Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (2005) (video game) | Grouvee (2025)

A funnier last step in the trilogy *

This review is for the Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves - PlayStation 2 - United Kingdom (2005) release

The first Sly game was a more or less traditional 3D platformer game with some stealth mechanics. A simple but functional and fun game.The second one changed a lot, transporting the first game gameplay to bigger maps, with more stealth, different missions and Murray and Bentley as playable characters. But, to be honest, it wasn't always the funniest game.This third one had a simple main goal: to be funnier. For that purpose, it relays in more playable characters, more minigames and more different missions. Maybe it loses some of its original charm, but the final product give, indeed, more fun than Sly 2.Even so, the game feels like it needs a bigger step to the greatness, and it's a good game, but not as good as other platformer games could be.

There is not too much to say about graphics and music. Graphics are excellent as expected. The new characters' designs are pretty original too, and the new areas keep the characteristic Sly charm. The music is weak again, nothing remarkable here.

Those previously mentioned characters are a major newness. First time in history, Sly Cooper's gang will receive more members (other than Murray and Bentley) in order to enter in the Cooper's Chamber. The plot is more focused in episodic areas, in each one of them you have a mission, an antagonist to beat and a new member to recruit. Those new characters and the antagonists are mostly charming characters, but since the game focuses more on the new characters, the enemies lose the presence they had in Sly 1 and 2, with their cool backward story cinematic. And, due to the episodic format, there is no "main plot" until the very end, so the game's story is weaker than Sly 2's. Even so, in this occasion the gang will work together as we never saw in previous games, and that's cool.

In summary, Sly 3 is a good platformer game, and solve the major problem of the previous game: the fun factor. It has both flaws and wise choices. It's a good game, even an excellent one, but it could be better. If you liked Sly 1 or 2, you'll surely enjoy this one. If you didn't enjoy Sly 2 because you found it boring, maybe you can still enjoy this one. A good ending to a good trilogy, but I feel it could have been a game at the Ratchet or Jak level.