Game Review: Who let the dogs out?!

Have you ever been to Hong Kong? Well, if your answer is no, then you are bound to get a crash course about the island city’s sights and sounds in Sleeping Dogs. This fictionalized version of Hong Kong will send you all the way into the deep and dark legacy of street gangs.

For those who love the free roam world, Sleeping Dogs will provide you a new heaven to dwell in. Being a big fan of free roam world and third person shooting games myself, I can surely say that this game transcends its fellow predecessors. Sleeping dogs had to undergo lot of complications before its release. It was announced as the third installment in the True Crime Series and was named as True Crime: Hong Kong but its developer Square Enix finally came to a decision to name it “Sleeping Dogs” and was officially released worldwide on 14th August 2012.

Welcome to Hong Kong, Wei Shen

A cheesy yet intriguing storyline is surely going to make you stick to your console. You play Wei Shen, an undercover officer from San Francisco Police Department who is loaned to the Hong Kong Police Department to complete an assignment of infiltrating the Sun On Yee triad, and help them to take them down from the inside. The game starts in a harbor, where the HKPD pursues Wei Shen on foot after a drug deal bust. Wei meets his old friend Jackie Ma in the jail who offers to join him in their triad, lead by Winston Chu, after they were released.

The conflicts that you face leading a double life gives your character and the gameplay some purpose amidst all the brutish killing. Wei needs to climb up the ranks of the criminal ladder, starting right from the lowest rungs. It gives you a choice of gameplay where the bloodthirsty acts will earn you the respect of your gang members, while doing the same tasks with some degree of finesse and competence will help you unlock powerful cop abilities. In this dual world, at times Wei’s demeanor forces his fellow triad allies to suspect him of being a cop while sometimes the HKPD officials thinks that he’s getting too close to his brothers in crime.

Wei leaves his talking to his hands

The most arousing side of this game is perhaps its hand to hand combat system that takes cues from the brawling style of Batman: Arkham Assylum. Wei can unleash combos with a mixture of light and heavy attacks on his opponents and can counter incoming attacks by grabbing wrists, elbows and shoulders. The bone breaking animations accompanied by the sounds can make you wiggle quite often. Grasp the collars of your enemy and toss him into a nearby dustbin or smash his skull off by bashing him to a wall, there are an array of ways to be creative enough to use the environment as an anlace against your opponent, this adds the extra zest to its action. The following video shows the hand-to-hand combat system.

Although the story explains at one point that guns are something of a rarity in Hong Kong, there’s no shortage of gunplay in the game. Gun combat makes use of a standard cover system. It is quite inconsistent and will have you vaulting obstacles at inopportune moments, getting a good headshot might become an issue in the battle of guns.

There are also Face points to be earned if you are able to keep the streets clean and help answer anonymous requests for help. Collectibles scattered across the island make exploring it worthwhile as well as gratifying, the blue lockboxes hidden all over the place reward you with cash and sometimes with new items of clothing and finding the health shrines boosts your maximum health. You can purchase foods and drinks from the street stalls for momentary health benefits.

There are many pulsating side missions such as street races and car-jacking, gambling, street fights. The reckless leaping from one speeding vehicle to another during car hijack adds yet another dimension to its gameplay. You can bet on cockfights, for instance, or sail out to a gambling barge for a bit of poker mahjong and can even take girls out on dates and sing karaoke to entertain them at various pubs.

Sleeping dogs’ impressive graphics will definitely soothe your eyes, and might make you feel teleported to the streets of Hong kong while playing. Its more about wide-angle, big-picture atmosphere than about close-ups. The city may not be the exact replica of Hong Kong, but it nonetheless has a very analogous ambiance of the island city. Exemplary voice acting along with the interfusion of English and Cantonese in the gritty dialogues provides just the right accretion needed for a blood-shedding and purging climax. All this fun-filled Hong Kong getaway that will surely leave you with a smile on your face. Its definitely worth a shot for those who haven’t tried this game yet.

GAME RATING : 8.5/10

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