Sleeping Dogs PC Review

I've been looking forward to playing this game since the first time I saw anything to do with it, sure there are a lot of open world 3rd person games out there that promise a lot, heck there still a lot even if you just narrow that down to the crime based ones, with games like GTA and even the free-to-play APB Reloaded being the first two that pop into my head. But Sleeping dogs managed to stand out in the crowd for me, so what is so special about it?

Well given that this game has been through development hell and back, suffering, or should that be surviving not only a change of developers, but even a change of publishers, which has seen its name changed and more in the process, there was a very real chance this game would never see the light of day and be left on a shelf somewhere gathering dust, fortunately that never happened.

You take the role of Wei Shen, a cocky but charming undercover cop set with the hard up task of going undercover as part of a Triad crime organisation, what you do when you get there is almost down to you, given that you're still bound by the law being that you're a police officer, yet set free to take the role of a ruthless gang member, there are a lot of ways everything can pan out for you. Sure there are plenty of missions and a really strong, well acted plot to follow throughout the game, but its upto you if you want to play nice, or rampage your way from one end to the other.

The game manages to score you on a per-mission basis, breaking the law, damaging property, killing civilians etc will lower your cop score, but increase your gang score, meaning you're constantly fighting to play the bad guy without doing too much bad in the world. At most any point in the game you can pick from two main quest lines that wind together perfectly, choosing to take undercover cop missions to uncover information and help with arrests, or dive deeper into the Triad and gain their trust by committing crimes and helping out with their evil dealings. Both side offering benefits, friends, money and entertainment along the way in big handfuls.

The game is superbly scripted and voice acted through out, something that really shines through in the lead character (Wei Shen) throughout the game, as he struggles to maintain the balance of law and his cover in the ever escalating world of violence that he has gotten involved in, testing the relationships of his allies and friends, both new and old.

The thing that I like most about Sleeping Dogs though has to be its balance of action, story and free roaming, it has the perfect mixture of RPG elements, thanks to its huge open city, market stalls, car dealerships, crimes to commit, open missions, places to explore and items to discover, its a solid action game too with a combat system not unlike that of the recent Batman titles, with a full perk tree system to level up through the game with various skills on two sets, both criminal and cop based, again playing into the RPG elements and the story that is rich and deep enough to compete with titles like Mass Effect in terms of narrative.

The game is pretty big too, I managed to clock in just shy of 30 hours here, which is pretty impressive given the level of detail put into the characters and the game world alike, there is a little replay value in there too should you wish to go back and play as a complete jerk or good cop just to see how things pan out.

The next thing worth mentioning is the graphics, while pretty solid throughout there were a few bugs along the way, the camera for one can be a little tedious sometimes, panning around after jumping over things or making the steering of vehicles feel a little odd, but its something you do get used to, its just not as refined as say GTA IV when it comes to traversing the city.
The game world is heavily populated and rich with detail and sounds though, given that there are sponsored radio stations from Roadrunner records and even Kerrang to keep metal fans like me entertained while tearing up the streets, but if that's not your thing, there is even a whole host of cheesy tracks to rip through in the games Karaoke bars, seriously.

This game is pretty much an essential purchase for anyone looking for a rock solid story, great action and a stack load of fun, while there is nothing new here, or anything innovative, its the balance of the familiar elements that makes this game feel right, the perfect game to keep you busy as we wait for the other big releases of the year in the run up to Christmas.