Introduction
Sly 2: Band of Thieves is a game made by Sucker Punch and released in 2004 on the Playstation 2. It is the sequel to the first game (that Seperoth and I made an LP of here) and is what I like to call "If Sly Cooper 1 had a bigger budget". Thankfully, the first game was popular and sold well enough to become one of Playstations "Greatest Hits"-games, which meant Sucker Punch got enough money to revamp a lot of things.
Like, what exactly?
Well for starters, while controlling Sly is about the same as before, the gameplay in general is more about free-roaming than being in a hub and going to different levels hunting for keys and clue bottles. As such, the hub levels are much bigger and have a greater variety in enemies and sneaking. The missions are also more centered around stealth rather than platforming and Sly has some new moves to show that off. Speaking of Sly, while he is still the central focus in the plot, his friends Bentley and Murrary get a lot more time in the spotlight, both in terms of story and in gameplay. In fact, they are fully playable this time around, getting a moveset and everything!
Awesome!
There's more! The skills you obtain in this game are actually useful from a gameplay perspective and not just to collect for 100% completion, there's a health bar instead of the thieves being one-hit kills and there's a pickpocketing mechanic! You know, like a game about thieving should have! Also, as the controls haven't changed that much, it's not too hard to start this game right after the first game, even though they introduce a lot of new things.
Serperoth is with me like before and there will be cut and uncut versions, cut is without commentary over cutscenes while uncut is with. Also do hold on to the spoiler talk, although if you feel like talking about future events, please do so in spoiler tags. Do note that this is being played on the HD rerelease of the game, which means glorious 720p and some minor issues in presentation... like backgrounds not covering the whole screen for example. With that said and done, let's play Sly 2: Band of Thieves!
Part 0: Prologue (A Shadow From The Past) (Uncut Version)
Part 1: Photo Shoot (Uncut Version)
Part 2: Make Way For Murray (Uncut Version)
Part 3: Bentley's Time to Shine (Uncut Version)
Part 4: Dimitri's Deadly Dance-Off (Uncut Version)
Part 5: One Night in India (Uncut Version)
Part 6: Rhythm Thief (Uncut Version)
Part 7: Elephant Brawl (Uncut Version)
Part 8: Foxtrotting (Uncut Version)
Part 9: Welcome to the Jungle (Uncut Version)
Part 10: Let Sleeping Tigers Lie (Uncut Version)
Part 11: Flushing Out the Tiger (Uncut Version)
Part 12: Rage of Rajan (Uncut Version)
Part 13: Hack-breaking (Uncut version)
Part 14: Working Hard For Hippos (Uncut Version)
Part 15: Jailhouse Rage (Uncut Version)
Part 16: Mind of War (Uncut Version)
Part 17: Ghost-hunters (Uncut version)
Part 18: Tanks To Meet You (Uncut Version)
Part 19: Contessa's Menacing Mind Games (Uncut Version)
Part 20: Cabin Crashers (Uncut Version) (A Talk Between Villains)
Part 21: Spice Flight (Uncut Version)
Part 22: Cubnapping (Uncut Version)
Part 23: Dead Freight (Uncut Version)
Part 24: Up Further North (Uncut Version)
Part 25: Tanks for the Lasers (Uncut Version)
Part 26: Way of the Cheater (Uncut Version)
Part 27: Brains, Brawns and Bisons (Uncut Version)
Part 28: Learning to Fly (Uncut Version)
Part 29: Engine Destruction (Uncut Version)
Part 30: Signaled Showdown (Uncut Version)
Part 32: Bonus Special (Cartoon Opening without commentary)
Le Chasse Des Bouteilles (Paris Bottle Hunt)
World's Second Most Populous Bottle Country (India Bottle Hunt)
Jungle Bottle Fall (Jungle Bottle Hunt)
Breaking Out the Bottle Hunt (Prison Bottle Hunt)
Spooky Scary Bottle Hunt (Castle Bottle Hunt)
Bottle Hunt Choo Choo (Canadian Bottle Hunt)
Ice Cold Bottle Hunt (Lumberjack Camp Bottle Hunt)
Mile High Bottle Hunt (Airship Bottle Hunt)
Name: Sly Cooper
The thief and leader of the Cooper Gang. Was brought up from a loooong line of thieves, but on the day that he was supposed to inherit all the thieving skills from his father, the Fiendish Five led by Clockwerk appeared, killed his family and ripped page after page away from the Thievious Racconus, the master book of thieving as passed down through the Cooper Clan. This meant that he was sent to an orphanage, where he would met his BFFs Bentley and Murray. He would later beat up all the members of the Fiendish Five and restore the glorious thieving book in the first game. Now, he's after the Clockwerk parts, but does he know what he's getting himself into when messing with the Klaww Gang?
Name: Bentley
The brains and explosives expert in the Cooper gang and one of Sly's best friends. Apparently just dropped off at the orphanage while still in an egg. In the first game, he was a bit of a snarky shut-in that besides telling us to jump and hit the circle button was mostly hiding in the van, until the end of the game, when he had to use his hacking skills in order to save Sly and Carmelita's life. This may have inspired him to try and be more brave, as he's now on the street and helps out the gang, but can his brains figure out what's up with the Klaww gang.
Name: Murray
The brawns and the getaway driver of the Cooper Gang. Also apparently just dropped of at the orphanage while still a child (please don't be an asshole to your children, they will not become master thieves). With a heart bigger than his posture, Murray probably felt that he didn't do enough in the first game, being a bit on the weak side, even if his courage came through in some of the missions. But after watching hours and hours of wrestling on the TV and probably tahnks to some comic books, Murray felt that it was time he took the matter into his own hands. So he started lifting weights, implementing many moves into his arsenal of destruction and managed to transform from a mere hippopotamus into "The Murray". But can his muscles stop the whatever the Klaww Gang is cooking?
Name: Carmelita Montoya Fox
Inspecor Carmelita, or Sly's love interest and furbait, is a member of the Interpol who's main mission seem to be capturing Sly Cooper... almost to an obssesive level. She is a capable cop, but she has never managed to capture anyone of the Cooper Gang and in her attempt to capture the ones who stole the Clockwerk parts, not only did she mistakenly believe that the Cooper Gang did it, she was also pared up with Constaple Neyla thanks to some higher-up forces. Will probably try to keep up with Sly & co, even if she has no idea of what's actually going on.
Name: Neyla
We don't know much about Neyla. She's a constaple. She's even more furbaitish than Carmelita, what with a whip and all. She was paired up with Inspector Fox, even if they don't trust each other. That's about it really.
Name: Clockwerk
Ex-leader of the Fiendish Five. Main villain and final boss of the first game. Was dropped into volcanic lava. Broken, battered, definitely not functioning... and yet, his parts still exist. Is it because of robust engineering or are there other powers at work? In any case, his (its?) existance still haunts Sly, as he was the one who ordered and killed Sly's parents, all to prove to the world that without the Thievious Racconus, the Cooper Clan is nothing. Thankfully, he was wrong, as Sly still became a master thief. But even when he's broken down, he can be made to cause problems in whatever thing the Klaww Gang is doing...
Name: Dimitri Lousteau
A French marine iguana who after being rejected by the art work, presumably for using a... very abstract painting style called "Kinetic Aesthetic" that involved him painting while swinging back and forth with a rope tied around his waist. He took this rejection very badly, thinking that all the art world want to see is old art. So he started forging old masterpieces as a way of punishing those with "bad taste." Controls a nightclub in Paris that pulls in all the youth and brings him lots of dosh... as if he needed much more, considering he counterfeits money by using the Clockwerk Tail Feathers as printing plates, creating an endless supply of fake money.
Name: Rajan
A Bengal Tiger who has grown up in the streets, going from rags to riches selling
Name: The Contessa
A Black Widow Spider and a high ranking officer of Interpol. Both Neyla and Carmelita works under her. When she still was a criminal psychology student, she apparently fell in love with and married a wealthy aristocrat... who shortly after the wedding died mysteriously, giving the Contessa loads of money and a home in Prague. With all her wealth, she opened up a rehab for criminals, where she used hypno-therapy to turn criminals into hard-working members of the society and subsequently, earning her the high place within Interpol. Not actually Transylvanian, rather, she is from the Czech Republic.
Name: Jean Bison
A Canadian Bison who owns half the trains in North America, which he uses to distribute spice with as part of the Klaww Gang. He actually comes from the gold rush days of 1852, but made the terrible decision to blow up the side of a mountain to get closer to the gold. The ensuing avalanche froze him solid up for 120 years until global warming heated him up and voile, here he is, cultivating all of Canada. He got half of the Clockwerk parts and uses three of them (the lungs and the stomach) to power his Iron Horse-trains, but keeps the last set (the talons) on his walking stick.
Name: Arpeggio
A parrot who's the mastermind and inventor of the Klaww Gang. Rides around in some sort of bird cage with wheels attached to it. Despite being a bird, Arpeggio can't actually fly, thanks to his wings being too small. Instead he put his mind at trying to find some way to soar the skies, eventually settling on an enormous blimp-airship thing. Arpeggio became chief inventor of the Klaww Gang at a very young age and has outfitted all his guards with weapons and probably jetpacks of his own, much to my annoyance. Has Clockwerk's Brain.