Sleeping Dogs

When Grand Theft Auto 3 launched in the fall of 2001, it constituted a tide change for the gaming industry. Soon the market was flooded with clones that mimicked both the sandbox format and the gritty urban crime setting of Rockstar's epic. While the trend towards GTA clones has died off, it managed to give birth to the open world action-adventure game, a genre that still continues to dominate the AAA market. Sleeping Dogs may not stand out as one of thee most popular sandbox franchises, but it holds a position as one of the better games that's been produced in the genre. Sleeping Dogs may owe Grand Theft Auto a debt of gratitude with its commitment to general setting and gameplay mechanics, but its cinematic aspirations are equally as obvious. Both the kung fu aesthetics of the Shaw Brothers and especially the gun fu cinema pioneered by John Woo are influences Sleeping Dogs proudly wears on its sleeve. While these affectations may be borrowed, they're executed well. The setting feels like an action movie straight out of the Hong Kong milieu. Hong Kong's streets are dense, dirty, and brimming with life, and it's a pleasure just to wander around the world and immerse yourself in its day to day affairs. While side quests are often derided as bloat designed to pump up a game's play time, here the tertiary missions breathe life into the game. Partly this is a credit to the setting. Even mundane tasks like stealing cars for a fence are fun in the vibrant world Square Enix has created, but they're not afraid to take risks with their side quests. While many openly borrow from existing formulas, they're still interesting diversions. Police=related quests that task you with engaging in light detective work and excursions to the karaoke bar to belt out a tune stand out in particular. They're hardly revolutions, but they possess a depth and personality that are often not found in games like these. Given its commitment to existing and overused genres and its close adherence to the Rockstar formula, Sleeping Dogs' story is surprisingly and delightfully strong. While it leans hard into action movie sensibilities, the writing team manages to create a cast of likable characters in both the criminal organizations and police force in which you interact. Shades of gray add more weight to the morality system, an overused gameplay component than nonetheless manages to work pretty well in the game. Standard run and gun gameplay and vehicular chases are added an extra level of polish due to progression skill trees (tied to the morality system) which provide you with a diverse range of parkour options, gunplay moves, and combat driving techniques. Most of them reflect the styles of the genre well, and they suit the game both mechanically and thematically. While Sleeping Dogs isn't a game changer, it is an indication that the open world genre still has life and that solid games can improve on the genre without necessarily revolutionizing it.