Sleeping Dogs

Overview

Sleeping Dogs, in its later stages developed at United Front Games and eventually published by Square-Enix, originally began life at Activision as "Black Lotus", an open-world crime game with a female protagonist. However, under the belief that their predominantly male target audience would not play such a game starring a woman, management demanded that the protagonist be replaced with a man, and further tied the previously-unrelated game into the True Crime franchise. However, due to factors such as the poor critical reception and sales of the last True Crime game, True Crime: New York City, and concerns over how the game would perform in the current market, the game underwent a turbulent development cycle. Initially, the game was developed at Luxoflux, but Activision halted development, only to restart the project at United Front Games. The game was initially entitled simply "True Crime", and then changed to "True Crime: Hong Kong".

Activision cancelled the title a second time in February of 2011, and the game was subsequently picked up by Square-Enix, who made the announcement on August 1, 2011. However, because Square-Enix did not purchase the True Crime intellectual property, the game was forced to undergo one final name change. On February 8, 2012, Square-Enix officially announced that development had been resumed, and that the game had been renamed "Sleeping Dogs". The game was released on August 14, 2012 in the US and August 17, 2012 in Europe and Australia.

Plot

The game tells the story of Wei Shen, an Chinese-American cop who is transferred to Hong Kong to infiltrate the Triads. According to the developers, he's based off Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the movie The Departed, which was in turn a remake of a Hong Kong movie entitled Infernal Affairs. They wanted to make a hero who got hit a lot and didn't seem invincible.

During an undercover operation Wei is arrested and taken to a holding cell where he meets an old friend, Jackie Ma, who offers Wei a job and a possible in with the Sun On Yee family. After a meeting with the Hong Kong Police Inspector, Wei agrees to take the offer in order to infiltrate the Triads, sinking deep into the machinations of one of the world's most notorious criminal organizations. Initially, Wei has to prove himself to the Sun On Yee that he is not a cop, but earns their trust. However, being arrested again, Wei is introduced to Inspector Jane Teng, whom he agrees to help with various investigations around the city outside of his undercover operation.

Gameplay

The game was revealed to the press at GDC 2010. In the demo given, United Front emphasized their focus on recreating the sort of action seen in Hong Kong action movies. That means that a big focus of the game will be put on melee combat and environmental moves, in combination with the game's take on parkour and free-running. The game's shooting will feature both feature a manual mode and a lock-on system, since a lock-on system will be easier to use in combination with the free-running and melee elements. Since there are former Black Box employees at United Front Games, the driving in the game will be very similar to the Need for Speed series of games.

Playing as Wei Shen the player completes various missions from both sides of the law. Depending on how you complete your mission plays a huge part on how much experience you gain from the police and triad. By completing police missions, lessening nearby environment destruction, and reducing the amount of innocent civilians killed will result in an increase to your police xp. As compared to completing triad missions and defeating your opposition in brutal ways such as environment kills will increase your triad xp. As players gain more police xp and triad xp they are given ability points which allow players to customize their players skills.

The game has on foot, free-running sequences. In these sequences, the player is chasing a criminal. As a Wei runs, he pushes people out of the way and vaults over objects. Hong Kong has been mapped in such a way that it's adapted to the game play. During these chase sequences, the player will engage in hand-to-hand combat. Wei can use his fists, as well as weapons such as knives, meat cleavers and the environment. Enemies can be pushed into TVs, have their faces run against vents and and be thrown from rooftops. The game also has a counter system where an enemy flashes red to indicate when a counter can be performed.

The melee combat is reminiscent of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, bringing a similar timing and counter based approach to fights. The main attack button can be done in normal and heavy versions by tapping or holding to button, the counter button can (and should) be hit when an enemy is highlighted red, and the grapple button allows you to grab most enemies. Once grappled you can punch, throw, drag, or preform a variety of environmental attacks, which range from throwing in a dumpster to shoving a persons head into an incinerator. Wei also has the ability to lock onto enemies which allows for more precise and creative attack patterns. A specific side quest allows Wei to learn more combos to help him take down foes in even more ways.

The game incorporates the cell phone function that has become a feature in many open world games, most notably GTA IV. Using his phone Wei can call contacts (Triad Members, Girls, Police handlers, etc) to gain access to side/miscellaneous quests. There is also a text feature, but it always sends scripted messages that are used in the context of a mission. Wei can access the variety of CI Reports, Background info, and surveillance gatherings through the reports tab, access the social hub, and during some missions take pictures.

One of the key features of the game is known as Face. It has several passive advantages to help the player outside of combat, such as making consumables last longer, discounts, and additional contacts, but it is most obvious in combat. Dealing damage (it seems that more impressive attacks/counters will help more) will fill up the Face Meter, and once it is filled up, Wei regenerates health, intimidates enemies, and through unlocks gains additional advantages such as unblockable attacks and reduced damage. Face is upgraded through side missions and goes to level 10.

Delayed, Dead, and Delivered

In 2009, shortly after Activision put the old True Crime moniker on it, the game was delayed through 2011. Activision's Eric Hirshberg claimed the delay would pay off, focusing on making the shooting and fighting mechanics as "sophisticated" as the driving.

In the same press event that signaled the end of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, Activision let it slip that the nearly finished True Crime: Hong Kong was cancelled, citing fears that the game would not attain the level of quality or sales figures Activision desired. The company argued in a February 2011 financial call to analysts that "Only top-tier games can be competitive in today's market," but said little else regarding reasons behind the game's cancellation.

Cross-Game Unlockables

Players who grappled and parachuted their way through Just Cause 2 will get a little extra when Sleeping Dogs detects a save file from that game on PS3, Xbox 360 or PC: a Rico Rodriguez outfit that also boosts the player's ability to board and hijack moving vehicles from a distance.

Downloadable Content

Since the game's release, downloadable content mission packs have been released to expand the game outside the scope of the core narrative.

Nightmare in North Point

A horror-themed storyline that sees Wei Shen forced to contend with supernatural forces such as Jiang Shi; hopping vampires of Chinese folklore.

Zodiac Tournament

Wei Shen infiltrates a mysterious martial arts tournament being hosted on a remote island. Inspired by classic marital arts films such as Enter the Dragon, the cutscenes in the DLC are filtered to resemble old film that has been scratched and aged, and sound effects have been replaced with sounds like those heard in such films.

Voice Talent

The Characters are listed with their respective voice actors

• Wei Shen - Will Yun Lee
• Thomas Pendrew - Tom Wilkinson
• Raymond Mak - Byron Mann
• Jackie Ma - Edison Chen
• Winston Chu - Parry Shen
• Sam "Dogeyes" Lin - Ron Yuan
• Amanda Cartwright - Emma Stone
• Uncle Po - James Hong
• Big Smile Lee - Tzi Ma
• Vivienne Lu - Lucy Liu
• Broken Nose Jiang - Elizabeth Sung
• Mrs. Chu - Irene Tsu
• Tiffany Kim - Yunjin Kim
• Sifu Kwok - James Lew
• Calvin/Two Chin Tsao - Conan Lee

Trivia

• One of the characters that Wei can date is named Amanda Cartwright. Cartwright is a name that James Hong (who provides the voice for Uncle Po in the game) yells on an episode that he appeared in on the sitcom Seinfeld.

Steam Achievements

Achievement	Description
A Big Betrayal	Complete Dockyard Heist.
A Slap in the Face	Kill someone with a fish.
Auto Enthusiast	Purchase all vehicles.
Big Smiles All Around	Complete Big Smile Lee.
Bounty Hunter	Complete all of Roland's Jobs.
Case Closed	Complete all cases.
Central Scavenger	Unlock every lockbox in Central.
Chief Inspector	Complete 100% of all missions, cases, favors, events, jobs and races.
Detective	Complete 50% of all missions, cases, favors, events, jobs and races.
Environmentalist	Perform 5 unique environmental kills.
Event Driven	Complete half of the open world events.
Event Planner	Complete all of the open world Events.
Fashion Statement	Change all your clothes in your wardrobe or a clothing store.
Fashion Victim	Purchase all clothing.
Foodie	Try 10 different foods or drinks.
Gadgetman	Pick a lock, plant a bug, trace a phone, crack a safe, and take over a spy camera.
Gaining Face	Achieve Face Level 5.
Gold Rush	Achieve 5 Gold Stat Awards.
Golden Touch	Achieve 15 Gold Stat Awards.
Great Face	Achieve Face Level 10.
Gun Nut	Use 10 different firearms to defeat enemies.
Hong Kong Super Hacker	Hack every Security Camera in the game.
In With the Gang	Complete Night Market Chase.
Infowlable	Win 50,000 on a single cockfight.
Karaoke Superstar	Achieving 90% and above for all songs at the Karaoke Bars in HK.
Kleptomaniac	Hijack 5 trucks and collect their cargo.
Man Around Town	Visit Aberdeen, Central, Kennedy Town and North Point.
Martial Law	Defeat all 4 Martial Arts Clubs
Minor Face	Achieve Face Level 2.
Mr. Nice Guy	Complete all Favors.
North Point Scavenger	Unlock every lockbox in North Point.
Officer	Complete 25% of all missions, cases, favors, events, jobs and races.
Pure Gold	Achieve 30 Gold Stat Awards.
Rookie	Complete 10% of all missions, cases, favors, events, jobs and races.
Safe Driver	Cruise for 2 minutes straight without damaging your car.
Sharpshooter	Shoot out a cop's tires while fleeing in a police chase.
Slight Silver	Achieve 5 Silver Stat Awards.
Solid Silver	Achieve 30 Silver Stat Awards.
Spiritual Healing	Pray at all of the Health Shrines.
Strike Gold	Achieve 1 Gold Stat Award.
Stuntman	Successfully perform an action hijack.
Substantial Silver	Achieve 15 Silver Stat Awards.
Super Cop	Unlock ten Cop Upgrades.
Take A Bite Out Of Crime	Complete a Case.
That'll Show 'em	Complete Payback.
Tourist	Win a bet on a cockfight.
Ultimate Fighter	Unlock ten Triad Upgrades.
Wei of the Road	Complete all Street Races.
West End Scavenger	Unlock every lockbox in Kennedy Town and Aberdeen.
Whatever's Handy	Use 10 different melee weapons to defeat enemies.

PC System Requirements

Minimum:

• • OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2
  • Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz
  • Memory: 2GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 15GB
  • Video Card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI card, ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher
  • DirectX®: 10
  • Sound: DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended:

• • OS: Windows 7
  • Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
  • Memory: 4GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 15GB
  • Video Card: DirectX 11 Nvidia or AMD ATI card, Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon 6950
  • DirectX®: 11
  • Sound: DirectX compatible sound card