Face-Off: Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs doesn’t redefine the openworld sandbox genre in any meaningful way, but it is a strong, story-driven title that takes advantage of its Eastern setting to provide a new take on a game style in need of some new ideas. The focus on hand-to-hand combat over gunplay is fitting for a game about a turf war engulfing Triad gangs, while Hong Kong, where the action is set, is highly detailed and full of life, creating a believable world in which the lines between cop and criminal are slowly blurred as you progress into the brutal underworld. While the overall experience isn’t as polished as the likes of GTA or Red Dead Redemption, it’s somewhat remarkable that United Front Games has been able to hand in such a solid product given the rocky development cycle of the title. Originally picked up by Activision and re-purposed as a sequel to the True Crime series, the game was later delayed and eventually cancelled by the publisher, before being signed up by Square Enix, who enlisted its London studio to help finish the game. Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the title’s long and troubled development, it’s clear the studio put a lot of time and care into transforming its vision into a game. The technology behind Sleeping Dogs is paramount in realising the complex world in which the action takes place, and the developer’s use of a deferred shading engine allows for hundreds of dynamic light sources on-screen, from headlights and shop signs reflecting off of the wet roads to the flashes of thunder in the night sky. These elements of the game work in tandem with a real-time day/night cycle to bring a sense of life to the world. Read more…
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