Subject: Sly Cooper : Band Of Thieves (Image and Video) Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:57 am
Roxas wrote:
Some image may be subject to copyright.
Sly 2 Band of Thieves is a PlayStation 2 video game by Sucker Punch and SCEA released in 2004. This title is a sequel to the game Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus and part of the Sly Cooper video game series.
The sequel has a variety of changes, particularly in level design, in which the ultimate goal, a "vault," occurs not per level, but per "world". Also, it takes more than one hit to kill both the Sly and the opponent. Other changes include the ability to control not only Sly, but also Bentley and Murray, who are given more skills as compensation, able to do much more than their more limited persons in the previous game. However, Sly remains the central focus and character despite these changes to character roles. Finally, new skills can be bought at a 'safehouse', as well as being unlocked by opening safes hidden in each world.
Music for the game was composed by Peter McConnell.
STORY Two years after Sly Cooper unsuccessfully defeated Clockwerk for the Thievius Raccoonus in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly, Bentley, and Murray are back by robbing the Egyptian Museum of Natural History of the Clockwerk parts, which are being displayed there. As they make it to the exhibition, Sly discovers that the parts have already been stolen. Just then, Inspector Carmelita Fox and her new partner, Constable Neyla, ambush and confront Sly. Though Carmelita believes that Sly and his gang already stole the parts, Neyla remarks that all evidence actually points to it being the work of an international crime ring known as the Klaww Gang. In the ensuing argument, Carmelita notices Sly escaping, and pursues him and his gang, who narrowly escape in their team van.
After they dodge Carmelita, Sly then retraces his history with Clockwerk, and stresses the danger of them and what may happen if they reassemble the parts. After arriving in Paris to steal the Clockwerk tail feathers from an art forger and nightclub owner named Dimitri, Sly discovers he is using them to print counterfeit money. During the heist, Constable Neyla aids them, claiming that, unlike Carmelita, she sees the threat that Clockwerk poses. After pulling off some jobs to shut down security in Dimitri's nightclub, Sly then confronts Dimitri and battles him for the Clockwerk Tail Feathers. Sly wins the battle, sending Dimitri's operation into ruins and Clockwerk's Tail Feathers into the hands of Sly. Just then, Carmelita and Neyla arrive on the scene, shutting down the nightclub and imprisoning Dimitri.
The Cooper gang's next heist is to steal the Clockwerk wings from an illegal spice trader named Rajan, who lives in the palaces of India. Sly sneaks into Rajan's party he is hosting and discovers that he is only using the Clockwerk wings for a decoration on his statue. He also discovers that all of the other Klaww gang members (except for Dimitri), Carmelita, and Neyla are attending his party. After Sly sneaks into the ballroom and dances with Neyla to make Carmelita accept a dance to distract the crowd from Murray sawing the Clockwerk wings off, Sly then dances with Carmelita. After Murray has sawed the Clockwerk wings off the statue, Rajan discovers they have been stolen and the Cooper gang runs from the party. Carmelita then blows her cover and starts making arrests, which forces Rajan to flee his own party, and his home.
The Cooper gang's next heist is to find Rajan in the jungles of India to retrieve the Clockwerk heart, in which the gang finds out he is using half of the Clockwerk heart to grow the illegal spice, and the other half of which he is carrying on his staff. When Sly runs into Neyla again, he is shown the way into the spice growing facility, which leads him to pickpocket the keys to the winch that is holding one half of the Clockwerk heart. After that, more jobs are pulled off, and after meeting up with Sly, Rajan knocks him out while Murray confronts him and battles him, ultimately winning. Just then, Carmelita, Neyla, and the Contessa show up, placing Rajan, Sly, and Murray under arrest by Neyla and the Contessa. Neyla then shows a photo of Carmelita dancing with Sly the night the Clockwerk wings were stolen, making it appear as though she had aided them. Carmelita, Sly, Murray and Rajan are then hauled off to prison as Bentley watches in horror.
Bentley then must jailbreak Sly and Murray out from a prison in the outskirts of Prague of which Contessa is the warden. After discovering that the Contessa is actually a member of the Klaww gang, who uses hypnotherapy to steal the amassed fortunes of her criminals, Bentley then frees Sly easily and they eventually rescue Murray after pulling off some hard jobs. Murray then reveals he kept the other half of the Clockwerk heart safe during his imprisonment. The Contessa then shows up and finds out Murray has been freed, so she escapes on her blimp to another part of the city.
After the gang is reunited, they seek revenge on Contessa to steal the Clockwerk eyes, which the Contessa is using to hypnotize Carmelita, who is held captive in Contessa's castle estate. The gang then discovers that Neyla and the Contessa are at war, where tanks and fighter planes patrol the area. When the gang pulls off some jobs, they free Carmelita while she chases after the Contessa. Sly and Bentley then grab one of the Clockwerk eyes, with Neyla grabbing the other. Sly chases after Neyla and retrieves the other eye from her, but the Contessa confronts him and the two duel, with Sly winning. The Contessa is then arrested for her crime she committed while working for Interpol and Neyla is promoted for Contessa's capture.
The Cooper gang's next target is a Canadian spice shipper named Jean Bison, who had been cryonically preserved in an avalanche during the Canadian Gold Rush. The Cooper gang then discovers he is in possession of four Clockwerk parts: the lungs, the stomach and talons. The lungs and stomach are being used on three Iron Horse trains to ship the illegal spice all over North America, while the talons are used to cut down entire forests. So the gang breaks into the trains and steals all three of the parts. They end up destroying Jean-Bison's spice shipments, which forces him to flee.
After tracking down Jean Bison's new location at a lumber camp in Northern Canada, Sly then tells the gang that Jean Bison was talking with Klaww Gang associate Arpeggio, who was due to pick up a northern lights battery from Jean Bison, and it is mentioned that Arpeggio has the Clockwerk brain. After pulling off some jobs that involved draining the northern lights battery, they then compete in the lumber jack games for Jean Bison's Clockwerk talons, in which Jean Bison has placed as a trophy to attract competition. After they are discovered cheating, Jean Bison throws the Clockwerk talons at them, knocking them unconscious, and holding them up in his sawmill. When Bentley confronts Jean Bison, he tells Bentley that he found their safehouse and sold all the Clockwerk parts to Arpeggio, which forces Bentley to battle Jean Bison. He wins and all three of them escape into the northern lights battery, which the team is forced to sacrifice the team van.
After arriving on Arpeggio's blimp, Sly discovers that Clockwerk has been re-assembled and that Neyla had been working with Arpeggio the whole time. When Sly confronts the two, Arpeggio then tells Sly that the northern lights battery was to be used to release a hypnotic light show over Paris, which will then cause the citizens to go into a fit of rage in combination with the illegal spice sold at Dimitri's nightclub. Arpeggio plans to fuse with the Clockwerk frame, viewing it as the secret to immortality, and use said rage to live forever just as Clockwerk became immortal via his hatred of the Cooper Clan. Neyla, overhearing how she double crossed everybody, suddenly betrays Arpeggio and takes over Clockwerk, crushing and killing Arpeggio. She then names herself and Clockwerk Clock-La. The gang then pulls off some hard jobs, with the last one involving Sly and Carmelita shooting down Clock-La. After shooting her down, she crashes into the engine and destroys the blimp, scattering it in pieces all over the sky. Sly, who was separated from Bentley and Murray, glides over to save them, combats with Clock-la and crash-lands in Paris. Bentley then finds out about the hate chip that can kill Clock-La, so he removes it, only to have himself paralyzed after the beak shuts down on his legs. Carmelita then destroys the hate chip and kills Neyla and Clockwerk forever. She puts Sly under arrest but leaves Bentley and Murray because they were in no condition for arrest. On the police helicopter, Sly and Carmelita then talk and she brings a bottle of champagne for the occasion, but the gang hot-wired the helicopter to fly around the city, making his escape route.
At the end, it is revealed that Carmelita walks into her office and finds the champagne bottle and Sly's calling card. It is then revealed that Dimitri became a dance instructor on a cruise ship, Rajan started selling carpets in North America, the Contessa became a realtor (hypnotizing her customers), and Jean-Bison went on a mission to save baby penguins, only yet to be frozen.
NEW FEATURES Sly 2: Band of Thieves brings several new gameplay elements into the fold. In addition to Sly, the player can play as Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo. Bentley follows a more Cloak and Dagger approach to stealth. He can't climb poles or jump very far but he is equipped with a sleeper dart crossbow and countdown bombs to subdue and defeat enemies one-by-one or sabotage enemy equipment. He can use his computer skills to hack villain's computers, bringing the player to a top-down shooter-like mini-game. Murray is much more direct. His brute strength allows him to take on groups of strong enemies by himself with powerful hooks and upper cuts. He can pick up objects and enemies to throw around and his thunder flop can stun and destroy enemies. His strength allows him to help the gang with heavy duty tasks.
Each character now has a health bar and a special bar. Health is diminished every time the character gets attacked or hits a hazard etc. If it is depleted the player must restart any current mission and respawn at another location. The orange mana bar depletes whenever a character uses a gadget move (some gadgets don't require mana use). If it hits zero, manual gadgets moves can not be used (things like the paraglider, trigger bomb, feral pounce, etc. don't require mana and can be used even after the mana bar runs out). Some gadgets must be purchased in order to complete certain missions.
Missions are now connected to a main hub of the location Sly and the Gang are operating. A safehouse located in the hub is where the player can choose what character to use and get away from pursuing guards. This hub can range from a city to a lumber camp in the wilderness. Enemies prowl around this area although its usually a secluded spot, and there are no objectives until a character arrives at a mission beacon.
Another new feature is pickpocketing. When Sly sneaks up behind an enemy, he can reach out with his cane and grab coins out of their money pouch. The coins come in clusters, and they go directly to Sly's coin count. He does not need to pick them up. If there is an aura around an enemy's coin pouch, they are carrying an item. Once Sly gets all of their coins, he can grab the enemy's item and sell it later back at the safehouse. Murray and Bentley can't pickpocket in this game, although the ability is available to them in Sly 3.
Most powerups and extra moves are now bought from the safehouse instead of safes. Using collected coins, Sly can buy powerups from an in-game online store for each character. Sly's powerups focus on stealth, Murray's on power, and Bentley's on gadgets. Most powerups need to be assigned to a button, but some give a constant effect. Items stolen from guards can be sold for money in the safehouse to help fund for upgrades. Special upgrades and moves can be found after a number of clue bottles are found in the main hub and a hidden safe is unlocked with the code. Certain valuables can be found around the field and can be stolen then sold at the safehouse for a large amount of money; this can range from portraits to vases, etc.
The game also makes use of the Playstation 2's optional USB microphone allowing the player to use the sound of their voice to distract and attract in-game enemies. This in turn adds a new twist to the stealth elements, as the player has to refrain from noises such as talking or coughing or risk creating in-game noise. This feature first appeared in the game Manhunt,[citation needed] which was released a year earlier.
---Screenshots
- Don't get in those spotlights - Playing as Murray - Bently's explosives
---Videos
- Trailer E3 2004 - Commercial - Sly Cooper Band of Theives pt.1 (Commentary w/walkthrough)
- Don't get in those spotlights
- Playing as Murray
- Bently's explosives