For a long time I’ve been a fan of the True Crime series and this was the reason I became ridiculously excited at the news of Square Enix picking it a cancelled sequel, moulding it (along with United Front Games) into the game we now know as the Sleeping Dogs. Some may have seen it as a risk to take on a challenge that was deemed not profitable enough or having blockbuster potential by Activision, so would it pay off?
Sleeping Dogs immediately sets the scene during a dodgy deal that gets busted by the Police and it’s your character getting chased down as you flee. The fast paced and rather exciting opening see’s you sliding/vaulting and climbing over obstacles to escape but you eventually fall into the hands of the law. Using cutscenes that are reminiscent of movie sequences, the character is unveiled as Wei Shen during an interrogation from a Superintendent Pendrew and I’m sat thinking “I’m caught already? That was a quick game”. Then comes the twist, it turns out you’re an undercover cop working to bust two of the biggest rival gang leaders (Winston & Dogeyes) in Hong Kong who are fighting despite both being part of a larger organisation, Triad group Sun On Yee.
You are thrown into a large free roam area within Hong Kong, this is where you become your own boss by decided what you want to do and when. Checking out the detailed map you can find one of three mission types, either Triad (helping out Winston’s gang), Police or just general favours to raise your profile (or Face level) within the island which is split up into four fictional districts. I must say I still haven’t ventured into every alleyway and down all the streets, yes it is that big, but the way the world expands is by using rooftops which adds multiple routes to certain destinations. It’s worth noticed it’s all in 3rd person mode, so you’ll be looking over Wei’s shoulder and should the camera view not be in the right place for you to see it’s easily adjustable using Right-Stick.
Throughout most missions you will encounter various groups of enemies that need taking out; the clever part here is that although these enemies look generic at times, there are different styles that you have to be aware of. Some can attack and cannot be interrupted by kicking, some block so you have to wait for them to make the first move, these are just a couple of examples showing the dynamic appeal of the bad guys. The actual hand to hand combat itself is similar (this has been said by a few people) to the Batman Arkham games where although you’re targeting one guy you can link the attacks to opponents to the side of you or behind you which for me is extremely fun seeing how many can be beaten down at once.
In most games that involve being able to counter incoming attacks I generally suck at the timing but in this the enemies light up just before giving you ample opportunity to catch a flying foot and throw that dude down to the ground. Possibly my favourite part of the combat and those that have ever play The Punisher on the original Xbox will surely love the Environmental finishers. These are moves you can do during grapples near glowing objects and places, for example take them over to shutters and it places them underneath it then proceeds to smash the shutter down on them. Briefly onto the shooting, it allows getting into cover behind walls and such, and being able to target then manually pin-point places to shoot, I quite liked this but much prefer hand to hand.
The story itself doesn’t feel too long which is why I’m glad of its free roam style, it means they can add little collectables that could take hours to locate. These include health shrines that increase Wei Shen’s overall health bar, deposit boxes that contain money or mystery items and rather key to your character enhancement, Statues which can be traded for fighting upgrades. Along the way it’s worth checking out the many stalls and shops placed around each district as if it’s not clothes for sale then it could be food with natural boosts like health regeneration. That’s one of the cooler parts of this game, far more interactive shops than most other free roams. You could drive to your destinations using a vehicle as horrendous as a chicken van or one as stylish as a sports car, it depends whether you fancy stealing one or have saved up a healthy bank balance. I would much rather run down alleyways and over walls, parkour style and you may discover more collectables that way.
Now let me give a special mention to the cutscenes that are brought to life by memorable actors to me from retro and current great (in different ways) films; the main protagonist Wei Shen played by Will Yun Lee (Die Another Day), Robin Shou (Mortal Kombat – Lui Kang), Byron Mann (Street Fighter – Ryu), Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man) and British actor Tom Wilkinson (many films, too many). You just feel the story gripping more with such a stellar cast of actors and actresses, no expense spared and a very smart move to sweeten up those film buff gamers like myself.
To explain how good this game is I have to enlighten you to my usual free roam experience which consists of stealing cars, beating up random thugs and avoiding all actual missions as they generally bore me. Sleeping Dogs has me doing all this between doing the enjoyable missions for different factions (Police/Triad) and it really had me wanting to never switch off. Even when you’re done with the main story there’s so many collectables that you’ll get more than your monies worth from it. It’s a must have, I don’t know how many more positive things I can say. It only misses out on a 10/10 for the main story that could be much longer, that’s my only negative.
9/10