Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

[ScrambledBrains]

Now before I really write up the reason for this, (I.E. I'm mad about a certain element of the game.), I should first mention two things:

1. In general, I like this game. The plot is original, the new characters are fun as heck to play as, the new power-ups(the costumes) are entertaining, and I love the graphics.

2. I have played and beaten Sly's 1-3, and will beat this one, most likely. However, I may drop the series, due to the below irritant.

That irritant being...

WARNING: HEAVY SPOILERS TO FOLLOW! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE BEATEN THE GAME, OR ALREADY READ AHEAD ON THE PLOT!

Spoiler

Show

...Penelope.



Seriously? No, fricken seriously?! WTF, Sanzaru Games?! You take a sweet, gentle mouse girl with a flair for flying RC vehicles and tech, and make her a meglomaniac villainess who wants to sell her tech to the highest bidder?!



I mean, you could have done almost anything else...ANYTHING, and I would have prefered it to that complete and total character derailment. Oh, Heavens forbid the turtle gets to have a happy relationship, oh no, he gets to have his heart stomped on!



This is beyond messed up, it's messed up and stupid. It's a ridiculous angle that ruins an entire character and makes you look like sucky designers. It's lack of loyalty to source material. It's you all being uncreative douchebags.

In short, good work, you ignorant numbskulls.

[Komodo]

Ooo...kaaaay. I can see that you're a bit angered by this, Mr. Brains, and you have every right to be.

now I should mention that I have not in fact played Sly 4, although I did play 1-3. I read your spoiler, as such things do not bother me. I want to give a bit of rebuttal, however.

Spoiler

Show

Penelope. Oh, Penelope.

Please don't hate me for this, but when I read your post, I actually smiled.
I am a horrible person.

But look at it from my perspective: I hated that character to begin with.

Do you remember her introduction in Sly 3? She actually had a pretty cool intro: She worked behind the scenes at the fighter pilot competition to help Sly and the Gang, which I thought was weird, as she was helping them cheat but was supposedly loyal to the Baron, who ordered fair play. Then, it turned out she was the Baron the whole time! I actually found this a really cool twist, and looked forward to a character who was both able to fly planes expertly and was clearly stronger than she looked (she took on Sly in a fistfight! On the wing of a plane! While it was flying!)

And then she's completely useless.
Remember the helicopter scenes from Sly 2, which were top-down shooters and were fun? Now, we play with a flying grappling hook with horrible aim and no shooting. And her RV car? I can't imagine one area where it couldn't have been replaced with something else. Also, it's camera was too close and it handled horribly and flipped on a dime.

And also, she flirts with pretty much the entire male part of the team, including Murphy, for crying out loud, and playing with Bentley's heart like string kept out of reach from a cat.

Her crowning horribleness comes in at the pirate cove. This girl, who was a badass boxer pilot in her male disguise, suddenly is Princess Peach with a neon KIDNAP ME sign on her back. She opens the chest before Bentley gets back with his tools, springing the trap they both KNEW was there, and getting blinded. The main bad guy kidnaps her with the secret art of WALKING BEHIND HER AND NOT TOUCHING HER. And then when she finally gets off her rump and swordfights, it handles like my controller broke, and I die fifty times before figuring out how to block. While I got a feeling that their relationship was coming together, I never was certain of it, so I don't really see it as character derailment.

Bentley, however? I feel for him. He's been through some serious crap. He SINGLE-HANDEDLY rescued the team from that Spider-thing's prison in Sly 2, and at the end of that game was crippled and wheelchair-bound for his loyalty. If anyone deserved some tail after the gang's adventures, it would be him. Still, I hope he will find better than her.