Sony Computer Entertainment of America has struck gold with their recent batch of PlayStation 2 adventure/platformers, and Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus is not an exception. Sucker Punch Productions, most recently known for Rocket: Robot on Wheels for the Nintendo 64, really pulled out an amazing first PS2 game in Sly Cooper.

Sly Cooper was born into the world's greatest thieving family. On his eighth birthday, Sly is presented with the "Thievius Raccoonus," an ancient thieving instruction guide passed down through his family for generations. Later that evening, a gang of ruthless villains breaks into his harmonious home to steal the valuable heirloom. As Sly watches in terror, the intruders overpower his father and split the "Thievius Raccoonus" into pieces, which they divide between themselves. Ten years later, Sly is out to steal the Thievius Raccoonus back and reclaim what is rightfully his. He enlists the help of his gadget genius pal, Bentley, and his big eager friend Murray, and the trio embark on a quest to help Sly prove he is the world's greatest thief and to restore honor to his family's name.

Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus is part stealth, part platformer, and all fun. The mixture of elements works really well, especially when coupled with the cool comic book-style visuals, top-notch voiceovers and music, and excellent level designs. The humorous animated cutscenes do wonders for pushing the game and levels along, and you really feel like the various missions have a valid reason behind them. The main characters all have a great deal of personality, and the voice work is superior to even most decent Saturday morning cartoons.

Sly has a number of interesting moves at his disposal, which grows as the game goes on and more pages of the Thievius Raccoonus are reclaimed. The hooked cane he wields is an all purpose tool which is used to attack, break open objects, latch onto and climb poles, or swing from hanging structures. Certain master thief maneuvers, such as sneaking around structures or railsliding can be performed in areas indicated with faint purple particles. Most of these moves are performed by pressing the 'O' button, which "locks" Sly to that particular structure for the moment while he navigates it. It really takes the frustration out of missing a narrow landing or messing up a complicated jump, and is an excellent control feature I'd like to see in future games.

The levels are broken down by theme, each of which corresponds to one of the five thieves who broke up the Thievius Racoonus. The missions in each level consist of Sly having to gather enough treasure keys to unlock the entryway to the respective boss thief of that stage. A level may consist of a simple "get from point A to point B and collect the key" scenario, or maybe something much, much different. There are points which Sly must pilot a vehicle with a cannon, or act as a sniper in a first person mode and provide cover-fire while Murray works his way to a key, or even race around a track in Murray's van. The variety is much appreciated, and almost all those alternate stages are fun to play in an old-school gameplay way.

Visually, Sucker Punch really outdid themselves with Sly Cooper. The cel-shaded graphics are stylish, and work very well with the game's theme and animated comic book story scenes. The levels are pretty large and are all around well textured and solid looking. There are a few areas which cause the framerate to chug and the resolution to drop, but most of the time it doesn't interfere with gameplay. The game has just enough special effects and lighting to satisfy most people, but it is the style that really gives Sly Cooper a unique look and feel.

If the game had one flaw, it would have to be its length. I personally prefer a somewhat shorter, enjoyable game, but gamers looking for a substantial 20+ hour game should look elsewhere. Playing through to the end and finding 75% of everything will not take more than 6 or 7 hours unfortunately. It will take a few hours more to find all the goodies and unlock more moves and videoclips, but not much more. To their credit, Sony still has most of their first party published games, such as Sly Cooper, retailing at $39.99.

Sony really has a winner with Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus. The character has style, the game presents some unique gameplay concepts, and most importantly, it is fun to play. With the huge amount game games released for the Holiday season, the game may unfortunately become lost in the chaos. I expect that Sucker Punch is already working on a sequel; Hopefully one which doesn't end so quickly.