Developer: United Front
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: PS4
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition – Review
The game was announced in 2009 as part of the True Crime series but was cancelled by Activision Blizzard in 2011, as a result of the project’s delays and budget issues. Six months later, Square Enix bought the publishing rights and renamed the game Sleeping Dogs, without the True Crime license. The game was released on the 14th of August 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and pc. The game was remastered on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Pc.
Story
In both the main story and the DLC you play as Wei Shen.
Main story: In this iteration you are an undercover police officer working with the Hong Kong Police Department to solve crime cases and bring and end to the Sun On Yee, a group dabbling in all sorts of illegal activities. The story takes a dark twist as you are torn between your loyalty to the gang and your duties as an officer.
Nightmare in North Point DLC: Wei Shen. has a wonderful night out with a fine looking femal specimen, when things go sour. His date is kidnapped by an evil entity straight from hell and is laying waste to Hong Kong. You have to take out Jiang Ji (Evil undead spirits), demons and some old foes to save the damsel in distress.
Year of the Snake DLC: Apparently the higher ups have had just about enough of Wei Shen’s violent rampaging around the city and decide to put a stop to it. A quick demotion from his work should set the bar. Wei goes about his new daily tasks of guiding lost people around town, solving conflicts between citizens and writing speeding tickets with a growing distaste for the job, when something suspicious happens. Drawn to the commotion, a plot is unveiled that puts a damper on New Years Eve. A race against time to foil the plot and stop the Cultists.
Graphics
Sleeping Dogs was a visually stunning game when it was first released in 2012 and it still holds up. The city of Hong Kong is full with life, people are going about their daily business and the buildings at night are inviting with their lights. This might seem like a happy place, but there are some darker sides as well. When you are shooting at people the blood will splatter and when you beat up people you’ll see their physical state deteriorate. This is also an indication of just how much damage you have taken. If you’ve taken considerable damage you’ll walk with a slight limp, holding your arm to your chest. Animation like that makes a game that much more immersive.
When you go for a stroll around the city and start paying attention to the details, you’ll notice that they are seemingly overlooked. A quick glance into the store windows reveals flat images where you would expect the interior of the store to be. The street vendors’ wares are just images, not real objects. The game has enough going for it that these are just minor flaws.
Sound
The voice acting in this game is amazing. There are some big names on the list. Wei Shen is voiced by Will Yun Lee (The Wolverine, Die Another Day, Elektra,…), Tom Wilkinson voices Super Intendent Pendrew (Batman Begins, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,…) and Kelly Hu voices Inspector Jane Teng (The Vampire Diaries, Castle, X2,…). These are just a few of the voice actors, but they all put up a stellar performance. The difference between the main game and the DLC is the writing. Where the main story has a deep dark feeling to it, the DLC takes on a lighter note, often tossing in a quip here and there. Strangely enough this doesn’t take away from the credibility of the DLC, as they are their own stories.
Upon paying attention to the combat you’ll notice a couple of things. Opponents that are blocking will make your deflected blows sound like muffled thuds. Successful blows will have this slightly wet crunching nois to them. When you get further in the game you are rewarded with combo’s that break bones. The sound this makes is so horrifying nearby enemies will cringe and whimper. When combat or an action section of the game starts, the music picks up and this makes you aware that things are about to go down. Apart from that the cutscenes and gameplay rely on the organic sounds of the city.
When you are in your car you can pick the radio station, to set the mood. There are 10 radio stations and all of them have varied themes. You want some downtime or electronic songs for cruising around the metropole? Try Ninja Tune radio. Kerrang! Radio caters to the alternative crowd. When you speed past someone you’ll hear them insult you in Chinese. It’s things like these that give the city its personality.
Gameplay
As an undercover cop you’ll do more than just fight crime, sometimes you’ll have to aid it. There’s three stats to level, the level cap being 10 and every level will unlock perks which in the long run will prove useful.
First there’s the Face level, this will level up as you help the people and win races. Raising this will raise the quality of the clothing and what class of cars he can buy. Fighting off thugs off of Drug Bust sites will also raise your Face experience. Certain clothing items will give you big Face experience bonuses when worn. When you level this up the perks will automatically unlock, unlike the other stats. Level 1 will unlock your Face Meter, when this is filled you’ll regain health and your punches will become more powerful. You fill the meter by beating up anyone that gets in your way. These upgrades will help a lot. Food and drinks will have longer regenerating effects, herbal tea is twice as potent, later on this effect will be three times the starting time and effect. Leveling it up even further will make you unstoppable, your attacks will be more powerful and enemy class bonuses will be negated. Getting to level 10 will give you the 40% discount on any purchases apart from vending machines. Coming across money isn’t that much of an issue, but when you start buying the higher tier cars and clothing, this will make quite a difference in cost.
Triad level will be accumulated by doing horrible things to horrible people. When you are on a mission and you are tasked with beating people senseless, you’ll be rewarded by getting creative. Smacking their heads against a fish tank, pushing them off of balconies or throwing them in a dumpster is just a glimpse of the carnage you can create. As you grapple the enemies, places will by outlined with red running up to them with the enemy in tow and pressing the button prompt will initiate the gruesome finisher. When you level up you’ll be given a choice from a menu of upgrades. These will garner your battle prowesse, with counters new attacks and buffs to your abilities with melee weaponry.
Police experience will upgrade your Police level and this will give you a choice of other perks. You’ll get police experience from not doing bad things during missions. You start off with 3 badges worth of experience, when you start doing things like crashing into things and running over people, points will be deducted. You’ll be rewarded experience for every full badge you have at the end of the mission. What is a shame is that you even lose points for being plain clumsy. When you misclick and you miss a parkour button prompt the game punishes you needlessly. You can also gain police experience from busting drug trades and helping out the HKPD fight off crime. The former gives you lots of experience the latter fairly little. Leveling this stat up will make you more efficient with guns and will help you steal cars by giving you a slim jim, this way you won’t set off the alarm. When you reach level 10 you’ll be able to pull out guns from the trunks of police vehicles.
As the story unfold you’ll soon notice that you’ll never have a dull moment, because you’ll be bombarded with things to do. If you want to race from the beginning of the story mode to the ending you’ll have a fairly hard time because every where you turn there’s something going on. You finish a story mission and the game drops you off at a corner fairly close to a race, when you finish this and you try to focus on the main event you’ll be flashed with a passerby needing help. This time you are really set out on getting on with the story, but you notice a drug bust scene. Having beaten the thugs and hacked the camera you can return home and identify the drugs dealer. When you try to get back on track you’ll probably get side tracked again. This might sound like a bad thing, but it really isn’t. It’s fun and the city feels alive because of this.
Combat is an absolute blast. You’ll soon be bashing in skulls and breaking limbs with just a few button presses and it all feels so cathartic. Combat is never the same. You’ll attack and kick, punch and counter so fluidly it’ll feel like you aren’t really fighting, but performing a lethal dance. Enemies ragdoll when they are beaten and the last one to go down will do so in slow motion.
Gunfights are less fun as guns are difficult to handle and even though you have perfect aim it’s possible to empty a complete clip and still miss every single bullet. Texting and driving is a bad combination, but shooting and driving is a whole lot of fun! At least in the game it is. Shooting out tires and watching the cars fly off or watching a motor careen to one side as the corpse of the driver is flung to the side is something you can’t get enough of.
Conclusion
Sleeping Dogs Definitive edition is an open world action game with a gripping story and fantastic gameplay. From beating up thugs to ridding the streets of Hong Kong of drug dealers or getting mugged and chasing the robber and showing him a lesson, there’s not a dull moment in this vibrant city. A big metropole with lots of action and excitement. Something you won’t regret playing.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - Review,
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