..Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time..

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The newest installment in this platform stealth series is officially known as Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, but also commonly as Sly Cooper 4. This game has been picked up by Sanzaru Games from Sucker Punch Productions, and Sanzaru previously ported the original games to the PlayStation 3.  Despite the new developer, the game picks up right where the last one left off.

Sly Cooper, the master thief raccoon from a long line of thieves, must reunite with his old gang to find the Thievius Raccoonus, a book chronicling Sly's family line. The book has been messed with in time, hence the subtitle of the game, and Sly with his pals must use their skills to get it back. Thieves in Time players will not only play as Sly himself, but also as Bentley, Murray, Carmelita Fox, and several of Sly's ancestors. Each one has their own talents, and all of them will be necessary to solve the mystery of who messed with Cooper's past.

Similar to past games, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time has the player sneaking around, avoiding obstacles and bad guys to get what he needs. While Sly will be able to navigate poles and ropes, jump across narrow platforms, and steal from guards, he will also wear costumes, which he earns as the game progresses; these costumes give him special abilities while wearing them. Sly will earn one costume per level. Some offer abilities such as armor that deflects fireballs or a Robin Hood outfit that lets Sly shoot arrows at targets to get rope lines; it will need to be worn in previous levels to get all the secrets and complete the level.

Another new thing in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will be secret masks. They will be hidden throughout the game as a collectable along with trophies, which unlike the past, they are to keep, not to sell on the thief net. Clue bottles make a reappearance as well, and if they are all found, they will unlock new abilities for all the characters, not just Sly.

There will be several worlds for Sly and his friends to explore and gather clues to the Thievius Raccoonus whereabouts. Some which have been confirmed are Feudal Japan and Medieval England. Others which have been leaked are Paris Prologue, Wild West, Stone Age Scotland, Arabia, and Paris Epilogue; there are also rumors of the Caribbean Sea, Ancient Egypt, and London.

Playing as one of Sly's ancestors looks to be very cool indeed; each one has their own moves, which they passed down in the Thievius Raccoonus history book.  When you play as Sir Galeth doing a rail slide, you will do it better than Sly ever could himself, plus you will jump from one character to another during gameplay.

Since this is a PlayStation 3 and PS Vita game and it features Cross-Play gamers will be able to start on one platform and jump to the other if they have both systems. From the sounds of it, Sanzaru Games has taken this franchise and made it better with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Despite the fact that an actual release date has not been announced, when it is released, this platform game looks to improve on this series.

Diane Brunner   Followdianebrunner I have been gaming since I was in high school, before it was acceptable for a girl to do it. I have been a writer for even longer. It's only natural the two would combine. I prefer RPGs, action/adventure, and strategy games, but I also play dancing, sports titles, and shooters.

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