Sleeping Dogs Review

Sex, drugs, undercover cops, violent betrayal, gun fights, bare knuckle brawls and Hong Kong underground triads. Sound like something you want to be a part of? I don't blame you, it's bloomin' awesome.

Obviously I'm not telling you to move to Hong Kong to try all these out, that would be simply impractical, dangerous and stupid but if you would like to be a part of these specific experiences in more of a fantasy sense that I would recommend purchasing Sleeping Dogs, the new open-world game from Square Enix and United Front Games.

It's a slightly different genre switch from your Final Fantasy's, Kingdom Hearts' and ModNation Racers', that SE and United Front are used to individually, but this collaboration has served them both well.

You take the role of Wei Shen, born in Hong Kong, bred in the States and now back working in Hong Kong for the HKPD as an undercover cop, scouting out various goings on in the notorious triads that are causing havoc in and around their own workings.

Game involvement blends in from the first cut-scene, a method of user introduction that is tried and tested on many open world games these days. At this point, you know nothing of your character Wei's professional situation, only that you are bolting away from a few dozen Hong Kong bobbies after just participating in a drug deal.

On-foot mobility is initially, shall we say, different. It feels somewhat slippery under foot, like you're floating, performing a running motion and the world is moving beneath you. However, it's not terrible, and you soon get used to it. In the same escape you are gradually eased into more complex methods of movement, like vaulting over various objects such as boxes, tables etc., and it all starts to feel just right. There is a satisfying fluidity if you time your vaults and jumps well, much like being a pro Mirror's Edge runner without the extreme Parkour.

After you find out more about Wei including his interesting personal life and troubling past, you are thrown into simple missions that don't have a massive impact on the overall story but are more of a way to get you familiarised with the controls; which are quite simple. Hand to hand combat is certainly more enjoyable than combat with firearms, especially as you have the ability to learn more moves as you progress within the game. The main punches and kicks are dealt-out using one button, grapples with another and counters with another. Other moves can be performed using other buttons but nothing is too complicated. Nothing like button-bash Fighting games where you have to remember 15-button combinations to blow your opponent a kiss.

Sleeping Dogs has some of the simplest controls I have used in recent memory. Barring one situation every button press works, when you want them to. When in confrontation with Brawlers (beefy guys twice the size of you that you can't grapple), have quicktime events to avoid their slow sluggish attacks but some of your button presses don't seem to register. As an example, you can be in a headlock with the counter button flashing above you. To the common gamer you would think that means to tap it as fast as you can, but it seems there is no effect, no matter how fast you tap it. Other counters on brawlers work but some simply don't; unless of course I'm terribly useless.

As you are an undercover cop working within a triad, you have to partake in Police work as well as keeping a decent cred within the gang. You gain experience for work within the triad and for Police case work. The two sets of missions sometimes interlink which stops the storyline from splitting in two directions. As you gain separate experience, you can learn new techniques that will aid you when completing further missions.

Triad missions can include manhunts, taking money from rival triads and basically stamping your triad's authority on the rest of Hong Kong. The Police work can include busting top drug dealers and grabbing leads to bigger busts. You can also plant bugs and hack security cameras to scope out known drug dealing areas amongst other things. These plants and hacks drop you in puzzles such as moving the analogue sticks in a certain way to place wires in a certain position, sometimes under a time limit. The variation of missions is excellent. Few missions are: do this, do that, go here, pick this guy up. This constant mission variety is one of the big highlights of the game.

What big city game wouldn't have side-missions and collectibles? Not this one. Although no multiplayer is present apart from stats comparisons and leaderboards, there's a love interest side-story, a street racing scene, and collectibles that can reward you with cash, clothes and even kung-fu, if they are returned to their rightful owner. Each extra addition gives more hours of gametime to get your inquisitive teeth into, naturally.

Graphics are great for an open-world game. I think the fact the game hasn't got the scale of GTA in terms of map size is actually something that works in the game's favour. Facial animations are nothing like LA Noire's standard but they don't need to be, they are accurate enough to get the emotions across.

You get about the city like you would in any other open-world game, vehicles. The car/bike handling isn't as crisp as GTA or Saints Row but it's not something that should have a massive taint on the game. If it was so bad you simply couldn't drive at all, then it would be a huge downer, but it's more than playable, we aren't talking Alone in the Dark bad, far from it, but it could do with some improvement.. Driving as well as a few minor glitches stop the game from being a true perfect gem, which is a shame.

It may sound like Sleeping Dogs is a brutal hardcore adult video game title but the truth is, the game is made in such a way that it's serious but still a heck of a lot of fun. Reason being, missions don't feel like a grind, they are fun, enjoyable and feel like they are leading to better things, because they are. The storyline is entirely plausible and as you learn more about Wei and the main characters around you, you start to feel a bond between the fictional folk. If you can handle the brutality and swearing then get your hands on one of this year's stunner titles.