Are the Sly Cooper games stealthy and any good?

Actually, if you're in a stealth mood, there are also very different genres that provide that kind of thrill. Just saying this because I love submarine simulators since "Silent Service" on the Amiga and "Aces of the Deep" on PC, and the hide-and-seek tension of these can't be topped. I also played a lot of "F-19" (basically the same game as "F-117"), which is the sneaky version of dogfight simulators : dodging pulse and doppler radars, awacs and fighter patrols, before striking your target and trying to get back to your base through a fully alerted enemy territory was as intense as any foot-based infiltration. The tactics are quite similar.

Just as with the top-down "Commandos" etc, it's worth mentionning that this sort of gameplay and tactical reflexion can be found in other forms than the usual fps or tps stealth games. And can be as stressfull and rewarding, providing a refresing change for the same category of thrill.

Thief. Gold. No other game does it better (except maybe Thief 2).

Oh and actually, contrary to what alot of ignoramus's think, ALL of the 'monsters' in TG can be snuck by......

Tony.

Spooky, a very similar thread appeared over at the Escapist at roughly the same time as this was posted here.... its a conspiracy I tell you!

But yes, Thief is the way forward. That series is the stealth series, with the whole concept revolving around being stealthy, rewarding stealth and discouraging direct confrontation.

I was actually thinking of Jagged Alliance when I started this thread. I was hoping people would post different types of games.

Thief spoilers:

Some very good mentions here... Oblivion was a fantastic stealth game. I know someone that bought the game and spent 60 hours just going from house to house in every town picking pockets and breaking into basements, looting shops, etc. However, combat was still required.

Vampire: bloodlines... another one that is tons of fun and encourages stealth, but boss battles were brutal if you chose the stealth path. You had to fight in multiple places and all boss battles ignored stealth.

Splinter Cell had some forced combat, even if it was a simple limitation of the AI. Chaos Theory was the best in regards to stealth, but I found it still just a tad lacking.

Hitman had its problems. Some games in the series were better than others.

Thief, on the other hand can be 100% stealthed... even the end game bosses. My gripe on most games is a neat and fluid game experience that leads to a frustration with the end game. With Thief, my praise is that the game experience INCLUDES the final bosses. So for this reason, among the others listed by other posters... I give Thief the nod ;)

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

thats my fav.

had a full single player campaign and a full SEPERATE co-op campaign that coincided with the single-player campaing.

it was AWESOME!


i also love the game-play of that game! me and my good buddy have played it so many times.

But all the monsters in Thief operates on the same basic detection principles as humans. They need to see/hear you, much like a human. And only one creature can not be instant-"taken out" by a hit to the head when they are unaware of your existence (though for the undead creatures, the hit to the head needs to come from a sword).

I alway try to play as sneaky and stealthy as possible if the game allows it, and silencers are my item of choice if they're available.

Not actually a pure stealth game, more like a stealthy tactical shooter, Project I.G.I. is one I enjoyed, besides all the usual suspects like Splinter Cell or Hitman. You have to take out enemies as silent and careful as possible to avoid unnecessary attention, because you can't take much hits and there is no save function. It is extremely hard, often frustrating, but also very satisfying. Unfortunately GOG only sells the second game, which is inferior to the first one.

I've actually never been a fan of stealth games. I find the "sitting and watching" gameplay absurdly tedious. For instance, in Metal Gear Solid (the first one) there is a section where you must sneak through a nuclear weapon disposal facility without using your weapons. It requires a lot of sitting and watching enemy patrols, and it just drove me fucking nuts. I also tried to get into Manhunt (by Rockstar), and had to quit by the junkyard level. Just having to sneak out there to kill a guy took a really long time, and if you managed to fuck up your path to the enemy you would get spotted and killed, and forced to start over at an inconvenient checkpoint.

Maybe someone here can recommend a stealth game that would change my mind (I do not like Splinter Cell either), but as it stands I just find the genre extremely tedious.

Thief!
Far less tedious than the "1 mistake & you fail" stealth sections in some other stealth(ish) games, great setting and fun levels to explore. Still slow paced, of course, but apart from some of the later thief 2 levels, I never found the thief games to be frustrating or tedious.

Well, it looks like The Chronicles of Riddick is going to be 60% off tomorrow. Escape from Butchers Bay was good. I remember stealthing through most of it. Anyone played it? The second one sucked. It turned the series into a FPS.

EC, try Thief and see what you think. You can generally get away if you are seen and you can save whenever you like. That's one of the frustrating things about stealth games for me, too. The Save Points normally suck so you're forced to do things over and over. The original Splinter Cell on XBox was more frustrating than it needed to be bacause of the save system. Also, Deus Ex is great. The original and Human Revolution are very good games that encourage stealth.

I forgot about The Masquerade: Bloodlines. I could never get that game to run on my computer right. I should try it again. It seemed like a solid stealth game.

I always thought the stealth in The Operative: No One Lives Forever was really well done. Great comedy value too. Hide around a corner and listen to guards say cheesy things in cliche German accents while they look for you or find a dead body.

One of my favourite games of all time. Didn't care much for the 2nd game though.