Sleeping Dogs Review is up!

[Knightshade Dragon]

http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/sleeping-dogs/

The game was surprisingly good!  Check it out. 

[metallicorphan]

sounds like my kind of game..shame i am broke as i really do want to support this game even if it's mostly to spite Activision 

your score is currently joint top with Games Master magazine on metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/sleeping-dogs/critic-reviews

most are giving it 9s and 8s....oh except for Edge(6) and Eurogamer(7),but you know what those two are like,they always like to be different

(I have never even heard of 'Quarter to Three' who gave the game a 4)

[Caine]

I finally got my key from green man gaming and called my wife to begin the download.   Going to be a long day at work. 

Good review Ron. 

This should be a great game to tide me over until the fall surge.

[CeeKay]

I finally got my key from green man gaming and called my wife to begin the download.   Going to be a long day at work. 

Good review Ron. 

This should be a great game to tide me over until the fall surge.

the high def pack is a separate download that you have to enable through its own store page BTW.

[Caine]

I finally got my key from green man gaming and called my wife to begin the download.   Going to be a long day at work. 

Good review Ron. 

This should be a great game to tide me over until the fall surge.

the high def pack is a separate download that you have to enable through its own store page BTW.

Any idea how large that is? 

[CeeKay]

I finally got my key from green man gaming and called my wife to begin the download.   Going to be a long day at work. 

Good review Ron. 

This should be a great game to tide me over until the fall surge.

the high def pack is a separate download that you have to enable through its own store page BTW.

Any idea how large that is? 

about 4 gigs.

[CeeKay]

played a bit but got interrupted during the intro, guess I'll be replaying some of it.  controls on the PC aren't bad, but in the opening chase the space bar is the sprint key and the key you have to hit to speed vault over obstacles, either I can't seem to get the timing quite right or speed vaulting isn't as quick as you'd think it is.  the timing for attacking is also going to take some getting used to, during that tutorial I kept on messing something up and couldn't get the 4 quick strikes followed up by 1 heavy strike to work at all.

game looks really good- this is from the beginning where it is raining:



I started out with everything maxed and it seemed fine during the opening bit but then it started chugging a bit after arriving at the market so I turned AA down to normal and it still looks pretty good:

[CeeKay]

played a bit more.  got most of the quirks down, the only thing that gets me is the when you move the mouse to move the camera it also changes the direction that Wei moves- basically you can use the mouse to steer while holding W down, and I'm used to being required to used the A/D keys for steering while swinging the camera around with the mouse.  kinda annoyed some of the menus require you to use the keyboard instead of being mouse friendly, and I'm also wondering if they may have screwed up on the FOV as the camera is a bit too close in.

other than that this game is pretty fun.  I love smashing the bad guys into walls and other breakable objects.

[Caine]

played a bit more.  got most of the quirks down, the only thing that gets me is the when you move the mouse to move the camera it also changes the direction that Wei moves- basically you can use the mouse to steer while holding W down, and I'm used to being required to used the A/D keys for steering while swinging the camera around with the mouse.  kinda annoyed some of the menus require you to use the keyboard instead of being mouse friendly, and I'm also wondering if they may have screwed up on the FOV as the camera is a bit too close in.

other than that this game is pretty fun.  I love smashing the bad guys into walls and other breakable objects.

I like the expressions you get from the other thugs when you pull off a particularly nasty one.  during the big fight before you get your crib, I slammed a dude's face into the fan on the roof.  got a shocked reaction from one of his buddies, right before I rushed him and threw him over the balcony. 

I am enjoying it as well.  I dropped the res down a few notches as the extreme graphics option was killing my fps but I may need to tweek it as the driving portion of the first triad mission was harder than I expected due to the lag.  (didn't help that the van sucks and makes even the worst of GTA IV's station wagons feel like an import). 

I really need to get a feeling for counters.  had to replay a section a  number of times before I passed due to the armed assailants who were kicking my ass.  The camera also makes the fight harder than it should be as even after locking on, it was easy to get hit by someone in a rumble  sadly, it's not as fluid as batman or assassin's creed which is where it gets its inspiration from.  I also managed to find myself on the outside of a dock area with no way back in due to the  climbable boxes.  at least you can swim in this game. 

I'll dig through my early screenshots and see if anything looks interesting.  I want to take a bunch as the environment is really quite nice. 

[Knightshade Dragon]

When you DO get the counter system down, the combat is satisfying.  It feels like a Hard Boiled or another Woo title that lets the protagonist whip ass against overwhelming odds and look good doing it.  Putting a dude's head into a furnace and watching the reaction of his pals never gets old....

[CeeKay]

if anything the counter system seems to be a bit too easy for me; I see red and I hit the RMB.  I imagine that will change as I progress though.

I have to wonder how many law enforcement points I'm going to lose on missions involving car chases.  for example, in the counterfeit watch one I made it all the way there no problem, but they rapidly dwindled once I needed to chase down the other van.  I think I had .25 out of 3 shields left once it was all over and done with 

[Harpua3]

Picked this up for ps3 even though I shouldn't have. So far it is extremely good fun.

[EngineNo9]

I'm also having fun with the PC version in the limited amount of time I've had with it so far. 

With the counter system it seems I'm already in the middle of a combo charging up a heavy attack when I'm supposed to counter, and it really breaks my flow.  Hopefully I get the rhythm down better sooner rather than later.

[Caine]

saw a cool moment today when I went to exit my vehicle while on some stairs.  he kicked the window out and climbed through the windshield instead of opening the door.

the damage you take from knifes is damn near lethal in 2-3 hits.  I died several times while going after the spy cameras. when you manage to snag one from them, payback is brutal.

I need to tweak the sensitivity as it really seems that the controller isn't able to pull off more gradual turns.

[Razgon]

(I have never even heard of 'Quarter to Three' who gave the game a 4)

Qt3 is a site that is like this one, in that its a forum with a somewhat larger population than here, but with many crossovers from both here and OO.

its run by Tom Chick who is well known for using the full spectrum of the review scale contrary to many other sites (who uses 7-9 primarily) , to paraphrase him.

(That is by the way not a statement against other review sites, just explaining to MO who he is and why his scores are universally lower than other sites in general)

[CeeKay]

had a couple of moments tonight when the camera went whacko during driving; one was during a mission where I had to drive a buss and the camera kept on insisting to look at the side of the bus and not the back,

is there a secret to the surveillance camera hacking, or is it just blind luck?  I know that no number repeats itself in the 4 digit code but I've had one already where I got 3 of the numbers right but ran out of attempts on the 4th.

I'm also hoping that Wei eventually wises up to the whole 'damsel in distress' con

[Reemul]

(I have never even heard of 'Quarter to Three' who gave the game a 4)

Qt3 is a site that is like this one, in that its a forum with a somewhat larger population than here, but with many crossovers from both here and OO.

its run by Tom Chick who is well known for using the full spectrum of the review scale contrary to many other sites (who uses 7-9 primarily) , to paraphrase him.

(That is by the way not a statement against other review sites, just explaining to MO who he is and why his scores are universally lower than other sites in general)

I thought he was being facetious

[PeteRock]

Damnit.  I had hoped this would be an easy pass.  It actually sounds like quite a bit of fun.  Odds are my brother-in-law may pick it up, and if so I can always borrow it later.  When I have time.  Which by the look of things now that pharmacy school has started, will be never again.   

[Razgon]

(I have never even heard of 'Quarter to Three' who gave the game a 4)

Qt3 is a site that is like this one, in that its a forum with a somewhat larger population than here, but with many crossovers from both here and OO.

its run by Tom Chick who is well known for using the full spectrum of the review scale contrary to many other sites (who uses 7-9 primarily) , to paraphrase him.

(That is by the way not a statement against other review sites, just explaining to MO who he is and why his scores are universally lower than other sites in general)

I thought he was being facetious

oh.... I totally missed that then - You brits and your dry humor!

[metallicorphan]

(I have never even heard of 'Quarter to Three' who gave the game a 4)

Qt3 is a site that is like this one, in that its a forum with a somewhat larger population than here, but with many crossovers from both here and OO.

its run by Tom Chick who is well known for using the full spectrum of the review scale contrary to many other sites (who uses 7-9 primarily) , to paraphrase him.

(That is by the way not a statement against other review sites, just explaining to MO who he is and why his scores are universally lower than other sites in general)

I thought he was being facetious

oh.... I totally missed that then - You brits and your dry humor!

Wait,what?...I thought Reemul meant Tom Chick was being facetious,because i certainly wasn't,I honestly hadn't heard of Quarter to Three  

[Purge]

Anachronox, is that you?

The backgrounds, heavy blues, and the crappy texture on the right all give me that "if this weren't on the Pacific Rim but on a spaceport, I'd be playing an Ion Storm game" vibe. I'm sure the combat and the game is entirely different, but frankly that screenshot does nothing for me.

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah, the graphics aren't spectacular, often, though they have moments of beauty.  The characters are kind of clunky.  In motion, it works, though.

Gameplay is good.

[shon]

With the High texture pack the graphics on the PC are outstanding.  I don't like the way the main character runs though, it not as fluid as it should be.

I tried the game last night in 3D and it looks awesome.   There isn't an Nvidia profile for it yet but it has it's own convergence settings and I got it working with little ghosting. 

[jztemple2]

Picked this up today for the 360 after seeing the positive feedback here. And I just downloaded the "complete" game manual from the website. Is there any worth to getting the launch day DLC I see mentioned there?

[Reemul]

Picked this up today for the 360 after seeing the positive feedback here. And I just downloaded the "complete" game manual from the website. Is there any worth to getting the launch day DLC I see mentioned there?

No

[metallicorphan]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-sleeping-dogs-face-off


Starts off with PS3 Vs 360 and then goes ahead and turns the attention to the PC version

[EngineNo9]

Picked this up today for the 360 after seeing the positive feedback here. And I just downloaded the "complete" game manual from the website. Is there any worth to getting the launch day DLC I see mentioned there?

No

Agreed.  There are plenty of outfits in the game that you can earn or buy soon enough. 

I'm definitely getting the hang of the timing for counters now, but I still struggle with the big dudes that grapple you for quicktime events.  I have had multiple situations where I took out 8 of the other guys and then one of those brutes ends up killing me when I had near full health. 

I like the fact that the combat is lethal and through one encounter the tides can really change with the Face powerup, but those damned quicktime grabbing jerks kind of ruin my mood.

[Harpua3]

This game gives me a mafia/gta vibe with a dash of nine other spices. So far the combo of hand to hand combat with driving cars is a nice change of pace. Certainly not the best graphics, but from time to time pretty good, certainly serviceable. A very solid 80% to 90% if I were to review it. A sequel will the proper care and maybe next gen...

[jztemple2]

I have mixed feelings about the game. I'm fine with the graphics, whether they could be better or not isn't really important to me. I love their version of Hong Kong even more than GTA IV's Liberty City. The story lines are interesting, the voice acting is great, and the character animations seem very movie-like. I also like the mini-games, none have been too annoying and they do add some nice fun. Driving feels better than in GTA IV as well. My favorite car so far is the Bisai, great for driving through parks, up stairways and through pretty much anywhere

What I don't like is the martial arts fighting. I have appallingly slow reactions and so each fight is a struggle to survive. This would be acceptable except that I've encountered story missions which string together several fights and I seem doomed to always fail the last in a sequence. I've been getting my food, drink and massage prior to the fights to give me a boost, but what I wouldn't give for a couple of Glocks instead. And it isn't helped by the camera control. I sometimes lose sight for a second and that's enough to cost me enough health so I won't be able to beat the last opponent. And then I have to start again from the beginning...

Still, the driving is insanely fun

[Harpua3]

I have mixed feelings about the game. I'm fine with the graphics, whether they could be better or not isn't really important to me. I love their version of Hong Kong even more than GTA IV's Liberty City. The story lines are interesting, the voice acting is great, and the character animations seem very movie-like. I also like the mini-games, none have been too annoying and they do add some nice fun. Driving feels better than in GTA IV as well. My favorite car so far is the Bisai, great for driving through parks, up stairways and through pretty much anywhere

What I don't like is the martial arts fighting. I have appallingly slow reactions and so each fight is a struggle to survive. This would be acceptable except that I've encountered story missions which string together several fights and I seem doomed to always fail the last in a sequence. I've been getting my food, drink and massage prior to the fights to give me a boost, but what I wouldn't give for a couple of Glocks instead. And it isn't helped by the camera control. I sometimes lose sight for a second and that's enough to cost me enough health so I won't be able to beat the last opponent. And then I have to start again from the beginning...

Still, the driving is insanely fun

I was getting destroyed by 8 or so dudes in a fight today. Jumped back in the car I drove there in and ran the last few over! Take that!

[CeeKay]

I was getting destroyed by 8 or so dudes in a fight today. Jumped back in the car I drove there in and ran the last few over! Take that!

I did that on a drug bust, but mainly to see if it could be done or if the game would get nitpicky.  my only problem was the vehicle camera decided that it needed to be looking forward when I tried backing up; I'm really starting to hate that camera, maybe it hates me in return.

Started using the Triad pre-order clothes and vehicle.  I figured I might as well enjoy them since I got them, although Wei looks kinda like a douche with the big ass aviators and gold chains.

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah, the camera is very finicky when trying to do something precise while driving (try looking down a narrow alley in your car).

The only problem with driving into thugs is that I don't think you get points for it.

[jztemple2]

I was getting destroyed by 8 or so dudes in a fight today. Jumped back in the car I drove there in and ran the last few over! Take that!

Thanks for the tip.  I ought to be able to bring that little Bisai to many of those outdoor fights.

[Harpua3]

I was getting destroyed by 8 or so dudes in a fight today. Jumped back in the car I drove there in and ran the last few over! Take that!

Thanks for the tip.  I ought to be able to bring that little Bisai to many of those outdoor fights.

It works. In my book, certainly not cheating!

[CeeKay]

damn, just found out that enemies can have punch attacks that can't be countered or anything.  it's like a quick jab and there's nothing I can do about it... time to get the car.

[CeeKay]

is there a secret to the surveillance camera hacking, or is it just blind luck?  I know that no number repeats itself in the 4 digit code but I've had one already where I got 3 of the numbers right but ran out of attempts on the 4th.

had a derp moment when I figured out what works pretty much every time:

Spoiler for Hiden:

start off with 0-1-2-3, then just start climbing with the numbers.  if none show up on the first batch go with 4-5-6-7.  while doing that each time you hit a number in the wrong space just move it one over, like if you get 1-2-3-4 then the next set should be 5-1-6-7, and so on.

[EngineNo9]

Yup.  Didn't you ever play Mastermind as a kid?   

[Harpua3]

Yep. It took me a few to figure out the hacking, then ding! The answer came to me. What was said above works every single time.

[CeeKay]

some random thoughts:

one thing I hope they can somehow fix is enemies spawning out of thin air.  I was doing a drug bust that involved a gunfight when suddenly a couple of enemies with SMG's popped into existence right on top of Wei, and then had a different one when I got shot and killed from behind by an enemy that did the same thing.  it's more noticeable in the underground busts, where you have to swim or take a boat into the area and you know there was no one in the area behind you.

I don't take a monetary hit though, whenever that happens I just alt-tab and close down the game so it doesn't autosave.

*********

I'm starting to take a cab everywhere since parking garages are so common.  it usually only costs around 300 HK, which can be quickly made up by running over a dozen or so parking meters.

*********

the fight clubs are BS.  I did one and it was 3-4 enemies for most rounds, but then round 5 hit and there were at least 12 guys.  they should have ramped up the numbers gradually instead of letting round 5 go 'hey buddy, here's your ass'.

*********

safe-cracking puzzles me.  it's so easy it feels like it was put in just to pad out play time.  same thing with the video surveillance drug busts-  after the first few I figured out it was the same NPC model every time.  maybe they change it up at some point but right now it is like free police XP.

[Caine]

yeah, i noticed the camera guy too.  just look for the guy waving his hands around a lot.  always seems to be him. 

the underground ones are annoying due to the respawning enemies.  same with the ones with a lot of knife wielding thugs.  always seems to be one who catches me off guard and kills me.

I've taken up running their asses over instead.  much more rewarding than going back to attempt the same 18 fights again. 

the races are pretty fun and mostly easy.  the ai is not perfect and is very easy to catch up if you don't do anything stupid.  and you can always bump them into stuff, which is pretty damn fun.  I haven't had a gun during a race, but if they let you use it while driving, it would be the easiest way to bump up your face meter. 

I still get the herky-jerky framerates while driving fast and it is annoying to go on an errand and then find that your holstered gun and all food buffs are gone afterwards, but I do like the city and enjoy just tooling around and looking for the collectibles and fighting the random groups of thugs. 

The fight clubs are fun and I definitely see how they help you improve your fighting tactics.  similar to the challenge rooms in batman imo.  I took on the one in Aberdeen and wiped the floor with them.  my biggest problem is the guys who grab you and not immediately hitting X due to the previous attack string.