Why Sleeping Dogs Is The Best True Crime Game

Why Sleeping Dogs Is The Best True Crime Game

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At one point in development, Sleeping Dogs was going to be True Crime: Hong Kong, but in the end, it managed to become so much more.

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Why Sleeping Dogs Is The Best True Crime Game

Open-world games were all the rage in the Xbox 360 and PS3 ere, as countless studios tried to bring their own twist on the formula. Years later, however, it’s clear which games stand ahead of the pack as something special; games like Sleeping Dogs.

Sleeping Dogs takes place in a modern-day Hong Kong, and follows an undercover police officer named Wei Shen, who’s infiltrating the infamous Triads crime syndicate. The game went through quite a bit of development trouble, but upon release was met with critical acclaim for its fantastic combat system and detailed depiction of Hong Kong, among other things.

In many ways, Sleeping Dogs is seen as a spiritual successor to the True Crime series, and it one point it was even in development as a True Crime game. In the end, though, Sleeping Dogs managed to completely surpass the True Crime series.

Sleeping Dogs Didn’t Start as a True Crime Game

Why Sleeping Dogs Is The Best True Crime Game

Sleeping Dogs was developed by United Front Games, who previously made the PlayStation exclusive ModNation Racers. The studio was approached by Activision in 2007 and signed a deal to develop an open-world game. At that time the project was called Black Lotus but didn’t have any relation to the True Crime series. As development went on, however, Activision decided the project would be a good fit to reboot True Crime, and it took on the moniker of True Crime: Hong Kong. It was officially unveiled in 2009 but was delayed for refinement. Unfortunately, near the tail-end of 2010 Activision announced that True Crime: Hong Kong had been canceled.

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Square Enix later bought the game and its rights, but not the rights to the True Crime franchise. In the end, all this resulted in a game that had inspirations from other open-world titles like Grand Theft Auto, as well as the True Crime series. Sleeping Dogs managed to take these elements and turn it into an entirely unique experience.

Sleeping Dogs Evolved Into Much More Than a Spiritual Successor

The easiest thing to compare Sleeping Dogs to is a stylish kung-fu movie, filled with plenty of action and over-the-top twists. On its face, Sleeping Dogs is pretty similar to other open-world titles with the same story structure, ability to steal vehicles, crime-drama story, and more. The first two True Crime games, Streets of L.A. and New York, both did similar things to Sleeping Dogs. All three games recreated a real city and combined elements of beat-em-ups, shooters, and open-world.

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Sleeping Dogs takes inspirations from the Batman Arkham games for its hand-to-hand combat, using almost the same counter and combo system. It adds a wrinkle in, however, by letting Wei grab and drag his enemies around, then execute them in hilariously brutal environmental kills; like shoving an enemy’s head into an air-conditioning unit. Sleeping Dogs is mostly made up of elements and gameplay ideas lifted from other titles, but the game is so unique because United Front Games put their unique twist on everything.

Other open-world games recreate real cities, but Sleeping Dogs has an intense dedication to the look and feel of Hong Kong. The development team took countless photos of the city to use as reference, and everything about the game’s city oozes this gritty neon feel. Characters feel authentic to the setting, and the crime groups in Sleeping Dogs are based on real organizations in Hong Kong. Car chases allow Wei to leap from car-to-car like its the Matrix, and there are even some surprisingly fun parkour chases.

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Even when it comes to story Sleeping Dogs takes a different approach. In other games, like GTA or True Crime, the characters often feel like caricatures who are simply there to fill a role. Sleeping Dogs, however, takes the time to humanize its characters and make them feel like real, flawed people. Wei Shen’s double life as an officer and member of the Triad is also used to great effect to show two sides of the same coin, but neither one takes precedence. Wei finds things to love about both lives, and that fact tears him up as he tries to make decisions.

Sleeping Dogs certainly wasn’t revolutionary for the open-world genre, but it lifts ideas from across the spectrum and executes nearly all of them well. Sure it could have used a bit more polish, but to this day it remains one of the most unique open-world experiences out there.

Sleeping Dogs released for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August 14, 2012, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 14, 2014.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/sleeping-dogs-game-true-crime-best/

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