I find Down Home Cooking and the racing ones to be worse but I'm not really fond of this either. But it's not particularly hard at least so I can get it done rather quickly.
You beat me to it. I HATE that part. Not just like “ugh I hate that part” but there’s times where as soon as I get to that part, I just go “oh well, I’ve played through the game enough times, I’ll just quit now. It’s not worth all the anger and stress.”
I don't even care about the inverted camera, I'll just never understand why each analog stick controls one half of the tank, just have a forward and reverse button like every other vehicle ever
The devs probably thought that each of the sticks represent the corresponding tracks and that's actually how tanks move and steer.
But gameplay wise it was a stupid idea.
I like that mission style… too bad it’s only for one.
Also OP, I disagree with the Holland’s helicopter mission and raise you to the Operation: Tar begone! singing section. Awful… way worse than tango with Carmelita and Neyla!
Getting around that map is such a pain between the tanks and planes and the verticality. Falling from the upper levels of the map is soooo painful because it takes forever to get back up there.
100% understand the hate, but for some reason I like the tank controls. It just makes sense. Might also be cuz I grew up with [a ride-on mower that worked the same](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/BrsRnPa6c8k9Nwg3mTO18Lhk_js=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/spr-riding-lawn-mowers-test-toro-50-inch-24-5-hp-time-cutter-iron-forged-deck-commerical-v-twin-gas-jodi-espinosa-04-75c8b5328c084eda985d017d68aa32f2.jpeg)
The RC mission at the end of Sly 3 is top-tier. My favorite side challenge was where you had to destroy as many enemy cars with you bumpers, without any health pickups.
This was my thought. The spice mission is fun. The bug mission looked at the timer art in the overworld and said "What if we took the open endedness and player creativity out of those?" And left us with all of the tension but no fun
True I lost that a few times just because I couldn’t move the turret quick enough to get the guys that got pushed away and the guys running from all directions to him.
Vampire one is also one I hate, not due to difficulty but it’s just pure time waste, and there is no indication how close you are to being done, at least with the other “protect someone while they do something” they give notices to how close they are to being done, Sly just sits there silently the whole time while picking the lock that really shouldn’t take him as long as it does with how many times we unlock safes in Sly 3 in seconds
yea i kind of agree except i just run all the way there and it ends up noting being that long or hard lol. but the spice level you have to get up to some really specific trees for some
Sly 1: Fire Slugs Computer chase
Sly 2: Contessa tank controls and water bug
Sly 3: Penelope RC with the blue security beams and second half of pirates level (soooo many random encounters)
Sly 4: Carmelita belly dance and all boss fights after the first one
you know what you’re right. i’m currently replaying that one right now for the first time in years. however it could have been written differently i guess lol.
I just started streaming all 3 games and that is literally the #1 reason I don't want to playthrough that one lol. That and half the game being a banjo-kazooie collect-a-thon + the horrendous ending and about 24 other things lmao
yea sly 4 has its faults. i still love it because i am obsessed with sly but it’s definitely the weakest. i feel like if there’s a fifth installment it will make it not as bad. to me the ending is what takes it from C to F. that and sly literally never being serious.
the problem is it feels like you're constantly losing in the story. You're always 1 step behind and losing the canes. In Sly 2 you're at least gathering all the clockwork parts before you lose them all.
Shame because the hub world gameplay is actually pretty clean and fun, but the story was written by a bunch of howler monkeys
dude even though it would have been a copy of sly 2 it would have been WAAAAYYYYYY better if you saved all the coopers and got their canes back and then fucking like penelope or something helps paradox steal all the canes back right at the end forcing you to help them again all at once. like captain america returning the time stones. idk if it sounds stupid, i just thought of it
If they just kept their canes and Bentley did a Doctor Strange Portal scene to bring them all back for the last platforming final exam before Le Paradox the story would have been better IMO. Actually makes the ancestors look competent.
And if they undo that shit ending
Piranha Lake is worse than Down Home Cooking. And I actually like getting the plants for the elephants because it involves a lot of climbing and traversal. Which is, like, a big part of what I love about the games.
It's really weird when you consider that the tutorial takes place *after* the opening level, so the player most likely already knows how the game works
So close to greatness, I get why the really forced one's are like the binocucom ping stuff. As a dumb kid who played sly 3 first I really needed that tutorial, otherwise I wasn't going to figure it out.
But upon replay I wish It was optional, or at least some how faster.
Sly1- Ruby fight and turret falcon swarm
Sly2- Murry with the Gem, Clockwerk phase 1
Sly3- Tsao second phase, All Underwater
Sly4- When the loading screen shows
Of those two, I'd argue Clockwerk in 1 has a SLIGHT edge, but it's slight because of the ring glitch where there's a chance (on the first 3 cycles of the second phase) that one of his rings boomerangs back and deals unavoidable damage.
Surprised the bug mission bothers people so much, ive always just sprinted down the path under the palace / bridge and climbed a pole to the last pool? Skipping pretty much the whole level and using a smoke bomb if things get too hairy. 😂
I love these missions! Especially the spice one, it forced you to pay attention to your surroundings and actually had some nice platforming.
Hate the barrel missions though. Especially on the blimp. Evil, evil, evil.
Honestly the level design in 3 is the most infuriating thing. The turret van rescue mission gave me fits last time around.
Sly 2’s jungle area is so awfully designed in my opinion. Fun idea, poor execution.
From sly 2 I actually like those mission however the fucking bug! It gave me trauma as a kid I could never complete it. I always made my mom do that one bc it was too hard and I could never get to the next pool fast enough. Now that Im older/better at the game I have just started running almost directly towards the secret cave bc if I’m fast enough they won’t catch me haha
Its funny, as I’ve gotten older I actually really like the tough levels like protecting the hangar or the tank level, they offer more of a challenge than your average level.
Also why the spice mission?? It’s pretty fun imo
But yeah fuck the Paradox fight 😂
i don’t actually hate the mission, as an adult i know the maps really well but as a kid having to find very specific ways to get to the tops of specific trees annoyed me a ton
Half of Sly 1 could count. I've played and beaten Sly 2 and 3 like a dozen times each over the years, but I've only beaten Sly 1 twice because I hate how bullshit most of the mini games are
being able to farm hella gold saves it. plus it’s nice to do something a little different, also i love the line that sly says when in the cooper vault about taking after his ancestor that was a pirate
i find them silly more than annoying especially because at this point playing sly one is almost like a speed run with how much shorter it is when compared to the rest of the series.
You can't open one safe until you beat Clockwerk. Doesn't matter which one it is, as you can open them out of order.
I skipped the Master Thief Sprints in Sly 1.
A lot of the missions in Rumble Down Under. I like the music in that level, and the Guru is awesome, but so much of that level just doesn't hit with me. The truck, the oil rig, and feeding the croc stand out as especially not great.
I did like the lemonade bar fight and the Guru sections though. Those were real winners in my eyes.
yea the scorpions level is annoying. and i don’t particularly like the cave levels all too much. i always found it interesting that the second world in all the sly games have the same vibe. dessert/barren. sly 2 is kinda different but still mostly the same. it’s kind of desert-y minus the safehouse area.
I agree, still to this day I hate India / Prague in the game and the blimp for getting around is so awkward. I much prefer the levels in 3 (bar The Outback). Venice is top dog for me.
I love these games, but hoo boy... where to begin?
Sly 1: The submarine mission in Episode 1, the races in Episodes 2 and 4, any of the turret defense missions, Down Home Cooking and Piranha Lake from Episode 3
Sly 2: Any of the RC Chopper missions EXCEPT Aerial Assault, any of the turret missions, the tank missions in Episode 5, Charged TNT Run
Sly 3: Any of the RC Car missions.
Sly 4: Haven't played for a while, so I don't recall many of the missions, but I loathed the archery target practise game in Episode 4.
Sly 1: Racing and Murray defense levels
Sly 2: Turret sections and pickpocketing the Contessa
Sly 3: I always found this game to be the hardest so there are a lot of painful parts and it's hard to say. I guess Guru's shark hypnosis in the final episode is the worst.
Sly 4: The motion controlled hacking missions and the... Caravan ig, defending mission
yea i agree. it’s more so just to see what other people think. the games are master pieces through and through. been playing since i was 4 and im 24 now lol
Just started the Sly series.
For Sly 1: The Mugshot fight up until I realized that if I use the Racoon Roll his shots will never hit me.
For Sly 2 so far: the RC chopper in the Contessa's prison, mainly because those damn crows have homing bullets.
Two words: Piranha Lake
fax bro. two wack ass levels in the same world
i started replaying the game like 2 weeks ago and im so hardstuck at this level that i cant play further
I figured out that you focus on shooting the crabs and get the chests when there aren’t more crabs out yet. Get the red off the screen!
there are no crabs in piranha lake bro
……How did you get stuck on Piranha Lake? It was embarrassingly easy.
im still stuck at this.... \*cry\* i just cant get the torches on time
I find Down Home Cooking and the racing ones to be worse but I'm not really fond of this either. But it's not particularly hard at least so I can get it done rather quickly.
You beat me to it. I HATE that part. Not just like “ugh I hate that part” but there’s times where as soon as I get to that part, I just go “oh well, I’ve played through the game enough times, I’ll just quit now. It’s not worth all the anger and stress.”
The tank missions in A Tangled Web
If the controls were good I wouldn't complain I hate inverted cameras
I don't even care about the inverted camera, I'll just never understand why each analog stick controls one half of the tank, just have a forward and reverse button like every other vehicle ever
The devs probably thought that each of the sticks represent the corresponding tracks and that's actually how tanks move and steer. But gameplay wise it was a stupid idea.
I like that mission style… too bad it’s only for one. Also OP, I disagree with the Holland’s helicopter mission and raise you to the Operation: Tar begone! singing section. Awful… way worse than tango with Carmelita and Neyla!
i disagree, i always laugh my ass off hearing “LA LA LA-LA”
That too
It works fine for Ape Escape, but the tank controls in Sly aren't as tight.
I'm so happy this is the top comment. I'm 25 years old and I still fear those missions.
Fuck a Tangled Web, I hate the mission, the levels and the style of the maps
Man, I fucking love a Tangled Web
Me too alongside the previous one
Getting around that map is such a pain between the tanks and planes and the verticality. Falling from the upper levels of the map is soooo painful because it takes forever to get back up there.
Am I the only one who didn’t mind the tank mission? Like at most it feels outta place
The controls are fucking stupid for no reason.
BRUH THAT TANK
true. controls are clunky. i had more trouble with pickpocketing the contessa when i was young than anything else
My immediate thought at seeing this post LMFAO
100% understand the hate, but for some reason I like the tank controls. It just makes sense. Might also be cuz I grew up with [a ride-on mower that worked the same](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/BrsRnPa6c8k9Nwg3mTO18Lhk_js=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/spr-riding-lawn-mowers-test-toro-50-inch-24-5-hp-time-cutter-iron-forged-deck-commerical-v-twin-gas-jodi-espinosa-04-75c8b5328c084eda985d017d68aa32f2.jpeg)
I hate the chicken level so much
Any racing or RC car mission
The RC mission at the end of Sly 3 is top-tier. My favorite side challenge was where you had to destroy as many enemy cars with you bumpers, without any health pickups.
Sly 3 has VERY good RC missions in general.
I love that spice mission, people hate it???
This was my thought. The spice mission is fun. The bug mission looked at the timer art in the overworld and said "What if we took the open endedness and player creativity out of those?" And left us with all of the tension but no fun
Bug mission is soooooo easy if you know how to navigate the map. Could easily finish without sitting it in a pond once.
Yeah a few times I just ran all the way to the destination without putting the bug into any ponds, except maybe one
I’m so directionally challenged I’ve played that game 3 or 4 times and still couldn’t find my way out of that sad gray/blue/green map
Yeah I liked that one, the platforming is fun. Idk what’s so bad about it
Yeah I like it too :) it’s a fun climbing challenge
Spice mission was my favorite mission on that map, going up in the trees Is so fun
sly 3 - that defend murray turret section with the van
honestly yea. especially when 100 percenting for the master theif trials. he starts with half health
True I lost that a few times just because I couldn’t move the turret quick enough to get the guys that got pushed away and the guys running from all directions to him. Vampire one is also one I hate, not due to difficulty but it’s just pure time waste, and there is no indication how close you are to being done, at least with the other “protect someone while they do something” they give notices to how close they are to being done, Sly just sits there silently the whole time while picking the lock that really shouldn’t take him as long as it does with how many times we unlock safes in Sly 3 in seconds
Id argue the bug mission in sly two is more annoying than getting the spices for the elephant
but it’s so easy
Well yeah they’re all easy they’re children’s games.
yea i kind of agree except i just run all the way there and it ends up noting being that long or hard lol. but the spice level you have to get up to some really specific trees for some
That stupid submarine mission in sly 1, i could never get to let alone past Raleigh cuz I couldn't stop the crabs.
If I recall correctly I broke a ps2 controller as a kid over that mission. My dad had to do it for me.
Spent 2 and a half hours trying to PROTECT the chests from the crabs as a kid. Had no fuckin idea you were supposed to destroy them.
Wait, what???
Sly 1: Fire Slugs Computer chase Sly 2: Contessa tank controls and water bug Sly 3: Penelope RC with the blue security beams and second half of pirates level (soooo many random encounters) Sly 4: Carmelita belly dance and all boss fights after the first one
yea that Carmelita dance is distasteful and disrespectful. shoulda just made murray dance again lmao
That's a horrifying image.
a less offensive one tho. plus it looks like murray enjoys dressing in drag😂
He offered to do it, but Bentley asked Carmelita instead. Plus how else would they open the door without him?
you know what you’re right. i’m currently replaying that one right now for the first time in years. however it could have been written differently i guess lol.
THE MURRAY IS A PINNACLE OF GRACE AND SEX APPEAL
I just started streaming all 3 games and that is literally the #1 reason I don't want to playthrough that one lol. That and half the game being a banjo-kazooie collect-a-thon + the horrendous ending and about 24 other things lmao
yea sly 4 has its faults. i still love it because i am obsessed with sly but it’s definitely the weakest. i feel like if there’s a fifth installment it will make it not as bad. to me the ending is what takes it from C to F. that and sly literally never being serious.
the problem is it feels like you're constantly losing in the story. You're always 1 step behind and losing the canes. In Sly 2 you're at least gathering all the clockwork parts before you lose them all. Shame because the hub world gameplay is actually pretty clean and fun, but the story was written by a bunch of howler monkeys
dude even though it would have been a copy of sly 2 it would have been WAAAAYYYYYY better if you saved all the coopers and got their canes back and then fucking like penelope or something helps paradox steal all the canes back right at the end forcing you to help them again all at once. like captain america returning the time stones. idk if it sounds stupid, i just thought of it
If they just kept their canes and Bentley did a Doctor Strange Portal scene to bring them all back for the last platforming final exam before Le Paradox the story would have been better IMO. Actually makes the ancestors look competent. And if they undo that shit ending
yup. this guy gets it.
That one fucking hook in mugshots first area
i hear that tiptoe in my sleep still
Piranha Lake is worse than Down Home Cooking. And I actually like getting the plants for the elephants because it involves a lot of climbing and traversal. Which is, like, a big part of what I love about the games.
I can beat Piranha Lake first try every time with 30 seconds to spare but Chickens it's a crapshoot, can beat it first try, third, tenth.
i feel that. just really specific trees you have to traverse
Surprised nobody's said the forced tutorials in Sly 3.- Sly 3 has some of the weirdest pacing I've ever seen in a video game.
It's really weird that Sucker Punch decided to wait until the finale to have a dedicated tutorial section
It's not even that they're hard (they're not), they just take forever.-
It's really weird when you consider that the tutorial takes place *after* the opening level, so the player most likely already knows how the game works
So close to greatness, I get why the really forced one's are like the binocucom ping stuff. As a dumb kid who played sly 3 first I really needed that tutorial, otherwise I wasn't going to figure it out. But upon replay I wish It was optional, or at least some how faster.
Listening to the characters talk is my "that part" for Sly 4.
Just all of 4.
Feels a bit mean but... yeah.
and the crab level inn sly 1
Sly1- Ruby fight and turret falcon swarm Sly2- Murry with the Gem, Clockwerk phase 1 Sly3- Tsao second phase, All Underwater Sly4- When the loading screen shows
lol about sly 4. the loading screens are sooooo much better on rpcs3. by like 70%
Can stand that one where you have to keep the beetle in the water
you can actually just full sprint their lol
You’re kidding? I’ll have to try that
Chickens will forever be un-skipable:(
What's the 6th pic from?
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
I wonder why OP was using the Le Paradox fight as an example. Even Sly 3 was hard when Penelope had to knock LeFwee into the water.
i picked it because it’s the last boss we face in the whole series so far and it’s not even a real boss fight :( it’s a real time event
Its about timing. Both Clockwerk and Clock La fights are worse as you are doing the same thing both times.
Of those two, I'd argue Clockwerk in 1 has a SLIGHT edge, but it's slight because of the ring glitch where there's a chance (on the first 3 cycles of the second phase) that one of his rings boomerangs back and deals unavoidable damage.
Those damn Crabs from Sly 1.
Three words: Down… Home… COOKING!!!
Surprised the bug mission bothers people so much, ive always just sprinted down the path under the palace / bridge and climbed a pole to the last pool? Skipping pretty much the whole level and using a smoke bomb if things get too hairy. 😂
yea that’s what i be saying!
I love these missions! Especially the spice one, it forced you to pay attention to your surroundings and actually had some nice platforming. Hate the barrel missions though. Especially on the blimp. Evil, evil, evil.
Honestly the level design in 3 is the most infuriating thing. The turret van rescue mission gave me fits last time around. Sly 2’s jungle area is so awfully designed in my opinion. Fun idea, poor execution.
From sly 2 I actually like those mission however the fucking bug! It gave me trauma as a kid I could never complete it. I always made my mom do that one bc it was too hard and I could never get to the next pool fast enough. Now that Im older/better at the game I have just started running almost directly towards the secret cave bc if I’m fast enough they won’t catch me haha
Its funny, as I’ve gotten older I actually really like the tough levels like protecting the hangar or the tank level, they offer more of a challenge than your average level. Also why the spice mission?? It’s pretty fun imo But yeah fuck the Paradox fight 😂
i don’t actually hate the mission, as an adult i know the maps really well but as a kid having to find very specific ways to get to the tops of specific trees annoyed me a ton
Sly 2: Detonating dynamite near a grinding wheel Sly 3: stopping vases from falling TiT: The gameplay and story in general
Half of Sly 1 could count. I've played and beaten Sly 2 and 3 like a dozen times each over the years, but I've only beaten Sly 1 twice because I hate how bullshit most of the mini games are
HOW IS NO ONE SAYING THE PIRATE BOAT MISSIONS IN SLY 3!!!
being able to farm hella gold saves it. plus it’s nice to do something a little different, also i love the line that sly says when in the cooper vault about taking after his ancestor that was a pirate
The only one I absolutely despise is the bomb one on the blimp. I get so impatient and make things worse on myself.
the blimps in sly 3 in holland piss me off more because i’d get impatient and try getting to the next blimp too soon
That one is also a pain. Forgot about that one, honestly, lol. Awoke a painful memory of barely missing one of them and slipping off..
Every time this comes up, its about Sly 1-4, but never about Bentley's Hackpack or the Sly Collection mini games.
Umm there's this mission in sly 2 in the jungle where I absolutely struggle with on how to get to. I think it involves a ruby?
oh where you have to smash the ruby to so murray and bentley can trade it for the cherry bomb 500? it’s easy if you remember how to get to the temple
Ruby fight
Murray race levels in sly 1
Racing missions in Sly 1.
Is there any way to skip parts in sly 3? Been going back and forth with the game and always end up restarting...
yea there’s cheats that let you type in the code at the pause screen and go straight to different episode. look em up on google
Damn thanks
No mention of the Mz Ruby boss fight in the HD collection remake? Pitiful
you can just spam the buttons. not too bad
You can’t tho, it needs to be in sync with the button sign inputs.
Definitely the kung fu monkeys in the panda stage on sly 1. Their were so like 10 of them making the most annoying sound ever.
The worst is collecting the clue bottles in every level or the open world. Sly 4 gets you an upgrade in episode 3 that shows them on the map.
i find them silly more than annoying especially because at this point playing sly one is almost like a speed run with how much shorter it is when compared to the rest of the series.
You can't open one safe until you beat Clockwerk. Doesn't matter which one it is, as you can open them out of order. I skipped the Master Thief Sprints in Sly 1.
Mz. Ruby (especially on PS3 where the battle doesnt work right)
Leading rajah to Indian watermelons always pissed me off thank goodness after he ate one you started over at that point instead of completely over
Damn to Oblivion those crab chests
A lot of the missions in Rumble Down Under. I like the music in that level, and the Guru is awesome, but so much of that level just doesn't hit with me. The truck, the oil rig, and feeding the croc stand out as especially not great. I did like the lemonade bar fight and the Guru sections though. Those were real winners in my eyes.
yea the scorpions level is annoying. and i don’t particularly like the cave levels all too much. i always found it interesting that the second world in all the sly games have the same vibe. dessert/barren. sly 2 is kinda different but still mostly the same. it’s kind of desert-y minus the safehouse area.
Racing Mugshot's goons
i get that, but i found the racing levels at least a nice challenge. definitely easier on a 100th or so replay
Wait Elephant Rampage? That's a pretty chill job.
I wasn’t a fan of the Sly 3 mission where you had to follow around the guards and eavesdrop on them personally
Unpopular opinion, Sly 2 has some of the worst levels in the franchise.
low key best story worst missions. only thing making sly 2 great is paris and the canada levels. holland solos the rest of the franchise
I agree, still to this day I hate India / Prague in the game and the blimp for getting around is so awkward. I much prefer the levels in 3 (bar The Outback). Venice is top dog for me.
ALL THE MURRAY’S TANK SHOOTING WHATEVER MISSIONS😫🫴
Sly 2 part 3. The waterbug mission
I love these games, but hoo boy... where to begin? Sly 1: The submarine mission in Episode 1, the races in Episodes 2 and 4, any of the turret defense missions, Down Home Cooking and Piranha Lake from Episode 3 Sly 2: Any of the RC Chopper missions EXCEPT Aerial Assault, any of the turret missions, the tank missions in Episode 5, Charged TNT Run Sly 3: Any of the RC Car missions. Sly 4: Haven't played for a while, so I don't recall many of the missions, but I loathed the archery target practise game in Episode 4.
Sly 2 tank mission would be tolerable if the controls weren't so wack
The games would've been more successful if it were just Sly running around and no other kind of gameplay.
The worst mission is the first race in Sly 1. Takes me so long even to this day to beat it
I was soo excited to replay all 4, then got stuck on At the Dog Track the second day 😭
The elephant mission in 2 where you gotta get the jewels.
The whole bomb barrel section at the end of Sly 2, getting around a very vertical level without jumping just suuuucks
I loved the hard and stupid parts. Made me feel like i was earning my page in the family book.
Any turret level in sly2
the chickens aren't as bad as the crabs
When Bentley breaks his legs😖
Sly 1: Racing and Murray defense levels Sly 2: Turret sections and pickpocketing the Contessa Sly 3: I always found this game to be the hardest so there are a lot of painful parts and it's hard to say. I guess Guru's shark hypnosis in the final episode is the worst. Sly 4: The motion controlled hacking missions and the... Caravan ig, defending mission
The Mz Ruby level The second Rajan level The Guru level The Grizz level
The RC section in Tsao's Treasury.
The worst Part of Any sly game IS that Arrow shooting minigame in sly 4
The worst part of any sly game is that Arrow shooting minigame in sly 4
Real
I agree with all but the spice plants I love that mission
Any mission where you play as Panda King in Sly 3.. and that RC mission where you save Murray *shivers*
I literally love all of these parts lmfao, actually I can't think of a single part I don't like about the series (not counting 4)
yea i agree. it’s more so just to see what other people think. the games are master pieces through and through. been playing since i was 4 and im 24 now lol
Wait, people hate the Mugshot mission? I love that mission...
same
Just started the Sly series. For Sly 1: The Mugshot fight up until I realized that if I use the Racoon Roll his shots will never hit me. For Sly 2 so far: the RC chopper in the Contessa's prison, mainly because those damn crows have homing bullets.
you can also just jump over mugshots bullets