Friday 31 August 2012

Sleeping Dogs PC Review



Awesome combat system with beautiful cars with unlimited access to various types of guns set in a beautiful, modern yet classic city of hong kong. Yes guys i am talking about 'SLEEPING DOGS'.
At first sight itself it was quite lovable and enjoyable. Set in modern times juxtaposed with classic tradition of hong kong, it is quite exciting to play sleeping dogs especially when the graphics are stunning and urge you to try the game on. 

You play as Wei shen-an undercover cop. The game starts with drug deal, chasing a guy and finally getting arrested by the police.

Story: Driven by a desire to avenge his sister's death, he accepts a dangerous assignment to infiltrate the Sun On Yee triad and help take them down from the inside. Starting out on the lowest rungs of the criminal ladder, he rapidly climbs up through the ranks, behaving in ways that sometimes make his triad cohorts suspect he's a cop and sometimes make his police superiors think he's getting too attached to his brothers in crime. It's a typical tale of an undercover cop possibly getting in too deep, and the story doesn't have any surprises in store for you. But solid voice acting and writing that convincingly blends English and Cantonese make it a narrative that's more than capable of supporting the gameplay, providing context for many a dramatic mission and building up to a cathartic climax that's bloody enough to be taken right out of one of John Woo's Hong Kong action films. 

Story is very strong and the characters leave an impact on you. Wei is assigned a task to infiltrate the dangerous group, who control most of the city, and bring them down. As he tries to achieve their confidence, respect and loyalty he becomes one of them.


And there are girls....:D
The characters are unique and voice acting is spot on. Sleeping Dogs is an open-world game, played in an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective. And although the inevitable comparison with Grand Theft Auto will be made, it has got a very different feel to it than Rockstar's masterpiece. A large reason for that is the brilliant hand-to-hand combat - strongly influenced by Batman: Arkham City's 'Freeflow' system. 

Unlike Arkham City, though, Wei can use the environment to dish out some lethal takedowns. These include impaling enemies on swordfish heads, throwing them off buildings, and crushing them with car engines. A clever levelling up system, where you find certain statues to unlock more moves, stops the combat feeling repetitive. 


Wheelman hijacking
Well i should say the game is pretty much a mixture of many games. The slow motion when Wei shoots from his bike is taken from Max Payne, fluid combat system from batman, sandbox genre from GTA, the ramming from burnout paradise, hijacking vehicles from wheelman to say a few.


Oodles of collectibles

The city of hong kong is huge and theres plenty to explore. Oodles of collectibles and side missions keeps your total playable time high. And of course it fun. 
Well the trademark of game is essentially the chasing feature introduced. From the start itself we start chasing who stole our deal. But sometimes the camera sucks and points in random direction.(first minus)



Clever experience point system
There’s a clever experience point system in place, too. This is broken up into Triad XP, Face XP and Police XP. After each mission, you're awarded points to spend on both police upgrades - such as disarming enemies, and triad upgrades, often involving neat combat manoeuvres. Go through a mission mowing down innocent people and your police points will suffer, so you'll have to play sensibly to maximise the chance of getting all the upgrades.

Face XP is a measure of his reputation - the higher the value, the more clothes and flash cars become available. Non-playable characters will react differently to you, too. 


Trademark of the game-combat system
Gameplay is the best. The combat system introduced is exciting and fluid. But then there's again the martial arts club fights. The people in round 5 and 6 become many in number and thus becomes difficult to complete the challenge. While on car, developers have also introduced a fair mix of techno, classic, jazz and disco. 

You can purchase food and drinks for temporary benefits.
But Sleeping Dogs is more about wide-angle, big-picture atmosphere than about close-ups. The skyline gleams with towering skyscrapers. Neon signs hang from every available outcropping on busy streets, crowding the air above you with glowing Chinese characters. This city may not be accurately modelled on the real Hong Kong, but it nonetheless has a powerful identity, and while you're playing, you feel transported to this dangerous land. Collectibles scattered across the island make exploring it worthwhile as well as enjoyable; finding health shrines increases your maximum health, while blue lockboxes hidden all over the place reward you with cash and sometimes with new items of clothing.

Best part is the game runs at standard 60fps and doesn't stuck..Its gives me immense pleasure to explore various places and plenty of fun doing side missions like Gambling, Help missions, car robbery, dating and clubs to say a few.  It's fun for a while to run around jump-kicking people to death, or fatally tossing them off of three-foot-high railings. However, unlike other games in the genre like Just Cause 2 and Saints Row: The Third, which revealed in giving you ways to wreak incredible havoc on your own, Sleeping Dogs is at its best when you're playing through the story. Missions typically string together a number of activities, switching from one type of action to another frequently enough to keep you on your toes and ensure that you never get tired of what you're doing. Developers have done good research in developing the game. The voice is amalgam of English and Chinese. The game overall looks stunning and story is very strong. Characters leave a impact on you. In a nutshell the game has very good lasting appeal and looks amazing to explore the classic and modern hong kong...


Well, i am still scared of her :P :D (Mrs.Chu)
I almost forgot...watch out for this lady...Bad ass than any other character in the game...:P

My rating is 9.5/10...simply loved playing it...Hoping there's a sequel to this one...:D 





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