Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is a third-person platformer with some stealth elements. The game is split up into worlds, which is farther split into individual levels, culminating in a boss with one of the Fiendish Five. Since Sly can lose a life after only being hit once, stealth plays an important part. There are alarms throughout the stages that if Sly is spotted, will trigger enemies to run to his position and attack. He is equipped with a cane that can be used to take down enemies.
HORSESHOES & LIVES
Normally, Sly will die in one hit from enemies, although he has the opportunity to earn an extra hit or two by collecting coins. For every 100 coins he collects, he earns a horseshoe, with the first horseshoe being blue and the second gold in color. Any other 100 coins collected while the gold horseshoe is active will grant Sly an extra life. If Sly loses a life, he either restarts from a checkpoint or from the beginning of that level. If he loses all of his lives, he will need to restart the whole world of that Fiendish Five member.
CLUE BOTTLES
In each individual level, there are Clue Bottles hidden that can be collected by Sly. If he collects all of the Clue Bottles, he will then have to find the safe hidden in that same level. When he locates this safe, he will get the number combination to open the safe, which will net him a piece of the Thievius Raccoonus, earning him a new move.
THIEF SENSES
Thief Senses are the blue sparkles spread through the game, which signals a spot that Sly can use to perform one of the moves of his ancestors. As Sly collects more pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, he will be able to perform more moves.
