How the West was won over by the East
From a long development cycle to being outright cancelled and then being picked up by another publisher, the fate of True Crime: Hong Kong is certainly an interesting one. Renamed "Sleeping Dogs" and brought to shelves by Square, it's a success story of a game that took awhile for it to actually come out but unlike similar stories such as Duke Nukem or the recent Aliens game, Sleeping Dogs is actually a good game. It's such a remarkable game that it's funny the only real thing I can lobby against it is how unremarkable it feels or "special". Unlike Infamous and the superhero stuff or Saints Row the Third with all the bugnuts crazy it does, there's nothing really genre-pushing about the game but what it does do is why the game deserves a shot.
Taking place in Hong Kong, you control Wei Shen, a HKPD police officer asked to go undercover and infiltrate the Sun On Yee, one of the city's most notorious Triad gangs. Trying to not get his cover blown while also dealing with the immoral and occasionally quite vile dealings asked of him, Wei interacts with several key members and attempts to rise to the top to take them down without getting caught, or becoming one of them.
The plot of Sleeping Dogs is an interesting one, albeit a somewhat predictable one. Wei Shen's work with the Triads and all the key members carry with them an intriguing backdrop and narrative focus that helps you wanting to discover the next story mission. There's some memorable characters with solid voice acting and Shen himself is a standout with the problem of Triad vs Cop dilemma being nicely portrayed. But the characters that I feel got the shaft (and not that kind....well actually it's both but I won't spoil) are the females with many being relegated to a mission or 2 before they outright vanish. In fact, I couldn't even call any on the phone anymore and either there's some scenes missing but in some cases, Shen is either an outright stud or the relationship was going on far longer than we've seen.
And all of this takes place in one of the better realized cities in an open world game. Most of the time in open-world games, the attention to detail is there but they never felt like games I wanted to explore, they were just there for me to play in, the difference between playing an immersive world and a "video game level". This city just feels like Hong Kong, from the temples to the neon signs to the different districts, it's city ripe for exploration and you actually want to do so for what it might contain and not for achievements or collectibles. Although Hong Kong certainly has plenty of those, from health shrines that increase your overall health to lock boxes to collecting statues which let you unlock more fighting moves, there's plenty to do and see in this city. Not to mention on a somewhat weighty PC, this game looks outright gorgeous and while the more crazier detail is not there, it's no less a beautiful game, especially if you're running around at night while it's raining. On consoles it's....alright but should absolutely get the game for PC if it can handle it.
And one thing you'll be doing plenty of in Hong Kong is starring in your own weird kung fu crime drama which is where Sleeping Dogs combat comes in. Taking a cue from recent Batman games, Wei Shen can fist-and-kick fight with the gang members that gets in his way with style, from roundhouse kicks to nasty bone-breaking moves. It's raw, nasty and really fun to play and the more you go through the game, the more moves you unlock which help take down some of the more annoying enemies. Only thing missing from Batman's is that there was a sort of rhythmic grace about it as playing through the combat challenges and dealing the enemies that have to be taken out in specific ways can make you feel untouchable; Wei Shen is not quite so nimble. Some enemies I noticed would block my stuns and tackles and could only rely on counters (complete with easy-to-read red auras) and the gunfights are not as engaging. The guns sound and bring a lot of power into them but the actual maneuvering around and slo-mo tricks never feels stylish or cool and having one gun at a time, while realistic enough, got in the way of "oh crap, the gun I used is empty and nobody is using this gun" moments.
Earlier I mentioned Sleeping Dogs doesn't feel "special" when I mentioned if it has any flaws and that's probably the biggest one. Sure I have some issues with it such as the KB&M controls are PC are...well they're awkward to say the least. Action hijacks where you could jump to another vehicle felt strange trying to steer and hold the Q key while ramming cars off the road with the Left Ctrl key or the clumsy way to take cover never really felt natural so I highly recommend a controller. In addition, there's a lot of stuff to do in Sleeping Dogs which for a time is great but eventually it feels more like busywork and the stuff you need to do to complete achievements. The health shrines are great early on until the combat starts to become a breeze in which the increased survivability doesn't matter anymore or upgrading your "face meter" which is kind of like a popularity rank which can give you access to pricey clothes or cars. But since I barely upgraded the meter, I sat on top near 600,000 by the end of the game and while you could just buy new cars, an upgrade that lets you steal cars without setting off the alarm kind of makes that pointless.
Instead of the outlandish craziness of Saints Row the Third, Sleeping Dogs is a more laid-back and played-for-serials kind of game. The story is well-written, the characters have their pathos and troubles and other than the gore (which can get ridiculously extreme at times) isn't played for laughs or goofiness like Fallout 3. But nothing about the game really pushes the genre forward or makes it mark as a sandbox entry being innovative and standing out: it's the formula but a well-executed formula.
