, and that made me cringe due to the cliches in the descriptions. I just can’t stand it. But the plot revolves around the use of a immortal bird to give one twisted jerk immortality. This alone screams cliche, but the execution is not so bad. But the constant flirting between one of the main characters and another character significant to the plot. This made me cringe so much and I could not stand it. But it doesn't get in the way of the game and doesn’t last that long.

Now onto the flaws I mentioned. My first complaint is the limited amount of one-liners! For example, in the first level, Carmelita chases you, but she only has 5 lines. But her one-liners are triggered more than 5 times, so I hear the same annoying one-liners more than I should have. I hear “freeze,” and “stop thief” at least five freaking times.(PLAY JOKE 1 CLIP) And it’s not only there, but the entire game’s characters have only 5 lines a piece. This alone makes the game somewhat repetitive. But the gameplay and level design shine through. The other flaws are really just the console itself, as the character models look a bit blocky, but the PS2 was a success due to the cost and library of games. This game according to wikipedia, this game was noted as, “One of the best PS2 games ever released.” This I believe is true, the ps2 even though it didn’t have much power, made up for it with more complicated hardware that could produce more polygons if the system architecture was like a pc. This alone made the game better, but counting the relatable characters, awesome graphics, varied gameplay, and stellar overall presentation and control, makes this game an all-time classic that any gamer should pick up one time or another.

Yeah, there may be things I missed, but this game is a classic that anyone could pick up and play, and enjoy. There are barely any flaws, and this game holds up today.

TOTAL SCORE: 41/45 A CLASSIC

title
score /45
comments (no bias, much facts)
story /5
4
Strong, but cringy
graphics /5
3
meh
music /5
5
great
gameplay /5
5
repetitive at times, good puzzles though. Controls awesome
optimizations /15
15
ps2 exclusive, go figure
value /10
8
A PS2 Classic
end

Thanks,

Hipporeno

For a review, it doesn't seem too bad. My biggest complaint is that some issues you have with the game's storyline are dropped and not brought up again in the review. You mention that there are "plotholes" right at the start, but these are never elaborated on at any point during the review. I also have no idea what you mean by character's only having 5 lines a piece. Save for specific mission instructions and cutscenes, the only sounds the playable characters make in-game are simple grunts and yells that really never grate the nerves. They play very rarely, making it all the more tolerable.

Some areas also need some expanding on. You mention that Sly, Murray, and Bentley are the three playable characters and they all play differently, but never really explain how they work differently. Sly I consider the "well-balanced" character who is really good at stealth and pretty decent at combat, Bentley is incredibly weak with fist-to-fist combat but his bombs and sleep darts make him my personal favorite, and Murray can defeat the game's toughest enemies pretty well, but he's the hardest to do any platforming with.

The plot explanation I feel needs to go further as well. The description you give of the game's plot is incredibly short and skips out on a lot of key points. You don't mention that this game picks up where the original Sly left off, Sly's intentions for wanting all of Clockwork's pieces in his possession, and what happened to all the pieces. I don't think it's necessary to explain why every Klaw Gang member has the pieces they have, but something more descriptive would be nice.

It's not a bad script and it's good that you're looking for revisions, but I feel there are some areas that need expanding upon.

Thanks Kenny, will do!