Sleeping Dogs (Review ?Overview? Opinion?)

[TommyGuner]

Just started playing this game on PC (with xbox controller) and I find it very fun despite being a fan of other open-world shooters like GTA/Saints Row etc. This game brings a different vibe, and it just feels like I haven't played an open-worldy game for a while.

Setting is fantastic, I am extremely familiar with HK and when you play the game, you feel that the developers have made some effort capturing the atmosphere of famous parts of HK (although a lot of stuff that one identifies with HK is missing!).
The map itself ISN'T an accurate map of Hong Kong, it only includes HK Island and it only includes 4 "Districts" of Hong Kong (including North Point, Aberdeen, Central, Kennedy Town - I'm surprised they didn't go for the even more well-known HK areas such as Causeway Bay/Tsim Sha Tsui etc.)

A lot of graphics settings so it isn't just some cheap console knock-off, there are quite a lot of settings to play around with (including a Benchmark mode), but most of them are not sliders, just Low/High/Extreme. The graphics themselves are good, lighting is good. However, even with the Hi-res textures ON, a lot of textures close-up seem to lack, but don't look at this game for micro-detail, it is all about looking at the game-world in a macro-detail, including everything from the lights of the million neon signs jutting from the buildings, the car lighting, the shop lighting, fireworks, everything, it looks great.

Voice acting, for the most part is excellent - some very talented voice-actors have been hired to do this, though some minor(maybe minor, I haven't played enough to know who is/isn't important) characters have quite shoddy voice-acting, a la Deus Ex Hong Kong level "shoddy".
There is a lot of cantonese in the game, but the majority is spoken in English wish feels VERY weird since its...well... it's Hong Kong isn't it? But it is placed in some right places, i.e. triad thugs and mobsters insult and curse you in Cantonese whilst you engage in combat with them, normal people on the streets converse and argue in Cantonese, car drivers also speak and complain as you cut in front of them. As I have learn Cantonese before, I can tell you that the Cantonese spoken in the game is authentic, not just some American reading them off a script trying to pronounce Cantonese and then adding it to the game (a la Deus Ex again, maybe ).

Melee combat is good, better than GTA but does not have the same fell as Batman Arkham City/Asylum (which has pretty much the most PERFECT combat system of any game in my opinion). You can punch/kick, you can counter in different ways etc. However, like the other True Crime games, you can unlock different fighting combos as you progress and find more collectibles.

 Also one very good mechanic put in the game is the the grapple mechanic, where you can grab hold of a guy during combat (B on the controller) and you can interact with the environment (i.e. find a thing to throw the guy into): is there a phone booth? Throw and kick him in there! Is there a roof fan vent? Shove his head into hit and watch the fan churn out blood (violent, but in case you're worried, his head isn't cut off). There are many objects you can interact with when fighting, hell you can even throw people into moving cars (I have tried, but it is quite difficult) when you're brawling it out in the streets.

A simple mechanic of free-running/parkour is also in place (introduced as soon as you start a new game), which involves you pressing the same button at the right time when vaulting/climbing/jumping, simpler than AC games but it has it's uses.

When playing this game, the Hong Kong setting, the police background, the brawling and the chasing/fleeing, I kept having Jackie Chan's Police Story in mind, I am a big fan of HK Cinema, especially Jackie Chan's older movies, and this game dishes it out in spades, though the protagonist doesn't use objects to his advantage as Jackie Chan does in his movies, environment interaction is there. So those who are similar fans, give this game a go!

Customisation (clothes, new furniture for your apartment etc) is present, and some clothes if worn in a set actually give a bonus (i.e. a "thug" outfit set gives +5% melee dmg bonus).
There is a BIT of an RPG-element that is implemented into the game; because the protagonist is an undercover HK cop trying to get into the triads career ladder, he has two "experience bars" - Cop Rating and Triad Rating, each has its own "talent tree" (it splits into two routes, same as Mass Effect 3), you level them both up separately, but your rating goes up/down depending what you do during a mission (i.e. if you smash into property whilst driving triads around on a mission, your cop rating decreases which leads to a lower Cop Rating exp gain at the end of a successful mission).
A third exp bar is called the Face meter/level (which is pretty much the same as Respect), this also has its talent tree and as you level up your Face you have access to more things (you can wear more clothes that require a higher Face lvl).

Driving is a very important feature in any open-world game, and I have to say that Sleeping Dogs driving is enjoyable, not at all realistic, but enjoyable - very similar to Need For Speed style driving. You can (very unrealistically) ram cars by pushing X, your car shoots towards the direction you want, defying physics. And you can, very humorously, lean out of the car and do an "Action Hijack" where you can leap from your car to the top of another car and hi-jack it (Just Cause?). Funnily enough, I haven't tried this out as I want to save it for when I really(Do i ever?) need it.


This is all I have to say since I have only played the FIRST TWO OR SO HOURS OF IT, but I must say that this isn't by any means a bland game, it is surprisingly enjoyable and is definitely worth a go for those who are deciding to get it or not!

[DuVeL]

Haven't got the game but I think you'll like this:
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[lionheart]

Hmmmm, I too am familiar with Hong Kong, will give this a try.

[TommyGuner]

Haven't got the game but I think you'll like this:
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this pic pretty much sums what I thought about the title before I played

[Sparko]

This game is epic! Such good fun and very well developed, managed to get a steam key for 8.99 thanks to mr tobious and I must admit it's the best 9 quid I have ever spent, I was hooked straight away. It's got a cracking story line and is very pretty if you download the free hd texture pack

Anyone else still play this?

[RizZy]

I got it along with my gfx card, loved it - one of the best games I've played in a long time.

[BrotherTobious]

It so good well worth the investment of time and small amount of cash.

Sent from my Nexus 4