Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
It’s Sucker Punch’s 20th anniversary this year! Their official birthday is this month, and we want to do a little celebrating by looking back at five of their finest over the past two decades.
Sucker Punch made its PlayStation debut with the release of stealth platformer Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus on the PlayStation 2 in 2002, joining the likes of Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter as one of the console’s signature franchises. It’s not too hard to see how the title earned the distinction, as it perfectly melds together meticulous stealth gameplay with the frantic nature of a cartoon-inspired world that harkens back to Sony’s own video game debut. Evoking memories of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon.
The game holds up even today in terms of its mechanics, with smooth animation and fluid movement. Controls are incredibly responsive and easy to master, and though at times Sly may appear to be difficult to manipulate due to his cane and tail taking up a lot of the screen, players will find that the character’s features don’t come in the way of them being able to jump freely over enemies or bop them over the head. What’s more impressive is that the game was made to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike, which is something is still true in 2017.
Robot: Rocket on Wheels
Before Sucker Punch was known for Sly Cooper, Sucker Punch actually made a title for the Nintendo 64 called Robot: Rocket on Wheels. Just like its raccoon successor, the game is a platformer that borrows from Super Mario 64’s mechanics and improves upon them, implementing a realistic physics engine that wasn’t too common back in the day and integrating it into its gameplay. As a result, players solve puzzles or complete challenges that Nintendo itself didn’t think was possible given the system’s technology.
Indeed, gamers often find themselves in platforming segments where they use friction and gravity to manipulate and traverse the environment. Thrown objects actually roll, bounce, and behave in a life-like manner, adding a strong degree of realism in a game with an otherwise highly unrealistic narrative. Rocket: Robot on Wheels was made to stand out for its time in a era swamped with great 3D collect-a-thons, but sadly, despite being quite solid, is the least known entry on this list.
Infamous Second Son and Infamous First Light
Infamous Second Son was one of the first titles to show audiences the power of the PlayStation 4 and to this day remains one of the console’s fan-favorite exclusives. Reviews weren’t unanimously positive, sure, but one underlying element that almost every critic took note of was the game’s astounding visuals. Though players start out with just smoke powers, gaining the ability to use neon and then video only dials up the beauty of the title up to 11, making it an absolute requirement to play around with photo mode at least once.
Aside from that, Infamous Second Son is the first game in the franchise to take place in an actual, real life city. Sucker Punch faithfully they recreated Seattle and it was a blast to explore it. Everything about Second Son oozes a certain cool charm that certainly hasn’t worn off even midway through this console generation.
Infamous First Light released only a couple of months after Second Son and tells the story of Fetch, one of the latter game’s personable side characters. Though its story isn’t as expansive as that of Delsin’s, First Light improves upon the series’ fluid gameplay, embodying the pinnacle of superpower action mayhem.
Infamous 2
Infamous 2 takes everything that made the original game good and makes it even better. With Cole’s new melee weapon and choice of either ice or fire powers, gameplay improves tenfold. Throw in gigantic boss battles, more destructible environments, and a wide array of enemies to defeat, and Infamous 2 made sure that there was never any shortage of action going on once players booted up for a game session.
Sucker Punch took creative risks here and prevailed too, incorporating user generated content, tying the acquisition of powers with karma choices, and making story missions carry more weight compared to the original title. If the end of Infamous 2 serves as any indication, Cole certainly isn’t a man to be reckoned with and makes that well known by the time the credits start to roll.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sly 2: Band of Thieves is a prime example of how to do a video game sequel right. Getting the core essence of the original Sly and making it bigger, brighter, and more fleshed out cements Sly 2 as a must-play in the PlayStation 2’s vast collection of hit titles.
For one thing, Sly’s sidekicks Bentley and Murray are given the ability to be controlled by the player too, mixing up gameplay elements for the title. A bigger world makes exploration paramount to success, plus a good incentive to experience Sly 2’s beautiful cartoon art direction. The title’s story isn’t anything to gloss over either, as players get to witness a plot of betrayal and subterfuge that’s surprisingly intricate for a game rated by the ESRB for everyone.
Those are our picks for the five best of Sucker Punch’s career, but what are yours? Let us know in the comments.
About the author
