Over three years ago Sly Cooper and the gang returned in high definition on the PS3 thanks to the efforts of Sanzaru Games, and now the studio has taken to bringing the first three adventures of the thieving raccoon to the Vita. It was also a chance for me to revisit one of my favourite series from the PlayStation 2 era, from which fond memories grew. Did those memories remain intact, or has a reunion with Sly, Bentley, and Murray been one to forget?

To answer that question I’m going to say those memories were actually improved upon, because The Sly Trilogy on Vita may just be the best port I’ve personally had the pleasure of playing. Visually, all three games in the collection just look fantastic, and if you didn’t already know this trilogy had come out of PS2 you’d swear these were originally made for the PS3 and Vita.

Everything looks so sharp and smooth at the same time, with a large palette of colours spread across the various locations of the world in which Sly does his stealing. There were as far as I could tell no frame rate issues with actions from jumping across rooftops, to fighting groups of enemies all flowing naturally.

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The sound work is also well done with the character voices sounding great and full of personality, the music playing along in the background adding to the atmosphere, and the sound effects being very good. My personal favourites were the moments where the word ‘Thwack’ would appear with a musical note in Sly 2 and 3 after an enemy was dispatched. It reminded me of the old Adam West Batman TV series, which never took itself too seriously.

In fact the joyful thing about The Sly Trilogy is that they don’t take themselves seriously, with humorous moments and some slapstick. However, that isn’t to say there aren’t serious moments in the script too, and those are handled just as well. It even plays out like a TV show or cartoon as each stage is presented as its own episode with missions contained within. It’s here where things do look a bit dated as the animated cut scenes can be quite pixelated at times. It doesn’t detract from the experience but it does serve as a reminder that the games are a decade old.

Playing through the trilogy also shows what big changes occurred throughout, with the most notable being how stages were set up. In Sly Raccoon & The Thievius Raccoonus, the first game, each stage has seven small missions at the end of which you receive a key. These keys unlock areas on the stage hub and once you got all seven you can start the boss fight. While each boss was different, this formula made things a bit predictable, even if you’d have sections where you had a race or had a shooting gallery to help Murray get to the end of a level. There are also one hit deaths unless you find magnets that allow you to take an extra hit.

The next two games essentially dropped that formula, and it’s in these games where the gang plans and execute heists in different locations. You’re presented with larger hubs to explore and you can switch between characters to complete different objectives, though having to run back to base each time you wanted to change could be a pain. You also have life bars instead of one hit deaths.

Playing through these titles also showed how much of an influence they appear to have had not only on Sucker Punch’s inFamous series, but the likes of Assassin’s Creed too. Walking along lines suspended over streets, climbing buildings to get a better vantage point, following and eavesdropping on enemies, rooftop guards to avoid or fight. All of these are present in the Sly 2 and 3.

The Vita version does have some of its own control features in using both touch inputs, though both of these are much more prevalent in the latter two games than Sly 1. The rear touch panel can be used to locate the mission marker as well as bringing up information like how many coins you have, and how many message bottles you’ve found. The touchscreen can be used to bring up binoculars to scope out different areas, and in Bentley’s case fire a sleep dart. It’s a pretty intuitive control system and one that is easy to get used to.

There are a couple of issues that I had with the game, and that was very occasionally having to wrestle with the camera to get the view I wanted. On rare occasions it would spin round so I could see the character face on but not the path in front of him. You can control the camera with the right analog stick, so it was easy to correct. I also did notice a sound issue in Sly 1 where in a boss fight the music would stop and start, like it was skipping, and it was jarring when trying to concentrate.

What’s Good: Visually one of the best looking ports done.

Characters and stories are fun, with episodic nature executed well.

Variety of gameplay styles from stealth to racing.

Just good fun. What’s Bad: Minor sound and camera issues.

Sly 1 was a bit repetitive.

The Sly Cooper Trilogy on Vita is one of the best collections available, and it remains so much fun. Sure, the first game does seem a bit dated and repetitive, but the other two titles really open up the gameplay options. The stories are fun and the characters amusing, with the serious bits also tackled well. Sanzaru Games have essentially raised the bar on what can be considered a great port, and those standards are what other developers should aspire to meet. If you haven’t played the Sly games before, or even if you have, this trilogy is a perfect fit for your Vita.

Score: 9/10