Early Review Scores for Sleeping Dogs are Looking Fantastic

Sleeping Dogs is getting ready to hit stores on the 14th of August, but the review scores are already showing up... and they look good.

[BringingTheThunder]

good to hear

[Yi-Long]

... I certainly don't agree with some of the choices the developers made, like having the game take place ONLY on Hong Kong Island (which is quite boring), instead of also using the New Territories, Kowloon, and Lantau Island, or the strange blend of cantonese and english, instead of JUST cantonese with english subs...

...but I'm really hoping this will turn out great.

Not just because I LOVE Hong Kong, AND open-world action games, but also cause it would be nice to see this succeed, thus proving Activision once again WRONG for their short-term GREEDY business-sense, but also because a successful game MIGHT mean a sequel that DOES incorporate a bigger more diverse part of Hong Kong!

[MONOLITHICIDE]

This game already is a sequal. Its the third true crime game but got sold and changed names.

[Yi-Long]

... but it's a stand-alone new story, and it got rid of the 'True Crime' heritage completely once Activision dropped it.

So as far as I'm concerned, this is now an original new IP, and hopefully it will do very well so it might get a bigger and better sequel.

[shammgod]

I also wanted te entire game to be in English subtitles, but the game still looks awesome an this shouldn't take away from the game

[Adexus]

This actually was a new IP called Black Lotus before Activisions greed came into play and wanted it to be called True Crime Hong Kong.

[DigitalAnalog]

I don't think they have the budget to do all that. However, I will admit leaving out Kowloon is a let down as it is also a key area in HK.

[Yi-Long]

... Kowloon should have been in there for sure, cause TBH that's where the 'real' Hong Kong is, in terms of the people, the food, the markets, and also the poverty and crime (especially Sham Shui Po & Mong Kok).

I just wished they had the city 'split up' like the GTA games, so 3 big areas to open up and explore.

Lantau Island has all the gorgeous nature, the airport, the Big Budha, etc etc.

Kowloon and New Territories are basically the 'old' Hong Kong plus (newer) suburbs.

...and ofcourse the area they have now, which is pretty much the 'western' or 'Manhatten' part of Hong Kong.

I truly hope there will be a bigger and better sequel which can truly do justice to the gorgeous city of Hong Kong... (where I will be moving this December btw, for about a year...)

[DigitalAnalog]

Speaking of Lantau (I live there by the way), it shouldn't be that hard to replicate but going back on topic, I really hope this game does sell so that the sequel can do what GTAIV is to 3.

[MaxXAttaxX]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...
It started as a new IP. Activision picked it up and branded it True Crime because they saw some similarities but then dropped it and the game regained its own identity.

[ThatKanadianKid]

Sleeper hit of the year?

[LOGICWINS]

I'll let you know when I play it. Games like Skyrim and even the original Prototype received positive early reviews and I came away dissapointed with both of them.

[mafiahajeri]

Transformers will take that crown. Also " best open world of 2012" doesn't really mean anything the only real competition was prototype and spiderman and that's not saying much.

[Wingsfan24]

Transformers? Didn't think that was a sleeper hit considering all the fans of the comics out there.

[xflo360]

i hadnt even heard of this game until i saw this story, went over to youtube and now im prob gonna buy it. To me its gta + max payne + shenmue!

[Them_Bones]

This is exactly what I meant in my earlier post.
Word will spread and people that never even heard of the game will see how awesome it is and buy it!
I hope this game does really well.

[Oh_Yeah]

pretty sure most people knew this game was going to be amazing. doesnt take any reviewers telling you so. the gameplays vids have been out for a while.

[ironcreed]

The next great sandbox game right here.

[HammadTheBeast]

I agree, and the theme is pretty cool as well. I hope this does really well, so Activision can get a kick in the nuts for what they missed out on.

[Wingsfan24]

This game really reminds me of how Just Cause 2 came about. Nobody really looked at it and then the open world and everything else it offered really caught everyone off guard. I think sleeping dogs will do the same.

[ironcreed]

Perfect example.

[Them_Bones]

This is brilliant!, I've been trying to back this game even since it was cancelled hoping that it would turn out great.
It's review scores are f*cking great news, I hope this game sells millions because it deserves it, it went through development hell but united front games didn't lost hope and now their persistence is going to pay off. Activison will probably bribe IGN to give it an unfair review so they don't feel like idiots for abandoning it.

[LOGICWINS]

I wouldn't call Activision "idiots" for letting this game go. Just because a game gets positive reviews doesn't automatically mean it will be a huge success. Take UFC3 for example. Its the best reviewed MMA game of all time, yet it couldn't break even...thus leading to hundreds of jobs being lost. What will likely happen is that Sleeping Dogs will sell better than expected, but not enough so that Activision will care...not when they're guaranteed to be laughing to the bank with BO2.

[Them_Bones]

Yeah I considered the break even side of things but I think sleeping dogs may actually do far better than a lot of people are expecting.
Because it is very similar to arguably the kingpin franchise in the gaming industry and the only problem is not a lot of people know about it right now, give it time and word will spread about how fun this game is just like what happened with saints row except far more original and less of a clone.
Also I know that the success of sleeping dogs wouldn't make a dent in activisions income but reputation wise it would.

[LOGICWINS]

Hope ur right. Wonder whats taking Square Enix so long to release a demo, maybe they're taking time to polish it up?

[ironcreed]

Really cool fan made trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Rampaged Death]

Can't wait ! I was gutted when Activision dropped it but it looks like that decision will blow up in their face. Suck it Bobby !!

[jay2]

LOL!says it all, Actvi, you stick to the fish and chips games known as COD, dismiss all the new IP's and watch them score on par, if not BETTER in reviews and have good sales.

[donbhai007]

sleeping dogs is already better than cod, in terms of review scores, none of the cod games deserve anything higher than 6, it is just the same game recycled over and over again, and the only reason they keep out with these games, is coz of the idiotic gamers that buy keep buying the new installations.

sorry if that sounded like a rant,:)

[OC_MurphysLaw]

very excited to see this one. Lets hope this is another Bioshock and comes from out of nowhere to wow the industry and gamers.

[Ramses3]

I play just cause to this day, it is probably my #1 favorite game of all time, because it's just so damn fun.

[isarai]

To be honest i'm kinda surprised myself. I mean i think the game looks amazing and is basically a dream come true for me, but everytime i see people comment while playing it they don't seem very entertained and always complain that it took mechanics from other games(fighting from Batman) even though i know it isn't true. it just seemed like it was going to be one of those games loved by gamers but not so greatly viewed by reviewers.

This is fantastic news though, it think it'll sway a lot of people's decisions towards buying the game

[B_Rian89]

thats good to here. i've been looking forward to this like everyone else but i just got a bit skeptical after I recently watched a Sleeping Dogs walkthrough on youtube. there were a bunch of little glitches and bugs popping up. I was hoping they were just playing an earlier build

[wastedcells]

Fall 2012 biggest surprise, been sayin it since square picked it up. It's gonna be sikkk!!!

[Chris558]

Burn baby burn

[Xristo]

Praying that the port is good to the PC. I don't pre-purchase games too often (ok I'm also guilty with GW2) but $30 was too good to pass up.

[YodaCracker]

I'm really undecided on this one. The other two True Crime games looked really promising, but they turned out mediocre. As for this being called the best open world game of 2012... what other open world game even released so far in 2012? Prototype 2? Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition?

[Pintheshadows]

This game is looking to be like the Scarface game. Absolutely excellent but no one pays any attention to it. The combat system looks awesome. I can't wait to play it.