Review: "Sly Cooper and the Thevius Racoonus" (PS2)

Information

Title

Sly Cooper and the Thevius Racoonus

Published by

Sony Computer Entertainment America

Developed by

Sucker Punch

Platform

Playstation 2

Rating

E for mild violence

Genre

Stealth/Platformer

Plot

Sly Cooper and his gang are trying to recover the stolen pages of the Thevius Racoonus, an heirloom of Sly's family for many generations.

High Point

You run around and steal stuff, sneakily.

Low Point

A bit hard and repetative, suffering from some of the earlier platform game problems (fixed number of hits 'til you die).

Context

I actually beat the sequel to this first, though I started playing this when it first came out. I decided to go back and finish this so as to better compare the sequel.

Scores

Story — Basic (4/10)

The plot isn't really a big issue in this game, I was able to come back to the game after a yea of not playing it and not miss a beat. The plot really serves as motivation for the capers, but doesn't extend beyond that.

Originality — Splendid (8/10)

A new direction for the platform genre to go in and a new take on the stealth game. I can't think of too many games where you play the thief.

Graphics — Cartoony Goodness (8/10)

The game uses cell-shaded graphics with cartoon-ish characters to create a wonderful cartoon feel. In addition, the cut-scenes are just barely animated like you could easily achieve with Flash animation, though this simply adds to them, rather than detract.

Production — Good (7/10)

Everything seemed wel polished, though the check-points were a bit on the frustrating side during at least one boss battle. I'm not sure why they had lives since you could always continue after you ran out.

Difficulty — Medium-Hard (7/10)

Mostly easy yet chllenging, but there were a few spots that were more difficult.

Violence — Cartoon (2/10)

No more violent than Super Mario Bros. was.

Overall — Sneaky Fun (7/10)

I really enjoyed sneaking around stealing things. I think it's more fun than most stealth games aas they try to be too serious.

Review: "Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" (PS2)

Information

Title

Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Published by

LucasArts

Developed by

The Collective

Platform

Playstation 2

Rating

T for Violence

Genre

Action Platformer

Plot

Play as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the events portrayed in the movie of the same name.

High Point

The alternate ending where Anakin defeats Obi-Wan and the Emperor and takes control of the galaxy.

Low Point

A little mechanical and obvious in it's nature as a game.

Context

I am a huge Star Wars fan and will buy most any game thus branded, especially if it offers a sneak peak at the new movie. I played, and beat this game before "Revenge of the Sith" came out in theaters.

Scores

Story — Medium (5/10)

The story mostly consists of those parts of the film that segue from one battle scene to another.

Originality — Fair (5/10)

This is a video game based on a prequel movie in a long-running, ad much beloved, series. Considering all that, the game does take several liberties with the plot of said movie in order to further the purpose of the game, fighting off numerous waves of enemies.

Graphics — Shiny (8/10)

The graphics are on par with the current generation of games. The lightsabers are very nice looking and the characters look like their movie counterparts.

Music — Excellent (9/10)

The music is the same as that in the movies and really help s to create the authentic Star Wars feel.

Audio — Fair (6/10)

The voice-acting is good, but the voices are those from the Clone Wars cartoon rather than the movies, so the characters are slighly off. The dialog get a little repetitive during combat as it's evident that there is only a limited set of phrases to pull from.

Production — Good (8/10)

The game is well assembled and doesn't show any rough edges and the inclusion of footage from the film is a nice touch for some of the cutscenes.

Difficulty — Medium (5/10)

I only really had trouble at two points in the game, fairly early where I haden't upped my characters stats enough, and at the end of the game for the same reason.

Violence — Heavy (7/10)

While there is a lot of violence, it is all bloodless and mostly aimed towards robots and faceless clone troopers.

Overall — Fun (8/10)

I highly recommend this for any Star Wars fan, especially if you like fighting games.