Sleeping Dogs (2012)

I think this game has the bones to be an all timer, but was sadly held back by its budget and when it was made. I know everyone calls it a blend of GTA and Yakuza with it all being wrapped together by being in a unique setting like Hong Kong, but people say that for good reason, because that is what this game is.

Starting with all the positives, I think the game world and dialogue, especially for 2012, makes the world really feel alive. The driving is surprisingly responsive and fun, and the dialogue between the main characters or the throwaway dialogue that the NPCs say are really fun and good, helps contribute to the world feeling alive, even when there isn't that much to do (will be covered in the negatives). I think the story is pretty solid, but is not executed very well, another thing I think that was just a limitation of the game itself. A lot of hard hitting moments and the ending felt rushed and not as impactful as they should have been. The hand to hand combat is barely passable, but I think the game gets away with it, it only really becomes a problem in the DLCs. The shooting combat is also barely passable. The physics engine is hilarious and brought a lot of fun with the glitches that happened because of it.

Now for some negative things. I think the story was too disjointed, it would be Son on Ye missions, and then some random ass mission, then like a random cop story, then a random Son on Ye that you don't really know would be in the next mission and they would be an integral part for that one time and not ever again. It didn't help that a lot of these missions are spread around a very desolate map that could have been more central and focused. The only thing that would have been lost by changing the map to be that way would be the driving, but half the time you have to drive in these really curvy roads that connect two sides of the map diagonally, so it isn't fun to traverse between the main 4 regions anyways. When it comes to the DLCs, they range from barely passable to really bad. The Zodiac tournament was like a fever dream of boring fights on an island that could have been cool, but is then just quickly gone. The night of the living dead thing is kind of cool, especially the extra cutscenes they put in, but once again it just feels like a bad fever dream. The year of the snake just sucks because there are no cutscnes and it is just driving around to beat up a couple of guys with no real good reason or backing behind it.

In the end, I would give this game a strong 7/10. I had my issues with it, but it was only near the end and in the DLCs where I wasn't having fun. For most of it, driving around and doing the missions and interacting with the characters and hearing the dialogue of background characters and having some cool story moments was fun. I know it will like never happen, but I really wish this game would get a remaster or a sequel, maybe there is a small chance with the future Simu Liu movie.

Sleeping Dogs - First Impressions

It's GTA with a more interesting setting and a more cohesive story.

No, it's still not good. Or at the very least, I really don't enjoy playing it that much. I'm not a fan of GTA games and Sleeping Dogs pretty much riffs the same structure, garnering favor with wonky staggered out pacing with really basic combat and other mechanics lining the gameplay between events.

Even still, the setting and story is actually strong enough to keep me going, enough where I've decided not to just drop it. Maybe it's the fact that combat is just a slight step above the usual Arkham Asylum combat archtype, maybe it's because the music and atmosphere of Hong Kong is so full of care and life, maybe it's because i still feel a strong hit of dopamine when i smash a guy into a steel fan.

Even so, it's alright. I'll get back to it eventually.