The Sly Collection

I recently found this bundle available for a hefty discount and my son really wanted it so I told him that we would buy it under one condition and that was I would play the games first. The reason was the title names raised some caution and it turns out my instincts were correct. The games are about anthropomorphic animal people who are a band of criminals working together to go after other criminals and trying to always do the right thing in the end and reveal the true villains,   but still they must steal and lie to do it. Sly 3 is like the youngest children's version of Grand Theft Auto in that it allows free roaming exploration where the player can find and beat up enemies, go on missions and cause other sorts of trouble. the player can also smash and vandalize objects in the environment to get coins which is absolutely not acceptable to me and they can use these coins to purchase powerups and gadgets to assist them in crimes and missions. The violence is usually slapstick and highly cartoonish and unrealstic,  but you will be suprised what occurs sometimes. While the Sly games are nowhere near as violent as GTA or even Rockstar's Bully game.  they still do not have good messages and they still glamorize teamwork to pull off heists. This makes it appear like being in a gang is maybe not so bad. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are no such things in the world as "good criminals". Even those who mean well and think they are doing good often end up hurting those they care about the most just as much if not more so than the wrongdoer. And indeed Sly ends up putting his friends in serious danger as well as himself on many occasions. Sly and his friends are like children playing and pretending to be criminals without fully understanding the dangers, morals and consequences of what they are actually doing. Sly may be good at heart,  but he also tends to be egotistic, conniving and slick hence his name. Also Sly's proud family heritage and tradition of thievery is very much like the crime families of this world. So Sly really is part of a mafia family and is seeking to learn their secrets and possibly follow in their footsteps. I'm also offended by some of the comic humor in these games and I do not agree with the story whatsoever. So unfortunately in the end I could not be letting my kids play this. If your children want a free roaming game where they can collect treasure and go free roaming then consider the Spyro dragon games instead. Spyro is not a criminal.

I love this collection of games! I play this on the Vita which requires you to get some special code from a Sony executive in order to get the 3rd game, which kind of stinks, but still 2/3 of the bunch is still really cool. Hard to say which one I like more; the first for its straightforwardness and variety including playing other characters such as Murray in a few, Bentley in one, and Carmelita in one, the 2nd for improvements in gameplay and intricate storyline. Some might object to the stealing part, but Sly and his gang only steal from other criminals, even if this doesn't convince his pursuer/girlfriend Carmelita Fox. A must have!