[Review] Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

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                                                                                                                          GAME INFORMATION

                        Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

                                                        Developers: United Front Games, Square Enix Europe

                                                           Publishers: SQUARE ENIX, Feral Interactive (Mac)

                                                                  Released Date ( ON STEAM ) : 8 Oct, 2014

                                                                 PRICE ( CURRENTLY 85% OFF ) : $1.57 USD

                                                         

 

GENERAL

             Sleeping Dogs is an action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games and published by Square Enix. It was originally released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows. Set in contemporary Hong Kong, the story follows Wei Shen, an undercover Chinese-American police officer on assignment to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. 

      The Definitive Edition of the critically acclaimed, award winning open-world action adventure, reworked, rebuilt and re-mastered for the new generation. All 24 previously available DLC extensions have been integrated into the game, including the story-extending episode Year of the Snake and the horror-themed Nightmare in North Point. Alongside a wealth of new technological, audio and visual improvements, Hong Kong has never felt so alive.

A vibrant, neon city teaming with life, Hong Kong’s exotic locations and busy streets and markets hide one of the most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations in the world: the notorious Triads. Play as Wei Shen – the highly skilled undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You'll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover.

Destroy your opponents in brutal hand-to-hand combat using an unmatched martial arts system. Dominate Hong Kong’s buzzing streets in thrilling illegal street races and tear it up in explosive firearms action. Sleeping Dogs’ Hong Kong is the ultimate playground.

 

 

DEVELOPMENT

               Sleeping Dogs' difficult and prolonged development began in 2008. Towards the end of 2007, Activision approached the newly founded United Front Games, which consisted of only ten members, to develop an open-world game. United Front accepted and Activision provided sufficient funding for 180 employees. Early designs for the game, named Black Lotus at the time, incorporated dark tones with elements of humour similar to an "HBO crime drama". The project advanced to full production in early 2008. 

      A year into development, Activision proposed that Black Lotus be made part of an existing franchise and highlighted similarities to the True Crime series; both games were set in open worlds with plots centred on an undercover cop in a criminal organization. Sales of previous True Crime games had been disappointing, but Activision felt the innovations in Black Lotus could revitalize the franchise and make the game successful in its own right. Activision attached the game to the series and revealed it to the public as True Crime: Hong Kong in November 2009.They delayed the game until 2010 to allow further refinement. During this period Hollywood action editor Tony Ciccone was hired to consult on the game's visual identity and animations.

    Despite progress in game development, at the release of the financial report for the last quarter of 2010 on February 9, 2011, Activision announced the cancelation of True Crime: Hong Kong. The publisher said that due to "quality issues" further investment would not make the game competitive in the genre even with their most optimistic projections. Although United Front Games shared this sentiment, executive producer Stephen Van Der Mescht expressed in an interview that "True Crime: Hong Kong was playable from start to finish and virtually complete in terms of content" prior to Activision's cancellation of the project. Van Der Mescht said the game "stood apart" from the competition.

On June 22, 2011, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg explained that the budget and development delays were contributing factors in its cancelation. According to Hirshberg, the increase in budget and subsequent delays meant that the game would have to be "pretty incredible success" for Activision to have an acceptable return on investment. Due to competition posed by other titles, particularly Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, Activision's view was that True Crime: Hong Kong was not at the level of quality that it could compete. 

United Front Games cut 120 staff with the company's solvency in doubt until August when Square Enix acquired the publishing rights to the game. Square Enix did not buy the True Crime intellectual property, and renamed the game Sleeping Dogs. Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton said he recognized the game's playability and potential. United Front Games' President Stefan Wessels stated he was excited to work with Square Enix London Studios. Sixty people were added to the development team and the game was released in late 2012.

 

 

GAMEPLAY

           Sleeping Dogs is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer who goes undercover and infiltrates the Sun On Yee Triad organization.The initial missions of the game are a linear tutorial for controlling the character. After these missions, the player is allowed to explore the game's world and take part in side missions and other activities. Shen navigates the world by running, jumping, climbing over obstacles, swimming, and driving cars, boats and motorcycles. The heads-up display (HUD) interface features a mini-map that indicates targets, key locations (safe houses and contact points) and Shen's current position. The mini-map incorporates two meters: one shows Shen's health and the other his face. When the face meter fills, upgrades are unlocked such as health regeneration, improved combat abilities and reduced equipment costs. The HUD also displays the weapon carried and its ammunition count.

 

 

        The game features role-playing elements based on three types of experience points (XP): Triad, Face and Police XPs. Triad XP is obtained through melee combat and violent actions such as "environmental kills". Face XP, obtained in civilian side missions, fills Shen's face meter and unlocks cosmetic items such as clothes and vehicles. By reaching a higher Face level, the player can freely buy vehicles or clothing. When it is full, Shen gains health regeneration, increased attack damage and other benefits. Police XP is gained by minimizing civilian casualties and property damage in missions and by completing police side missions. Gaining XP unlocks abilities such as hot-wiring cars and disarming opponents.The clothes, accessories and vehicles purchased by Shen affect non-player characters' reactions toward him. The player may also collect jade statues used to unlock melee combat skills.

 

 

      Sleeping Dogs' melee combat has been compared to that of Batman: Arkham Asylum: it allows the player to fight opponents coming from any direction with attack, grapple and counter-moves and can be performed with or without weapons. These three basic commands are chained together with the character's movement to execute attacks. The player's face meter fills up faster when enemies are defeated with different moves in rapid succession or with environmental attacks. Environmental attacks are performed by dragging enemies to certain objects, which Shen uses to eliminate opponents. Melee weapons such as knives and tyre irons are available, but they break with extended use. The player can perform "action hijacks" while driving vehicles. These cause Shen to leap from his vehicle to steal another in motion. In combat, Shen loses health as he takes damage. This can be mitigated by taking cover where available. If the health bar is depleted, the character will respawn at a hospital.

 

 

                                                                       SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ( RECOMMENDED )

                                     OS: Windows Vista 64bit, Window 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit (32bit O/S not supported)

                                                                              Processor: Core i5-2300, Phenom II X4 940 or better

                                                                                                                 Memory: 8 GB RAM

              Graphics:  ATI Radeon 7750, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or higher with 1GB graphics memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 

                                                                                                                 DirectX: Version 11
                                                                                                     Storage: 20 GB available space

 

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