Unlike my many of contemporaries I knew about Sleeping Dogs a long time ago – it was formerly going to be released as True Crime – Hong Kong, that was until Activision dropped it to focus on ‘more lucrative’ titles. Utterly disappointed, I was overjoyed when developers Square Enix and United Front Games decided on taking up the challenge. Only problem was, I knew that by the time the game would have been released the title would have been in development for near on over two and a half years – and believe it or not, that is a hell of a long time in video gaming land; things move on very quickly and it would take something special for any title to come out on top after that kind of delay.

The first True Crime was something special, a mix of free open world and a gripping crime story at its centre. It played out like an interactive ‘choose your own adventure’ book from the 80’s with multiple paths giving you different endings and incorporating some impeccable voice talent from the likes of Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman. Its sequel True Crime: New York City was a lacklustre affair with little going for it besides the hip-hop soundtrack and evolved graphics. It was little wonder then that the idea here was to ‘reboot’ the series.

The wait for Sleeping Dogs may have been lengthy and done the game no real favours graphically at least, but the wait in development means that what we have here is way better than its predecessors and stands up adequately to most open world titles of its generation.

In Sleeping Dogs you play as Wei Shen, a Hong Kong native who has returned after spending some time in the States. Driven by a desire to avenge his sister’s death, he accepts an undercover op’ to infiltrate the Sun On Yee triad and help take them down from the inside. It’s a typical tale of an undercover cop getting in way too deep and typical of the Hollywood movies it is based upon the story is full of more twists and turns than a rally car racetrack. Similar to another open world title that this is bound to be compared to – Grand Theft Auto – you start out on the lowest rungs of the criminal ladder, completing various missions in order to prove your loyalty and ascend the ranks. This often means that sometimes you will do things like a cop – for example busting criminals or following and doing surveillance jobs for the police – and other times like a triad – delivering drugs, operating drug rackets and beating other gangs to a pulp. Wei’s police superiors suspect he’s getting in too deep and there is this whole ‘brother’ loyalty thing that operates within the gang which means that you constantly have to prove yourself to get in deeper in order to take out the bad guy. No pressure then.

Thankfully the fantastic voice acting and skilful story writing bring this game to life in the way only Stranglehold and Max Payne 3 could achieve; successfully managing to blend English and Cantonese into a compelling storyline on par with the best action films.

None of the individual elements in Sleeping Dogs are the best-in-class; graphics are above average but nothing to write home about; club scenes don’t sizzle the way they do in Max Payne; dance floors are empty compared to the heaving floors seen in Payne 3. Character models tend to look like plastic dolls when viewed up close, and some gestures characters make are rigid and unnatural. Rather shamefully too, there are some repeat palette and character models seen akin to The Amazing Spiderman game of late.

Sleeping Dogs’ combat mechanic is lifted straight out of Batman’s Arkham Series with one button used for countering attacks and the other used to initiate a combo, there is a slight variation – holding the attack button down and you deliver a hard attack. But come on; lets be honest it is standard fare. I found the counter attack button to be rather sloppy; sometimes countering and other times failing to do so which was annoying as well as frustrating when you are surrounded by enemies and have limited life. Where Sleeping Dogs differs to similar systems is with the emphasis on environment attacks. The circle button is used for grabbing and once you have hold of an opponent held you can deliver a number of combos to eliminate them. In most places once grabbed you can drag enemies to certain objects around you and use these things to finish them off for example throw them into a fish tank or whack their head into a speaker. These environmental finishers are satisfying to see and later when you are surrounded by enemies you realise that doing a finisher can get rid of some opponents quickly and thus give you more time to take on the more powerful assailants uninterrupted.

One criticism that can’t be levelled at Sleeping Dogs is the capturing the atmosphere of Hong Kong. The market place is a good example, loads of people populate it, you hear people chattering, market sellers screaming at you to buy their pirate DVDs, cooks fry things up in restaurants, merchants hock their wares at the marketplace, and dancers perform at a street festival it’s all very enjoyable and when you do find a market seller you like the clothing of you try to go back there – just as in real life presumably. This city may not be accurately modelled on the real thing, but it nonetheless has a powerful identity all of its own. 

Driving in Sleeping Dogs feels good. Arcade style handling makes it easy to hop into any vehicle and tackling corners in no time. Like another title – Driver – sometimes you have to escape police presence or take out other Triads in their vehicles. Here it is done with equal merit; Cars spin out of control, explode or flip over and any passengers in the car you are in give you the respect you are owed. Later there are shoot-outs that involve shooting out the tires of pursuing cars which, whilst not particularly challenging is still thrilling and later in the game Wei also has the ability to perform action hijacks, leaping from one vehicle to another and forcibly taking the driver’s place. It’s an outrageous move that gives Sleeping Dogs a bit more of that Hong Kong action movie feel.

Big Guns aren’t a major focal point in Sleeping Dogs as the action tends to centre on Martial Arts. When shoot-outs happen they are loud, brash and in your face. Gun combat makes use of the now standard cover system, and though it doesn’t quite measure up to the intensity seen in other games, there are more than a few dramatic touches. You can vault over tables or other objects, you can slip into a slow-motion aiming mode, taking enemies out as you speed forward. You can also mix up combat and gunplay together, for example you can quickly disarm an enemy and use his gun to take out others. There are some memorable cinematic scenes for example one shoot-out takes place in a hospital with nurses and doctors becoming involved in the fray – very good indeed.

In all sandbox games you have a staple of side missions. Sleeping Dogs is no exception; here there are loads to do, from taking over drug rackets to sending out a message to other gangs to helping people that your gang protects. You can even try your hand at Karaoke. Everything helps to raise your ‘face’ the currency in this game which equates to respect. The city is huge and there is a lot to do. The game is far from linear but in contrast is at its best when it is and the story is unravelling.

Regrettably there is no multiplayer in this title – and for that it may always come second place to the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Max Payne. What it does do is incorporate a system similar to the Auto Log mode whereby in certain tasks and challenges you are measured against your friends and other players. Certain missions can be replayed too. This keeps a certain level of replayability but not much.

My verdict

True Crime…um sorry Sleeping Dogs may be a title that we have we have waited wei too long for, but is well worth playing. Yes, graphically it is not out of this world but the storyline is compelling, the gameplay interesting and immersive and more than able to stand its own against other titles in its genre. With the Limited Edition of the game costing the same as most premium titles it is a bargain and should be snapped up pronto.

9.1/10