Sleeping Dogs (360/PS3/PC) review

[rmoxon]

Played some more and am really enjoying this.

Love the setting. As a fan of Hong Kong cinema I can appariciate the games many influences. As I mentioned the hand to hand combat is great, which is a good job as it seems to be very much the focus of the game. Not a big fan of open world games for a number of reasons, but I think this, along with Saints row 3, proves you can have an open world without sacrificing the quality of gameplay. As a result I'm liking it alot more than any Rockstar title I have ever played.

[Neon Ignition]

From what I can gather from the stats I'm now about half way through the main game now and... it's improved. Still feels like it's praise is more down to it being better than expected rather than great in its own right though as it excels in no area. Mostly it's gotten better for me because the action has moved away from brawling which is the weakest aspect of the game. It's a very basic system but throw too many enemies at once into the mix and frustration rears its head. I wasn't sure why it was annoying me so much for a while but a couple of cheap hits later it clicked, canned animation. I've no idea why after a 5 hit combo Wei feels the need to ignore button commands and take up a fist shaking stance, not why enemies can sometimes be being pummeled in the face and then overcome the agony to do a slow charged punch despite the fists in their face but the game seems to think that's how fights go.

Once past them though the game seems to have decided to explore its GTA roots a bit more than its Yakuza ones and things have been going fine. It's still the same as before, average parts coming together to make an average game but nothing is that bad in here either so it'd be hard not to recommend people go through it at some point.

[BIG EDD]

Well I can't get on with the fighting sequences at all poor clumsy unresponsive controls even the character pauses for that spli second before he stars responding in a middle of a fight!!very poor unless the later missions take a turn from this **** excuse for missions it'll be going on eBay very very disappointed with this title at the mo

[ETC]

I don't get why people are struggling with the fighting it's easy Just finished it and I thought it was fantastic. Story was excellent and I thought the fighting was good, it's more tactical than just button hammering lots of countering. If anyone is struggling with it try not locking on to an enemy an do it free stand it's much easier and it also means when countering you jut press the direction of the attacker plus triangle. One of the best games I have played this year and way better than GTA or SR.

[BIG EDD]

Yes I was a bit hasty with the bashing just got frustrated on the benny mission been training and collecting statues and I'm finding it better now starting to get into the game more now I was too early to judge the title

[Neon Ignition]

I've done the non-lock method and the timed countering without button mashing. It depends on the outlook I guess, compared to GTAs combat this is brilliant but compared to the games its aping it from its poor. Im enjoying the game a fair bit now but its mostly because the brawling has been replaced by gunplay which works much better. There are definite response and animation issues with it but its passable enough to get by till the better elements get to zhine

[ETC]

Just wait till you get the 12th jade statue for the fisticuffs totally worth the hunt

[Neon Ignition]

This game just keeps on going, lol. The missions can be deceptively long, it's surprising how much the yellow help missions pad it out too. I've just got 2 Jade statues to go now and 4 main missions remaining. Haven't had to do any brawling for a good while so this is the best fun I've had with it so far, the autolog social challenges are a nice distraction also. Just need 2 more karaoke songs too.

[Jusatsushi]

Not really around much at the mo, but just popping in to say I'm absolutely loving this. Everything about it is clicking for me.

[BIG EDD]

well must say I'm hooked on this after my little rant about it
switched to the xbox 360 version now over ps3 I prefer the 360 pad personal choice

[Neon Ignition]

Finished this last night, only things remaining are the collectables. About half way through I'd say it pulls itself together and clicks from a gameplay point of view. The story strings things together decently enough as well though don't expect any surprises or depth to it. I'd say it's a rock solid 7/10, thoroughly enjoyable but doesn't stretch the genre at all.

[Synthesthesia]

I 1k'd it last night. As you say, doesn't stretch the genre but it improves on some things immensely IMO. Like cop chases, and how you can actually escape, unlike most of the time in GTA etc. I also loved the shooting in cars, where you can pop tyres and the cars just fly through the air. Feels god like

[rmoxon]

Yeah, you can jump out of your car while it's moving and fire guns in slow motion... Even Max Payne can't do that!

Still really enjoying the hand to hand combat. Sticking someone's head in a fan is very satisfying, as is simply taking out a room full of people and feeling like a Kung fu master. The game suffers from many of the faults that other games in the genre do, all the traveling is monotonous for instance, yet even things like that are made more manageable by on screen way points and arrows which means you arent constantly looking at your mini map and can actually learn the layout of the city without going out of Your way to do so.

It really does improve the genre in quite a few ways, despite not being very original a lot of ways too.

[laruso]

Just popping by to add that It's the first game where I've been able to take control of an ambulance and fit it through the door of a medical centre! A crowd gathered outside to see what I was doing. Naturally I shut the ambulance door on a doctors head.

Its nice to see you can go on a comedy rampage in this too.

[Robster]

Really enjoying this so far, good improvement in the genre.

Just a quick note, taxis are a quick way to fast travel if you like, save on some of the travelling.