Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs

Vancouver-based game studios United Front Games has finally unleashed its latest creation on the gaming world. Sleeping Dogs has proved itself to be among the best criminal games of the year. Varied missions, hard-hitting melee combat, and a highly captivating setting makes Sleeping Dogs a very enjoyable escapade.

Sleeping Dogs begins like any great crime drama. You’re in the Hong Kong playing as undercover cop Wei Shen freshly back from San Francisco. Wei Shen is working to penetrate and bring down the powerful and dangerous Triad organization responsible for most of the wrong doings in the city. Wei Shen’s missions start off immediately. He has to prove himself to his gang by beating up people who his boss money. He is setting examples and establishing a reputation, and although acting like a simple street thug he is a fully trained undercover cop with deadly skills. Through out the investigations Shen finds his loyalties tested and his moral compass flattering. The game throws you into a beautiful, rambling city. Street vendors call out to you, and bullies try to pull you out of your car. Citizens will ask for your help. Even the miserable apartment you start off with is surrounded by what seems to be prostitutes discussing the previous evening’s appointments. Hong Kong is huge and there are a huge amount of side missions to complete including everything from gambling, cock-fighting, street racing, taking girls on dates, smashing cars and other random activities. The city is alive, and you’re thrown right into it.

Sleeping Dogs emphasizes hand-to-hand combat over rifles and pistols, as you are an expert martial arts fighter who hones his skills even more through out the game. You’ll learn different moves and combos rendering your enemies defenseless. The fights are always thrilling as you punish your enemies with roundhouse kicks, big guns and deadly knives.

Apart from combat, driving is another significant game play element. Driving isn’t that much easy nor well handled as it has been in other games of same genre however Sleeping Dogs compensates this by making a car crash incredibly difficult for Wei. Other than this, one of the most attractive features is that Wei can do something called Action Hijacking similar to something we saw in 2009′s Wheelman. He leaps from his vehicle to another one, kicking out the driver and taking it over with action. United Front Games have certainly utilized their experience with developing Modnation Racers in Sleeping Dogs making its driving system one of the best we’ve seen in sandbox games.

$19.99