Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 470 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 358 out of 470
  2. Mixed: 79 out of 470
  3. Negative: 33 out of 470
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  1. Gamepro3093
    May 10, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Plain awful! Why does this lazy trash exist? Sanzaru failed to make a worthy successor to Honor Among Thieves and just played it too safe and made a sequel that looks worse than the PS2 era games rather than either as good or better. They made the previously likable gang annoying and dense and after how bad this game was they left it om a cliffhanger. Please wipe this subpar garbage from the canon, Sucker Punch! Just make it a bad dream caused by Sly’s amnesia and make a worthy successor to the awesome HAT. Please don’t do anything atrocious like a mini game where Murray is dressed as a geisha or those absolutely terrible and the mandatory and poorly designed sixaxis minigames.… Expand
  2. noobman600
    Jun 11, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sly 4: Thieves in Time was develop by Sanzaru games and when i played this i was not happy with the results 1. The music is just annoying mostly the trumpet in the boss fight music 2. there's allot of collectibles im fine with that but they add a timer to all of them and in sly 2 the items never had a timer (besides the ones with bombs) 3. The boss fights are all the same: doge all the attacks which waste time and then attack for 8 seconds and back to dogging, the final boss fight is simple PUSH BUTTONS! THIS IS NOT THE STANLEY PARABLE! 4. the player models are weird, Sly is just a HD model of the original, Bentley changed to some sci-fi chair and Murray looks like a 80-year old person 5. Carmelita BARLEY DOES ANYTHING! she only belly dances at the second to final world and that brings me to 6. THERE ARE ONLY SIX WORLDS! AND ONE IS REPEATED SO THERE IS FIVE WORLDS! 7. the "special" ending that shows at the end (via collecting EVERYTHING) is sly waking up in a Desert and then...CLIFFHANGER! 9. the gadgets suck, you can't even call them gadgets, Sly gets costumes mostly, Bentley gets different element darts, and Murray gets elemental fist PLUS there's different types of weapon upgrades to Carmelita but you won't be playing as her anytime soon. in all the game sucks, ZERO out of TEN.… Expand
  3. dasa44
    Nov 24, 2013
    4
    The return of Sly Cooper was much anticipated by all fans, however, I feel that this game lack the liveliness of the previous games, Even though Thieves in Time presents some new concepts, such as the new costumes and playable ancestors, the cons outweigh the pros. The story is bland and repetitive, the graphics are too fancy, the hacking is strange and unlike the classic, the worlds haveThe return of Sly Cooper was much anticipated by all fans, however, I feel that this game lack the liveliness of the previous games, Even though Thieves in Time presents some new concepts, such as the new costumes and playable ancestors, the cons outweigh the pros. The story is bland and repetitive, the graphics are too fancy, the hacking is strange and unlike the classic, the worlds have too many levels, the mission order is too straightforward, unlike the previous games, when you could choose what order you wanted to do the missions in; the binocucom controls are different, the game doesn't retain the comic book feel that Sly games are known for, the music is annoying, the menu themes are too uniform, and the game is overall too quirky rather than stealthlike and mysterious. Thieves in Time has lost the culture of Cooper thievery that was refined in Band of Thieves and instead left us with an empty shell of what used to be our favorite raccoon.… Expand
  4. YOLOBE4STSWAG
    Feb 23, 2013
    1
    This game is complete garbage. and its getting 9's and 10's for no reason. most of the accounts that gave this game a review were all made on the same day and only reviewed this game. this game is crap. between broken AI and half asses levels i cant stand it. look i made this account just to point out the strange nature of the positive reviews but you know what? it. this game is not whatThis game is complete garbage. and its getting 9's and 10's for no reason. most of the accounts that gave this game a review were all made on the same day and only reviewed this game. this game is crap. between broken AI and half asses levels i cant stand it. look i made this account just to point out the strange nature of the positive reviews but you know what? it. this game is not what the old sly game use to be. and by the way the worst final boss battle in history of gaming. so don't buy this if you are new to sly. if you loved sly like i did, you will most likely have to buy it, and be disappointed. YOU LOSE GOOD DAY SIR!… Expand
  5. Zalarc
    Nov 26, 2020
    0
    The story is poorly written, the familiar characters are no longer the same characters we knew in the original games, some of the character designs are just awful (like Carmelita and Murray + some guards), weak / bad villains, clumsy controls, operations are designed lazily, in places poor dialogue, humor is quite too much (and most of the humor doesn’t just work or are otherwise but bad)The story is poorly written, the familiar characters are no longer the same characters we knew in the original games, some of the character designs are just awful (like Carmelita and Murray + some guards), weak / bad villains, clumsy controls, operations are designed lazily, in places poor dialogue, humor is quite too much (and most of the humor doesn’t just work or are otherwise but bad) and a bad / anticlimatic ending.
    I have a lot more to say about this game, but otherwise my review would be way too long.
    Minus yet, this game doesn’t have Murray’s The Ball Form ability.
    I’ve never liked time travel. Time travel makes no sense to me and it doesn’t seem to belong in the Sly universe at all. Too bad there was no more going from the main menu directly to the game, it was a matter of Sly games.
    I doesn’t like Thieves in time 2d animation cutscenes, I don’t like their art style (the original games with animatio cutscenes were, I think, much more personal, fun, pretty and more detailed). I think Thieves in Time’s cutscene animations are too humorous.
    And I think Sly’s ancestors could have been kept in the shadows / unknown. I liked the original trilogy that the ancestors weren’t told everything and was partly mysterious, and that made Sly’s ancestors much more interesting, and in this game they had been made full of idiots / overwhelmed.

    But I still hope for a new Sly game, but I wish Sucker Punch would do it, or some other studio who understands what made the original trilogy so great. Sly spin off would be a good idea (a spin off that ranks between Sly 1 and Sly 2, + at the same time telling the Cooper gang about the Istanbul gig that Murray mentioned in Sly 2, Episode 7, Battle Club mission). Or completely forget about Thieves in timen and make Sly 4 completely rebuild + throw the time travel thing away, and Sly and his partners stay on their own time.    … Expand
  6. chicagopoetry
    Feb 20, 2013
    4
    What is with this installment of Sly Cooper? It's as if it's been made for a six year old child. I admit I'm only barely into it but I'm already considering trading it in because I can't see me spending too many more hours being held by the hand through a series of absurdly simplistic and boring missions only to end in a crazy, monotonous, suddenly completely difficult boss battle. ItWhat is with this installment of Sly Cooper? It's as if it's been made for a six year old child. I admit I'm only barely into it but I'm already considering trading it in because I can't see me spending too many more hours being held by the hand through a series of absurdly simplistic and boring missions only to end in a crazy, monotonous, suddenly completely difficult boss battle. It really shows that Sucker Punch was not involved this time around. There are way too many cut scenes and all the enemies are completely stupid with no AI whatsoever. If you aren't standing directly in the yellow circle caused by the lamp they are holding they don't know you're there even if you're jumping up and down smashing things making all sorts of noise. I hope this gets better and I can come back here and edit this review with some more favorable comments, but having played the previous three installments with much enjoyment, I'm really sensing a dud here.… Expand
  7. LadyAshe
    Mar 24, 2013
    0
    This game sucks. I missed old sly games. They were better. This one so childish. Waist of money. Hope I did not get it. It is so over rated. Old school Sly was the best. I prefer Sly Cooper 2 over this.
  8. JaySimpson
    Sep 12, 2018
    2
    Sly cooper thieves in time is one of the most disappointing games i have ever played. The movement feels clunky and un smooth. The combat is bad because every enemy feels exactly the same. In sly 2 and 3 some enemies behaved differently, like some small enemies took more hits and some enemies you could hit multiple times before they counter attack you. In this game every enemy is the same,Sly cooper thieves in time is one of the most disappointing games i have ever played. The movement feels clunky and un smooth. The combat is bad because every enemy feels exactly the same. In sly 2 and 3 some enemies behaved differently, like some small enemies took more hits and some enemies you could hit multiple times before they counter attack you. In this game every enemy is the same, hit once then back off, rinse and repeat. The characters have less gadgets to purchase in this game, Sly only has a couple gadgets and the rest are costumes and most of them are tedious. Bentley has different bombs but most of them still behave like the original bombs making them almost useless. Murray has different fist power-ups and his throwing is feels worse than ever. The Cooper ancestors were marketed for being completely different to sly but they all are just worse version of Sly. They all have their unique ability but only 2 of them are useful or fun, those being Rioichi and Tennesee. The villains are bland, boring and dumb with the exception of El Jefe. All of the bosses are the same where you dodge attack, the boss gets stunned, you hit it and repeat the process over and over again. In previous games you had to learn the movement of the bosses and attack when the time is right. You could attack constantly but the boss would usually counter attack at some point. The final boss fight in this game is a quick time event! The levels are messy and all feel like a re-skin of the previous level. They are forgettable and lame. The character models look decent except Murray and Carmelita. They both look horrible. The story is dumb because most of it revolves around luck. They need specific items to travel to specific time periods and most of these the characters encounter on accident. Bentley's hacking now has more variety but they are nothing special. The motion controlled hacking is horrible. The game is also way easier than previous games. The things that i like about this game are that they brought the bottles back which is cool. Also that you can play as Carmelita after the main story is really cool. The collectibles are kinda cool. In the end this game is an unworthy sequel to Sly 3.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PS3 Game of 2013
20
#20 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013
55
#55 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. XGN
    Sep 17, 2013
    60
    Sly is back and we applaud that, kind of. The game is outdated, too simple and too childish. It’s a good deal that you can buy the PS3 and Vita version for the same price, so that offers twice the amount of fun.
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  2. Official PlayStation Magazine Benelux
    Apr 22, 2013
    72
    The return of Sly Cooper not only signals the return of a classic franchise, but also the return of a classic, almost forgotten genre: the 3D-platformer. Fans can rejoice, because it feels like Sly never truly left the building. [April 2013, p.71]
  3. Games Master UK
    Apr 13, 2013
    81
    Sly hits the current generation with charm, variety and humour in spades. An excellent return. [May 2013, p.80]
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