When Sanzaru Games brings The Sly Collection to the PlayStation 3 this November, you can expect all three Sly Cooper titles in moderately good-looking high-definition. Just don't expect all three games to be 3D.
I couldn't resist giving The Sly Collection a quick play during my visit to the Sony booth at E3 2010, and for the most part, I'm impressed with what I saw.
Sanzaru Games, wanting to show off both the high-definition graphics and 3D effects in The Sly Collection, chose Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves as their demo vehicle, mainly because it's the only game in the trilogy guaranteed to utilize 3D.
See, when Sly 3 was originally released, it came complete with 3D glasses. That's because Sucker Punch, the games' original developer, planned on making the entire game 3D. For various reasons they only wound up making a portion of the game 3D, and in those levels players had the option to turn it on or off.
With the 3D groundwork already in place, making the rest of the game 3D for the Sanzaru-powered re-releases was a cakewalk.
The level I played through was the second stage of the challenging boss fight with General Tsao, which sees Sly running up bamboo shoots, jumping down to smack the sexist rooster with his cane once it's safe to do so.
The graphics looked sharp enough, the widescreen presentation adding a bit more depth to the sharp, colorful graphics.
The 3D? Well I'm not a big fan of 3D. Maybe it's my eyes, but it tends to flatten things out for me, making the whole thing less eye-popping, and more like an old Viewmaster, only in motion.
Given the option, I'd just pass on the 3D altogether, as I did the first time I played Sly 3.
The Sanzaru rep said there was still a chance they'd look into 3D for the first two titles, but it doesn't seem to me like a big loss if they don't get it done.
High definition Sly is good enough for me.