Helicopters are both an enemy type and usable vehicle seen in Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. There is also a variant on the helicopter called the Gyrocopter, found in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves.
The helicopter has multiple functions, including surveillance, defense, offense and pursuit.
History
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
In Sly 2, they are seen to have machine guns and missiles. The missile types are as follows:
- Swirling missiles (red)
- Direct missiles (black)
- Double missiles (yellow)
The swirling missiles do a small amount of damage, while the direct missiles and double missiles take away approximately 1/3 of your health. The double missiles take two hits to destroy.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
In Sly 3 there is a variant on the helicopter called a "Gyrocopter" that patrols the Australian Outback in Rumble Down Under. It dropped bombs at random that could damage both the player and guards, as well as attract guards attention. The Guru eventually destroyed the gyrocopter during Operation: Moon Crash in order to clear the skies for phase two of the operation. According to Bentley, the gyrocopter has a sensor to track the Guru's moon stone, and that it had probably used it to find and capture the Guru before the episode.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
In Thieves in Time, the helicopters are a superior enemy. They cannot be destroyed, and if you are caught by them, it means instant-death. They fire a bolt of energy that shocks the player, showing the characters skeleton through their skin, which is followed by the screen fading to black and restarting the character at the last checkpoint. Health does not decrease.