New Video for Sleeping Dogs Developer's "Smash + Grab" Explains Takeback Mode

When Sleeping Dogs developer United Front Games announced PC action game Smash + Grab last month, some were quick to point out its apparent similarities to Sleeping Dogs spinoff Triad Wars. The game was in development at United Front Games before being cancelled in December 2015. However, the studio wants fans to know that Smash + Grab is very much its own game.

To make its point, United Front has provided GameSpot with a Smash + Grab 101 video, in which designers talk at length about the game's Takeback mode and share some strategies.

As you'll see and hear, Smash + Grab is a future-set game where gangs do battle over loot, weapons, and status inside a "corporate urban dystopia." Players assemble crews, composed of five members: a leader, a lieutenant, and three soldiers. You can be a melee or ranged character, and a good strategy is to combine these for the best results. As you play, you'll level up and unlock new perks and clothing items.

Smash + Grab is available on Steam Early Access for $16. This is a promotional price, celebrating the game's launch last week, and it expires on October 11. The price will go up to $20 at that time. It's off to a good start on Steam, it seems, as there are 616 users reviews at press time, with an overall "Very Positive" rating.

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Though the game's Early Access version is unfinished, it still constitutes a "fully featured" experience, United Front Games said, though you may encounter some bugs. The game's Early Access version has two maps and modes, seven leader characters, 13 lieutenants, and 20 different stores to destroy to grab cash. There are also 12 base weapons and 18 mods to equip onto them.

Smash + Grab will leave Steam Early Access in about six months, meaning that will happen sometime around March 2017. The full version will have more maps, modes, characters, weapons, and items. United Front Games said it will share more details on the game's content roadmap in the future.

"Smash + Grab combines our love of competitive online games with our expertise in action mechanics and hand-to-hand combat, sharpened during our development of Sleeping Dogs," United Front Games CEO Stephen Van Der Mescht said in a statement. "The playtesting rivalries got pretty intense in the studio during development."