Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Sleeping Dogs draws its gameplay features from many different action game genres, and does so in the spirit of the great Hong Kong action films of John Woo. The hand to hand combat has a visceral, high impact feel with a counter system similar to the amazing Rocksteady Batman games. It's not quite as fine tuned as the Batman games, but if you play both, you'll see the similarities. Defeating a huge mob of angry gang members with you martial arts skills is very satisfying, and gaining new moves through your old Kung Fu club for completing fetch quests is a nice addition. Also, environmental based attacks are a very satisfying way to end a fight with Hong Kong's unruly underworld dwellers (I recommend the table saw, engine hoist, meat hook, and swordfish heads personally! :) The Big Smile Lee fight offers a particularly gory environmental attack... No spoilers!)

The shooting game pulls from every recent cover based action game (Gears of War, Max Payne 3, etc...) and serves its purpose. It's not ground breaking stuff, but the ability to dive over cover and attack or disarm opponents is a very cool feature. Driving is fast and responsive, and hijacking vehicles while driving (a la Just Cause) is exciting and fun (especially during police chases!). Shooting other vehicles while driving is also very satisfying, and results in a John Woo style explosion with cars being propelled into the air in slow motion, allowing you to continue to inflict damage on the passengers or the vehicle itself!

The story is quite simple, but there are some fun twists and turns, and it does make you question your loyalty to any one side, the Tongs or the Police. The missions require you to keep mindful of being a police officer trusted with protecting the peace and the innocent citizens of HK, while at the same time acting the part of ruthless gangster to keep suspicious gang members from thinking you're a cop! Experience is awarded for both police and gang type actions, toward witch you can learn new skills for combat, driving, shooting, and other aspects of the game.

The game is one player, with the only online involvement being in the form of a leader board. You can watch the progress of your friends, and challenge them in in game challenges! The nice thing about this being an offline experience is that 100% completion of achievements/trophies is doable (my FIRST 100% achievement game!).

Sleeping Dogs will keep you coming back, even after finishing the game (main story isn't that long), and is a true throwback to a fun action shooter with a focus on the action, keeping the player entertained at all times! Highly recommended!

:)