Do I follow a code of honor? Whose side am I on now? More importantly, who can I trust? I know the promises I made, and I can recite them from memory, but I don’t know which one I’m supposed to believe in anymore. There are only two rules. There are only two absolutes left in this screwed up hole of a life that I’ve buried myself in: I fight for my friends, and I follow my orders, no matter what side they come from. This is Sleeping Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs, released 8/14, is an open world (fully explorable setting) action-adventure video game with role playing game elements.
The player takes the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop infiltrating the Sun On Yee crime organization in Hong Kong. His mission is to bring the Sun On Yee down—no matter the cost. But Shen’s loyalty is tested as he gets closer to his new brothers in crime, and the lines are blurred between good and evil.
While playing through Sleeping Dogs, the player will find his or herself wondering where his or her loyalty really stands, with the gang or the police. The game allows the player to decide which faction they want to spend most of their time doing side missions for, but this won’t change the ultimate ending of the game.
The game boasts a heart-quickening melee and ranged combat system. While not a big part of the game, the gunplay is smooth and refreshing, combining elements from such other notable action games as Grand theft Auto IV, Saints Row the Third, and Max Payne 3.
If the player chooses to engage their enemies with firearms, they can take to a well-designed cover system and utilize a variety of fun and deadly guns, including pistols, sub-machine guns, shotguns, and assault rifles. Guns are rare in the game, however, so the player will find melee combat much more common.
The hand-to-hand combat system may be the most impressive part of the game. Wei Shen is a highly skilled martial artist, and the player can make full use of the characters’ experience. Performing counters, breaking arms and legs, and beating his or her way through hordes of enemies are just a few examples of enjoyable action scenarios.
Sleeping Dogs also allows the player to make use of their environment. He or she can drown them in fish tanks, push them into meat grinders, electrocute them on live wire cables and generators, crack their heads with a car door, throw them into meat hooks, walls and windows, and generally use the world around him or her to give them hell.
While brutally slamming their enemies into it, the player will notice that the world around them is actually quite beautiful and well designed. The developers filled virtual Hong Kong with vibrant colors, true-to-life architecture, and unforgettable interiors that leave the player with an overwhelming desire to explore.
One serious flaw in the game lies in its driving collision system. The physics of it are completely backward. The first time I freely drove a car in Sleeping Dogs, I hit a motorcycle head on at a very high speed, mostly because I’m used to driving on the right side of the road (Sleeping Dogs forces the player to observe Chinese law, not American). As I was careening into him, I thought the poor guy was done for; nobody could survive an impact like that. I could see it all happen in my head: his bike would be crippled and he would go flying like a ragdoll, dead before he hit the ground. But when I hit him, there was no crippled motorcycle, no ragdoll effect; my car stopped, his motorcycle turned slightly to the side, and the man sat upon it, presumably with a big dumb grin under his helmet.
Although the vehicle physics in Sleeping Dogs do it very little justice, they can very easily be overlooked. The masterful combat system, emotionally toying story and fun free-roam make the game worth every second of the player’s time.
