Line #10 YMMV/Sly2BandOfThieves


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Were the ghosts in "Ghost Capture" the Evil Wolf Priestess' otherworldly minions -- having been sealed along with her corpse before you unleashed them -- or were they her ''victims'' and desecrating her grave set them free? If they're the former, then why don't they do anything besides float around? If they're the latter, then doesn't capturing them and using their tortured souls as smoke for Neyla's proverbial wasp-nest make ''you'' the bad guy?
2	* {{Anvilicious}}: The opening cinematic for ''Menace From The North, Eh?'' has Sly not so subtly adding that one of the two reasons for the Gang to get the Clockwerk Talons from Jean Bison is to save the environment from the lumberjack's logging endeavors.
3	-->'''Sly''': The world just doesn't need another strip mall.
4	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The mission, ''Lightning Action'' in the chapter ''Jailbreak''. The mission where you disable all the lightning rods to destroy The Contessa's giant attack robot disguised as a water tower. The water tower being a giant attack robot comes out of nowhere and after it's destroyed, it is never mentioned again.
5	* BreatherBoss: Compared to the other bosses (or heck, [[ThatOneLevel her own level]]), The Contessa is a piece of cake. Her attacks are all slow, weak and pretty easily dodged. Even after she [[spoiler:uses the Clockwerk eyes on you]], it's quite possible to end the fight without taking a single hit.
6	* BreatherLevel: Most of the missions in Episode 6 are short and simple, a much appreciated break after the numerous difficult missions in Episode 3 and nearly the entirety of the Contessa's levels as noted in ThatOneLevel. This reflects story wise as well, being the first time since Episode 2 where the Operation goes off more or less exactly as planned, [[spoiler:Neyla's]] interference only being a slight hiccup that Bentley easily takes care of. This provides a moment of relaxation for the gang before Episode 7 [[spoiler:where they lose all the Clockwerk parts]].
7	* BrokenAesop: The second Jean Bison level has the gang destroy oil wells and making them explode in order to cheat which is in stark contrast to the environmental message. This is especially egregious, because unlike Jean Bison, who is still following the mindset of the 1800's, the gang is doing it for an incredibly minor reason.
8	* CatharsisFactor:
9	** After hearing Rajan refer to Murray as "weak", it's really satisfying that you defeat Rajan by having Murray beat him into a pulp.
10	** Taking down the Contessa after all the suffering the Cooper Gang endured at her claws as Sly.
11	** And then there's Bentley's fight with Jean Bison, where uses tactics over brawn to win the fight by tricking the latter into repeatedly walking into traps. This is especially cathartic after Jean insulted Bentley's intelligence and species prior.
12	* DemonicSpiders: Never try to take a flashlight guard head on, especially if your health is low (unless you're Murray, who can reasonably beat them without taking much damage). This includes Carmelita when she's patrolling in the field (she can't be damaged at all, [[GoodBadBugs but if she is hit by a train while standing on an elevated part of the track, she might get caught in an endless loop of jumping back on the tracks and falling off]]).
13	* DracoInLeatherPants: [[spoiler:Neyla]] is an odd example. On the one hand, few if any fans try to defend their actions or claim they are anything other than a vile, nasty person, but there are a surprisingly large number of fan characters floating around whose description can be boiled down to [[spoiler:[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "Neyla,]]]] [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute but not evil"]] (bonus points for usually being a LongLostRelative, as well).
14	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
15	** Dimitri became a huge fan-favorite due to his bizarre JiveTurkey mannerisms. His popularity led to his return in ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'', where he also has a more prominent role.
16	** The Contessa counts, but not so much in the role that Dimitri has. The Contessa has been known for her surprising sex appeal and for being a great enemy of Sly Cooper. [[LesYay Her interactions with]] [[GirlOnGirlIsHot Carmelita also helped.]]
17	* EvenBetterSequel: Considered by many fans as the apex of the series for its improved graphics and controls, and its engaging and suspenseful story.
18	* FridgeHorror: As the gang disguises themselves as geese in episode 7's operation, they have beaks on their faces. Remember, they had not prepared for this and they're improvising on the fly, and those judges they're pretending to be are geese, so it's not like they had fake beaks available...
19	* GoodBadBugs: If you enter the "restart current level" cheat, immediately unpause and trigger a loading screen (such as entering an interior), the cheat activates during the loading screen and loads a unique version of the map you're in. You're sent either to the safe house (if done outdoors) or to the entrance (if done indoors), but the game loads a version of the map that includes many mission-exclusive things in it (for example, Rajan's 2nd level is flooded). The exact changes depend on the level and range from "barely noticeable" to "unplayable"[[note]]Contessa's prison loads the prison-adjusted height limit from the level's operation, meaning the level is filled with invisible fall damage triggers that prevent almost all exploration[[/note]], but some can be quite amusing or interesting - for example, if done in India #1, the door to Rajan's dance floor is unlocked, allowing the player to explore it.
20	* GoddamnedBats: Cobras in the Indian levels. While one hit will beat them, they can easily give you away, which can often be fatal, especially around flashlight guards, and they can easily make stealth missions nightmares, due to the fact they cause a massive JumpScare with no warning.
21	* HarsherInHindsight:
22	** The use of spice as a [[GRatedDrug substitute]] of drugs becomes uncomfortable due to the Legal High craze, which became an epidemic in certain countries such as the UK in the 2010s.
23	** Bentley recounts that the Contessa married a general and poisoned him a few weeks after the wedding so she could get his estate and privileges and then turn to use her newfound power for selfish intent. [[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime We later learn that]] Bentley's [[spoiler:ex-girlfriend Penelope]] is also a cold-hearted GoldDigger who's after his potential for money and power.
24	** The Contessa being a CorruptCop who commits crimes such as abuse of prisoners gets a lot more difficult to look at with the slew of police brutality scandals that occurred in the 2010s.
25	* HilariousInHindsight:
26	** One of the missions in Prague involves collecting bad karma to make a bomb, about 5 years before Sucker Punch made ''VideoGame/{{Infamous}}'', a superhero game with a KarmaMeter. (Coincidentally, evil karma powers rely heavily on explosions in that game) In addition, the man who voices Arpeggio also voices ''[=inFAMOUS=]'''s BigBad Kessler.
27	** The game has a group consisting of the suave, the brains and the muscle with a Creator/JessicaAlba soundalike. Jessica Alba would act as a member of a similar but more heroic group in ''Film/FantasticFour2005''.
28	*** Even funnier that Carmelita is an officer that voiced by a Jessica Alba soundalike and years after the game, Jessica Alba plays an officer in both ''Film/{{Machete}}'' and ''L.A.'s Finest''.
29	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Bentley gets injured at the end of the game and becomes a HandicappedBadass in ''Sly 3'']].
30	* LesYay:
31	** Carmelita and Neyla bicker LikeAnOldMarriedCouple up until [[spoiler:Neyla betrays Carmelita]].
32	** The Contessa comes off like a flirty {{Yandere}} towards Carmelita while she has the foxy inspector captive.
33	* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Neyla]]]] crosses it with their betrayal of the Cooper Gang and Carmelita at the end of Episode 3.
34	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Dimitri's scream when Sly told him his suit sucks. It's not just great to listen to, but really funny.
35	* {{Narm}}:
36	** Neyla's alleged English accent. It's supposed to be a Cockney accent gained during her time educated in London (she's actually Indian) but it's rather glaringly fake. Probably a case of OohMeAccentsSlipping, as her accent sometimes sounds Australian.
37	** Carmelita's voice acting can leave a lot to be desired sometimes, such as in [[spoiler:"A Tangled Web", where she's being tortured by the Contessa, and she's supposed to be struggling against the hypnosis]], but it comes off more like she's mildly annoyed at the situation.
38	** [[spoiler: The resurrection of Clockwerk via Neyla fusing with it would be more intimidating if she didn’t name herself ''Clock-La'' immediately after]]. Really takes the menace out of that scene.
39	* PlayerPunch: [[spoiler: At the very moment of the Gang's victory over Clock-la Bentley being crushed by Clock-La's closing beak and rendering him in a wheelchair; particularly because the last action you get to do before the ending cutscenes is getting Bentley to grab the Hate Chip. No matter how hard you mash the buttons as Murray, it's all in vain. Made worse when Bentley tearfully cries, "Pick me up! I can't walk!"]]
40	* ThatOneBoss:
41	** The first boss, Dimitri. Between lightning fast melee attacks and a gun which, unlike [[ATeamFiring his guards]], he actually knows how to use, he's quite the [[DifficultySpike challenge]] for players used to avoiding or brute-forcing combat. He's almost like a WakeUpCallBoss, except that the only battle in the entire rest of the game that plays at all like Dimitri's fight is...
42	** Rajan, who has an absolutely massive health (even though you are playing as Murray, your attacks still do little damage to him), has damaging attacks (which are also hard to avoid because of Murray's size and slow speed), and summons goons to help him fight which also do a lot of damage if they hit you.
43	* ThatOneLevel:
44	** "Water Bug Run" in Episode 3 requires you to find pools of water to deliver the bug without getting hit once, otherwise you need to start over. It can be very difficult to navigate the jungle for first-time players, plus the game puts obstacles (like lasers) in the way specifically to mess with you.
45	** "Blow the Dam" in Episode 3 is a turret section, but with the complication that you're in a constantly moving helicopter that can only fire in bursts before potentially overheating. You also spend 90% of the mission shooting the enemy helicopters protecting the dam instead of the dam itself. Said helicopters are blue-grey and occasionally fire missiles trailing dark brown smoke that take a fifth of your health. All of this against a grey-green sky and dark grey mountains, rendering most enemies hard to spot.
46	** Episode 4 immediately handicaps you by making you spend the initial level exploration and first three missions as Bentley. He is the worst-equipped to traverse a new location to get accustomed to the map due to being the weak techno-wizard of the team. While you get Sly back fairly quickly, most of his missions are fairly long and difficult.
47	** Charged TNT Run. Not only you have to go to three different areas to collect certain objects, you are unable to fight the guards. And often, if you have to drop in front of one, there's a chance that he will never move, meaning if you move, game over. Also at this point in the episode [[spoiler: Clock-La]] will be flying around the overworld. If [[spoiler: she]] manages to fly up behind you while you're moving, consider yourself screwed.
48	** The Lumberjack Games. Doing the events is easy, but sabotaging Jean is a pain, especially in the last two. The second event has you trying to pull Jean down using three grappling hooks that are hard to maneuver, and the final one has you luring the judges with your Alarm Clock into the cave, which is easier said than done.
49	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
50	** Arpeggio is the mastermind behind everything the villains do to be reborn through Clockwerk. Many had hoped he would [[spoiler:become Clockwerk and fight the Cooper gang over his newfound immortality and freedom. Instead, Neyla backstabs him and ''kills him'' before Sly and the gang can even fight him.]]
51	** Despite the whole plot revolving around rebuilding Clockwerk, he himself is never resurrected, with his body being used for this game's BigBad's attempt at rebirth. [[spoiler:And then the his hate chip's destruction stops any future chance of him coming back.]] Given Clockwerk is easily Sly's most personal foe and only briefly met him in the previous game, it's kind of a shame that such a clear opportunity to have them face again isn't followed through on.
52	* ToughActToFollow: Befitting of its status as an EvenBetterSequel, the next two games in the franchise - ''Honor Among Thieves'' and ''Thieves in Time'' - are often compared unfavorably to ''Band of Thieves''. This is reflected by the fact that it has the highest score of any entry in the franchise on Metacritic.
53	* UnexpectedCharacter: Even when unlocking TOM, it can surprise fans of Creator/{{Toonami}}.
54	* ValuesDissonance: Episode 3 has a job where the Cooper Gang steals an Indian ruby from the temple the ArcVillain is hiding in and sells it on the black market in exchange for a bomb for the heist. Today it would be impossible to depict the selling of a cultural artifact on the black market in a remotely positive light, especially for buying explosives.
55	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The graphics are a major improvement over the first game by [=PS2=] standards and have aged well.

Context YMMV / Sly2BandOfThieves