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POSTED 31/8/12
SLEEPING DOGS
Square Enix
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)
Hey
Channel 9! Judging by recent output, you’re running out of ideas for
milking Underbelly, so why not go bonkers in Hongkers?!
Too late! Squeenix got there first, and have likely pulled it off in
cooler style than you former residents of Bendigo Street ever could
have. 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 in this case - 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 Asianicness inspires, from basics such
as focus on martial artsy
hand-to-hand-to-fist-to-leg-to-foot-to-environmental-ouchything
combat rather than gunplay (although that comes), to going karaoke
on the likes of The Clash while cleansing scum from a nightclub.
Yep, 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 (apologies to any vegetarians reading this whilst
snuffling down their mungbeans). Yep, an open Hong Kong-inspired
world (it isn’t real map centimetre perfect at all) appears, full of
main and side missions, things to tackle on foot, things to tackle
on wheels, amusing diversions and noodles – erm, oodles - of shiny
collectibles.
Don’t pause to ruminate upon the many contradictions inherent in
your cop/baddie objectives (and why should you? It’s a game for
fuck’s sake!) and you’ll get one hell of a kick (ow!) out of
Sleeping Dogs.
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CLICK
THIS!
CLICK
THIS!
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