User Review : Sleeping Dogs

Dear Activision, YOU BLEW IT !!!

Ok first observations of this game before picking up :
Hong Kong
Open world/ Sandbox game
Activision dumped it onto their lawn.
Made by United Front... WHoa what huh? United front? Little big planet United front? Hmmm, not too sure about this.

But the fact is that i have been keeping my eye on Sleeping Dogs since it was dumped by Activision, hoping this would blow up in their face , jk :) Actually im not : |

So it was a day 1 buy for me and with the price point being somewhat reasonable along w/ decent incentives for pre-order from steam i waited for midnight, fingers crossed, waiting to play this game.

I also own a PS3 and although i do own a solid gaming rig i often buy games via PS3 for reasons that may sound a bit extreme to some.
I cant wait for a game to launch on pc, i must have it now because i am a game junkie and as we all know sometimes games are released on p.c. later than consoles or not at all and sometimes if i think a game can push my graphics card and that i was robbed beauty i will buy again for p.c. if not i wont bother w/ console port that lacks little or no p.c. support, this will come in handy after the review.

REVIEW

I remember playing out the first footchase/action sequence which followed the opening cutscene thinking "well that was nice, only hope the game can deliver more of this". It was nothing out of the norm in terms of run away , jump and dodge but it did bring a feeling of finese and the world i was in and the ondjects around me was in fact playing a large roll in the "finese" and thats when i started to really anticipate what would happen next.

What happened next is the "finese" brought a level of immersion which is not available in many games today, the table shifting exactly how it should when jump slidng over it, the chickens getting rattled when smashing chicken cages, the water kicks back while my heals cut into the wet pavement and all the "little" things which not only add to immersion but also brings a layer of polish which i love in a game aka detail. Making the open world feel alive rather than just there.

This game w/ high tex pack can simply make the eyes smile at times, the lighting against a fresh hong kong city can be simply stunning especially at night on a rainy night. The neon lights mirrors off the wet ground, can almost smell the smoke floating upwards from a pedestrians cigarette, pipes exploading with hot steam and the cars seem to have the best polish job money can buy, seeing the reflection of hong kong on the quarter panel as i drive around, well you get the point and i wont even get into the golden hatchet..

But the game may be a bit too stunning for its on good, making whats ugly seem even uglier and although i dont have many gripes with the world i do have gripes with the distance, unforgivingly bad at times and again everything else is looking close to perfect so imperfections tend to stand out in a worse way. In any event the dustance is a problem, a blurry and sometimes foggy looking backdrop of mountains or cityscape can look downright bad, no gpu or high res monitor can fix this. Its just a shame, i would have very little to complain about if it werent for this in terms w/ the world. The pedestrians can also look a bit out of place at times almost as if to say "hey i think your in the wrong video game, this is sleeping dogs, saints row 3 is 3 blocks down", a bit stiff and level of detail is just lacking but as for Mr. Shen, well he got the royal treatment and not only done well and his clothes have a "life of their own", days of sweat, blood,dirt and whatever else starts to stain his shirt hence a very dirty Shen after days of fighting and running, this added detail was done perfectly.

So just like the streets of hong kong compared to the distant views, Shen and pedestrian side by side would make one ponder if they were of the same game, one done really well with good level of detail while the other lacking both.

I have a very good gpu config and have not exp'd any major texture issues nor frame rate drops , none worth mentioning but i can see how maybe an older card may be an issue because a lot of abbracadabra going on in this game.. Also i own Nvidia, only mentioning because there was some talk about "lack of nvidia support" but if you have a high end card, your gpu will need no support, using latest drivers etc.

Driving, of course the best way to gauge driving is buy doing a doughnut, well ok its not but i did do one immediately and best digital sandbox doughnut ive down in a while.

So no you shouldnt use the driving in this game to practice for a dirt 3 or racing sim contest nor should you try and compare the driving mechansim with them either.
as far as sandbox games are concerned i think nothing other than arcade w/ a tiny touch of sim would be the driving standard for such a game, of course it would be nice if racing sim fans could find sim esq handling in a sandbox but everybody who plays an open world game isnt really going to want to replay a racing mini game over and over again due to 'sucking' at sim driving/racing or the fact that one must shoot down targets while driving in sim fashion would be frustrating as well
( speaking as a non-perfect average gamer anyway )
I wouldve liked to see a cockpit feature but none the less the driving feels good and during gun and shoot scenes it can be very fun. The camera does suck at first, it seems to take have a life of its own at times but its usualy only when first getting into a car and pulling away, then it goes to norm. Backing up can also be a pain until one gets used to the quirky cam.
The handling is arcade, simple is that but not overdone to make driving seem like floating around.

The combat uses enviorment set peices to perform enviorkills and who doesnt enjoy a good enviorkill every now and then. Its general combat is not to the ranks of batman precision/fluid but very good combat overall
gunplay also done nice although i wish more weapons could be introduced,anything w/ scope but with bruce like
moves who needs a gun, just doesnt mean guns arent fun to shoot in games, also the vault and shoot is pretty awesome, slows down time ala max payne 3 when entering a vault and shoot and this can also be found in the drive and shoot mechanic.
The upgrades in moves are ones i looked forward to unlocking, always being aware of finding upgrades. The combat is fun, sometimes repetitive but just like anything else in games when doing something over and over well thats usually the end result But it doesnt hinder the game in any way.. With knives, batons, hatchets there are many ways to slice dice and break bones, dont fret if you do not have one of these in hand because a good disarm will get you the weapon when learning this ability.

So the controls not spot on prefect as far as precision but are good enough to be the best ive seen in open world sandbox league of Gta , saints etc again not best in terms of open world period, batman A.C combat wins that imo.

Music sets the tone and does it well, some complained about the music but it is supposed to be honk kong not new york so a mix of asian esq music w/ many a bunch of english hip hop and rock to compliment it nicely. It just adds one more noth in immersion, just as many of the voices can be heard in native tongue but for the most part its english and at times blending both ( no, not at the same time )

The story is comparible to an asian "Donnie Brasco" , its main storyline and campaign is a good 14 hours min unless you are playing to get it over with.. with all the side quests and roaming araound it will pass the 20 hour mark very easily and is there reason enough to roam ? Yes, with boats , hidden lock/strong boxes as well as upgrades and side missions and incentive to max cop and triad exp as well as face (reputation)
also there is just so much there in terms of "screwing around" whether its just driving boats over jumps or driving cars off of cliffs or maybe run and gun pedestrian fun its just tons to do.
But back to the main story it was one which was well written, paced perfectly and bringing feelings of hate, joy and revenge to the gamer.
It does what a story should do in a game, entertain set a good pace and poke at our feelings. lip sync is good but not perfect and facial animations sometimes stiff but good overall.

Well as far as 6 moths dlc, well if haircuts & shirts or "pre-order exclusives+ rehashed for sale are the order i will pass, if more story, missions and locations etc well sign me up.. None the less i feel that i got my monies worth with sleeping dogs, yes i dont feel robbed ! Also if this is United Fronts first crack at this genre, open world sanbox game, not only held their own but AND then some, well if i were a sandbox dev i would be frightened to what they had slated for their next sandboxer and

So united front i would love to see another from you. A big yes please.