An Awesome Blend of Batman, Grand Theft Auto, and Assassin's Creed.
- Meet Wei Shen. Until he was 10 years old he grew up in Triad territory so he has roots in the community. Then his mother moved the family to San Francisco to try and break his older sister's growing drug habit. Now he's back in Hong Kong, and back in his old stomping grounds. It doesn't take him long to find trouble with the police and, through that trouble, hook back up with his childhood friends; all Triad members now. There's just one catch: Wei Shen is a cop... deep under cover in a gang that routinely uses meat cleavers to deal with rats.
- Fortunatly for Wei, and luckily for the player, Wei Shen was trained by frickking Batman! Using a fighting system obviously inspired by Arkham Asylum, Wei Shen can literally beat the sh!t out of just about anyone (and his 6 best friends) that he encounters! Batman admittedly has a most forgiving Counter Attack, you really have to time Wei's right, but that's the basic move: Square, Square, Square, Square; Hold Square. Then Triangle whenever an enemy behind you glows red. The similarity is striking but, oh, how beautiful it is when it works. What Wei adds to the system is the ability to use nearly anything in his environment to cripple, de-tooth, and flat out kill his opponents in some of the most "Daaaaaaaayuuum!" moments you've encounted since 2005's PS2 hit: The Punisher. (The one with the gory interrogations!)
- The San Andreas elements shine through in the vast open world of Hong Kong, complete with a plethora of clothing shops to dress Wei in, including some that offer benefits to Combat or Defense. Wei has the ability to carjack pretty much any vehicle he comes across (I've seen motocycles to buses to boats so far) and can even do it while they're moving. Yes, in a moment of pure awesome Wei can dive from one speeding vehicle to another and comandeer it! The Food system in place in a new approach too; in addition to restoring health outright you must eat food to start Wei's health regeneration! It means that in between whipping bad guy butt you're desperatly seeking a noodle shop! Also worthy of note are the sodas that boost Wei's martial arts damage, the herbal tea that boosts his defense, and the escorts that boost his Face meter. (More on that soon.) All of these stat boosts are relatively long-lasting, are unaffected by sleep, and are clearly displayed so you can't miss em.
- You can't just be a ground level Triad Enforcer thuglette and expect to pull off the snazzy awesome right away; no you have to build Face. Face is the measure of how well you are known... your reputation, and you earn it by helping the people your gang are supposed to protect... and by kicking ass. As I said earlier the escorts, located at any one of dozens of Massage Parlors, will give you a significant boost to this meter so it 'pays' to patronize. Increase your Face meter during a fight and your enemies will visibly recoil, sometimes even flee from you. As you become more well-known you'll have access to cooler clothing options as well. It's all about the Rep, and the faster you master the Martial Arts system (and especially the more violent grapple moves) the quicker you'll rise.
- Speaking of the violent grapple moves... they ROCK. Some items in the environment will glow red when you seize an enemy in a grapple move. Simply move the enemy to the area and hit grapple again. In addition to that you can grapple and enemy and then dash into anything; wall, railing, car... doesn't matter, and enjoy the brutality that follows. A variety of weapons are available as well (6 hours in and I haven't even gotten to guns yet) as well as running attacks. Speaking of running a very Assassin's Creed-like parkour system is in place, although it does require an additional timed button press to keep from falling on your face. Wei isn't as infallible as Altair or Ezio but that's alright; he's move believable. Also more believable is that if you take a few shots in a fight expect your clothes to become blood-stained... and stay that way until you change.
- Every open-world game has collectables. Some are crappy, but not Sleeping Dogs. Collectables come in two forms: the Health Shrine which restores health, and the more lucrative Lockboxes. Lockboxes are good collectables for 2 reasons: First they contain money or clothing items, Second they are guarded. Wanna beat some ass? Track down a lockbox, but beware... these guys love their lockboxes and they will beat you with a tire iron to keep it! Some are unlocked, others can be hacked via Wei's cell phone; something he can also do with CCTV cameras to spy on Triad locations.
- As an undercover cop Wei is forced to walk a thin line between the Police and the Triads. This is measured in points for both. Earning Triad points is pretty easy; do their missions and kick a lot of ass. Police points can be earned by doing missions for the police but also through safe driving practices and not causing property damage. The points can be spent in separate trees that unlock more of Wei's abilities. Early rewards include increased defense and damage for martial arts on the Triad side and weapons disarm and slim jim car unlocks for the Police. This dichotemy will also play a part in the story of the game: can Wei's loyalty remain true to the police or will he come to consider the Triads his brothers?
- Overall Sleeping Dogs is panning out to be everything I was hoping it would be. Voice acting is excellent, the action is superb. The only gripes I can come up with are the driving is a little arcadey and that the graphics are a bit dated but you can blame Activision for that; if they hadn't canceled the game for its lack of competitive multiplayer (and the inevitable monetization that accompanies that) then this would have been True Crime: Hong Kong two years ago! Suits me though; this game is distilled awesome and it's even better because Activision failed to grasp that a single player game can still be worthwhile in this modern era of Modern Warfare.
Sleeping Dogs: 8.5
"Activision: You Mad, bro?"