Canadian Developer United Front Games’ Sleeping Dogs provides a wonderful mix of melee combat, gunplay and driving experiences. With plenty to do, expect yourself spending a solid 20-30 hours driving, fighting and serving the people of Hong Kong. With great mechanics, an immersive story and plenty of tasks to keep you busy, Sleeping Dogs is everything you’ve come to expect from the sandbox genre.
However, Sleeping Dogs isn’t your typical ‘GTA clone’. The main character, Wei Shen, isn’t the cookie cutter violent criminal you find in the GTA or Saints Row universes. Shen is an undercover police officer who has returned to his native China from the United States to assist in the effort of fighting the thriving criminal enterprises of Hong Kong. Becoming deeply embedded in the Triad underworld the story revolves around which side of the fence he lands on.
The game’s leveling system falls into three categories; Cop, Triad and Face, with experience points being used to unlock new abilities. Cop and Triad points are related to your primary missions, as you can imagine, often interfering with one another. Cop points award you for how careful you are with civilians and private or public property as a cop (eg: striking civilians with your vehicle will dock you police points). However also challenging you to become increasingly brutal when committing crimes as a Triad (using any array of the game’s brutally gory kills will assist in increasing your points with the Triads).
On the other hand, Face has to do with the general population of Hong Kong and how they view you, which makes for the most intriguing of the three experience meters. Assisting merchants, chasing down two-bit criminals or doing side missions for the masses, will steadily increase your Face points. The unique leveling system will continue to give you something to strive for and keep you on your toes. Even if you’re unsatisfied with the outcome, you can always go back and repeat missions to try something differently.
At first glance, the combination of Chinese and English voice acting might seem like a hazardous endeavour, but the truth is the voice acting is spectacular. The mixture of Chinese and English conversation sounds and looks natural and fluid. Characters change it up depending on the nature of the conversation and you can follow along with subtitles when necessary. The graphics are good, but not mind blowing, and at times you may find yourself having texture loading issues or notice draw distance problems.
The biggest issue with the game is the camera. You may find the camera repositioning, even when using the thumb-stick to manipulate it. This is especially noticeable when attempting to navigate through close quarters. It can also sometimes be noticed in combat situations. The issue almost solely revolves around driving and you’ll be hard pressed to run into many situations where this is a problem. By no means does this detract from just how darn fun it is to drive around, but worth noting nonetheless.
Driving controls are unmatched, making whipping around Hong Kong a breeze whether chasing down criminals or going for a Sunday drive. Likely working on their experience with titles such as ModNation Racers, United Front Games knows a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to driving controls. By the same token, combat controls are uncomplicated and very button mash-esque, which provides a simple yet pleasing experience. In comparison, Sleeping Dogs puts GTA IV’s hand-to-hand combat controls to shame. Expect to be pleasantly surprised at how well this game performs the mechanics that made its genre a hit.
Sleeping Dogs’ version of Hong Kong was designed after the real city with its four distinct districts. Although the map may not be as large as a typical Liberty City, Hong Kong makes up for it with a vibrant population of smart AI. From the chatter of passers-by to the extremely well executed flow between night and day, make it quite a believable setting just itching to be explored.
I don’t know why people aren’t paying attention to Sleeping Dogs, with a plethora of unique elements that put it in the top class of sandbox games; this game has yet to disappoint. You will be surprised at how many things this game does just as well, if not better, than the juggernauts of its genre. With an immersive story, slew of side missions (including street races and singing karaoke), achievements and trophies, Sleeping Dogs will keep you entertained for some time to come.
