LTTP: Sleeping Dogs

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Anustart

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Picked this up during the summer sale because I had been wanting to play for it a while now, mostly due to the reception it has received on the forum. Finally got around to playing and finishing it, and I have to say, it has fallen below my hopes. It was not a bad game by any stretch, but I can say that I did not enjoy it as much as I did other open world games I've played, including GTA IV.

What I did really like was the melee combat. It was varied enough to prove enjoyable throughout the entire game, thanks in part to the upgrading of your arsenal of available moves. I always looked forward to jumping out of my ride and proceeding to beat down the unlucky gang members that I happened to stumble upon. This system makes up for the lack of a lot of guns, which makes sense as having Wei running around gunning people down just wouldn't fit in with the story very well. Would like to see a sequel that expands upon the melee.

The parts that bring the game down for me are the city, driving and story. While the city is decent aesthetically speaking, it just isn't that interesting to actually do stuff in. There's very few spots with great jumps for vehicles, as well as being cramped, though that does go with the setting so it is given a pass for the most part.

The driving in the game is far below what I enjoyed in previous GTA titles, even GTA IV (Where I loved the driving). Something about it needs to be tweaked, as I never had much fun while in a car. The traffic behaving erratically is also a complaint, though GTA is also guilty of that. In GTA cars would obviously swerve in front of you just to fuck you up, which seemingly is also happening in this game, though maybe at a lesser degree than GTA.

And lastly, the story. While it wasn't bad, it was pretty easy to see what would happen in the story. The predictability of it had me yawning.

Sleeping Dogs is a good game, just not great. I look forward to seeing a sequel and I hope the devs can improve upon what they have here, as I can picture it elevating into something truly special down the road.
 
I felt alot like you about it, but really loved the story. Great combat for sure, but the driving and open world stuff was jank, at best.

Amazing how well the thing turned out, considering.
 
Of all things, the melee made this boring for me. Everyone praises it to death but it's nothing but snapping to enemies with an insta-kill object every now and then. Not to mention the fact it always spawns you into six enemies just to show you how cool the fighting is, of course.
 
I really liked it. Some of the parts were janky and the story was nothing special but there were some great characters in there and it was a lot of fun to play.
 
I loved the atmosphere and it really makes me wish for more games set in a more modern Asian city.

+Loved Hong Kong (even if it's not 'accurate', I feel it capture the spirit)
+Liked the combat
+Loved the driving
+Liked the character
+Loved the graphics (HD with the rain on is very awesome)
+LOVED flow between gunplay, melee, and driving

-Story was VERY cliched
-Lots of missed opportunities (more food [maybe make it RCR style], more enemy types[so generic], more variety to side missions[fucking drug busts], more weapons[fucking cleavers...], more insta-kill objects[lol swordfish])
-VO was very awkward at times. I wish there was a full Canto patch...I'm sorry, but modern Hong Kong does not have THAT much English in it
-Repetitive fighting and side missions

All in all, I liked the entire package. I just felt they could've do so much more cool stuff with it. I also really wished there was a Cantonese voice over pack; it's very jarring for me anyways to have them switch so often.
 
Kuro Madoushi said:
I loved the atmosphere and it really makes me wish for more games set in a more modern Asian city.

+Loved Hong Kong (even if it's not 'accurate', I feel it capture the spirit)
+Liked the combat
+Loved the driving
+Liked the character
+Loved the graphics (HD with the rain on is very awesome)
+LOVED flow between gunplay, melee, and driving

-Story was VERY cliched
-Lots of missed opportunities (more food [maybe make it RCR style], more enemy types[so generic], more variety to side missions[fucking drug busts], more weapons[fucking cleavers...], more insta-kill objects[lol swordfish])
-VO was very awkward at times. I wish there was a full Canto patch...I'm sorry, but modern Hong Kong does not have THAT much English in it
-Repetitive fighting and side missions

All in all, I liked the entire package. I just felt they could've do so much more cool stuff with it. I also really wished there was a Cantonese voice over pack; it's very jarring for me anyways to have them switch so often.
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Going into the game, for some reason I was under the impression I could have that. Was sad to see I couldn't change the voices. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I was wanting to have english subtitles.

I also really liked Wei, Winston, and Jackie :( I do wish Jackie had a bit more screen time and development though. But never the less, I did feel for the guy. Wei and Jackie's relationship felt natural and it was totally believable to me that Wei would have wanted Jackie to get off free and clear. But then...
 
The driving in the game is far below what I enjoyed in previous GTA titles, even GTA IV (Where I loved the driving).
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Wat?

The driving and combat are why this game is better than the GTA series IMO
 
Game of the year! (in the year it came out)

The stoy was fantastic. The gameplay too. Loved everything from start to end. Looking forward to the Definitive Edition.

The "Red Wedding" was crazy
 
Cloudy said:
Wat?

The driving and combat are why this game is better than the GTA series IMO
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The driving just wasn't fun. GTA captures this perfectly in my opinion. When I'm driving around in a GTA game it is almost always a blast. I can't really say exactly why though. It isn't as if GTA is a more realistic representation, just more fun behind the wheel of a car.

One thing I did like about the shooting in SD was the slow mo. This helped me to over come a common complaint I have with GTA, shitty aiming. SD controlled fine with shooting, but it's still hard to be really accurate and the slow mo not only helped with that, but did make me feel like a bad ass at the same time. GTA just trumps SD by making it easier to create chaos. Again, it wouldn't really fit well with what's going on in SD by making a ton of chaos, but that doesn't necessarily translate into compelling gameplay.
 
I finally played it a couple months ago and loved just about every part of it. The only thing I didn't enjoy too much (and so didn't go out of my way to do all of like I did for almost everything else) was the racing, because besides just not being implemented that well, I was at a disadvantage as I pretty much exclusively drove bikes. They were just way more fun and easier to move around the city with. (And for what it's worth, I've never played a GTA game.)
 
It was competent for me. Lots of room for improvement, though. Didn't love much outside of the melee combat and the story was just okay.

But it was a decent start. I'd imagine a sequel with enough dev time could be good.
 
Loved every moment of it. Hope the sequel is more robust but this game was fine to me. Cant complain about story as most games have a decent amount of predictability to them
 
Blablurn said:
Game of the year! (in the year it came out)

The stoy was fantastic. The gameplay too. Loved everything from start to end. Looking forward to the Definitive Edition.

The "Red Wedding" was crazy
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Same here. Game already looks amazing on PC, but the promise of "tuned gameplay" in the definitive edition sounds interesting.
 
I rarely enjoy the open-world cities in games like this, but I did in Sleeping Dogs. Probably only Saint's Row IV and GTA Vice City made me feel the same way. The same goes for the story (especially VC, since SR IV isn't serious).
 
It was probably my GOTY for 2012 now that I think about it. Definitely my top 5 last gen games though.

You mentioned world design and driving a bit. Game is a bit focused around melee and running. 'Having cool places to take jumps' was probably not part of their mission statement for the game world. I think it was more focused on Hong Kong authenticity and having cool places to have street fights or street chases. The world design doesn't have the variety of GTAV but for its consistent theme it has pretty cool art assets. I think the best part is the neon and the cityscapes of some of the streets with the old tall condensed apartments. I don't know if it's quite as authentic to Hong Kong as GTAV is to LA (which is surprisingly and almost incredibly replicated, an insane number of buildings have real life counterparts). But it's certainly strong accorded to friends I have that have lived there.

Best part of Sleeping Dogs for me is that it was basically designed as a great crime movie in terms of pacing, world, and scope. GTA V is much more like a drama, and I think much more enjoyable if you play it slowly a little every day over many weeks like watching a drama, taking the time to really appreciate and engross yourself in all the small details of the world and grow attached to the characters. The story is better that way.

SD, on the other hand, is paced fast enough that it works with movie pacing. The gameplay and world design lends itself also much better to a faster playthrough, where as GTA V gameplay gets better with age (if you play on manual aim) and most of the world, weapons, cars, etc go unappreciated unless you spend hundreds of hours in the game world. I've beat GTA V many times now, and I'm still finding new surprising corners and details in the game world, fun new places to have cop or gang shootouts, enjoy experimenting with different weapons or cars, and in general just free roaming with different ideas every day. SD doesn't have the same scope to do that. But it has a perfect simplicity in its storytelling that is cliche but still manages to make you care about the main character yet retaining a great movie-esque pacing speed.

It's basically the perfect example of capturing a brisk, expected, cliche but self-aware, and still engaging crime movie into a very well paced action game. That pacing is probably the highlight in terms of game design.
 
Anustart said:
The driving just wasn't fun. GTA captures this perfectly in my opinion. When I'm driving around in a GTA game it is almost always a blast. I can't really say exactly why though. It isn't as if GTA is a more realistic representation, just more fun behind the wheel of a car.
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Man I just never felt this at all, driving in GTA is so boring, you just... drive. I found the ramming and car jacking to be so much fun in Sleeping Dogs. Instead of just out running cars (especially the police) in missions I could just use the ramming and car-shooting mechanics to take them off the road. I honestly don't think I actually outran a single police chase in the game, I just stopped all their cars instead. It just felt like an amazing change of pace after every other open world game where you escape the police by simply driving really fast and far away. I hate that stuff.

I actually ended up doing almost all of the street races as well because using the car ramming was a legit strategy, felt awesome to knock people out of a race and keep driving on.
 
KyanMehwulfe said:
You mentioned world design and driving a bit. Game is a bit focused around melee and running. 'Having cool places to take jumps' was probably not part of their mission statement for the game world. I think it was more focused on Hong Kong authenticity and having cool places to have street fights or street chases. The world design doesn't have the variety of GTAV but for its consistent theme it has pretty cool art assets. I think the best part is the neon and the cityscapes of some of the streets with the old tall condensed apartments. I don't know if it's quite as authentic to Hong Kong as GTAV is to LA (which is surprisingly and almost incredibly replicated, an insane number of buildings have real life counterparts). But it's certainly strong accorded to friends I have that have lived there.

Best part of Sleeping Dogs for me is that it was basically designed as a great crime movie in terms of pacing, world, and scope. GTA V is much more like a drama, and I think much more enjoyable if you play it slowly a little every day over many weeks like watching a drama, taking the time to really appreciate and engross yourself in all the small details of the world and grow attached to the characters. The story is better that way.

SD, on the other hand, is paced fast enough that it works with movie pacing. The gameplay and world design lends itself also much better to a faster playthrough, where as GTA V gameplay gets better with age (if you play on manual aim) and most of the world, weapons, cars, etc go unappreciated unless you spend hundreds of hours in the game world. I've beat GTA V many times now, and I'm still finding new surprising corners and details in the game world, fun new places to have cop or gang shootouts, enjoy experimenting with different weapons or cars, and in general just free roaming with different ideas every day. SD doesn't have the same scope to do that. But it has a perfect simplicity in its storytelling that is cliche but still manages to make you care about the main character yet retaining a great movie-esque pacing speed.

It's basically the perfect example of capturing a brisk, expected, cliche but self-aware, and still engaging crime movie into a very well paced action game. That pacing is probably the highlight in terms of game design.
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I agree that Sleeping Dogs works better as a faster paced experience but I think it's simply because the mechanics are all much faster. Everything from combat, to vaulting environmental obstacles, to the crazy action hijack system, to vehicle ramming, to the way you shoot from vehicles, to vehicle physics, even menus lends the game a feeling of more instant gratification. Combine that with how the world's built and it's easier to go from moment to moment to moment.

As for the story or mechanics in GTAV, I totally disagree that time does them any favors. GTA's narrative and characters go wasted and I think the more time spent to complete it would kill the motivation to do so. There's no depth, nuance, or anything to get attached to. Likewise with the gameplay mechanics, the longer you spend in GTA, the more you get exposed to how mediocre or bad everything on-foot feels. You simply get better at wrangling the game so it does what you want most of the time, but there's no real feeling of precision or flair. I agree that GTAV's world is better for that fine tooth comb style exploration, though. Rockstar generally goes nuts with small details.
 
I really liked it, but there's tons of room for improvement. The melee combat is its strongest asset; far better than any GTA and even more involving and enjoyable than the Batman games. I really liked the Hong Kong setting, and it made a great change from the usual USA cities in these games. It felt different and distinct, and had a lot of its own character. I thought the characters were excellent and the story, although clichéd, was very well told, with Wei's moral quandary the intriguing centrepiece. It wasn't original but reminded me of Infernal Affairs, and I'd have gladly watched more cutscenes. The missions and game structure were solid on the whole; nothing stand-out or particularly memorable, but the transition between different gameplay elements is very smooth and made for some good encounters and fun design.

There are lots of small things I'd like to see tightened up in a sequel (handling/car physics, side missions were pretty monotonous, gunplay could do with some work, more worthwhile non-mission locations in the environment), but for their first effort at an open world game I thought it was superb, and in lots of ways it's one of my favourite games in the genre. I really hope this Triad Wars turns out to be a full sequel.
 
Net_Wrecker said:
I agree that Sleeping Dogs works better as a faster paced experience but I think it's simply because the mechanics are all much faster. [...] As for the story or mechanics in GTAV [...]
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Yeah the pacing as a whole of SD was ultra smooth. Actually, the combat mechanics are almost a perfect representation of the game pacing as a whole. Is the fighting a little predictable and does it hold your hand a little with its sort-of QTE context system? Sure, just as the story is fairly cliche and full of stereotypes. But that didn't matter because it was smooth, reactive, cinematic, and, above all, ultra fun. In the same way, the story, precisely because it was self-aware about its cliches and stereotypes, could give you exactly what you wanted from it. The fighting and story basically gave you exactly what you expected you wanted, and it gave it to just as fast as you'd want.

As for GTA, I mostly used that for context to outline the strengths and differences of SD, so I am cautious to debate it much here. But yeah, the comparison stands on whether or not you find the game and story more engaging if you play it more. I've beat it about 6 times now averaging about 100 hours per playthrough, so that's why I make that argument. Certainly, if you don't enjoy GTAV free roaming, then the argument doesn't work as a contrast to Sleeping Dogs.
 
KyanMehwulfe said:
As for GTA, I mostly used that for context to outline the strengths and differences of SD, so I am cautious to debate it much here. But yeah, the comparison stands on whether or not you find the game and story more engaging if you play it more. I've beat it about 6 times now averaging about 100 hours per playthrough, so that's why I make that argument. Certainly, if you don't enjoy GTAV free roaming, then the argument doesn't work as a contrast to Sleeping Dogs.
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I think there's enough merit in the pacing comparison alone for your point to work. It's a good one, and one of the reasons I love Sleeping Dogs. Not so much the fast pacing overall (as in mission to mission), but the nimble maneuverability and snappy response moment to moment. I just thought I'd throw some counters to your other points since they aren't ones I agree with, and not points I think are strong suits in GTAV at all.

But you finished that game 6 times. I'd be foolish to think I can change your mind here :P
 
I'm playing through Sleeping Dogs (got it a really long while ago when it went for free on EU PS+) and while I'm really liking the game (for reasons most people has already said) I'm having quite a big problem.

The two latest times I've played the game it has frozen my PlayStation 3. I can't switch it off using the controller neither the button. I have to switch it off unplugging the console (which can be harmful).

It's a SuperSlim model, with good ventilation. No problems with any other game, to be honest. As much as I'm liking, if it freezes again I'm probably going to delete it and look for a cheap retail copy.

But I'd like not to do so. Is it a known problem? Should I reinstall it? Delete it?

TL;DR: At least read the bolded XD
 
RalchAC said:
I'm playing through Sleeping Dogs (got it a really long while ago when it went for free on EU PS+) and while I'm really liking the game (for reasons most people has already said) I'm having quite a big problem.

The two latest times I've played the game it has frozen my PlayStation 3. I can't switch it off using the controller neither the button. I have to switch it off unplugging the console (which can be harmful).

It's a SuperSlim model, with good ventilation. No problems with any other game, to be honest. As much as I'm liking, if it freezes again I'm probably going to delete it and look for a cheap retail copy.

But I'd like not to do so. Is it a known problem? Should I reinstall it? Delete it?

TL;DR: At least read the bolded XD
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When you press the power button, how long do you wait? Every time it's happened to me with things, it takes 5-10 seconds but it eventually throws out a series of beeps then turns off.
 
SixFourMike said:
When you press the power button, how long do you wait? Every time it's happened to me with things, it takes 5-10 seconds but it eventually throws out a series of beeps then turns off.
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Once or twice I was pressing the power button for like 20 seconds and it didn't turn off.
 
my most favorie point about Sleeping Dogs is how unpredictable the story was. I was surprised many times and after the burtal scene you know the one, I went in the last missions having no idea how things would unfold really. In the end its pretty classic for sure but it was really entertaining and I had a blast. Loved the game. Probably my goty
 
Didn't like it that much until I realized that this game plays like a really good modern Streets of Rage game. Then it just clicked for me.
 
I really loved SD. Such a massive surprise that ended up being quite possibly my favorite open world game. My only complaint is that I wish the story was longer and side activities had more meat. I was really hoping for maybe episodic content for longer term support in the form of like new police case story lines or raids because after a while there kinda wasn't much to do that was different.

I definitely loved the feel the game had almost like a Jackie Chan movie, hell if Chris Tucker had showed up I may have lost my mind to the game. Really hoping Triad Wars maybe has a co-op mode so we can be badass buddy cops. This game has serious series potential though really looking forward to what Triad Wars brings.
 
I just got back into this game, and although some game mechanics aren't as well honed as GTA5's was, the melee, setting, and little game-ified elements of Asian culture were great. I'll definitely be looking out for the definitive edition and sequel. Most of all, I'm just glad that open-world games are finally starting to explore other settings instead of "east coast city America", but now we've finally got an Old West and now Hong Kong open-world settings.

My idea for an open-world game setting: fictional Middle Eastern city occupied by US forces. It would be great to have an option to start as a US soldier, contractor, or native civilian, and be able to either become an elite soldier, join a terrorist cell, or join a local warlord or organized crime outfit.
 
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