Sly 2: Band of Thieves is a 2004 stealth action video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the second installment of the Sly Cooper series, and the sequel to Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (2002).
In Sly 2: Band of Thieves, players primarily control the titular protagonist Sly, who pursues the Klaww Gang to recover and destroy the remainig pieces of Clockwerk, the antagonist of the original game. Gameplay is similar to the first game, but features various improvements, including a health meter for characters, modifications to combat, a mission hub world, and revamped gameplay for side characters Bentley and Murray. Characters can improve their abilities using power-ups and skill upgrades which can be unlocked by opening safes in each world, purchased by collecting coins, or and purchasing them from safehouses via ThiefNet.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves received positive reviews, with critics praising its graphics, cel shaded art style, story, music, and gameplay, and considered it a significant improvement over the first game. It has been frequently ranked as one of the best PlayStation 2 games of all time. It was followed by Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves in 2005, and was remastered in 2010 alongside it and its predecessor for the PlayStation 3 by Sanzaru Games as The Sly Collection. Alongside its successor, it was digitally re-released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2024.
Gameplay Premise Like its predecessor, Sly 2: Band of Thieves is a stealth action-adventure video game. It follows the Cooper Gang, raccoon Sly Cooper, turtle Bentley, and hippopotamus Murray, who try to collect the pieces of the antagonist robot owl that was destroyed in the first game, Clockwerk. They have been stolen from the Interpol police department by Klaww Gang, its members using them for illegal get-rich-quick schemes.
The player simultaneously acts as three characters (Sly, Murray, and Bentley) where, in each open world, they pull off several small character-specific heists that build into one large heist. The gameplay is also freeform, where the player can perform other activities, such as looting from guards, from the mission currently assigned. This differs from the first game, where the player only controls Sly to get to the end of each level. Many heists only require one character, but some are collaborations. Examples including Bentley jumping into Murray's arms in order to be thrown onto a tower's ledge, or Sly stealing keys from a truck for Bentley to drive.
Interpol's Carmelita Montoya Fox continues trying to catch the Cooper gang while being infatuated with Sly; similar to the previous game, Sly 2: Band of Thieves opens with her chasing Sly. She is now assisted by Constable Neyla, who grew up poor in New Delhi, India, before using persuasion skills to enter and garner high grades at a British university; Interpol recently hired her to use them for infiltration into criminal institutions. The Contessa, a leading prison warden and criminal psychologist, has also been hired by the police department for her hypnotherapy techniques, which have been successful in deincentivizing criminal behavior.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves is double the length of its predecessor, lasting eight stages and five worlds. Each world has a Klaww Gang member leading a criminal organization or family within it as its boss. Dimitri is a celebrity in the underworld of Paris, France, forging popular paintings in revenge to classmates that criticized his works done at his art college. Jean-Bison is in Canada extracting natural resources, such as chopping down trees, to tame "the Wild North". He utilizes a train system spanning across the nation's plains to import goods for the Klaww Gang. He had previously been frozen for 100 years as a result of an avalanche he faced while taking opportunity of the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899), thus alienating him from society. Rajan, born poor in India, has committed to a life of crime throughout his whole life, such as working for the gang, in order to increase his standing in the nation's social hierarchy. The parrot Arpeggio, who frequently attends opera houses in London, England, is inspired by his inability to fly to develop his skills as a mechanic, and serves that role for the gang. In Prague, the Czech Republic, is the Contessa's criminal rehabilitation center.
New elements Several new gameplay elements are introduced. Guards now pop out at random moments, and execute one of two types of behavior depending on the geometry of the part of the level they are standing on. They also have more advanced artificial intelligence (AI), being able to climb up pipes, meaning Sly can still be hit by them even when already on a rooftop. Additionally, the guards do not catch the player character simply by seeing them, but rather if a display on the screen and sound cue indicates it. Enemies include the wild boars in Paris, and elephants in India.
Sly, Bentley and Murray have different abilities that the tasks required utilization of one or more of. Bentley, who plans missions and contributes technical skills to the group, follows a more cloak and dagger approach to stealth. He can't climb poles or jump very far, but he is equipped with a sleep-dart crossbow and countdown bombs to defeat enemies or sabotage enemy equipment. Bentley can use his computer skills to hack villains' computers, bringing the player to a top-down shooter-like minigame. Murray serves as the gang's brawn, with punches and belly flops. His brute strength allows him to take on groups of strong enemies by himself with powerful hooks and uppercuts. He can pick up objects and enemies to throw and his "thunder flop" attack can stun and destroy enemies. His strength allows him to help the gang with heavy-duty tasks.
Unlike the first game, where a life is lost if Sly was noticed by a guard or injured once, Sly 2: Band of Thieves provides the playable character multiple hit points. Each character has a health bar and a special bar. Health is diminished every time the character is attacked or hits a hazard. If it is depleted entirely, the player must restart any current mission and respawn at another location. The orange special bar depletes whenever a character uses a powerup. If the special bar hits zero, powerups can not be used. Some powerups are required in order to complete certain missions. Both bars (health and special) can be refilled by obtaining health pickups that are in the shape of a red cross, which are found behind destructible objects like boxes and tables. Murray has the most health, while Bentley has the least.
Missions are now connected to a main hub of the location Sly and the Gang are operating. A safe house located in the hub is where the player can choose which character to use and get away from pursuing guards. The hub can range from a city to a logging camp in the wilderness. Enemies do patrol around this area, although on occasion, it's a secluded spot. Characters can explore the hub world freely, or begin a mission at certain locations. Sly detects the points at which a new heist begins with an interactive mask.
Sly has new moves when it comes to stealth, such as sneaking behind two enemies to kill them in one combo move that involves a throw, and pickpocketing. When Sly sneaks up behind an enemy, he can reach out with his cane and grab coins, rubies, rings, diamonds, and other valuable objects out of the enemy's pocket. Once Sly gets all of their coins, he can grab the enemy's item and sell it later back at the safe house for a bunch of coins.
Most power-ups and extra moves are now bought from the safe house instead of being found in safes. Using collected coins, Sly can buy power-ups for each character from an in-game online store, ThiefNet. The store has smoke grenades that cost 300 coins, and the new moves cost more than 1,000. Sly's power-ups focus on stealth, Murray's power-ups on brawn, and Bentley's power-ups on technology. Some of Sly's new moves are one that costs 1,600 coins giving him the ability to move past traps and slowly sneak him enemies. Power-ups for Bentley include a hover pack that allows him to fly and an adrenaline rush that increases his speed. For Murray, there are explosives for his jump attacks. Most power-ups need to be assigned to a button, but some provide passive bonuses. Characters can unlock special upgrades by opening safes. To open a safe, the characters must determine the code to unlock it by collecting all the clue bottles hidden in the present hub world. Certain very valuable items can be found in the world and can be stolen and then sold at the safe house for a large amount of money; these valuables can range from portraits to vases.
The game makes use for the optional USB microphone for the player to use the sound of their voice to distract and attract in-game enemies. This, in turn, adds a new twist to the stealth elements, as the player has to refrain from noises such as talking or coughing to avoid creating in-game noise.
Plot Two years after the defeat of Clockwerk, Sly Cooper, Bentley and Murray breaks into the national history museum in Cairo, Egypt to steal and destroy Clockwerk's parts so he could never return. However, the gang realizes in the heist that the Clockwerk parts had already been stolen. Carmelita Fox shows up and accuses Sly of stealing the parts, but her new assistant, a Bengal tiger named Constable Neyla, suggests that Cooper's crew was not behind the theft, but that it was the work of the Klaww gang. After a quick getaway, they begin their investigations into the mysterious Klaww Gang, and begin to hunt them down.
The first member of the Klaww Gang is Dimitri, a misunderstood marine iguana artist who owns a nightclub in Paris, France. Dimitri uses Clockwerk's tail feathers to print money. After a series of jobs, Sly defeats Dimitri and steals the feathers. Dimitri is arrested by Carmelita, while Sly and the gang escape. The second member of the Klaww gang is Rajan, a powerful Bengal Tiger from India who possesses Clockwerk's wings and heart. After obtaining the wings, Rajan flees with the heart into the jungle. After obtaining the heart in a fight, Sly and Murray are trapped and arrested along with Rajan by the Contessa, who runs a hypnosis prison in Prague, the Czech Republic. Bentley immediately heads to the prison, where he learns that the Contessa (a black widow spider) is actually a secret member of the Klaww gang, who hypnotizes the prisoners to tell them where their loot is. He then manages to get Sly out and, after a series of jobs, Murray is set free. After a lull, they chase the Contessa to her castle where, despite a small fight between the Countess and Neyla, they steal Clockwerk's eyes; the Contessa is later arrested by Neyla.