Hands On: The Sly Collection

I’ll be the first to admit – I love platform games.  So it was with great excitement that I approached the area with The Sly Collection playing.  There is a fair chance you will already know whether you are getting this game or not – it appeals to a certain type of gamer.  It isn’t groundbreaking, and it won’t make your jaw drop – but it has one key factor that makes up for all of that; it is a lot of fun.

The level I played was comprised of some traditional jumping sections; some combat; some climbing and a fair bit of laser dodging.  The controls are good, although Sly could do with feeling a bit weightier.  Combat is basic, and is really just a case of mashing square over again – but thankfully the focus is on platforming.  Most importantly though is the fact that the camera behaved itself and can be controlled manually as well.

The 3D works really well, giving a sense of depth that really makes a difference to a platform game.  At first it’s a little off-putting – but a couple of minutes messing about and you’re all set.  The best example of the effect is when Sly is crawling through some ducts.  Peeking through the gaps reveals enemies below, and in the background, and because of the 3D you can actually judge where they are.  The graphics are bright and bold, and whilst they won’t be winning any awards, they certainly do the job admirably enough.

My only concern from the very short demo is the fact it might be too easy.  I was warned at the beginning that the particular level shown was a difficult one; however I breezed through it with no lives lost.

Still, even if it is easy – there are three full games to play.

19 Comments

  1. i’m sure people won’t complain about an easy platinum (or three?)

  2. Being easy doesn’t necessarily bother me, as long as there’s lots of fun to be had. My first play through on a game will normally be on easy mode anyway so i can enjoy the game for what it is without getting frustrated, then if i enjoyed it enough, and if there are trophies to be earned for playing through on harder difficulties, then i’ll give that a go. It’s not all about the challenge, gaming should primarily be fun for me.

    • easy mode? I didnt even know games had this mode… only time i used easy mode was uncharted when i was trying to get all the treasures….

      • How could you play uncharted on easy if you didn’t know that games had an easy mode?

      • Hum… That makes me unable to know that Normal Mode is… I made uncharted treasures on Hard. Then played it on Crushing.

  3. I think I’ll skip this one myself.

  4. This is probably a stupid question, but do 3d games like this work ok on a non 3d tv? Obviously, the graphics wouldn’t be 3d but would it be playable at all? Or is a 3d tv essential?

    • All 3D games have either a 2D copy on the disc or run in a 2D mode (like Avatar: The Game did)

      • Thanks cc_star! I’ll be getting this then, as I missed out first time and I hear the games are rather good. Thank (insert religious deity of preference) for Team TSA!

      • you guys are getting very touchy feely with all these hands on recently!

  5. Never played a Sly game vefore, so I’ll definitely be getting this one.

  6. I remember trying out a Sly game on the PS2 years ago. After considerable progress on a level I lost a life and it sent me back all the way to the beginning of the level, so I considered the Sly experience to be over right there and then. Maybe I missed out on something wonderful, I’ve always wondered since the Sly games seem to be quite popular…

  7. Can’t wait to play these, haven’t been on them in years!

  8. I’m also a big platforming fan and tried a few of the Sly games but they didn’t really appeal to me. I might pick it up at some point but i would prefer a remake of the first Jak and Daxter game.

  9. It was easy back in the day. Why would it be different now?

    Have it on pre-order.

  10. Never played these back in the ps2 era so will probably pick these up, Can somebody tell me the release date for this?

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