GotG Round 1: Grand Theft Auto V vs. Sleeping Dogs

I'm stunned by this vote.

I think GB is probably the only place on the internet that this vote would go in this direction.

I definitely enjoyed Sleeping Dogs, but I feel like that game got by primarily on the strength of its melee combat. I personally found GTA V to be an overall better package with a more interesting open world, stronger plot, and a wider array of interesting systems to play with.

Please keep your filthy 'fun' out of my serious art video games.

Go Sleeping Dogs!!

@damodar said:

Are you saying GTA V is a serious art video game? Not sure I follow.

I liked the setting of Sleeping Dogs, also gets a huge plus for being available on PC, it worked very well technically and was a smooth experience.

As much as I liked the three protagonists in GTAV, none of them hold a candle to Wei Shen.

I think the thing that pushed me over the edge though was the inclusion of a lot of weird, annoying holdovers from GTAIV that were inexplicably kept in GTAV.

Why do I still have to tap x to run?

Why can I only dismount a motorcycle in one direction?

Why don't you hijack vehicles faster when you're being shot at?

There were just a lot of little annoyances that other open-world gta-esque games had solved years ago, it made GTAV seem kind of dated to me.

I thought Sleeping Dogs was great but I have to give it to GTA V.

You're monsters. All of you. Sleeping Dogs doesn't hold a candle to GTA V.

This is getting a turn towards the weird.

Don't get me wrong, I voted for SD and I stand for my vote, but I was totally prepared to be on the losing side...

Sleeping Dogs.

Okay GTA V isn't a better game, it's just a bigger game. Considering the massive budget, dev time, and experience, of course it's going to be bigger. I had a ton of fun with it, and it's an amazing game.

But.

I put over a hundred hours into single player, doing a lot of fucking around mainly. Hadn't even finished the main story. Then I made the push to 100% it and Jesus Fuck it's like Rockstar want to punish people for wanting to complete the content. I had already done all the collecting 50 dog arseholes, and collecting 30 beer mats, so I though the bulk of the bullshit was out of the way. Nope, there was all the Kifflom stuff for starters, and any game content where taping down a controller and coming back an hour later is the best policy is nonsense. Then the fucking stunt jumps and knife flights and ugh so much horrible side content.

I've got a 100% save file on Sleeping Dogs. Two in fact, Xbox and PS3. I've got a third "piss about" playthrough in progress playing in a police uniform as the world's worst undercover cop. If I wanted to, I'd not object to getting 100% a third time as only a couple of the gold challenges are even vaguely obnoxious. I would need a gun to my head to 100% GTA V again (though I would gladly replay the main story).

Sleeping Dogs is a smaller, more compact experience. It's better for that, and it makes replaying it worthwhile. It's not as big or grandiose, but it's made to the same quality on a smaller scale. Better quality in some parts.

GTA V Online might have tipped the balance, but Rockstar have fucked that up many times over, both technically and conceptually.

ya think? hahaha. I really knew this was gonna happen.

I think GTA V will sadly lose this prestigious award and have to console itself with many GOTY awards and a Scrooge McDuck vault swim. Probably will feel better after that.

only GB and Vinnie QLs does sleeping dogs win over GTA5

Let it be known, there are probably people like me who have played neither but voted for Sleeeepy Daawwgs only because a) Vinny b) Supporting the underdog c) Wanting to see some variety in these "game of generation" lists. It's just a list and I want to have a bit of fun with it.

it's just a list and it's no longer fun because the level of sad on show here is kind of embarrassing.

Because people are voting for Sleeping Dogs?

No, I was just being silly. But I do think GTA V is a pretty good example of how it's not too uncommon for a game to have all these lofty goals of providing a cinematic experience and blahblahblah and can put those ideals above actually being fun. It's nice that Sleeping Dogs never really felt that way.

Whoo, Sleeping Dogs! We are such a weird community, but I love it.

I love sleeping dogs as much as the next guy (or Vinny).

But voting it a better game than GTA V is insane.

You guys have gone too far, I can't support this insanity!

Yeah I had a feeling this commuity might choose Sleeping Dogs.

Personally I enjoyed Sleeping Dogs to hell but I prefer GTA (mostly) because of the writing, characters and how much care went into every damn detail of that city. Satire is also one of my favorite kinds of humor and GTA manages to pull that off really well without appearing to try too hard.

That Sleeping dogs might actually win this thing I think is really fun, that game deserves more praise than it got. I hope the developers see this poll and can take pride in actually beating gta.

If a sequel to Sleeping Dogs ever come out this community should be in the damn "special thanks" section.

It shouldn't affect how you feel about any games. Who cares dude.

What. Are you talking about GTA in general or specifically V? Because V's radio/TV/internet stuff is some of the most unfunny slop of 'satire' I've encountered in recent memory.

No one else can like it because you don't. I don't think their satire is heady or anything but I enjoy it.

Sleeping Dogs is winning this poll. Obviously people have different tastes... or whatever is going on.

@animasta said:

That's not a good reason!

lol right, because that's clearly what I'm saying there. It couldn't possibly because I so vehemently disagree about something that I felt compelled to offer my own insights.

Has the world turned upside down in this thread ?

That's cool man. You just said "Oh it's awful".... alright? That's cool if you don't like it. It's shallow, goofy satire that a lot of people like. It washes over you and settles into the background.

And you said it in the most over the top way.

@artisanbreads: I don't see what was so over the top about my post. I genuinely found it to be some of the worst attempts at humour of recent memory, and think it's bad enough that it negatively affects the game as a whole. I still voted for it, though.

Sleeping Dogs is going all the Wei!

Lol. What is going on with these votes? Are people just making alt accounts to try and tilt the scales? Or are there just a lot more users on Giant Bomb who normally don't participate in stuff like this than I think? I definitely did more side stuff in Sleeping Dogs than GTAV specifically because the mechanics were so satisfying. Also the opposite side of the road traffic was a total mind fuck. Sorry but I haven't played The Getaway games.

The writers are very smart. I don't see how you can't see most of it as intentionally dumb and goofy.

And the stuff with a little more depth was pretty great. Particularly the Life Invader office section, which was very funny.

Anyways, satire for GTA has always been background noise for me and about the same level of dumb, but I like dumb humor and it's not the focus of my GTA experience. Just a silly background to amplify the goings on to another level of wackiness. And it's all shallow enough that I see it in an instant and go "okay I get the reference/joke" or whatever it happens to be.

Someone could come along and focus on making a satire game and probably do it really well (in ways this is kind of what Saints Row does, although it's with video games more than the outside world itself) and it could have more depth. I don't think that's ever been GTA's goal.

To me, there was a lot of funny writing in the game from the characters dialogue all throughout. Just shows it being an intentional choice, in my opinion.

GTA V seemed great for the two hours I've played since I bought it launch day.

Sleeping Dogs forced me to complete the entire game in a single all-nighter.

...so, yeah, actually, I guess I would vote Sleeping Dogs. I probably wouldn't expect it to get much farther, but this particular match-up? Sure.

This is the greatest poll in the history of our sport.

However, what I don't like is people who want to tell me and others why I like the things I like. I was having fun with Sleeping Dogs way before Vinny was doing anything with the game. So, please spare me the "you only this game because Vinny likes it" bullshit.

I'll tell you why Sleeping Dogs is beating GTA V right now. It's because bigger does not equal better. GTA V gets by on sheer force of money and time. Rockstar had all the time and money in the world to craft every single aspect of the game. And the result is a clinical, sterile money making machine. Whereas Sleeping Dogs did not have that luxury AT ALL. If you remember, this game was cancelled and revived on multiple occasions. What Sleeping Dogs has that GTA V does not is heart. Is a perfect game? Fuck no. There's all kinds of broken shit. The dating aspect of the game seems completely unfinished. But the passion of the people who made the game shine through and, while I certainly won't deny that plenty of passionate people worked on GTA V because they did, that doesn't come through nearly as much over the course of the game.

And perhaps most importantly, Sleeping Dogs knows exactly what it is. It's dumb, it's ridiculous and most of all, it's fun. It never aspires to be anything else. GTA V, on the other hand, thinks way too highly of itself. It believes that it is this amazing biting societal commentary when in actuality, the satire is clumsy, stale and uninteresting. GTA V is constantly beating you over the head with "look how important I am" or "look how edgy I am" when it's none of those things. It might as well have been made in a lab in an effort to make a game that will make the most money possible.

Sleeping Dogs just does more with what's it got. It doesn't have the millions of dollars in marketing of GTA V or the years of development time. It's got one thing...and that's Wei Shen, motherfucker.

This is about the last thing I would describe GTA as, but okay.

I like the story of SD too and what they achieved with it. But you are kind of just painting GTA and it's fans with the same brush you don't want to be painted with.

It's fine if you like it more, totally. Enjoy it.

Sleeping Dogs winning is a great justice. I never played GTA5 but if it is anything like GTA4, Sleeping Dogs is more my thing.

There's nothing smart about it. A lot of it is just outright spelling the joke out for you, as they're smashing their intentions over your head. I remember one joke that (I think) revolved around a lotto winner or something. She says at first that she's going to help impoverished countries or whatever, but then reveals that she's actually going to be a shallow vapid person, ''like all rich people''. Because oh right rich people are shallow haha I get it!

There's no subtlety to any of it, and a lot of it comes across as modern-day Adam Sandler levels of laziness, where they basically just laugh at things that are different. I mean sure, I guess that it's meant to be satire of real life and how minorities are viewed by the public and media, but it's done so terribly bluntly that it's like they're too afraid you couldn't possibly piece any of it together. They're otherwise just trying to 'shock' you with its crudeness as well, like during that America's Got Talent parody thing, where the show implies that Lazlow might have dog cum on his neck or something. Like, that's the joke.

Frankly a lot of it just comes across as mean-spirited, or at the very least feels insulting with the way they often baby feed you what they're satirising. I'm not opposed to humour that's more lowbrow or dumb either, but Rockstar's style of humour in GTAV often felt like they're just throwing a bunch of naughty words in your face, and overall came across as if they're trying way too hard. But then I also felt this way about GTAIV at that, only it didn't seem quite as aggressively bad in that. I would have thought that I've merely outgrown GTA's brand of humour, but I headed back into Vice City for a little bit and, for whatever reason, found some of it to be alright. Didn't leave me roaring, but I would at least crack a smile.

Oh, but I must add that I found most of the humour presented in the story to be pretty funny, as well as practically everything related to Trevor.

@yummylee: Hey that's cool you don't like it. I like how dumb it is. There is great humor in the dialogue (and has been in Rockstar's other games), so again, to me that shows the dumb, shallow wave of satire is an intentional choice. Yes it can be crude. It's South Park-ish in a lot of ways and that's just fine with me and a lot of people. Everyone is a target. The rich, the poor, actors, big business, whatever.

It has never been the focus of GTA. Just background noise for the seriousness of some of the plot proceedings to clash against in a weird way. GTA has always been that way for me and I personally don't see how GTA V is any different in style than the previous games.

This one is so salty for the pc gamers.

This thread just caused me to reflect for a moment on the fact that Sleeping Dogs started its life as a True Crime game that then got cancelled. It's kind of a miracle that it was even released at all and it somehow ended up just being an absolutely fantastic game.

Sleeping Dogs is...winning? GOOD! Honestly, GTA 5 is still too early in to decide how it holds up for the generation, especially when the online keeps being busted on and off. Even then, I would think GTA 4 would be the one to put on here, despite the "hindsight hate" that the game gets. While I'm not a huge fan of it, it influenced a LOT of games this generation in how to handle being an open world game.

Sleeping Dogs was fucking great, though. It was that amalgamation of all these different systems from other games rolled into one...and then making them all work together perfectly. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wow, really? Lots of video game hipsters up in here.

@artisanbreads: I'm not trying to paint GTA fans as anything. That's just how I feel about the game. And for the record, I like GTA V. I really do. I'm talking about it in the context of against Sleeping Dogs.

Clinical and sterile is definitely not a positive way to describe anything and I don't see how anything Sleeping Dogs does is different, besides that it adds in melee combat that is really good, if a combo similar to what other games have done in the past (a combo system and Batman-ish combined). If Sleeping Dogs was an open world dating sim or you spent your time running for office and helping the downtrodden I might get saying that. In reality, it is the same gameplay as the old True Crime games but done a good deal better. Which is great.

It's a really good game and a great story so I get that some are very happy to see it win. And that's cool. I just don't get the GTA V description. This is a game that has some innovative features (character swapping), a crazy online component, and where one of the player characters waterboards people and smokes meth. Definitely not clinical and sterile.

@nasar7: Really? Because voting for the last entry in a massively popular franchise, that is less than two months old, as the best game of this generation is a totally not hipster move.

You know what? I am ok with this result. GTA 5 will probably be in many GOTY discussions, and I don't think its deserved given the current state of their online...

This is some grade A BS , but if Sleepy Doggs beats Skyrim I will be happy this happened .

It won't :(

@hermes: Never said GTA 5 deserves game of the gen, but it definitely beats Sleeping Dogs.

I actually don't think GTAV is that great. The world is extremely impressive and the three protagonists are a cool idea, but so many missions are just boring and uninspired. With Sleeping Dogs it felt more varied and there were less terrible missions which didn't involving so much driving or pointing a stupid helicopter camera at a car for 10 minutes. Collectables are also done way better, driving controls are more fun, and the melee combat and shooting feels good.

Also In GTA V I kept clicking in the stick to cycle waypoints :(

I had way more fun with Sleeping Dogs than I did with GTA V. The characters aren't total pieces of garbage in Sleeping Dogs, and even though the Triad story is a bit cliched, the story in GTA V is nothing to write home about either. The melee combat in Sleeping Dogs is challenging and fun, the driving is fun, the shooting is fun, the setting is incredible.

GTA V is an incredibly ambitious game, but I think it could have learned a lot from Sleeping Dogs.