Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Penelope truly love Bentley, or was she using him and the gang to gain the wealth of the Cooper Vault from the start? The same could be asked of any of the non-core members (well, not the loving-Bentley part), although only Penelope was turned evil for the sequel.
Anvilicious: Like the Canada levels in 2, both Venice's and Australia's stories hammer in "polluting and destroying the environment for your own gain is bad" message. The latter is especially bad about it, as Bentley constantly laments the destruction the miners brought with them.
"Hotel Lobby With Muggshot", when Bentley challenges Muggshot to a fight (as part of a plot to lure him and Carmelita together). The music fits perfectly with the gloomy mood of the other pilots and with Muggshot's gross, Jerkass personality.
Pirate Fight, the "danger" music of Dead Men Tell No Tales and the track that plays over almost the entirety of Operation: Reverse Double-Cross, is energetic and intense, reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean scores.
Gauntlet of the Ancestors is an epic and beautifully sweeping piece that perfectly encapsulates the wonder of Sly's tangible exploration of his family's legacy.
Dr. M is either an interesting villain with a tragic backstory, or a Poor Man's Substitute to Clockwerk.
Best Boss Ever: The final outing with Dr. M is generally agreed to be the best boss of the game, and a final boss fight on par with Clockwerk from the first game for not only putting your skills to the test, but for giving the player a more balanced fight compared to the past bosses.
In one mission, Panda King starts talking to a mirror and ends up having an argument with his evil half. It comes out of nowhere, and is never mentioned afterwards.
To a lesser extent the mission Down the Line, where Penelope has to save Murray from being blown up by fireworks. It has no bearing to the plot and only exists to give Penelope another mission.
Bizarro Episode: Australia is out there even for this series. From a Badass Pacifist half-naked Koala forcing guards to murder each other and themselves with magic, to the gang capturing giant scorpions by flipping over a massive truck, to Murray taking a shower in radioactive waste, to the boss being a sentient mask with no backstory. The level starts with a simple rescue mission, most of it concerns a murderous campaign of sabotaging local miners to save the environment, and it ends with Sly climbing up the clothes of a giant Carmelita possessed by the aforementioned mask. No other level in the series gets this weird.
Watching Murray beat the ever living shit out of Octavio definitely counts. Bear in mind the reason Murray left the gang was because he blamed himself for Bentley getting crippled by Clock-La, and now Bentley is in trouble again as Octavio had just kicked him out of his wheelchair and was ready to kill him (and the rest of the gang), but Murray abandons his pacifist training to lay him out, meaning this time he actually WAS able to save Bentley.
Murray: That's it! I'LL FLOSS MY TEETH WITH YOUR SPINE!
Tsao getting tased by Carmelita— a female cop, need we remind you— and thrown in jail after all the grief he put Jing King through is nothing short of spectacular.
Common Knowledge: Some fans refuse to believe that Bentley's line at the end of the game regarding time travel was anything more than a humorous throwaway line as opposed to the Sequel Hook the next game treated it as, very likely due to certainreasons. In response to this, however, Kevin Miller confirmed on both his Twitter and his podcast (the 77:05 mark) that despite the fairly conclusive ending of the trilogy, Sucker Punch indeed intended for that line to be a Sequel Hook to allow the series to be revived under a new developer one day should they or Sony desire such, and for the next game to involve time-traveling and interacting with the Cooper ancestors.
Kevin Miller: I was in a [recording] session, the very last session, where we recorded that line of dialogue, and Nate Fox, who we've had on the show, who was the writer of the first three games, said very specifically, "The only thing I know what to do with a fourth Sly game is to go back in time and meet the ancestors." He was like, "That is what the next game would be." (…) The other thing that he said in that same time was, "We are done,"— they were very clear in that recording session— "We are done with the Sly Cooper franchise." And Nate very kindly, many times— I think he said it when we had him on the show— "It is my hope that someone takes that franchise and runs with it." So what happened was exactly always what Sucker Punch very kindly set up for the IP in their relationship with Sony was, "Give the franchise a room to grow, and set someone else up for success."
Complete Monster: "A Cold Alliance": General Tsao is a warlord and practitioner of the black arts, driven by a desire to see his bloodline flourish. Seeking a mate, Tsao tricks the Panda King into falling into a meditative state that incapacitates him so that Tsao can kidnap Panda King's daughter Jing King. Tsao makes his intentions for Jing King horrifyingly clear: He hopes to force her to marry him and bear many of his children so that his legacy will live on in a "new generation", regularly taunting Jing King over his planned cruelty. When Sly and the gang try to save Jing King, Tsao unleashes vampires and dragons onto his city that threaten the locals. Stated by Sly to be one of the worst enemies he ever faced, Tsao is such a horrible misogynist and sadist that he proclaims Jing King is worthless as a woman and is nothing but property, and Bentley informs the gang that during reconnaissance he saw Tsao kick a puppy twice.
Contested Sequel: Opinions on the game tend to vary from fan to fan. For one camp, it’s considered an Even Better Sequel to Band of Thieves, praising the addition of new playable characters to build on the Cooper Gang, for developing the original trio even further as a big family, and the expansive world building regarding the Cooper Vault and Dr. M’s motives. On the other end, it’s also viewed as the weakest of the PS2 trilogy, criticizing the new characters for their new control schemes as clunky and stiff, the lack of a large villain faction in favor of independently separate ones and consider the conflict between Sly and Dr. M to be less engaging compared to him and Clockwerk. Straight in the middle are others who enjoy both games equally and judge them on their own merits. One thing all sides agree on, however, is that it did end the PS2 trilogy on a satisfying note.
Franchise Original Sin: Initially, this game received similar complaints to what its eventual sequel would 8 years later; some changes to the gameplay, like the improvements to the playable characters, were considered good; while others, like the removal of clue bottles and treasures, and the addition of multiple minigames weren't. The story was also considered to be good with a few exceptions (namely, its short length, cliffhanger ending, and characterization of Carmelita). Thieves in Time was similarly criticized and praised for its gameplay at the same time and the story was considered good with a few exceptions (Penelope's characterization and the cliffhanger ending). However, the complaints leveled at this game aren't considered as major as the ones aimed at Thieves in Time for a number of reasons. Since Carmelita's more aggressive characterization (while jarring) didn't feel out-of-character compared to Penelope's Face Turn Heel, as it did exist to some extent in previous two games. And while this game's cliffhanger was loose enough to work as an ending to the franchise, the ending of Thieves in Time was considered by many to be a Downer Ending, and Sanzaru's statement that they had no plans for a sequel made it easier to just ignore the 4th game, since without a proper resolution to its plot points it added nothing of value to the series.
General Tsao loses much of his That One Boss factor when you find out you can beat him by simply knocking him down with the Knockout Dive and then using the stealth takedown when he's grounded.
You can take out the flashlight guards of any level except for Venice and China with a single Lvl 1 jump attack (Triangle + X). This instantly electrifies them.
You can kill Carmelita by shrinking her with Bentley and then just attacking her.
During "A Battery of Peril" in the China level, you can use Sly's Paraglider to get as close as possible to the stabilizer, and will give you a considerable head start on Carmelita. This makes the job much easier, as you don't have to deal with Carmelita until the battery is stable.
Murray's ball form resets the double jump counter - if you double jump, go in and out of ball form, you can then jump again. This allows him to triple jump, although it Only Works Once until you hit the ground again so outright flight remains impossible.
ANY scene with Penelope, as she later betrays her gang out of spite, just like Dr. M. Sly even mentions that Bentley and Penelope were "made for each other"; Bentley and Penelope break up in the next game and battle each other in a boss fight. This is a major reason why the next game is treated as Fanon Discontinuity.
The plan of main villain of An Opera of Fear is to sink parts of Venice into the canal. Due to (among other things) climate change and poorly maintained infrastructure, the city has experienced several floods, making the idea of Venice sinking into the ocean in Real Life a disturbingly realistic possibility.
As insensitive as it is to talk about, Australia is infamous for its environmental-damaging mines and ill-treatment of its Aboriginal population. Some would say it has worsened since 2005, despite Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008.
At the end of the game, Sly disappears and no one aside from Carmelita knows what happened to him, though Bentley does find out about his reformation and romance with Carmelita. At the end of the next game, the same thing happens, but this time no one knows what happened to him.
The fifth episode of the game is titled "Dead Men Tell No Tales", and features intelligent pirates. The fifthPirates of the Caribbean movie is also titled that, and also contains intelligent pirates in Captain Barbossa and his daughter Carina.
Sly points out that the Australian miners show strong paranoia to a stick. In 2017, "All hail the stick!" became a meme among the Australian youth because someone at an anime convention in Adelaide bought a stick at an auction for $900. Another stick was bought at the same convention two years later for $1200.
During the fight with Muggshot, you try to keep his goons from reaching the hangar bay you’re at by monitoring cameras and prevent them from entering. Nine years later this concept would be made into a popular horror game franchise.
Ho Yay: During “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, after Sly and Murray sink the harbor patrol’s cutter the Cooper Gang trio say the following giving this gem.
Murray: Team Excellence does it again! Nice shooting, sidekick! Sly Cooper: Hey, we would have been sunk without your rowing. Bentley: When you guys are done making out, I'll see you back at the safehouse... Sheesh!
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Since the transition from Sly 2 to Sly 3 didn't matter as much from the first game to the second one, it is more or less an expansion pack of the second game even though it has its own merits. On the other hand, several changes* such as the removal of the clue bottles and recon mission, and having Carmelita take several levels in jerkass to the game were not well-received either.
Dr. M is a maniacal mandrill hellbent on pilfering the Cooper Vault for his own. Having felt unappreciated by the Coopers for years, Dr. M gains the deed to Kaine Island and the Cooper Vault, then turns the entire place into an impenetrable fortress with all sorts of clever traps and subversive technology while Sly tries in vain to penetrate the Vault. When Sly and his gang try to infiltrate the island, Dr. M outsmarts and defeats them all consistently, then fakes a loss just so he can plant a tracker on Sly and bypass the Vault's security. Despite their differences and his hatred for the Coopers, Dr. M shows ample respect to Bentley and Murray for standing toe-to-toe with him, and ends up choosing toburied with the collapsing Vault rather than survive, his lifelong dream of gaining access to it finally realized.
The Guru is a mystical master of magic who resides in the Outback. Teaming up with the Cooper Gang to disrupt an oil drilling outfit, the Guru uses his powers of illusion and mind control to trick the miners into destroying their own equipment and helps the Gang destroy the evil Mask of Dark Earth. Allying with the Gang to help them infiltrate the Cooper Vault, the Guru helps turn various pilots against each other and uses a giant wolf to slaughter the Black Baron's guards. The Guru later takes control of the powerful giant squid Crusher to take down diabolical pirates, and plays his role in the heist against Dr. M with great flourish.
Memetic Mutation: "Enough with the sauce!"explanation Bentley says this line when Sly suggests going out to an Italian restaurant. In YouTube Poops, the quote is often used to point out the common overusage of the "sus" joke.
Octavio has a few potential crossings. For Sly, it's kidnapping Bentley and threatening to use his brains to fertilize his tomatoes, which the turtle is allergic to. For Bentley, it's using tar to kill innocent fish, and setting off explosives across Venice. For Murray, it's kicking Bentley out of his wheelchair and taunting him, which was enough for Murray to abandon his pacifist training and beat the guts out of Octavio.
General Tsao, who is very sexist, gets this as well, for forcing the Panda King's daughter to marry him, tying Murray to a bomb and stealing Bentley's computer. Not to mention the summoning of the Stone Dragon, who captures Penelope.
Captain LeFwee secretly following the Cooper Gang as they find the diving gear belonging to Dimitri's grandfather, then revealing himself and taking Penelope hostage. If that's not enough, it's when he tries to kill Bentley, which results in Penelope kicking his ass and sending him to Davy Jones' Locker via hungry sharks.
Porting Disaster: The HD version on PS3 suffers the most from the porting job from the PS2 trilogy. Notably the letterboxing in the cutscenes isn't stretched properly (exposing the left and right corners and making it distracting to watch, although this was eventually patched out), there's slowdown issues that heat the console up, and there are instances where music doesn't play in the level (the fight between Carmelita and Muggshot being the most notorious example).
The first fight against General Tsao takes place on top of a bamboo forest. The gimmick is that you have to jump between stalks and can only move in a fixed vector, and have to hit him during said jumps. This is very awkward and difficult, especially since this the sole time this mechanic shows up.
The underwater boss battle against Dr. M is incredibly frustrating due to you having to contend with the diving controls. This is not helped by Dimitri being a late recruit who is only playable in one previous mission (thus players are not likely to be accustomed to his playstyle), and the controls of that mission are drastically different than the controls in this boss fight. It's like the boss is putting you to the test, but the only study time you got was glimpsing a flashcard beforehand.
The Muggshot's Revenge part of "Flight of Fancy" can be just as aggravating as Contessa's levels from the last game — especially keeping the eye on the sewer threats.
"Tearful Reunion", which involves Murray pulling the van back to the safehouse, and Penelope and the Panda King having to protect him from harm. It's more difficult than it sounds, especially when you have to use a turret to attack the mooks, since it's possible to hurt Murray, as well. Zooming in with the right analog stick makes aiming a lot easier, but the game doesn't mention this.
Operation: Wedding Crasher. RC Car. Blue lasers. Tight, precision driving. Need we say more? At least once you get to the end, you can break all the lasers with no risk apart from a time limit.
Also from Wedding Crasher, Sly having to keep all the vases in Tsao's palace upright. They don't take that long to tip over after they start shaking, and reaching them in time gets very difficult.
ANY of the RC driving sections, especially "Down the Line", where you have to race the flames and save Murray from being blown to smithereens.
The first mission of "Dead Men Tell No Tales" involves Sly having to steal parts of a pirate outfit to talk to Black Spot Pete. While the first two parts are easy to accomplish, the chase with the third pirate can be troubling given Sly must perform difficult jumps and lands, especially towards the end where he must land on two rocks before a shipwreck. And then there is the "Pirate Insult Competition" with Pete, where you must not repeat any words. However, playing on the PS3 makes that easy as pressing the PS button will pause the game, allowing one to write what Sly and Pete had said and give more time to pick words.
Hell, the "Dead Men Tell No Tales" level in its entirety is this, especially the ship missions. Sailing around and fighting off ships you run into can be long and tedious, not to mention the treasure-hunting missions.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: While the "Mask of Dark Earth" - a sentient mask - is already an odd choice for Australia's villain (while magic exists in the setting, every other villain in the series is organic), the fact that it just kinda exists without any characteristics or backstory makes it a rather dull one as well.
The picture-taking function of the Binocucom returns from Sly 2, but since there are no more recon missions, its use is relegated to two missions and a tutorial.
Dimitri and Panda King get a bit shafted in just how much playtime they have for their unique playstyles. While Penelope and The Guru see frequent use throughout the game due to joining the gang much earlier, Dimitri gets two playable sections (one of which is a fairly difficult boss fight), and Panda King surprisingly sees no playable sections at all in the final level. Despite the entire China arc being about how Sly needs to learn to overlook their history in order for him to use Panda's expertise to ensure the job goes down right, Panda King more or less only creates a shortcut for Bentley and Murray to catch up with Sly and contributes nothing else to the grand finale.
Values Dissonance: The Guru is portrayed as a magical Aborigine who is in touch with nature, possesses supernatural powers and does not speak English, though the other characters can still understand him. This characterization would be seen as a racist stereotype today.
", when Bentley challenges Muggshot to a fight (as part of a plot to lure him and Carmelita together). The music fits perfectly with the gloomy mood of the other pilots and with Muggshot's gross, Jerkass personality.