A great platform game!

I normally don't play platform games all that often. I'm more of a die hard RPG fan, but I hadn't played anything in a little while, and I was looking to try out a new game. My husband suggested Sly 2: Band of Thieves, because he had read some excellent reviews on it, and he remembered how much I loved Munch's Oddesea for the X-box (highly under-rated game, go out and buy it now if you haven't played it yet).

The Story
I never played the first game, but the story of the second is as follows- At the end of the first game, Sly defeats the Clockwerk, a massive nasty looking metal bird who had killed his family leaving him an orphan. He did this with the help of his family- Bently, a brainy turtle, and Murray, a brawny hippo. The three grew up together in the orpahanage, and are each other's family, and partners in crime. Now the infamous Claww gang is on a mission to recover the scattered Clockwerk parts to re-animate this deadly moster, and Sly and the gang are determined to stop them. In addition to fighting the evil Claw gang, they also must be vigilant for the rightous copper, Carmelita, and the mysterious Constable Neela.

The Look of the Game
I am very impressed by the way this game looks. It is rendered very well, with a kind of dark cartoony look to it. I also like the fact that much of the game takes place in real cities, rendered to be a cartoon. You begin in Paris, and travel through India and Canada among others. Each game level is very large, and you have access to most parts of each level immediately. The only exception to this is entering buildings, which are a part of specific quests. The cut scenes in this game are superb, very comic book in design, as well as being helpful, clever, and often quite cute. Sly is able to jump onto things such as weathervanes, drain pipes, etc. When there is an object that Sly can climb or jump onto, that object sparkles with a blue glow, which is very helpful! The appearance of the characters is excellent. Sly, the raccoon looks like a raccoon, but also gets a twitchy tail before jumping, and when his character is left alone for a while, he'll start scratching his back with his cane. Bently the turtle has a cute little run, is a rather lousy combat fighter, and when left alone looks at a map, or sneezes....
All of the characters in the game, from main players and evil-doers to the guards and animals are excellent. The detail in buildings, landscapes, things like furniture, etc-are all very well depicted.

Playing the Game
The learning curve for this game is excellent. The game walks you through moving all of the characters, and how various buttons change for you during the game, generally the R1 button, which has a variety of abilities, depending on the mission. The movement throughout the game, especially when leaping, climbing and gliding though the rooftops with Sly is fluid, and controllable. Although this game is, for the most part, a fairly easy game, there have definitely been missions that took me a dozen or more attempts to complete! In this game, patience is definitely a virtue!
In addition to the obvious missions in the game, every level contains 30 green bottles, hidden throughout, in the most unlikely of places. Break all 30, and Bently will crack a code which will allow you to break into a safe and get a cool new move for Sly.

Stealing is, of course, a huge aspect of this game, and it's a lot of fun! Once you've stolen a big ticket item, you cannot get hit by a guard, or it'll smash. Some of the loot is booby-trapped, giving you a race for the safe-house before it detonates. You'll also be pick pocketing the guards for loot and keys.

Overall playing the game is a lot of fun. You'll play as all three characters, as well as piloting RC Helicopters and tanks, shooting grappling hooks, and firing from a gun turrett. There is a lot of variety in gameplay in this game!

The Sounds
The sounds in this game are superb. From the always appropriate musical selections, to the cute little noise Sly makes when he gets electrocuted (just exactly the noise a raccoon would make, when electrocuted), all of the sound in this game is appropriate, it is seldom if ever annoying, and it is surprisingly diverse.

Overall
Overall this game is a real hit. It will take you a long time to finish this game, some 30 or so hours, and you'll enjoy nearly every minute, with a few moments of intense frustration thrown in! I strongly recommend this game to anyone. I also feel this game would be totally suitable for children. Although the heroes are theives, they really only steal from bad guys, and with a good cause!