Our plans to sabotage the Black Baron’s legitimate aerial dogfighting competition so that we can recruit one of his staff, for the sole purpose of stealing back Sly’s accumulated family fortune, are proceeding apace. And now, it’s our turn to take to the skies. We have to win, even if we need to play dirty.
Thinking back on it, it’s almost strange to consider how heavily marketed the biplane sections on Sly 3 were in particular because there are only two of them in the entire game. And yet, when I think about all the advertising that I remember about Honor Among Thieves, hearing Tom from Toonami talk about that section and the cheat code that could be used to unlock the Toonami branded skin for the plane are the first things that come to mind.
It’s easy to say that these small gimmicks take away from the game (and I have). At the same time, that’s been a criticism of the trilogy since the very first game. One of the biggest complaints people had with The Thievius Raccoonus is that the final stage was majority set piece-driven gimmick levels, with very few instances of the platforming that made most of the rest of the game so strong, up to and including the actual final boss fight against Clockwerk. In that sense, bringing in a crew of characters and short one-offs is perfectly in line with the rest of the trilogy.
And in truth, it doesn’t matter too much either way. Even as minor recurring gimmicks, most of these small sections work well. I can’t think of one that I dislike off the top of my head since none of them overstay their welcome. Additionally, something we’ll get into later is how these new members of the Cooper Gang do a great job of exploring the core cast and what internal struggles and conflicts exist within and between them.
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