Man, it's already February! One month down, eleven to go, and not a single urge to browse the Steam sales. I'd say this resolution is off to a banging start.

January Recap:

Games Completed:

• Sleeping Dogs
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Pyre

Games Shelved:

• NieR: Automata (though I did beat Route A)

Other Games Played:

• Overwatch (ugh...)
• Heroes of the Storm (ugh...)
• Divinity Original Sin 2
• Cuphead

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Sleeping Dogs Review

“You look like you could use a pork bun!!”

It’s moments like that where I had the biggest smile on my face while playing this game. I went in expecting a somewhat serious crime-noir action game set in Hong Kong, yet I walked away experiencing something quite…different.

But y’know what? Overall, I dig it.

I will admit, I think the game lacks a coat of polish that bigger-budget and more modern open world games have, and honestly, I think some people give the game a bit more credit than it’s worth. During my play through (Definitive Edition on Steam), I encountered a plethora of bugs and glitches, some voice acting that’s questionable at best, cutscenes that start and end so abruptly and driving controls that I still haven’t gotten a hold of after ~15 hours of playtime.

If you can dig past all those things though, there’s a Hong Kong sandbox buried beneath just waiting to be punished with your fists of fury.

The game stars Wei-Shen, a young cop born in Hong Kong, but raised in San Francisco. The HKPD hires Wei because his hometown childhood friends have grown up and are now integral parts of various Triad gangs. They hope Wei can utilize his connections from the past to take down the Triad gangs from within. While an interesting, albeit somewhat trite, plot at face value, I can’t help but notice some gaping holes that break my investment in the story. Wei left Hong Kong at the age of 10 and made no contact with anyone back in Hong Kong, yet they welcome him right back in like he’s never left? There also seems to be no motivation for Wei to take on what’s a rather life-endangering mission. Why go back to Hong Kong? What does he gain from any of it? Would such a brilliant cop really get sucked that hard into the gang lifestyle while undercover?

But fuck it…I could use a pork bun! Once I accepted the plot holes for what they were (I mean it is a video game after all), I had a blast dropkicking folks in the face, stuffing punks in the trunk of my car, and buying the craziest outfits I’ve ever seen sold in an open world game (I got a set of Samurai Monkey armor that comes with a motorcycle floating on a golden cloud…’nuff said). And this is where Sleeping Dogs shines. Through the grime-soaked alleys of Hong Kong, to the bustling vendor squares filled with fish balls and meat skewers, the city itself is a fun canvas for you to paint with blood from your flying fists of fury.

Where GTA V is a crime-noir masterpiece with lackluster combat, Sleeping Dogs is the opposite in every way. It’s a one-note story with more than serviceable combat. Yes, it is ‘the batman combat’ for those that are sick of that system, but it does some fun things with the combos and every impact with a fist or foot just feels soooo crunchy and satisfying.

Sure, it’s not the most complex fighting system, but it’s a game whose length doesn’t need some in-depth system to keep you going for hours on end. I think most players will agree that it is an ‘in and out’ kind of game.

When I initially started the game, I was that asshole that opened the in-game map, zoomed all the way out, and scrolled around to see how big the world is compared to other games. I had found a map that was underwhelming at size, but as I progressed through the game a bit…I found myself actually appreciating what Square Enix has done with Sleeping Dogs. The length of the story caters itself well to this map size and it never overstays its welcome. In a day and age where every game is striving to be some grandiose, 80+ hour, Witcher 3 wannabe, it was a breath of fresh air to start and finish an open world game in under 15 hours.

Would I recommend Sleeping Dogs to a friend? Absolutely…but I’d certainly recommend it to those that aren’t looking for an overly satisfying story. If only Square Enix could have saved some of the money and divvied it up a bit more on voice actors, rather than blowing it all on 5 lines of dialogue from Lucy Lui and Emma Stone. It’s the one thing that holds this back from being a masterpiece open-world game. L

TLDR:

The game has satisfying combat, fun bits of Hong Kong to explore, and is overall enjoyable. It’s just held back by a lackluster plot and some really shoddy voice acting at times.

Final Score: 7/10

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And now...I'm off to start something else. Keep an eye out for a poll in the message boards. I have a handful of games I know I want to start. Now it's up to you to decide which.