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POSTED 16/10/14


SLEEPING DOGS: DEFINITIVE EDITION

Square Enix



Hey Channel 9! Judging by recent output, you’re running out of ideas for Underbelly, so why not go bonkers in Hongkers?

Too late! Squeenix got there first, and they’ve pulled it off in cooler style than you former Bendigo Street residents ever could’ve. This isn’t to say, however, that Sleeping Dogs doesn’t boggle the mind with some insane OTTness amidst the rampant so-why-so-seriousness.

It’d be easy to dismiss this as Grand Theft Auto: Hong Kong, and anybody who reckons that it could exist without Rockstar’s venerable celebrations of all things criminality would be, well, nongish. That being said – or typed - unlike that cigarette-reeking vacuum-bonce in high school who’d sit beside you just to copy your test answers, Sleeping Dogs doesn’t settle for slavish replication.

In particular, the locale’s neon and Toyota Crown taxi-infused Asianicness inspires, from basics such as focus on martial artsy hand-to-hand-to-fist-to-leg-to-foot-to-environmental-ouchy thing combat rather than gunplay (although that comes), to going karaoke on The Clash while cleansing scum from a nightclub. You see, you’re not just crookgasmic, you’re actually a cop doing the double agent thang, infiltrating the Triads to kablooey them from within. This adds intrigue, as goodie and baddie actions both reward in their own ways.

Anyway, after an occasionally interactive intro, it’s meat and potatoes time (sorry mungbean-snuffling vegies). Yep, an open Hong Kong-inspired world (it isn’t real map centimetre perfect) appears, stuffed with main and side missions, things to tackle on foot, things to tackle on wheels, amusing diversions and noodles – erm, oodles - of shiny collectibles.

Going all now-gen brings resolution-a-gogo, handfuls of welcome gameplay tweaks and stuff that was previously DLC as standard. Nice!

Don’t pause to ruminate upon the many contradictions inherent in your cop/baddie objectives (it’s a game for fuck’s sake!) and you’ll get one hell of a kick out of Sleeping Dogs. Woof!

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ALL WRITTEN CONTENT COPYRIGHT © AMY FLOWER 2008-2018. GAME IMAGES COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE GAMES COMPANIES.