I was looking at the comments section of something Sleeping Dogs related when people were talking about how this game is one of the most underrated games of the generation. With only 1.63 million copies sold, I was actually surprised it hadn't sold more, so I understand why they say it was underrated. Still, I think the game gets way too much credit for how good it is.
You are an undercover cop, who use to be affiliated with gangs, and you are now going to infiltrate a triad gang. The stuff you get involved with gets personal and this is the main plot for the rest of the game. The plot itself is pretty good, yet it definitely isn't original. While it may be predictable at times, it still serves as a very good backbone to support this game in its Hong Kong setting. The story is also brought together by the voice cast which may not be the best cast out there, but it's still a good voice cast.
Being that you're an undercover cop, you aren't allowed to kill anyone; so there is a lack of guns in the beginning of the game, which is fine because I found the gunplay to be mildly enjoyable. Now, the fighting gameplay resembles the free-flow gameplay from that of the Batman Arkham video game series. I loved the fighting in the Arkham series and it is easily one of the most innovative fighting game ever made, yet Sleeping Dogs doesn't do anything to make it its own thing. You can kick and punch and grapple, or combine these to do combos, and throw people into certain environmental objects; yet this is really all the gameplay is which is a little disheartening considering the gameplay is actually very fun. Fighting is impactful and it is fun, it just gets repetitive.
While the fighting may fall from greatness, it still is definitely better than the gunplay; although, while I am being hard on the gunplay, it can still be enjoyable at times. The shooting portion of the game eventually opens up later in the game as you start to delve deeper into the gang. Overall, the shooting has some weight to it but not enough to make it as enjoyable as it could've been; yet I found one aspect of shooting really picked up the slack. You are able to slow down time. Yes, to do so all you have to do is slide over a table and your time slows down allowing you to pop some gangsters in the head. This produces a hollywood movie like experience and I'm really glad they implemented it into the game because it definitely gives the shooting that needed oomph.
Now, I know I've been really tough on the game so far, but I really find this to be a great game and one that everyone should definitely try to play because they would probably love it. Some elements may not feel as good as others but the game still manages to combine them all into a final product that is very enjoyable. Yet, the biggest downfall of the game isn't the cloning of the free-flow system or the weak gunplay, it's the world itself. The world is really lacking that living spirit to it. There really isn't much in the game to do other than missions so when you are done with the missions, you are done with the game. There are clothes you can buy and cars as well but doing this doesn't feel rewarding.
Sleeping Dogs is really a good game, one that allows you to play through the moments that you've seen in so many kung fu movies. But there are many aspects of the game that suffer and this brings down the overall quality of the game.While some of the individual aspects lack, I think that all of these aspects combine to make the game as good as it is.
7.5/10