Sleeping Dogs - A Grand Theft Auto x Yakuza-type Game

So what is Sleeping Dogs?

It's an open-world, third-person, beat-em-up/shooter game that takes place in Hong Kong. You play Wei Shen, an undercover Chinese-American cop whose assignment is to infiltrate the Sun On Yee, a Triad organization. The gameplay's primary focus is Wei's ability in hand-to-hand combat, parkour, marksmanship, and technological expertise.

A week ago, I just finished the game's main story and I have some thoughts on it. Even though this game is good, it does have some flaws. I'm here to do a review of the game's gameplay, plot, and mechanics. Let's start, shall we?

Gameplay

The gameplay is reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto and Yakuza, due to the game letting you steal and drive cars, explore the vast world of Hong Kong, and primarily engaging in hand-to-hand combat with thugs. It also has you doing favors for other people (similar to doing substories in the Yakuza series) for experience points.

Similar to Grand Theft Auto, in place of the GTA series' Vigilante side missions, Sleeping Dogs has you either do Cop Jobs, or Cases, which lets you earn Police EXP. Yes, you heard that right. You can earn different types of EXP depending on what kind of missions you're playing. You can earn Triad EXP through Story Mode missions, earn Police EXP through Story Mode, Cop Jobs, or Cases, or earn Face EXP through side missions.

The combat style is very reminiscent of the Yakuza series since you can input different presses for different attacks, such as leg-breaking and roundhouse kicks. However, unlike Yakuza, the combat is very limited and you can't evade attacks. However, you can do counter-attacks, which is better! And in place of Heat Actions, you can utilize environmental kills by ramming enemies into various objects, such as phone booths, meat hooks, etc. Oh, and the Face Meter replaces Yakuza's Heat Meter, which fills up the more you deal damage. Once your Face Meter is full, it will activate, regenerate any health Wei lost, intimidate enemies, and boost Wei's attacks.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto, the game implements parkour mechanics, which lets you traverse quickly through Hong Kong's rooftops, and technological expertise, which lets you utilize police-issue gadgets in different scenarios. These gadgets will let you hack into security cameras, unlock safes, plant bugs, and track calls.

However, the gameplay has one notable flaw. It's the driving mechanics. Driving in this game feels somewhat... weird. The driving feels slippery since bikes feel slippery and you kind of tend to lose control when driving cars. Other than that, the gameplay is really great.

Plot

The game's plot is basically this: You go undercover inside a Triad gang and try and take it down. That's just the basic premise, but there's more to it. Later in the story, you become the leader of your own gang and you try and take out the other corrupt gangs. And that's mostly just it. To be quite honest, the story is pretty... mediocre. It doesn't feel exciting. Though, what I can say is that the game's awesome climax would make up for it.

I also like how the game's voice cast consists mostly of famous actors, such as Will Yun Lee from "Hawaii Five-0" and "The Good Doctor", Lucy Liu from "Kill Bill Vol 1." and "Charlie's Angels", Emma Stone from "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Cruela", and James Hong from "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2", "Kung Fu Panda", and "Big Trouble in Little China".

Verdict

In my opinion, this game is pretty good. However, due to the game's boring story and the game's flawed driving mechanics, this game doesn't really take the cake for me. It may not be my personal favorite, but overall this game is good, but not great. I would give this game an 7/10, with 8/10 for the gameplay, and 6/10 for the storyline.

Well, that's all for now, guys. I'll be playing some more games so I can blog about them. Until then, just stay tuned for more! -JJ