Sleeping Dogs: Square Enix goes Oriental! Tweet

I have played as whites [GTA VC] , blacks [GTA SA] , Italians [Mafia II], Russians[GTA 4] and I was wondering, when the Chinese version was coming. I guess they waited for all the good games to release and as always ripped off the good parts from each. This may seem amusing, but seriously, there is no better explanation than that. They did follow the true philosophy of China - Copy and prosper! [Confucius says!]

The game is a 3rd person open-world sandbox, very similar to Grand Theft Auto, fully customized into a Chinese version of the world. We have already seen a Thai version in Just Cause 2, which was again from Square Enix and I have a hunch they might have used the same game engine. 

Now for the ripping part, this game predominantly strains on the character's martial arts skills rather than "ni**as with guns" attitude. So you have more of close quarter combats, knuckles to face types of battles which are pretty neat however not new. For all those who have played Batman Arkham Asylum and City, this game may just bring some nostalgic feelings. There are countless combos to master and the worst part is - most of them don't work on time. The block key usually fail and you end up chicken dancing in front of your chowmein-eating brawler! 

*Cantonese accent* "Someone get the karaoke on! this Ham ga tsan is dancing here" 

So the game has its version of chases and racing and parkour movements and shooting[I'm sure they simulated cheap Chinese guns, it just doesn't work!]. 

About the parkour, its very similar to Assassins Creed and a lot of bits and pieces from L A Noire [chasing the bad guy while you climb and jump your way through the obstacles]. While driving, you can jump onto the next car and hijack that vehicle, although with trucks it gets a little tricky [practice makes perfect!]. Reminded me a lot about the hijacking in Just Cause 2, minus the rope tricks. 

However the story is really interesting, for the most part because its a whole new theme for such an Open-sandbox. Of course for us Indians, this is nothing new, half of our movies run on the same story. The Chinese theme really kicked in the flavors and made the game a lot more colorful compared to its american counter parts. I could also smell a bit of Saints Row theme in this game with the myriad of costumes and gears [especially auto] you get in this game. 

Although the game is highly immersive, certain elements can really bug a gamers. One such example would be the experience points - Cop side and Triad side. One can collect the Triad side points real easy while for the Cops side, even a small dink on a parking meter would void your efforts to get a clean 3 shield finisher. It's irritating to find that keeping both the progression at an equal pace is turning out to be such a herculean task!

Like the gyms in GTA San Andreas, you can find martial arts school here and learn new techniques. With the points you gain from the missions, you can unlock upgrades in combat skills and other skills from Cops and Triads [Again another rip off from Batman AC]. More copies from Batman include hacking CCTV cameras to nail bad-guys [More like hacking in Arkham City]. God! did they copy everything?!

You can find certain elements like "Shrines" and "Suitcases" which boosts your health and finance respectively. These suitcases are often guarded by local goons, so a short spell of fist-fight is required to get your hands on the moolah. 

Then there are countless stores selling "Dragon's Kick" sodas and Herbal Tea which improves your melee attacks and health for a brief period of time. I was intrigued by the "dragon's kick" and its effect, got me thinking - can Coke improve your fighting skills? And then you also have countless street vendors with their noodle and pork-buns, all giving you a tiny health boost. It would be a crime if I missed the massages, for all you out there who played the game - you know what i'm talking about!. For the no-knows, the massage sharpens your senses and increases the rate of your face-meter[I'll let you discover the 'but how?' yourself]. Now the face-meter is something new and interesting in this game. By helping people and beating up bad guys, you get to assert your position and command some respect amongst the commoners. After a while people call you by your name, its an experience!

This game has copied the dance sessions and hydraulic dancing in San Andreas with the Karaoke nights. Girls are aplenty in this game and sometimes you can eavesdrop on interesting conversations about their boyfriends and umm.. the rest of the gibberish. 

Missions are exciting, however buggy game-play makes it painful to play in certain missions. Environmental graphics in this game is more artistic and the in-game physics is decent. Although the controls and game-play takes some getting used to. For example, while driving, as you approach maximum speed, your screen starts to quake inducing a nauseating feeling [especially in 3D] and the mouse control while driving makes the screen swing to either sides uncontrollably. The controls on the keyboard are a pain, in one case - the vehicle access key is RMB and the aim key is E. Most of us are used to Aiming with RMB, and during high speed chases end up clicking that by mistake, ejecting out of the vehicle![Restart Checkpoint!]

Playing this game is a mixed reaction, just like this review. The game is warm and welcoming but the bugs make it a pain to play [at certain points]. For a scrapped project being given a second chance, well, its commendable. But as a mainstream game, a little more polished game-play would have made this game an experience - one of a kind! And of all the proverbs, this one stands out the most - "One man's loss is another man's gain"...Activision, you should have thought about this again....

I would give this game 7.5/10

[Just for the confusion of which side I am actually on!]

What do you think!
Comment below!

@/\/!