That's What She Said Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 An open world game about an undercover cop in Hong Kong, looks good. It comes out August 14.s Sleeping Dogs: A Three-Way Purebreed? Part Assassin's Creed, part Batman and part Need for Speed, is Sleeping Dogs equal to the sum of its parts? When True Crime was originally released in 2003, the open-world genre was a much less hostile place than it is now. Of course, Grand Theft Auto was (and still is) the dominant force, but there were very few other competitors for the crown. Fast forward almost a decade and the genre has exploded, with pretty much every sub-genre catered for, whether it's historical (Assassin's Creed and Red Dead Redemption), fantastical (Batman: Arkham City) or downright outrageous (Saints Row: The Third). Which begs the question, where does Sleeping Dogs lie? Having played through a handful of missions (more of which you can read in IGN's previous play-through), it feels like a mix of Assassin's Creed's free-running, the free-flowing combat seen in Rocksteady's Batman and the nitro-fuelled racing of Need for Speed. Importantly, developer United Front Games didn't want Sleeping Dogs to feel like a series of different games bolted together, but instead wanted all of its elements – the on-foot exploration, the hand-to-hand combat, the driving and gunplay – to flow seamlessly from one to the other. "In the blink of an eye you can punch someone in the face, vault over cover, grab a gun and jump on top of a car to hijack it," explains Alastair Cornish, external director of Sleeping Dogs at Square Enix. "You can then drive off, lean out of a window and fire at the tyres of another car to take it out. It's all seamless and it all uses a unified control scheme that's easy to pick up and use, yet has a lot of depth." It's a lofty ambition, but one that looks like it's currently on track. Certainly, when it comes to smashing faces Sleeping Dogs has definitely learned from the best and owes a lot to Batman: Arkham City. Attacks are easy to string together, plus an icon flashes over an enemy's head they're about to attack, enabling you to counter more easily. Sounds familiar, eh? While the mechanics are similar, though, Sleeping Dogs is much more violent. "The brutal melee combat is one of the things that really stands out in Sleeping Dogs," thinks Cornish. "It's got the free-flowing, improvisational feel to it that you might see in a Jackie Chan movie and you can use almost any element of the environment as a weapon, flowing from one enemy to the next. And unlike Batman, which I previously worked on, in Sleeping Dogs you can horribly skewer people on exposed metal pipes and beat them to death with fridge doors, with 101 other nasty ways to kill an enemy." Some of the takedowns are truly shocking; heads can be sliced open with circular saws, you can electrocute bad guys by shoving their faces in fuse boxes, or fry them alive by body-slamming them onto a gas stove and look on as they writhe in agony. It's ultra-violent, but it fits in perfectly with the over-arching story that brings everything together: "The story is always a tricky thing to get right in an open-world game but we think the developers have really knocked it out of the park," says Cornish." It's an undercover cop story, which you don't really see that often in games, even though it's well represented in movies. But importantly, Sleeping Dog's story is adult." This is in reference to the over-the-top takedowns, but also the previously unreleased scene we saw in which the lead character is tied up and tortured. It's nothing less than brutal, with Wei Shen punched repeatedly and worked on with power tools before the pain gets too much and he blacks out. Naturally a battered and bruised Wei eventually exacts his revenge, cutting the rope around his wrists before dispatching his captors in spectacular fashion, smashing one's face into a urinal and drowning him in his own urine. Sleeping Dogs is much more than just a violent brawler though, as we mentioned earlier. Negotiating the busy streets of Northpoint – the game's equivalent of Kowloon – can be tricky, with cars and crowds blocking the path to your objective. That's where Wei's agility comes in: "The free-running is key to Sleeping Dogs," admits Cornish. "There aren't that many games that do it – Assassin's Creed is probably the closest, but we're going for a street level vibe so it feels grittier as you scramble through crowds and vault over market stalls." Indeed, there are moments when Sleeping Dogs feels exactly like Assassin's Creed, as you push past people, climb up buildings and vault objects. Timing is essential however: mistime a jump and you'll have to scrabble to regain your grip; mess up a shoulder barge and you'll end up on the floor rather than pushing quickly through the crowd. Then there's the driving. According to Cornish it's "the best driving in a sandbox game in terms of handling, but it's also got the unique aspect of the ram-mechanics, which give it a much more arcade feel and almost bring some of the melee combat feel into the driving." Certainly, the latter part of the statement is true. The handling is sharp and responsive, and the ram boost is the four-wheeled equivalent of kicking someone in the face. Time it right and your target will flip on its roof and spin out of control; get it wrong and you're left eating the dust of your opponents. However, whether it really is the best driving experience in any sandbox game remains to be seen. At this point it's definitely promising and the race we were challenged to felt tense and exciting. But the key to games like this – big, sprawling open worlds bursting with life – is that they strike the right balance of freedom and focus. You want to feel like you're free to do almost anything you want, in whatever way you want, but at the same time there needs to be an element of direction, a feeling of progression, and that your achievements are rewarded with bigger and better things. Let's hope Sleeping Dogs' bite is as bad as its bark when it's released later this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jägermeister Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 I thought this was going to be a forum filled with pictures of napping puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wizard of AZ Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Looks too similar to Yakuza. Guess all Asian (video games) do look the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Let 'em lie.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gran Turismo Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Looks too similar to Yakuza. Guess all Asian (video games) do look the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageForever420 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 It was originaly spouse to be the new true crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Stoch Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Underrated game. I actually think the story and combat is a lot better than GTA's but overall GTA is more detailed and realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Underrated game. I actually think the story and combat is a lot better than GTA's but overall GTA is more detailed and realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's What She Said Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 ive never heard GTA and realistic used in the same sentence before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 what's the difficulty like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Stoch Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 ive never heard GTA and realistic used in the same sentence before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almo89 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Yakuza isn't truly sandbox. This is more like GTA + The Departed + Hong Kong action film with Donnie Yen Oh and this comes out tomorrow. Might be good for people needing a sandbox fix before GTA 5 comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 I know this is an "old" thread but I just got this game as a digital download for PC as part of a game bundle with my new video card. The game has a massive bug for PC users. The screen freezes before getting to the start screen for nearly 15 MINUTES and then goes on like nothing happened. it plays flawlessly from there on. I timed it at 14:35. Yeah you have to wait a 1/4 hour to play it. Since the game on PC is only available in North America as a digital D/L on steam the steam forums have a ton of threads about it starting from the first day the game was available back in mid August. No Dev reply to any of it except for "we know about the problem and are looking into it". All workarounds have failed.So if I wanna play I have to plan it out in advance. First world problems lol. So if you are thinking about buying a game developed by United Front Games you can rest assured they wont fix any problems you may have. So, a great start to my game bundle. I have Hitman:Absolution coming Nov 20 (release date) and Far Cry 3 Dec 3 (release date) so hopefully they will be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_bassi13 Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 I know this is an "old" thread but I just got this game as a digital download for PC as part of a game bundle with my new video card. The game has a massive bug for PC users. The screen freezes before getting to the start screen for nearly 15 MINUTES and then goes on like nothing happened. it plays flawlessly from there on. I timed it at 14:35. Yeah you have to wait a 1/4 hour to play it. Since the game on PC is only available in North America as a digital D/L on steam the steam forums have a ton of threads about it starting from the first day the game was available back in mid August. No Dev reply to any of it except for "we know about the problem and are looking into it". All workarounds have failed.So if I wanna play I have to plan it out in advance. First world problems lol. So if you are thinking about buying a game developed by United Front Games you can rest assured they wont fix any problems you may have. So, a great start to my game bundle. I have Hitman:Absolution coming Nov 20 (release date) and Far Cry 3 Dec 3 (release date) so hopefully they will be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 It has to go through steam no matter what. I bought a retail version in India, and it forces an association to steam anyways. Although for me I've had no problem running the game. It works perfectly. It's too bad the game is not working for you though, because you're missing what is really quite a surprisingly good game. I was able to enjoy it throughout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_bassi13 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 You got it on a disk? I got it by Digital download. It does work for me. Its just that if I want to play it I have to start it up 15 minutes ahead of time. After that delay at the start it seems to work perfectly. Fun game, way to many cut-scenes tho for my liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 . As for the game itself, it has a lot of cut-scenes at the beginning, but those stop in frequency as the game progresses. The nature of the game's storytelling is not bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.