 A good guy pretending to be bad, or a bad guy pretending to be good? Wei Shen is an undercover cop in one of Hong Kong's most notorious triad gangs. He knows its members, its inner workings, and how to bring it down. But undercover life gets very complicated. Shen has to remember that he is a police officer, not a member of the triad. But it's never that easy.
1. Gameplay
Even before it was released, Sleeping Dogs held a place of importance to me. It was originally designed to be a third installment to the True Crime series. True Crime: Streets of LA was a game that I will always remember as being the first to accurately map the streets of Los Angeles. It was an ambitious project that, while flawed, was well written and a lot of fun. Sleeping Dogs takes what is essentially the main character from True Crime: Streets of LA and places him in his home city of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, due to legal reasons, the name of the game and of the main character had to be changed.  The recreation of Hong Kong as a city is very detailed. But that’s okay, because Sleeping Dogs is an awesome game! Players take control of Wei Shen, an undercover police operative who has been tasked with infiltrating one of Hong Kong’s most powerful triads and identifying the key members. The story is extremely well written. Players will be constantly torn between Shen’s life as a triad member and his career as a police officer. Being a triad member gives Shen a lot of perks, but he is always kept grounded by his duty to protect the citizens of Hong Kong and his objective of taking down the triad.  Sometimes by force. Usually by force. Things get complicated when he starts having a personal investment in the triad. As he works his way up the ranks, he gets more personally invested it making sure certain members of the gang do not seize control and inflict their will on not just the members of the triad but the Hong Kong population as well. He also wants to make sure that his friends are kept safe from any conflict with the triad and the police, which only adds to the complexity of the issues.  This changes everything. This is the kind of game where the player will be as personally invested in the main character’s future as Wei Shen. I was constantly kept wondering what would happen and how Wei Shen would resolve his current issues. It was definitely the kind of game that kept me guessing until the end.
It took me around 25 hours to complete the entire campaign. There are plenty of other things I could go back and finish, such as finding lock boxes, buying cars, participating in street races, etc. However, after completing the campaign I have very little motivation to pick up the game and try it again. The best part about the game is the compelling story. While the gameplay is fun, it was really a means to the end of finding out what happens. Now that I know how the game ends, I don’t think I’ll be picking it back up any time soon. I would consider picking it back up to try some of the DLC, but that would be about it.
There were a few small things that frustrated me about this game. First, the missions included a system of police / gang points. At the end of the mission, the accumulated points are added to a score that allows the player to unlock new abilities. Triad points are earned by hurting enemies and participating in combat. It’s a pretty easy system that rewards players for performing more difficult takedowns. Police points work in the opposite way. The player starts out with full points, and progressively loses points for performing certain actions. Property damage and killing innocents are the easiest ways to lose police points. I say they’re the easiest because I lost a lot of police points for just driving around. Hitting other cars, destructible objects, or (in the rare case) pedestrians will all cause the player to lose police points.  Property damage? But it was barely a fender bender! This is especially problematic during race missions. The player will be required to maintain a fairly high overall speed while also maintaining enough control to not hit any environmental object or any civilian vehicle. It is extremely difficult to do this. Eventually I basically gave up on trying to get full police points on race missions, and just did my best to avoid traffic and stay on the roads. Other than this, there wasn’t too much that left me frustrated. Most of the combat sequences were easy to complete and the parkour mechanics were almost always spot on. There were small issues that made things more difficult for brief periods of time, but overall the game is pretty simple. 2. Parental Notices
For most of the game, the violence level is relatively mild. Players will be engaged in hand-to-hand martial arts combat with many enemies on a relatively regular basis. Hits can get pretty crazy, but it’s what one would expect in a kung fu fight to the death. The player will land punches, kicks, and throws with constant ease. Breaking enemy’s elbows, knees, and other bones is so commonplace it usually blends in to every other move the player will pull off.  I know kung fu. Some enemies will bring melee weapons to the fight. Usually at least one enemy will have a large knife or cleaver of some sort. If the player “downs” one of these enemies, he can pick up the weapon and use it against enemies. Hitting an enemy with a bladed weapon will result in a decent amount of blood.  Shank! Regardless of whether the player uses melee weapons, he will come out of most fights covered in blood. This seems to be as a direct result of the damage the player receives. If he takes less damage, there is less blood on his clothes afterward.  I'd hate to see his dry cleaning bill. Combat sequences where gunfire comes into play are much less common until the final few missions of the game. The player may have opportunities to use firearms during some combat sequences, but the effort of finding and concealing a pistol was often too great, considering that almost every combat situation can be finished with melee attacks. When firearms were used, the violence level was about on par as when melee weapons were used. The player is encouraged to perform headshots to quickly take out enemies. These shots will result in a small amount of blood, but are often at a far enough distance so that it’s even less noticeable than melee attacks.  This is one of the few cutscenes that includes obvious gun violence. The previous paragraphs detail at least 80% of the overall combat of the game. It also excludes the times when the player will use firearms in a vehicle, since the only effective way of taking out other vehicles is to shoot their tires. There are definite exceptions though.  I don't think it does this in real life, but okay. The first is that the game will have special “environmental” takedowns that the player can perform. These range in overall violence. On the low end, the player can throw an enemy into a box with the “recycle” symbol or toss an enemy into a vending machine or phone booth.  I'd recommend calling an ambulance. Mid-range takedowns include throwing an enemy into a surge protector, instantly electrocuting them or skewering them onto a meat hook.  He's not going anywhere. There are some less common and much more brutal environmental takedowns. These include anything from tossing an enemy onto a palette of bamboo, instantly impaling them into a bloody mess, to pushing their head onto a rotary table saw. The most common of these was the ability for the player to push an enemy’s face into an air conditioning unit, grinding it into a bloody pulp against the spinning fan blades.  I wouldn't want to smell that through the ventilation system. Keep in mind that I missed most of these takedowns until the end of the game. By that point they were much more obvious. It was more fun for me to challenge myself and use kung fu moves to take down the enemy instead of letting the environment do all of the work. There were some examples of violence within the cutscenes as well. The first obvious example of this is after Winston, one of the characters in the player’s gang, is shot and killed on his wedding day. The player eventually finds one of the people involved with the shooting, and brings that person to Winston’s mom. The cutscene ends with Winston’s mother taking a large cleaver in her hand (she runs a restaurant), and moving forward to torture the criminal.  She's scarier than he is. This wouldn’t really be noteworthy, except that in a later scene it is revealed that she actually chopped up the man and put him into a stew. She then attempts to feed the stew (and the man’s ear) to the man responsible for the death of her son.  It makes people crazy? You don't say...
On a visual level, sexuality is mild. There will be a number of billboards across the city that will advertise a clothing (probably lingerie) line called “frisky”. One of the billboards features a woman taking off her bra with the tag line “Easy on, easy off”.  I'm really not sure what this is supposed to parody. There’s also one mission where a woman grabs the player’s crotch. However, despite numerous girlfriends the player is never seen being overtly sexual. Sexuality and nudity are never shown.  It's just a roll of quarters. I went to the bank today. That being said, there are numerous lines of dialog that are absurdly sexually explicit. There are a number of characters that say things that would never, ever be uttered in polite company. For example, one character talks about a female musician he manages. He tells numerous characters that they can “Invite her over and she’ll fuck you. She’ll fuck you better than your wife fucks you.”  You're the only man to ever turn her down. This isn’t really an isolated case either. There are a couple of other characters that say lines like these. At least one character will talk about the main character’s sister in a very sexually explicit way.
Drugs do make an appearance a few times in the game, but these are all mission-related and are very infrequent. The opening mission places the player on one side of an undercover drug sale. On rare occasions the drugs are given names, but the infrequency of these missions makes this easily forgettable.  I think this was ketamine. I can't remember though. Some characters will be seen smoking or drinking at times, but this is also relatively easy to miss.  Oh hey guys.
Gambling is a factor, but one that is hardly ever present. The player can participate in a number of gambling events, such as cock fights, dice, and mahjong poker. However, these were not good sources of income. Out of the 3 times I attempted to win money betting on cock fights, I lost all three times.  Is this like dominos? Most of the gambling events will be optional and somewhat difficult to find, but there is one mission where the player will be forced to participate in a mahjong poker. The mission will involve trying to locate some Russian women who were kidnapped. In it, the player will have to play three matches against an opponent, throwing the last one.  I'm not much of a betting man. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
Religion is a minor factor, but most of it is in conjunction with the culture of Hong Kong. For example, the player can “pray” to health shrines for a health boost. This simply involves lighting incense, bowing three times, and placing the incense into the shrine.  What are you supposed to pray for? There are some missions that will involve a temple. In one, the player will have to infiltrate the temple, dress as a monk, and try to pick one of the black lotus blossoms that are kept in the temple. He eventually gets caught and has to beat up all of the monks. One mission will involve a funeral. However, religion is never mentioned.
The main character is an undercover police officer, so anti-law elements in this game can get somewhat blurry. There will be plenty of missions that the player can engage in that will involve solving crimes or capturing criminals. The player will look into a number of murders, help police capture murderous illegal street racers, and bust dozens of drug dealers.  Tag 'im and bag 'im. However, the player must also continue to keep the persona of a member of his triad gang. This requires him to perform actions and participate in events that are considered to be against the law. The specific act could be anything from stealing jewelry, hijacking armored trucks, participating in street races, or killing other gang members. There will be a number of missions where the player will have to evade the police. Most of the time the game discourages the player from killing the cops.  It's usually better to just run away. The game does an excellent job of reminding the player that the main character is not a triad, he’s a police officer. Those blurry lines make for an excellent narrative. And in the end, the main characters motivations are always good.
There is no multiplayer game mode for this game.
Extreme sports is a minor factor. The player will be able to engage in a number of races with different types of vehicles. There are three different classes of cars and at least two different classes of motorcycles. The races are fairly simple and while the speeds can get somewhat high, the player has to take turns carefully. Most of the time, normal street traffic is reduced, but there are some sections with heavy traffic.  Watch out, lady! There are some places where the player can get air with vehicles. However, these are relatively few and far between.  What took the Wright brothers years to perfect, I managed to outdo with a boat and 2 minutes. The player also has the ability to engage in “free running”, which is essentially a sort of parkour. He will be able to scramble up walls, slide over tables, and jump long distances. I don’t think I ever took fall damage. These elements will be extremely common, but are only somewhat realistic.  I always freerun in a suit.
Magic is not a factor in this game.
Prostitution Prostitution is mentioned numerous times. While the player can never be able to obviously hire prostitutes, prostitution rings are mentioned numerous times by members of both the triad and the police force. There are some points when the game implies prostitution but doesn’t come out and describe it as such. I am specifically referring to the “massage parlors” that populate the city. The player can walk up to a woman standing outside the parlor and give her money. Once he does that, he’ll put his arm around her waist and they’ll casually stroll into the parlor. It never goes farther than that, but they seemed a bit too close for a typical masseuse / client relationship.  Do masseuses usually wear heels to work? Torture There are a few, rare times when torture is a factor. The first example is when Winston’s mom chops up the triads who killed Winston. It’s not outright torture, but you hear one of them screaming as he dies. It’s basically torture.  Dude, just tell her already! The more obvious time is at the end of the game when the player is captured. Having been exposed as an undercover police officer, the triad brings in the man who is specifically hired to deal with “rats”. The player has his leg drilled, his foot smashed with a hammer, and body cut in numerous places with a knife. It’s a scene that feels a lot longer than it actually is. Language A number of the characters will use crude language throughout the game. The main character and his closest allies are all fairly clean in this regard, but considering that most of this game deals with organized crime it's unsurprising that some characters will have no problem describing things with a few four letter words. However, most of the time this isn't a huge factor. Kidnapping Kidnapping is a very rare element. The only mission where it is overtly obvious is when an undocumented Russian immigrant is kidnapped. The player must use another Russian girl as bait in order to discover where the girls are being held and free them.  Seems rather roomy for a convenient cell in a sewer.
1 Comment
Keely Yeager
12/29/2016 06:15:26 pm
Hey Carmine! It's keely again! I was wondering if you could add Outlast and The Park to your list of games to review! Keep making awesome reviews! Leave a Reply. |
Like what we do? Want to see more? Donate to the site using the button below!
Not sure what a term means? Read the definitions!
Not sure what a review section is about? Find out more information!
|
RSS Feed