Sleeping Dogs: A Game About Shoving a Guy's Face into a Fan [in Hong Kong]

[Great Rumbler]

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Triad organization called Sun On Yee (a reference to real-life triad gang Sun Yee On). On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts skills in combat. Players are also capable of driving a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats and motorcycles.

The combat system heavily revolves around hand-to-hand fighting with strong influences from Batman: Arkham Asylum/City's "Freeflow" combat system. The cover system allows the player to deftly move between cover, to fire blindly, aim freely, and target a specific enemy. Individual body parts can also be targeted. The driving segments were inspired by the Need for Speed series, with several developers having worked on previous Need for Speed titles. While driving, Wei can get out and jump onto other moving vehicles.

Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain content and parts of the city, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not attempting a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to participate in activities such as carjacking, joining a fight club, doing karaoke, visiting gambling dens and betting on cockfights. There are also several potential girlfriends for Wei Shen to date. Successful completion of side missions offers the player rewards.

Sleeping Dogs features role-playing elements with three different experience point values: Triad XP, Face XP, and Police XP. Triad XP and Police XP measure Wei's devotion to the triad and police, respectively, while Face XP is a measure of his general reputation. Clothing, accessories and vehicles are available for purchase by Wei, and have an effect on non-player characters' reactions. Sleeping Dogs tracks acquired skills in areas such as hand-to-hand combat, which improve through use in the game.

Sleeping Dogs focuses on a police officer attempting to bring down criminal factions. The game takes place in a fictional Hong Kong (loosly based on the real Hong Kong) with players assuming control of Detective Wei Shen, an officer of the San Francisco Police Department, who had been seconded to the Hong Kong Police Force. Wei has been assigned by the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau to go undercover and infiltrate the Triad society called Sun On Yee and take them down. There are two subplots contained within the main storyline. The first is Wei's personal struggle between completing his mission as a police officer, and having to commit crimes to prove his worth to the triad. The other subplot consists of completing the missions set out by triad lieutenant (Winston), such as killing triad members who are loyal to competing lieutenants. Missions will take place on a fictional Hong Kong Island which bears no resemblance to the real-life Hong Kong Island in shape. The island is divided into four fictional districts which are named after some real-life neighborhoods. Although Kowloon and other towns, villages, and islands of the Hong Kong region will not be featured in the game, portions of the in-game North Point district will be based on certain neighborhoods of Kowloon. A fictional Lamma Island will also be featured in the game, according to the in-game map screen shown in recent demos.

A gripping vision of Hong Kong which sports majestic driving, a sharp, well-acted storyline and varied missions. 9/10

This is the game Saints Row has spent a decade desperate to be, a rollercoaster open-world adventure set in an environment that's fun to explore and doss about in, and packed to the brim with rousing missions, happy diversions and other amazing stuff. 9/10

New Green Man Gaming 25% off code: ORDER-NTCOM-PLETE

Getcha some Broderlands 2 for $37, Dark Souls for $30, Sleeping Dogs for Black Mage's mom hourly fee.

[Sho Nuff]

Where's the face in the fan shot

[Momo]

Yeah, from what I've seen this should be fun

[The Sceneman]

this looks amazing. Like SHENMUE

[Great Rumbler]

Where's the face in the fan shot

7:40 on the Giantbomb video.

[Joe Molotov]

Pre-ordered this and Broderlands 2 for $65 with coupon codes a $5 credit I had at GMG. PC gaming

[Brehvolution]

Sleeping Dogs for Black Mage's mom hourly fee.

This is all I needed to see.

[Himu]

BUYING. SHENMUE 3!!!!

[Sho Nuff]

Where's the face in the fan shot

7:40 on the Giantbomb video.

NICE

[bork]

This is the game Saints Row has spent a decade desperate to be, a rollercoaster open-world adventure set in an environment that's fun to explore and doss about in, and packed to the brim with rousing missions, happy diversions and other amazing stuff.

 

[Himu]

anti-saints row people proving again to be fucking idiots

[cool breeze]

There was a video yesterday about the PC version.  It's supposed to be very good, with a high res texture pack coming out the day of release.

I keep forgetting I bought this like a month ago, and now it's out next week!

[tiesto]

I just found out that this was originally supposed to be a sequel to those True Crime games. Those games were horrible, hopefully this one will be better. Though Activision of all companies dropping it doesn't inspire me with confidence...

[demi]

I just found out that this was originally supposed to be a sequel to those True Crime games. Those games were horrible, hopefully this one will be better. Though Activision of all companies dropping it doesn't inspire me with confidence...

I dont know what point you're making here. The first true crime was awesome, the second was doodoo.

And Activision dropped it because they're fucking Activision.

[Great Rumbler]

I just found out that this was originally supposed to be a sequel to those True Crime games. Those games were horrible, hopefully this one will be better. Though Activision of all companies dropping it doesn't inspire me with confidence...

No, it was originally going to be a brand new game called Black Lotus, but Activision thought it would sell better if they slapped the True Crime name on it.

[benjipwns]

I just watched the quick look on giant bomb. I'm not really interested. It seems like yet another GTA clone.

Watch the thing on the Giant Bomb site from the developer, Ryan wasn't doing any of the slow motion takedowns and shit. Just camping behind cover.

It's the same mission he played: http://www.giantbomb.com/united-front-games-walks-you-through-a-full-mission-in-sleeping-dogs/17-6370/

I dont know what point you're making here. The first true crime was awesome

demi spittin truth

[cool breeze]

I just found out that this was originally supposed to be a sequel to those True Crime games. Those games were horrible, hopefully this one will be better. Though Activision of all companies dropping it doesn't inspire me with confidence...

No, it was originally going to be a brand new game called Black Lotus, but Activision thought it would sell better if they slapped the True Crime name on it.

The entire story sounds hazy.  Allegedly Black Lotus was a linear martial arts action game starring a female character, and Activision went, "Make it open world and we'll call it True Crime."

I don't think Sleeping Dogs looks particularly great watching gameplay but the setting and nature sold me on it.  Probably wouldn't have been as into it if it was set in New York or something.

[Great Rumbler]

Well, presumably you won't be staring too much at your character's eyes during gameplay sequences.

[Joe Molotov]

Pupils, seriously?

[Great Rumbler]

okay

[Himu]

aspergers.txt

[Sho Nuff]

They should have had one of those shots been some guy dressed as Ryo Hazuki just for fanboy tears

[Rahxephon91]

If you want to complain about something, complain about how crappy the running animation looks.

[Andrew.]

The few reviews I've read for this have actually gotten me somewhat excited for it. I really wasn't expecting such praise from Destructoid and IGN

[Great Rumbler]

I'd be playing this right now if Green Man's site hadn't dropped the ball on distributing keys.

[cool breeze]

yep.  first time using greenman gaming. we'll see how long it takes for the key to finally arrive, but so far it's a pretty messy experience.

[fistfulofmetal]

been using GMG for awhile and this is the first time i've had problems with their service. gonna hold tight on this one for a while. I didn't plan on playing this until the weekend anyway.

sucks.

[chronovore]

anti-saints row people proving again to be fucking idiots

:dap

I'm talking about the eyes.

(Image removed from quote.)

Look at those eyes.

Holy shit, a programmer could fix that in a day.

Maybe not even a programmer. A fucking script-kiddie could get that shit fixed. The eyes should follow where the character is going. Instead the pupils are fixed.

What the fuck? Is this a joke? How long have they been making this game?

 

Yeah, that is pretty lame. Then again, you almost never see the character's face in the game, since it's an over-the-shoulder camera. But it would be smarter to have fixed it for marketing materials, fer shure.

[fistfulofmetal]

just got my key from GMG. downloading now.

[Great Rumbler]

Just got mine, too! Let's do this!

[cool breeze]

two things to note about the PC version:

the highest antialiasing option is supersampling and kills performance.  unless you have an amazing computer, it's best not to use it.

there's a high res texture pack available to download:  http://store.steampowered.com/app/202181/

[Great Rumbler]

I'll probably download the texture pack tonight, right now I just want to play the game.

[Eric P]

Tom Chick hated it saying it didn't compare to SR3 or JC2.  I'm holding out for impressions.

[FatalT]

Post impressions bitches! I've got this in my Gamefly queue and was looking forward to it.

[Andrew.]

Seriously. I would like to know what this is like from some people who aren't gaming journalists. I will probably bite tomorrow though.

[Great Rumbler]

Well, if the first hour is anything to go by, it's not going to win in terms of pure FUN against open-world games like Saints Row 3 or Just Cause 2, but I'm definitely enjoying it so far.

Combat's fluid and it gives you some options on how you do things, camera's kind of weird [especially in driving], there are a lot of random things to do in the city, and the HK atmosphere is cool and will likely be the big draw here more than any other single thing. Wish I could give you more than that, but I've barely scratched the surface so far. Overall, it scratches the itch, ya know?

[Himu]

SCRATCHES THE ITCH FOR A NEW SHENMUE, I'M SURE

[Joe Molotov]

As close as you're gonna get.

[Himu]

Is there a cantonese/mandarin dub option because like, if it had one, it'd be even more Shenmue like

[chronovore]

Watched the first hour today, it looks like fun. Mine's on order and will be here this week, woot!

[Andrew.]

The fact that this game had a bunch of the designers from Bully behind it pretty much automatically garners it an instant buy. Watching this walkthrough vid on YT is further solidifying that.

[chronovore]

The fact that this game had a bunch of the designers from Bully behind it pretty much automatically garners it an instant buy. Watching this walkthrough vid on YT is further solidifying that.

I didn't know that!!

But having seen the grab/drag/environment kills, it makes a bunch of sense. Hopefully there will be a mess of satisfying diversions, like BULLY.

[Himu]

the environmental stuff remind me more of the warriors than bully, though bully works too. any of the staff work on the warriors?

[Andrew.]

The fact that this game had a bunch of the designers from Bully behind it pretty much automatically garners it an instant buy. Watching this walkthrough vid on YT is further solidifying that.

I didn't know that!!

But having seen the grab/drag/environment kills, it makes a bunch of sense. Hopefully there will be a mess of satisfying diversions, like BULLY.

Yeah man. Im watching the combat now and even the controls for it and the fucking kick animations are straight out of Bully. Its fucking awesome and looks great. Im SO HYPED to buy this tomorrow. Been in desperate need of a good game experience this summer.

[Andrew.]

the environmental stuff remind me more of the warriors than bully, though bully works too. any of the staff work on the warriors?

Im not sure. All I know is that most of the staff are the remanents of R* Vancouver and they all worked on Bully. I think one of the head guys on 'Dogs was one of the lead designers of Bully too. Now I could be mistaken on some of this and if someone could correct me thatd be awesome.

There are serious Rockstar ties to Dogs though, and they are the Bully people. That is a FACT.

[pilonv1]

The one thing that bothered me from the short videos/streams I watched was the city felt a bit lifeless. There never seemed to be much going on. Is that the case?

[etiolate]

There seems to be a lot to do. TB did karaoke in his WTF is.

[cool breeze]

Is there a cantonese/mandarin dub option because like, if it had one, it'd be even more Shenmue like

Characters jump between English and Cantonese depending on the situation.  Dubbing it all in Cantonese wouldn't make sense.

There is an option to turn off all subtitles, though.  By default only Cantonese is subtitled. 

The one thing that bothered me from the short videos/streams I watched was the city felt a bit lifeless. There never seemed to be much going on. Is that the case?

Do you mean activities or population/traffic? PC version has a world density option.  Not really sure how much that helps.

[pilonv1]

Population. Traffic seems to be ok but the streets seem empty.

[Great Rumbler]

There are lot of people walking around, but it's really dependent on the location, I think. Like the alleyway markets are packed with the people, but busy streets are less so. At least that's the way it is on the PC, can't speak to how things are in the console versions.

[Great Rumbler]

I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to drive on the left.  :'(

[fistfulofmetal]

game seems pretty OK so far.

anyone on pc experiencing some performance quirks? when i'm on foot it seems like there's these small hiccups. it's not like a frameskip but the camera stutters a bit. like a sudden small jerk up or down. it's really annoying.

[Joe Molotov]

I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to drive on the left.  :'(

Haha, yeah. It's like "WTF, why are all these cars driving towards me?"

[pilonv1]

I drive on the left every day

[cool breeze]

haha that trips me up when entering cars too.  It lets me do a sick slide across the hood, so it works out alright.

Game looks really nice.  Combat is really satisfying and is mixed up enough from Batman that it doesn't feel like same old same old.  Driving isn't the greatest but maybe I'm spoiled by Saint's Row's radical drift button.

I'm still in the early goings, I guess.  Game opened up after the linear start, helped out a few people, and fighted some cocks.  People talk about karaoke, CCTV, dates, and other activities.  Might open up even more later on, I suppose.  Oh, and I bought a new bed.  Cost $5 thousand china dollars.  Seems to be cosmetic, but in the cutscene the bed you wake up on is some raggedy ass shit.  And earlier on the massage parlors were expensive but you find tons of money; those seem to buff your FACE.

[Trent Dole]

Bully staff were involved in this? Shit is on my radar now BIG TIME.

[Andrew.]

Everyting from the grapples, kick animations, and punches to the fact that yours and the enemies' health is shown around the feet of the characters, is straight out of Bully/The Warriors. It's fucking great.

[Joe Molotov]

Better than Shenmue.

[Andrew.]

Better than Shenmue.

That's quite the hefty statement.

[demi]

Coming from Joe, even.

Love you Joe <3