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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're investigating a break-in.
00:12Someone has cracked open Sony's vault, and we're suddenly missing one of the brand's
00:17most valuable IP.
00:19Now we have to ask ourselves, what ever happened to Sly Cooper?
00:31Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:35Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:40Prior to Sly's debut, Sucker Punch Productions didn't have much going for itself.
00:48The studio's only game was a 3D platformer on the Nintendo 64 called Rocket Robot on
00:53Wheels.
00:54Though the game itself was merely serviceable, Rocket succeeded in demonstrating Sucker
00:59Punch's technical prowess not just in visuals, but in physics as well.
01:04The way objects would bend and react to the player's interactions were unlike anything
01:08the industry had seen at the time.
01:10Rocket Robot on Wheels would be a critical success, but ultimately it was a commercial
01:15failure.
01:23Sucker Punch Productions began work on their next game, another 3D platformer, but starring
01:27a raccoon sporting a thief mask instead of a one-wheeled robot.
01:31In their efforts to secure funding as soon as possible, they approached Sony Interactive
01:35Entertainment, who had previously declined to publish Rocket Robot on Wheels during Sucker
01:39Punch's infancy.
01:49However, the early concepts of what would become Sly Cooper were enough for Sony to
01:54give them the green light, despite Sucker Punch still being an unproven studio.
01:58Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus launched in North America on September 24, 2002, and
02:04it was met with wide critical acclaim.
02:06While the story and voice acting was hit or miss with some players, and the camera was
02:10a bit of a hassle to deal with in some levels, the cel-shaded visuals and stealth-focused
02:14gameplay helped it stand out from the 3D platformer market.
02:18Sly Cooper himself was also quickly being identified as a new face of PlayStation despite
02:23the PlayStation 2 only being just a couple of years old at this point.
02:27Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus would be frequently awarded accolades by various
02:31outlets at the time, between Best PS2 Game and Best Platformer.
02:36Sales-wise, the game alone would sell more than 800,000 copies before the end of 2006.
02:49It wasn't long before we saw the release of Sly 2 Band of Thieves in 2004, with Sly
02:543 on or among Thieves the following year.
03:00Both titles received even more praise for their open-world formats, as well as the inclusion
03:04of different playable characters like Bentley and Murray, who had minor supporting roles
03:08in the first game.
03:10Unfortunately, this would be the last time Sucker Punch Productions worked on anything
03:14related to Sly Cooper.
03:21Things started looking a little bit rocky when Sony hired Sanzaru Games to remaster
03:26all three Sly games for the PlayStation 3.
03:28Prior to this, Sanzaru's only experience in porting or remastering a game in any capacity
03:34was the PS2 version of Secret Agent Clank, a game many Ratchet and Clank fans deem as
03:43the worst in the franchise.
03:45Though Sanzaru did a decent job overall, the Sly collection drew the ire of some fans.
03:52Many assets remained untouched, making the games look weird with the new 16-9 aspect
03:57ratio.
03:58In our context, the original games were made with 4-3 in mind only.
04:01On top of that, rhythm-based sections such as the boss fight against Ms. Ruby were out
04:06of sync with their music, making them much more difficult than they were before.
04:10Even with these mistakes, some fans stuck around long enough and uncovered a secret
04:14announcement within the Sly collection.
04:16Sanzaru was making a fourth Sly game.
04:20Sly Cooper Thieves in Time launched in North America on February 5th, 2013, and unbeknownst
04:25to anyone, this would be the final time we would ever see Sly and the gang as the game
04:31would become a critical and commercial failure.
04:34But was Thieves in Time truly the culprit in bringing the entire IP down, or has the
04:39resentment towards it simply been a case of bad word of mouth?
04:49To properly answer this question, we actually played through Sly Cooper Thieves in Time
04:54in its entirety.
04:56Upon starting the game, one can already see the frustration diehard fans might have had
05:00just from the game's existence.
05:08Sly 3 had already closed things off rather beautifully with the Thievius Raccoonus being
05:12safe for good, and the gang having gone their separate ways to finally chase their own dreams
05:17and ambitions.
05:18This alone would indicate that there is no reason to continue the story without getting
05:23surreal.
05:24And that's how Thieves in Time starts off on the wrong foot.
05:27Thieves in Time explains that after the events of Sly 3, the Thievius Raccoonus had suddenly
05:32started seeing its pages vanish, prompting Bentley to track down Sly and Murray.
05:37Bentley then reveals he already has a plan in figuring out who is causing this, and it
05:41involves time travel.
05:52Let's pause here and acknowledge that, in Senzaru's defense, this is not the most
05:56absurd thing we have seen in the Sly franchise.
06:04We spent two whole games fending off a giant robot bird whose heart is fueled by a deep
06:09hatred for the Cooper family.
06:11That's already ridiculous enough.
06:13We spent a whole other game fighting a mad scientist who hated Sly's family just because
06:18Connor Cooper didn't treat him as good of a friend as he thought he was.
06:22And we even fought a fat alligator lady that could shoot out PlayStation's own sacred
06:26symbols.
06:27In terms of concept, time travel is beyond the most absurd thing we've seen here.
06:37In a narrative sense though, it does make Thieves in Time seem like an excuse to try
06:41and milk cash from fans one last time.
06:44Time travel has often been the first sign of any movie, TV show, book, or game jumping
06:49the shark.
06:50The story is out of ideas to keep itself engaging, but we don't want it to end.
06:54How do we justify the continuation?
06:56Easy.
06:57We defy all laws of time and space and just go nuts even if it makes no sense to the story
07:02anymore.
07:03That said, if you are someone who plays video games like Sly primarily for story and lore,
07:08the intro alone might be off-putting to you.
07:11At the end of the day though, Thieves in Time is a video game.
07:20So can the game pick itself up in gameplay to make up for the ludicrous premise?
07:24Well, it all depends on which of the previous Sly games you prefer.
07:29While there is a case to be made for Sly 3 being the better game, many regard Sly 2 the
07:33best in the franchise for a few reasons.
07:36For starters, every region you visited featured unique landmarks and paths that could serve
07:41as potential escape routes in certain missions.
07:44There was a bit of emergent gameplay here in how players could form speedy pathways
07:48with rails and power lines to grind across, awnings to bounce off of, and hiding spots
07:52to crawl under.
07:53On top of that, you had more freeform activities to take on between missions.
07:58Want a break from the main mission?
08:00Well, there are some special treasures hiding in the area that could net you some extra
08:03cash.
08:11You could also spend some time hunting for all of the clue bottles of the area and unlock
08:15special abilities to make jobs easier.
08:18And this all goes without mentioning the varied mission structure, which gave players the
08:22opportunity to take control of Murray and Bentley for more combat or puzzle-heavy jobs
08:27respectively.
08:28Sly 2 was essentially a game that had a litany of creative ideas and executed them rather
08:33well.
08:34This is where gameplay-centric players might be confused about the intense hatred Thieves
08:38in Time receives.
08:39Whereas Sly 3 removed aspects like the message bottles and got a little too crazy with the
08:44multiple playable characters, Thieves in Time reels it in with the same scope as Sly 2 and
08:49integrates ideas from both sequels.
08:51Even though most of your time is spent playing Sly, you still have jobs that will require
08:55you to play as Murray, Bentley, and even Carmelita Fox.
08:59Some jobs even give you control over Sly's ancestors.
09:03Thieves in Time also brings back bottles to encourage thorough exploration between missions.
09:16Speaking of exploration, Thieves in Time boasts a diverse roster of locations from across
09:21various time periods.
09:23This was one feature that, for some reason, was enough for some folks to dismiss Thieves
09:27in Time as Sony copying Assassin's Creed.
09:37Guess who went to Japan first though?
09:39Even if that was the case, the visuals and level design for places like Japan, Arabia,
09:45and the American frontier made these locations feel like new despite them being frequently
09:49used and reused across other gaming franchises.
09:53Jumping back to gameplay, there was one noticeable strength in Thieves in Time that the game
09:56simply does not get enough credit for.
09:59The boss battles.
10:00In previous Sly games, bosses were often fairly easy or way too simple to be engaging.
10:05They weren't awful necessarily, but they weren't super impressive either.
10:14Sly 1 had bosses akin to Crash Bandicoot, Sly 2 took things a step further with bigger
10:19runes and more direct confrontation with bosses, Sly 3 further expanded upon them by
10:25making them multi-phased fights that mixed in minigames every now and then.
10:30Thieves in Time, on the other hand, fits the bill in how people seem to strive for challenging
10:34games within the last several years.
10:36It isn't enough to just smack El Jefe a few times, you have to watch his attacks while
10:40traversing to the next phase of the fight.
10:42It's a blend of combat abilities and platforming prowess, which is a lot trickier to perform
10:47when parts of the stage are collapsing or if you're trying to dodge waves of projectiles.
10:57All that said, as a video game, there is a lot of love, passion, and creativity on display
11:03in Thieves in Time.
11:05So is the concept of time travel really so abhorrent that it single-handedly destroys
11:10any ounce of imagination in this game?
11:13Well, there is one part of this game that really frustrated fans, and that is… the
11:19ending.
11:20For those who aren't aware, Thieves in Time ends with one of the most infuriating and
11:24unnecessary cliffhangers in video games.
11:26That's no hyperbole, either.
11:35The introduction of time travel already told fans, we know we don't need to continue
11:39Sly's story, but we're going to do it anyways, which is enough to anger any fanbase
11:44satisfied with the story.
11:45However, Senzaru took it a step further, and simply ended the game unresolved.
11:51Sly is lost to time, with his friends left wondering what happened to him.
11:56The villain is defeated, and the Thievius Raccoonus is safe once again, but our hero?
12:01Why open the book again if you're just going to leave it unfinished?
12:06Well, we all know the answer to that.
12:08You gotta leave it open for a sequel.
12:10And so, despite the improvements in gameplay and the way it blended elements of all three
12:14games together, Thieves in Time went down as the worst game in the franchise.
12:22This is normally where the story would end, but we beg to differ.
12:26See, when it comes to Thieves in Time and how it supposedly killed the franchise, no
12:30one seems to stop and wonder about potential outside factors.
12:35I am!
12:36No thanks to you!
12:37I should leave you in that cage after what you pulled, Sly Cooper!
12:41Should we really blame Thieves in Time and Thieves in Time alone for Sly's disappearance?
12:46Or is it possible the game was more of a victim of circumstance than we as fans like to believe?
12:52We need to consider this because, as we mentioned earlier, Thieves in Time was released in early
12:572013, which was an interesting period for Sony.
13:01The PlayStation 3 was on the up and up after spending several years floundering in sales.
13:05Plus, Sony's first party games were finally ramping up with unique titles.
13:10But the biggest turning point for Sony in 2013 was the soon-to-be-released PlayStation
13:154 console.
13:16While the PS4 wasn't shown until June of that year at E3, Sony came out right before
13:21Thieves in Time launched to mention upcoming events regarding, quote, the future of PlayStation,
13:27end quote.
13:28That kind of talk almost always indicates the announcement of new hardware.
13:36It also indicates to players that you, as a company, are pretty much finished with your
13:41current product, which is going to lead to low sales for future products made for soon-to-be-discontinued
13:47hardware.
13:49Customers are going to choose to save up for the next big thing instead of buying a bunch
13:52of small pieces for a now-old toy.
13:55And Thieves in Time was not the only Sony exclusive to see this dip in revenue.
14:01Puppeteer was another title published by Sony that performed abysmally in sales despite
14:06positive reception from players and critics.
14:09It's also worth mentioning that 2013 was a year heavily stacked with big releases,
14:13each coming out weeks apart from each other.
14:16The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, and Grand Theft Auto V are just a few of those titles.
14:21And for as much as us fans cherish Sly, we have to be honest and say that Our Raccoon
14:26doesn't stand a chance against a new IP from Naughty Dog, the long-awaited sequel
14:30of a Ken Levine game, and, you know, GTA.
14:34Sure, the Sly franchise has sold a few million units, but it's never been as big as we
14:39pretend it to be, not even when compared to many other PlayStation IPs like Ratchet & Clank,
14:44God of War, and Uncharted.
14:49When each game from those IPs is selling more than the total sales of the entire Sly franchise,
14:55what reason does Sony have in revisiting this IP?
14:58So perhaps Thieves in Time is not the reason why Sly failed.
15:02Perhaps the reason we haven't had a new game since 2013 is because Sony now has different
15:06expectations, and those new standards came at really inconvenient times for Sly, Sony,
15:13and Sanzaru games.
15:14Speaking of Sanzaru, did the studio really mess up the story?
15:18Yes, there are plenty of arguments to be made there.
15:26But when you look at the game itself, Thieves in Time really isn't this horrible monstrosity
15:30like some paint it to be.
15:32Thieves in Time boasts a lot of excellent ideas and expands upon previous ones really
15:37well.
15:38It's just a shame that a bad concept, a bad ending, and equally awful release timing
15:42led to it being labeled as this humiliating trip-up from PlayStation.
15:47Could it have succeeded better as a PS4 launch title?
15:49Maybe, but it's a case of shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't.
15:57Since Thieves in Time, we've seen Sly pop up in rather odd ways, as if Sony really does
16:02want the franchise to live on in some way.
16:05There was that teaser for an animated movie we saw in 2014, only for it to never be spoken
16:09of again.
16:10Then there was the announcement for the animated television series in 2017, only for it to
16:15never be spoken of again.
16:17But in June 2024, the very first Sly game was brought to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation
16:215, and it was even among the best-selling games on PlayStation Network for a few weeks.
16:26So could Sly Cooper live on?
16:28It's a possibility, but with Sucker Punch Productions moving on to bigger pastures with
16:32Ghost of Yotei, the question is, who takes the reins now?
16:36Sanzaru Games got acquired by Facebook in 2020, so they're most likely off the table.
16:47Really, anything can happen for the ring-tailed thief now.
16:50We only hope that if Sly ever returns, the new developers don't repeat the same mistakes
16:54made with Thieves in Time.