We need to stop buying new games. Or, rather, we should spend more time playing older games. I say that because now and again, I’m reminded of just how incredible some games that came out ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago were. As anyone who’s read my article on how I recently went back to playing the PS Vita will know, I’ve been having a grand ol’ time with the decade-old handheld. One game, in particular, however, has genuinely blown me away, even though it’s more than two decades old—Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves.

I feel like kids of my generation were in one of three camps when it came to their 3D character platformer of choice. You were either a Ratchet and Clank kid, or a Jak and Daxter kid, or a Sly kid (Spyro kids were there, too, but we don’t really talk about them). I decided to align myself with the stoic Jak and his mouthy mutated ottsel, Daxter. As such, Sly was never in my purview during my time with the PlayStation 2. Playing this game all these years later on the Vita and, boy, am I simply in awe with how incredibly fun, well-designed, and intuitive this game is. 

I had tried the first Sly on the Vita a few years ago and, though I enjoyed the stories of our trio of thieving pals in Murray, Bentley, and Sly, the game, mechanically, didn’t click with me. Sly 2, however, fleshes out and builds upon everything from the first game, and it’s simply a joy to play. From the platforming to the sneaking to the unique playstyles between the three characters, it all feels perfect. The settings, stories, and bosses for each episode are also wonderfully unique, giving each heist a sense of scale and scope you wouldn’t think possible for a game of this era. Everything, from the story and voice acting to the visuals and gameplay, oozes a charm that I believe will forever stand the test of time.  

As the great Martin Scorsese once said, “There are no old films and new films; every film you haven’t seen yet is a new film.” The same, of course, applies to games. And I believe if you truly love games, you owe it to yourself to go back in time to discover titles or even franchises you never got a chance to play, instead of pre-ordering yet another game that’s going to collect dust in your already shameful backlog.