The new Sly Cooper game is currently sitting at a not so respectable 75 on metacritic based on 20 reviews. I don't think anybody expected it to be recieved this negatively. So what went wrong with this game? After reading 7-8 or so reviews and watching many gameplay videos/walkthroughs of Sly 4, I've come to these points: 

1. Loading times - Pretty obvious one. Almost all of the reviews mentioned terrible loading times on both the Ps3 and Vita versions. Honestly this is unacceptable for a 3D platformer these days. Not much else to discuss here.

2. Sanzaru Games played it way too safe - In order to avoid betraying the core Sly Cooper fans, I think Sanzaru Games played it very safe and tried too much to stick to the original forumla. They should have been creative and thought outside of the box in order to create a Sly game that appealed to both core fans of the series as well as new gamers. The visuals look good, but not great. And apparently the story didn't journey into that "great" category either. Pretty much Sly Cooper: Theives in time seems like just a good game. 

3. The cinematic levels aren't equal to previous Ps3 platformers - This is a huge one. When comparing the story and cinematic presentation of Sly 4 to games like Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (2009)? It's not even close. If Insomniac can bring new life to their great Ps2 franchises on the Ps3, why can't it be done with Sly? Granted it was Sanzaru Games and not Sucker Punch but they had a pretty good budget and experience with the Sly franchise (Sly Collection) so it just baffles me as to why it seems like I'm playing a Ps2 game upscaled for HD on the Ps3....

There are a couple more reasons but I'll leave it at these main points. I'm not trying to say Sly 4 is a bad game, because it clearly isn't. I'm saying that the potential for it to be a great game is far too obvious to ignore the faults it currently has. I still plan on buying it thanks to that beautiful $40 price tag.

What are you thoughts of the direction that Sanzaru is taking the Sly franchise?

So you haven't played the game, but have come to all those conclusions. Tell me more...

It also came out when Dead Space 3 and Fire Emblem were Released! JK, i thought alot of people were excited for this??? Also wasnt it cheap? $40, Now you kno why!

As far as I see the main issue for some is that it is a remnant of the past that hasn't evolved so it is perceived as a dinosaur in some sense. On the other hand, others happen to like its old school style and praise it for it. I'm in the latter camp.

This is probably part of the reason why we'll never get Jak 4. You can't please both camps without compromising something the other camp cherishes (or would like).

Latter camp here.

Haven't played the game or the demo but it just seems like an IP handled by the wrong developer. I have zero hype for it although I had a mild interest in the game back when it was revealed. Maybe its the PS4 rumors, maybe its my hype for games like The Last of Us and God of War...I just don't see a reason to buy this game, and the low reviews aren't helping anything....

Sorry for this unrelated question but does any one know if the cross buy feature is region free? If I buy the US version will I be able to download the vita version on my EU account?

3 letters for you when it comes to playing it safe. DmC

The game plays like the older ones, mainly Sly 2 and 3. There are some new gameplay features, like costumes, but the overall feel of the game is the same. There are people who love this (I'm in this boat), and there are people who think it hasn't evolved and the game is feeling stale. If things were left the same, people complain, but if the game was changed too much, then people would complain. People seem to forget that this is a new developer that is taking the reigns from another developer, so it's to be expected that the game would probably turn out similar to previous games. If Sanzaru does another game, they may take chances with that one.

The gametrailers review makes it seem pretty solid in my opinion.