Sly and the Family Jewels

Sucker Punch pulls another heist with Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves

In 2002, a certain mischievous raccoon crept into retailers and made off with millions of dollars. That rascal’s name was Sly Cooper and his debut video game, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, sold more than one million units worldwide and garnered tons of awards for Sony Computer Entertainment America and Seattle-based developer Sucker Punch Prods. Two years later, Sly’s back and he’s out to palm even more booty in Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

For this follow-up, Sucker Punch has taken pains to incorporate the same level of fun and artistry that led fans and industry pros to vote the first Sly Cooper Best Platform Game of 2003 in Animation Magazine’s Gamer’s Rad Pack awards. That game also had a good showing at both the IGDA and AIAS awards ceremonies, nabbing Original Game Character of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation and Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction kudos.

Sucker Punch Art Director Madan says expanding the world of Sly was a key strategy for Sly 2. "From the beginning, we wanted to open up the game design and create a bigger and richer environment for players to explore with more characters on screen," he comments. "The engine was essentially rewritten so that we could create worlds two to three times larger than in the pervious game."

In addition to giving gamers additional space to explore and more characters to encounter, Sucker Punch wanted to show the Sly character evolving. Sly 2 takes place a couple of years after its predecessor, and we find Sly a little more mature and confident in his skills. "We start the game with Sly’s basic move-set from the first title and allow the player to upgrade to some new moves through the course of the game," notes Madan, who says efforts to deepen the storyline included making Bentley and Murray playable characters instead of leaving them sitting in the van.

The developer assures us that fans can expect the same quality, cel-shaded visuals that made the first game beautiful to look at as well as fun to play. According to Madan, the in-game cinematics have been given a facelift and streamlined with more beefy linework. "They’re done pretty traditionally, penciled and timed out in rough pencils, then inked, painted and animated on the computer." The rest of the game was created in Maya with certain character animations authored directly onto the PlayStation 2 engine for efficiency purposes using Sucker Punch’s own system.

The enemy NPC system was also revamped to allow much richer interaction between the player and enemies. "For example," says Madan, "an NPC in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus might have had 5-10 animations, while an NPC in Sly 2: Band of Thieves might have 30-40."

The Sucker Punch team took player feedback to heart when developing Sly 2 and can’t wait to get this highly anticipated sequel into the hands of fans. "I think that players are going to enjoy being able to play this game at their own speed," Madan insists. "The levels are designed to be huge jungle gyms that are just fun to run around in and climb all over. You can complete missions as fast as you want to get through the level, but you’re also free to explore and spend time picking pockets or taking out guards."

To help bridge story elements between Thievius Raccoonus and Band of Thieves, Sucker Punch has created a comic book that GamePro has bundled with the new game. Madan concludes, "We’ll continue to look for other ways to really broaden who Sly is and what his universe is about." Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves is now available for PlayStation 2.