Sleeping Dogs was formly known as Black Lotus before Activison decided to turn it into: True Crime: Hong Kong, unfortunately
it was dropped by Activision as they thought the game would not sell to their expectations. This is when Square Enix stepped in
and decided to buy the right's to the game giving the new title of: Sleeping Dogs. With a greater time frame with the the game, it
has let the development team further polish the game under Square Enix's hand. It's developed by United Front with members
previously working at EA Black Box, Rockstar Vancouver, Radical Entertainment and Volition Inc, most of the members have
previously worked in open sanbox-box games.
Game Release Date:
NA August 14, 2012
AUS August 16, 2012
EU August 17, 2012
Website: http://www.sleepingdogs.net
Developers: United Front Games, Square Enix London Studios
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: PS3, 360, PC (Steamworks)
Demo? : Not confirmed, a notice on the Steam registry did point to a Sleeping Dogs demo.
PC requirements:
Minimum:
OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz
Memory: 2GB
Hard Disk Space: 15GB
Video Card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia / AMD ATI card, ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher
DirectX®: 10
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
Recommended:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
Memory: 4GB
Hard Disk Space: 15GB
Video Card: DirectX 11 Nvidia or AMD ATI card, Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon 6950
DirectX®: 11
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
Preorder from Best Buy or Steam and get the Georges St-Pierre Pack, including:
- GSP’s signature “flying punch”
- Exclusive GSP outfit including T-shirts, headband and shorts, unlocks the flying punch, increases grappling & throwing damage
Preorder from GameStop or Steam and get the Police Protection Pack, including:
- High Speed Mission
- HK Police SWAT Outfit
- Exclusive assault rifle
- SWAT Police Vehicle
Preorder from Amazon and get the Martial Arts Pack, including:
- Exclusive Shaolin Warrior outfit
- Shaolin Showdown Mission
- Wing Chun decorations for your safehouse, which grants you combat buffs
Preorder from Steam before release date and get these items in TF2
You play the role of undercover cop Wei Shen, tasked with taking down one of the world's most fearsome criminal organisations
from the inside... the Hong Kong Triads. As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side
streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own
motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.
Characters:
Officer Shen is a highly intelligent, self-aware, and generally balanced individual. He exhibits a strong moral system and has a
clear understanding of the risks involved in long-term undercover work. I am concerned, however, that the underlying social and
cultural factors that may make him an effective undercover operative also expose him to psychological, emotional, and procedural
risk. Officer Shen was relocated to the United States as an adolescent and has never had a strong father figure or male role-model.
Consequently his sense of identity and self is more malleable than officers who spent their formative years rooted in a single
cultural identity.This makes him highly adaptable and provides him with certain chameleon-like tendencies that will serve him well
when infiltrating a tightly knit criminal organization. However, the lack of a strong cultural grounding or sense of ‘home’ may be
a problem over the course of a prolonged undercover operation. If the chameleon is left too long in a given environment, he may
forget his original color.
Informant reports that target (Jackie Ma, no known nickname or alias) is a low-level gang affiliate. Target knows several Water
Street members from childhood, including Winston Chu, but is not considered part of the gang. Is not included in confidential
planning or operations. Sometimes used as an errand boy. Target frequently attempts to claim gang affiliations higher than he
actually has. New recruit Wei Shen is a childhood friend from the Old Prosperity project. Jackie is often seen tagging along,
he seems to respect and look up to him. Use as infiltration asset questionable. Given the target’s vulnerability and background with
our asset, access to him should be relatively simple. It’s not clear, however, that the target can affect useful introductions on his
own.
Chu is hotheaded, impulsive, and not too smart. He lacks any kind of formal education and at times cannot even master street-level
criminal conspiracies. His temper may be affected by anabolic steroids, which I believe he takes on a regular basis. Chu is ideal
as a point of access to the triad. He’s ambitious without the brains to achieve his goals and badly needs a smart second in command.
Chu grew up in the Old Prosperity housing project with numerous Sun On Yee leaders including Dogeyes Lin. He seems to have joined
the triad at an early age and has now hit the glass ceiling in terms of promotion and power. He will require a substantial reworking of
his operations in order to reach par with more accomplished red poles such as Big Smile Lee, Two Chin Tsao, or Broken Nose Jiang.
Dogeyes grew up poor and compensated by always making sure he was the coolest guy around and never being afraid of taking down
any rivals. Probably a borderline sociopath, Dogeyes joined a gang at the estate and earned money as a ‘professional boyfriend’ – dating
pretty girls from the estate, getting them hooked on drugs and then pimping them out. This earned him the attention of Big Smile Lee,
a boss in the Sun On Yee triad, and Dogeyes soon became fully initiated into the group.Growing up, Dogeyes was best friends with
Winston Chu. They’d often plan their next moves in the kitchen of Winston’s mother where she fed and encouraged them. In contrast,
Dogeyes avoided his own home; his mother was long dead and his father abusive. Unfortunately Dogeyes always resented his friend.
Now, when they’re both Red Pole bosses in the Sun On Yee, the friendly rivalry and posturing has turned into a more serious conflict.
Henry ‘Big Smile’ Lee. Single most powerful red pole inside the Sun On Yee. Widely disliked by other red poles and many rank and file
Triad members. Lee’s power stems from two core things: his willingness to use extreme (even by triad standards) levels of violence and
the overwhelming amount of liquid cash generated by his various business ventures. Lee and his chief economic backer Sonny Wo run a
massive protection racket that covers the entire HK entertainment industry. This plus robust drug and prostitution operations provide
him with immense cash reserves. In spite of his brutal instincts, Big Smile Lee loves his family. He has several daughters he’s putting
through college in the States. He quite aware how many young women’s lives he has to ruin through prostitution and drug addiction to
buy his girls a nicer BMW, and to him it’s totally worth it.
Po likes to project a benign, grandfatherly image. He commits money and time to charities and is well known as a benefactor in the
neighborhoods that Sun On Yee control. Even within the triad he has cultivated an image as a negotiator and business-oriented
pragmatist. But this ‘reasonable’ image stands in stark contrast to Po’s criminal history. His rise through the ranks of the Sun On Yee was
marked by extreme violence at every stage. He rejuvenated the triad’s murder-for-hire business and is suspected of being the brains behind
the triad’s alliance with Sonny Wo. He allows Big Smile Lee to handle day to day operations in this area, keeping his own hands clean. But
much of the profit ends up in Po’s pockets.
Jane Teng is a stressed woman, strong willed but doesn’t come across as particularly nice. She is proud, and while she knows that
she sometimes has to compromise Teng finds it difficult to do so with good grace. The politics of the force continuously frustrates
her and she is convinced that her boss, Superintendent Pendrew, doesn’t like her. She suspects, rightly, that that’s why she’s been
passed over for promotion recently. If Teng has any bad habits, it’s continually texting and checking emails on her cell phone when
she should be giving her full attention to something else.
A 28 year veteran of the force, Pendrew joined a few years before the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Pendrew has had a
distinguished career. He is just about to finish his stint as the head of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau before moving on to a
prestigious appointment at Interpol. Pendrew built his career by taking down the triads and he’s been quite successful. He genuinely
wants to make Hong Kong a better place, though he does of course enjoy the respect as well. Pendrew’s rise to prominence began a
little over a decade ago when he took down ‘the Three Tigers of South Point’ – prominent leaders of the Sun On Yee triad. Now, years
later, Pendrew wants to finish the job. If he arrests Uncle Po and destroys the Sun On Yee, he can move on with a clear conscience.
For Pendrew, results are all that really matter. He’s quite comfortable bending the rules – planting evidence or even sanctioning
murder is all okay as long as the bad guys are taken off the street.
Sleeping Dogs is a sandbox open world environment based on mainland Hong Kong, what differentiates it from most other Sanbox
games such as GTA and Mafia is that is focused on Hong Kong culture, triads and martial arts, the game borrows heavily from
Hong Kong cinema as well, which is known for its blend of high octane action and cinematic choreography.
"We spent time making sure the hand to hand combat felt great, that it was really fluid and was based on martial arts. That we
took our experience working on Black Box on Need for Speed games for years and brought that into it. A bunch of guys are from
Rockstar worked on Bully, worked on Max Payne."
A list of what to expect from the game:
- No multiplayer
- Open world environment based on 4 major Hong Kong locations
- Advance melee combat system, martial arts play a big roll in the game
- Use objects in the environment to take down enemies
- Slow-mo john woo style shooting & combat
- 65+ vehicles, able to hijack vehicles from other cars
- Parkour style running and jumping/sliding over objects
- Intense triad/cop chases and street races to enter
- Stats earned from missions, combat and purchases, some items increase buffs
- Mini games such as street fights, karaoke basr, gambling den and cock fights
- Face stats, increase your reputation to get better discounts and unlock new missions
- Characters are voiced by a mixed array of asian talent and others including Emma Stone!
- Main story 20 + hours, side quests + other stuff 40+ hours
- You can date girls, including one who is voiced by Emma Stone!
Reviewers who had access to the game in February 2012 compared the games elements to several other critically acclaimed
games. Reviewers praised the free running aspect of the game, similar to the Assassin's Creed series, the melee combat systems,
similar to Batman: Arkham City, the slow-motion while shooting, similar to the Max Payne series, the vehicular combat, similar
to Just Cause 2, the mission structure, similar to the Grand Theft Auto series, and also the depth of the storyline.
Videos:
Screenshots:
Average Metacritic score:
PC: 84
PS3: 82
360: 80
Rocket Chainsaw: 80/100
The point is, Sleeping Dogs is a game worth playing. Very much so. And for me personally, it’s going to be very difficult going back
to other sandbox games that lack the complexity and variety of fighting, driving, shooting, running, and all of these things combined,
that Sleeping Dogs has on show. It’s one of my favourite sandbox games from this generation, and recommended to everybody with a
taste for the genre.
G4TV: 90/100
There’s been few times that I’ve been more giddy than when I saw a new environmental kill in Sleeping Dogs. It’s not that using
the environment as a finishing blow is anything revolutionary, but it’s just plain fun. Whether it’s smashing a head into an air
vent, dropping a car engine on someone, throwing them onto a pallet filled with swordfish heads, or impaling them onto a meat hook,
there’s at least one environmental kill to make everybody smile.
GTTV: 83/100
Well-tuned mechanics and a multi-talented protagonist help you make the most of what Sleeping Dogs has to offer. As a part-time cop
and part-time triad enforcer, Wei Shen can consider ass-kicking a full-time job.
Playstation Official Magazine: 80/10
There’s so much to do that the second I finished the triad story, I still found myself compelled to return to my outstanding
events, cop cases and lady missions. And hunt down all those missing secrets. That’ll be a familiar sensation to anyone who loved
Red Dead Redemption or any GTA game
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/08/sleeping-dogs/Wired: 80/100
wish I could recommend Sleeping Dogs with no reservations. The story is excellent, the gameplay has flashes of brilliance and the
mission structuring makes it rather addictive. It’s hard to ignore all the little problems that keep presenting themselves, but
not one of them is troublesome enough to make you stop playing.
GameSpot UK: 80/100
But Sleeping Dogs is an open-world game in which you're sure to enjoy the structured missions more than the opportunities for
free-form mayhem. It's fun for a while to run around jump-kicking people to death, or fatally tossing them off of three-foot-high
railings.
Joystiq: 70/100
Thankfully, Sleeping Dogs only encroaches the line of being completely derivative but – because it blends so many different ideas
– it never crosses it. It's a good game, but Sleeping Dogs mostly leaves you remembering the media that inspired it and probably
won't remain in your thoughts over time.
EDGE: 60/100
Between them, both mission types offer an at times gripping 12-hour romp of face-smashing, roof-hopping entertainment, regardless
of the technical shortcomings.
Destructroid: 90/100
Sleeping Dogs is what happens when every part is the good part. Four years after the release of GTAIV, a developer has finally
removed Rockstar's crown and placed it upon its own head. While I can't deny Saint's Row has better missions and GTA has a more
detailed world and better driving, neither is as consistent and polished as Sleeping Dogs.
GiantBomb: 80/100
Even when the story sags, the atmosphere in Sleeping Dogs is top notch. The territory of Hong Kong is captured well in spirit, if
not total accuracy. The world around you is more like a greatest-hits collection of notable Hong Kong landmarks, condensed into a
smaller island that still offers plenty of narrow alleyways and bustling streets to explore.
GameSpy: 80/100
In almost every way, this is a very good PC version, and definitely superior to the console versions. We got great graphics
options (including that HD texture pack!), smooth performance, and customizable keys. It's also quite stable -- in almost
25 hours of play I hit exactly two crashes to desktop, and neither cost me any progress. If not for the irritating lack of
consistently clickable menus Sleeping Dogs would be hard to complain about.
IGN: 85/100
I’m not sure why more people aren’t paying attention to Sleeping Dogs, but now that the game’s out, hopefully you won't make the
same mistake. Sleeping Dogs did things that wowed me from the moment I started playing, and it never really stopped. A few finicky
issues aside, Sleeping Dogs has proven itself worthy of joining the top class of open-world sandbox games
The Escapist: 80/100
There are more than a few nods to John Woo when you use gongs, dumpsters and chandeliers to take a guy down. Returning jade statues
to Wei Shin's old martial arts master unlocks more moves that are just fun to pull off. Once I learned to break a guy's knee so
badly the guys around me shudder, I just couldn't stop doing it.
Official Xbox Magazine: 75/100
Thankfully, for as close as it stays to the trusty genre template, Sleeping Dogs delivers some spectacularly entertaining
sequences, especially in its hectic third act. From rollicking vehicle pursuits that let you shoot out rival drivers’ tires to
gratuitously violent kill moves — and even the ability to leap between and hijack moving cars on the fly — the campaign hosts some
truly exciting scenarios.
Eurogamer 70/100
The robust and intuitive fighting system only becomes more flexible and satisfying over time. Based around a simple block-and-counter
method, it allows Shen to tackle gangs of 10 or more at a time, unleashing simple punch and kick combos along with grapple moves and
environmental kills.
Game is going to get a ton of DLC:
- Sleeping Dogs - HiRes DLC Retail (This is free, as far as I can tell)
- Sleeping Dogs - Japanese Presell Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Prima Guide
- Sleeping Dogs - Retro Triad Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Top Dog Silver Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Top Dog Gold Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - The Red Envelope Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - The High Roller Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - The Swat Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Tactical Soldier
- Sleeping Dogs - Street Racer Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Movie Masters #1
- Sleeping Dogs - Police Protection Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Martial Arts Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - GSP Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Deep Undercover Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Triad Enforcer Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - The Dragon Master Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - The Drunken Master
- Sleeping Dogs - Nightmare in North Point
- Sleeping Dogs - Square Pack
- Sleeping Dogs - Zodiac Tournament
- Sleeping Dogs - Transportation Terror Pack
Check this thread out by Manos: The Hans of Fate on HK cinema!
