IGN - Sleeping Dogs Review

Even cops can have criminal fun in Hong Kong.

[hiptanaka]

Well, color IGN impressed.

[HebrewHammer]

Scores, shmores!

Color me excite!

[GuruStarr78]

I picked it up from Redbox here in Chicago this morning.. it's pretty good, so far... not sure what I'd give it, but 8.5 sounds about right... so far..

the story seems good and the combat is pretty smooth and is all hand to hand, from what I've seen thus far...

I think it's a good rental, overall.. kinda glad I didn't buy it, but we'll see... I heard the story is about 12 hours.

[morganfell]

Just started my first branch mission. If these continue then this game will be far more than 12 hours.

[MadMax]

I heard the game is 25 to 30 hrs and dont worry, there are weapons in the game. You can use alot of the environments to brutalize your victims. Havent popped it in yet, been playing too much Darksiders 2!

[SupaPlaya]

Just played this over at my friend's place, and we had a blast playing it. I for one agree with the score with what I've seen so far (around 8-9).

Our impression is that the game is very much Batman (melee) X GTA. And in a good way. If you liked GTA and Red Dead Redemption, you will not be disappointed with this game.

What I loved about the game though is:

1) the authentic profanity found in the game. Each time we hear the characters spit out *$#! in Cantonese we burst out laughing. It is very hardcore, and is something I see myself saying when someone would got it my way. It's not like most movies where you would hear the main character speak in another language when in reality it's just gibberish. The dialog in both English and Cantonese are really well done.

2) The City. While not a real map of the City and only contained 4 regions from the Hong Kong Island, I can tell you that a lot of the places in the game are like Deja Vu.

Hola From HK

[Nocturne147]

If IGN gives 8.5/10, this game is FREAKIN AWESOME !

[Megaton]

Could be awesome, and I personally want the game, but you shouldn't put so much weight into what IGN thinks.

[kingdavid]

What? THey way too often jump the gun on their reviews.

[Nocturne147]

Yea ? Then PSU.com and fmvmagazine.com too then Genius ?

Edit: Ow yea.. Blast Magazine gives very high score too.

[kingdavid]

Not the point noobenstein.

[nix]

they gave 10/10 to GTAIV and look how it turned out.

follow your heart.

[Nocturne147]

But GTA IV was great game, only problem was performance issues on PC, terrible port.

[Omnislash]

I personally disagree with that score, I couldnt even finish GTAIV I thought it was kinda subpar compared to San Andreas...

Anyway 8.5 is a really good score. I actually look forward to this game...

[Psychotica]

Yeah, turned out awesome. I have put more time in that game than anything else this gen.

[ThanatosDMC]

It's mostly people who havent played San Andreas first that think GTA4 was awesome. Niko couldnt even go on a killing spree, change, have better weapon handling, fully customize vehicles, etc.

[DA_SHREDDER]

GTA4 came out so many years ago and it's so good you compared Sleeping Dogs to it. Ha!

[JamieL]

@ ThanatosDMC
True, but the tech behind GTAIV put it so far above San Andreas it not funny. GTAIV was an amazing game, and still is. I had the problems with San Andreas everyone seems to say GTAIV has. San Andreas wasn't focused enough, I hated having to eat, and work out and all that other filler shit, everyone seemed to love. I also don't think it's a fair comparison, compare it to GTA 3, then we can compare the last GTA of this gen to San Andreas. Gamers these days are hard to impress if they can't see the pure talent and strait up magic in GTAIV. The only game I've seen close technically is Red Dead, and that’s the same tech. Name one game as alive and responsive as GTAIV.

[lonesoul65]

YEA...but GTA on the PC is by far the best version...had initial issues but that was due more to social club than anything else

[ThanatosDMC]

@JamieL

Actually, you dont have to eat or workout. Eating and working out just makes your character buff or get fat. Those are all optional.

The tech is nothing without gameplay and fun. GTA4 missions werent unique. It was always the same thing.

Also, it was focused. I dont know what you're talking about.

[JamieL]

@ ThanatosDMC
That’s the thing, I thought the game play was/is fun. especially after the 2 DLC's. Oh, and yes you did have to eat, and if ya'll can talk about how annoying it was getting those side phone calls was in GTA IV, then I can state how pointless working out was in SA. I know everyone won't have the same opinion about a game, but I also feel it's just "the trend" on N4G to hate on GTA IV. I also believe it deserved every 10 it got, those folks at Rockstar are amazing.

[Starbucks_Fan]

Black Ops got a 8.5

[Awesome_Gamer]

Sounds about right... 8/10 for me but still close.

[Blackpool]

No one reads the reviews anymore...

[WeskerChildReborned]

If you mean since IGN is basically hard to please and usually would give bad reviews to a good or decent game then yea i bet it would be awesome.

[pr0digyZA]

Wow was looking forward to it, but was expecting it to be because of the gameplay and missions. Glad to see ign loved the story instead, which was something I didn't have high hopes for especially considering its an open world game.

Also heard it has an amazing PC port which makes me believe devs care about their fan-base.

[Godchild1020]

I just completed Sleeping Dogs and I love Wei Shen (main character), the story is great and keeps you playing. United Front Games did one hell of a job. I had one problem and that was with the audio sync for the weapons, they were off by a few seconds.

The story is compelling, they took a piece from GTA IV, but instead of having it at the end they put it in the middle, but still had the ending worth achieving. Some vehicles control better than others, and theres not too much fighting that over shadows the gunplay. The game is a 8.5/9 at best.

The Story IMO is the best part of the game.

[Puddlejumper75]

The game is a 8.5/9 at best.

You say that like it is a bad thing. I know you don't mean it that way, it's just the way it comes off.

Too many people today think if it isnt a 9.5 or better then its a bad game.

[Godchild1020]

I understand what you mean. Most times you would see 'at best' when it's a low score. The game is great and enjoying for those looking for a story driven title.

[showtimefolks]

good to know since gameinformer review said the story was pretty average. In a game like this it needs to have atleasta decent story. That's one thing i hated about saints row the 3rd it had a pretty average story

can't wait to try this out, but now at launch once i finish darksiders 2 than it gonna be sleeping dogs. SE also said they have a lot of dlc content planned for next 6 months and with borderlands 2 being around the corner i may even wait for sleeping dogs:GOTY edition

[first1NFANTRY]

For some reason the impression i got from this review was subliminal bias.

Something tells me IGN being an American gaming website, are saving a higher score for GTA5 even tho Sleeping Dogs is a fantastic game.

[humbleopinion]

Yeah, they must save the high scores for GTA V because god forbid if they give two different games which are about a year apart a 9.0+ score! They obviously have a very limited score resource allocation (probably because of the recession) and so they're now saving up for a game that isn't even out.
:/

[abzdine]

the game looks nice, i'll wait for the 60min Full game trial on PS+ before i decide.

[Puddlejumper75]

Some of you make it sound like IGN is a single person. They are a group of people and not all of them are going to have the exact same opinion on everything.
2 people can play the same game and come away feeling differently about it, so a group of 30-40 employees(Just guessing could just be 15) arent all going to feel the same about every game they play

[jessupj]

That's why sites should have a little professional thing called "standards" that reviewers can abide by instead of going with how they "feel".

But there still is at least an editor whom make's sure there is continuity through out the site and that included the quality and accuracy of reviews.

I don't care if there's 40 reviewers, there's no excuse.

[outlawlife]

A review is an opinion, you can;t standardize an opinion.

People act like there is a science to game reviews. there isn't. A guy plays the game and tells you what he thought.

You can do the same exact thing for yourself.

[coolbeans]

The reviewer who (typically) has more experience than you or I is meant to express what solely stimulated HIS/HER subjective tastes.

The editor isn't there, or shouldn't be there, to shoehorn the reviewer's thoughts on a game because X game received a higher score.

Imo, to put an objective standard on how gamers like you and me (which is what they essentially are) SHOULD empirically view each game would ruin that sense of individualism so many reviews contain.

[pandehz]

So this means Activision will have a bunch of crappy game releases this year.

Diablo 3 poofed

BLOPSII umm the usual

Prototype 2 was Prototype with slightly different graphics(not better or worse just different) and some new powers with a worse story and characterisation than the first. Finished it last nite and literally almost the same combat and powers as the first and also the exact same mission types as the first.

Battleship umm nvm

MIB lol lol lol

The not so Amazing Spiderman

Transformers may be ok

So basically they shouldn't have let Sleeping Dogs slip out of their hands.

[ProjectDeputy]

and you think they care ?

they have WoW
D3 sold 10mil copies
and they have cod every year.

[NeoTribe]

Don't talk about wut u have no clue about. Black ops 2 will prolly be the best cod since cod mw. Diablo is ran by blizzard, not activision. Blizzard takes care of there games. Diablo as we speak is being patched constantly and is getting better every patch. These patches arnt ur typical patches. There game changing. If u played diablo2 when it was first released u would say it sux, and u would be right, but u play diablo 2 nowadays and it still holds its own as one of the best action rpgs to date. Diablo3 will be everchanging and evolving cuz that's how blizzard rolls. Quality is wut there about. Sorry to ramble, just sayin activision has nothing to do with the making of blizzards games. You can tell in the quality. Blizzard would NEVER release a game as bad as battleship.

[StrawberryDiesel420]

Dark Souls came out October 4, 2011. It had two patches and it will still be a better game than Diablo 3 after twenty patches.

[kevnb]

Dark souls does rule, but diablo 3 is trying to please everyone and thus will leave the more niche audience wanting.

[bubblebeam]

My Grandma vs Bruce Lee

[GearSkiN]

Got it at redbox this morning!

[YodaCracker]

IGN gives out 9's like candy, and they give out 8.5's like nobody's business.

[VideoGameJimmy]

IGN gives a good game a good score, half the comments are about how IGN gives out too many of this score and too many of that score. Haha oh internet

[KontryBoy706]

If IGN gave it an 8.5 this game is a must own. Even with IGN being massive fanboys to certain devs... them giving this game a good score means you should buy it!

[a_bro]

nice to see that this game is getting sweet reviews.

[Der_Kommandant]

Slepping underdogs!

[Eamon]

Wow. Interesting score. Will deffo check this out.

[BattleTorn]

If the only negative is truly "wonky camera" angles, hopefully they can fix that and make it perfect!

[stuntman_mike]

Getting this on steam this week, its getting good scores across the board. Darksiders 2 is looking excellent too.

[spirited]

This game is getting 9. And 8s. It is good news for gamers and gaming industry.

[likeaboss302]

I'm in after the first patch.

[kevnb]

My friends say they love it, I'm sold.

[PersonMan]

Too much screen tearing for my tastes. When does this come out on PC?

[jalen247]

I knew this was going to be a great game. Can't wait to pick this up.