Sly Cooper: The Thief Returns

The Thief Returns

Sly Cooper: The Thief Returns is the fifth installment of the Sly Cooper series. It's sequel is Sly Cooper 6: Thieves Back in Action. Sly and the gang are back in another epic adventure through time against Sly's main archenemy while also saving himself and the entire Cooper Clan.

Main Screen

The main screen features the van running down the road with the gang sticking their heads out the window. It takes place in Paris with a large moon on the background, the moon has Drak's reflection and Sunscreen's reflection too.

Playable Characters

• Sly Cooper
• Bentley
• Murray
• Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox
• Dimitri Lousteau
• The Guru
• Any Guard (if using Guru)
• Slytunkhamen Cooper
• Thaddeus Winslow Cooper the III
• Henriette "One Eye" Cooper
• Otto Van Cooper
• Slaigh McCooper
• Colonel Cortés Cooper

Voice Actors

• Kevin Miller as Sly Cooper
• Matt Olsen as Bentley
• Chris Murphy as Murray
• Grey DeLisle as Carmelita
• David Scully as Dimitri
• The Shaman A.K.A Terry Rose as The Guru
• Scott Weinger as Slytunkhamen Cooper II
• Hugh Laurie as Thaddeus Winslow
• Jennifer Hale as Henriette "One Eye"
• Jim Cummings as Otto Van
• Billy Connolly as Slaigh MacCooper
• Mark Hamill as Colonel Cortés Cooper
• Robin Williams as Riddle Ruddle
• Nolan North as Winston Puff, Cyrille Le Paradox
• Robert Downey Jr. as Hood Wool
• Andrew Stanton as Turbo Ace
• Corey Burton as Don Giovanni Lorenzo
• Quinton Flynn as Raiden Ryuu
• Antonio Banderas as Blade O'Cutthroat
• Loren Hoskins as Baron Van Brrr
• Rajia Baroudi as Floriana Rosemarie
• Eliza Jane Schneider as Queen Bea
• Larry King as Venus FlyTraps
• Dwight Schultz as Ozzie Devlin
• Glenn Ficcara as Terry Trumpety
• Bill Nighy as Boris Constrictor the IV
• Glenn Close as Miss Sunscreen
• David Herman as Drak Grimsley
• Ross Douglas as Clockwerk
• Robin Atkin Downes as Spinning Shepherds
• Frank Welker as Foul Foxes
• Danny DeVito as Deadly Deers
• Michael Gough as Irate Ibises
• Nika Futterman as Stingy Swans
• Jess Harnell as Aggressive Aurochs
• Jonathan Freeman as Careless Camels
• Peter Ackerman as Crazy Cuckoos
• Cam Clarke as Strong Stoats
• Yuri Lowenthal as Formidable Foxes
• Linda Larkin as Female Formidable Fox
• David Lodge as Ragged Rats
• Ian McShane as Offensive Octopus
• Michael Devlin as Severe Seahorses
• Robert Loggia as Vile Vultures
• Cheech Martin as Greedy Geckos
• Kelly McDonald as Pushy Puffins
• Robbie Coltrane as Awful Auks
• Kevin McKidd as Reckless Reindeers
• Fred Tatasciore as Jealous Jaguars
• John Mariano as Terrifying Tamanduas
• Iona Morris as Fierce Flamingos
• Lani Minella as Rat Troopers
• Brian George as Ghastly Gharials

Features

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to Sly 4 but with some adjustments: Dimitri and Guru are now playable along with the ancestors. Dimitri can use his silver cane or shoot from his ring wherever he wants, he can also perform acrobatic feats and other such things. Guru is back and his walking staff and moon stone are repaired at last. Guru's gameplay is similar to HAT, he can turn into environmental objects to avoid guards and also take control of a guard's mind. This time, taking control of a guard grants it playable until it is defeated. Instead of running frantically to the direction you want, you can now walk or run with him and even use all of their attacks instead of one. Depending on their class, rooftop guards jump higher while flashlight guards jump less higher.

Hub Worlds

Hub levels are now larger with various levels to explore from. Every level has 3 guards patrolling to find the gang. The hubs also have small critters running around that can be defeated for coins or health power-ups.

Collectibles

Clue Bottles and Secret Sly masks all return for the game. Unlike Sly 4, the bottles can now be heard louder and can be found inside locations not just the hub. Secret Sly masks are exactly the same but are transparent which makes them even harder to collect.

Development

Once TiT was finished, Sanzaru started working on the game without anyone ever noticing. They released "teaser-photos" of Sly Cooper, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita Fox, Dimitri and Guru and a silhouetted picture of Grimsley. Months passed and Sanzaru released photos of 18th Dynasty Egypt and WW1 Germany along with some videos. The videos released were of the Winston and Hood battle, an ACES Competition, a mission from the Caribbean and even a 2-Hour video of a walkthrough of Egypt. Sanzaru then released a photo of Raiden Ryuu (then called Rai Zak) and Terry Trumpety. More and more pictures were released until the release in April 2014.

Reception

The game received positive reviews from fans and critics alike. Fans praised the level designs, villains and story. GameInformer gave the game a 9.5 rating saying it was an enjoyable game and that Sanzaru really forced themselves. IGN gave the game a 9.0 rating, they said that Sanzaru fulfilled their promise of saying that epic battles are gonna take place.

Trivia

• There were five scrapped bosses for the game. Sir Raleigh, a mole with a mechanized drill, a snail pirate and a red kangaroo. No one knows where they would've been bosses of but the snail looked more for the Caribbean level while Sir Raleigh would've been his helper.
• Juliet also was going to be three different bosses originally called The Three Plant Sisters which consisted of a Venus Flytrap, a Mushroom and a Poison Ivy, they may had been merged to create Floriana Rosemarie.
• Miss Sunscreen was originally a boss for TiT but was scrapped.
• In a video of the first mission of Egypt, they opened up a menu that showcases the episodes. From what it said, Lost in Time was not featured but another one that said Greece Grease. This could've been a Ancient Greece level.
  • To further back up that information, one of the scrapped bosses was a Llama wearing a Roman skirt and Warrior Helmet and was also carrying a spear, he could've been the Greece level's boss.