REVIEW: Sleeping Dogs

When people say it's Grand Theft Auto in Hong Kong, they're right. It is.

Sleeping Dogs is a sandbox game that puts you in the shoes of Wei, an undercover cop who has come back to his home town to delve into the criminal world of Hong Kong. Like GTA, you can walk around, hit and kill people, steal cars and the like. However, as you are now a cop you can also do right by people.

Let's start with the story. The undercover cop thing might have been done before in movies, but it's a surprise no-one (including Rockstar) has really cottoned onto this. It works extremely well. The main reason being is that you get so deep into the criminal underworld, and invest so much of yourself in it, you really do start to forget that you're actually a cop. Also the police are nothing but a hindrance as you progress and helping them is often the last thing on your mind. This plays nicely into the actual story where you are being pulled from both directions and soon you are more concerned with the criminal friends you spend most of your time with, than trying to do what's right.  For instance, you will probably begin the game trying to make sure you don't crash into anything, hit any pedestrians and so on, but I guarantee by the end that will go right out the window.

The plot takes many twists and turns as the gangs start turning on each other and the voice acting really brings you in. I was very impressed by how involved I got in the storyline and was aching to move on to the next chapter, often not bothering with any side quests just to continue the plot. Something I don't normally do (I like to pad out my games with a few side quests inbetween) and by the end you really do become quite a monster.

The side quests consist of doing favours to get Face points, buying and selling cars, street races, gambling and all sorts to keep you entertained. It is very varied and lots of fun and is enough to keep you interested for ages. Face points unlock new abilities, as does Cop and Triad points depending on how your morals take shape, and also unlock a variety of abilities. It doesn't swing from one to the other, so you can unlock all abilities by the end of the game without worrying too much about having to continuously be 'good'.

The gameplay is very smooth and fighting is much like Arkham Asylum etc. with counter attacks and a slight bit of technical button mashing for good measure, the moves are also amazing. The driving is great and the controls work extremely well. Not much to fault on this front.

The world is also amazing, conversations taking place outside your flat are often continued as you progress through the game, everything feels like a living breathing city and you can pick up food and items like power ups, as well as buy different clothes and all the typical sandbox stuff. It perhaps doesn't quite have the depth of something like GTA, but it comes close.

My main plight is that it doesn't quite feel as advanced as GTA 4 which is a long time ago now remember and the graphics, though very cool and Hong Kong looks great, still feels too shiny and not textured well enough. It also has very brief gun battles and often I find myself without a gun or knowing where to get one. So what if I'm one of those people that every now and then like to go on a killing spree mowing down hundreds of innocent bystanders? That's what we've all been doing for years, don't you agree? But the overall feeling of having to do good does ride through the game, I mean you're a cop after all.

Overall, this is a very solid game and something I would enjoy going back to in terms of completing all side quests etc. as it's got that pick up and play value and is engrossing to say the least. I highly recommend the game and would say it's a great little stop-gap before the huge titles come under way in the next couple of months.

Rating: 8/10

Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen

Hong Kong legend Donnie Yen hits UK screens in the latest Kung-Fu action film to grace our shores, but is it really a Legend or should Chen Zhen just ... not return?

There is a very confusing background to this film. Firstly, this is a sequel to a TV series called Fist of Fury in Hong Kong, that series was a remake from the original Bruce Lee film. Now, Donnie Yen has been made to basically be Bruce Lee including Bruce Lee sounds, fashion and even a Green Hornet hero disguise. It's also directed by Andrew Lau who made Infernal Affairs, but isn't the Andy Lau who was in Infernal Affairs, that's someone else entirely. Understand? Good.

So what's it actually about then? Well, it's based on an ancient legend but yet this film is set before the second Sino-Japanese war in a Shanghai settlement where the British and the Japanese are battling it out with China in the middle. Chen Zhen has come back from fighting the Germans in France and taken the identity of one of his fallen comrades, why he needs to do this is never clear. The whole thing is then set in a club called Casablanca (yawn) which looks like a shoddy Boardwalk Empire (which if you still haven't tried to get hold of then you're an idiot, sorry) and it's all about people double crossing each other, about politics, revolution and stuff I have absolutely no idea about. I'm just not that clued up on Modern Chinese History I'm afraid, and this film didn't help either.

For those who know their Hong Kong cinema, there will be some friendly faces and the fact Andrew Lau is behind this will be enough to put some bums on seats but if you're looking for an action film, it might be best to look elsewhere. There aren't many fight scenes but when they do come up, they are quite good, but nothing remarkable. Yen's fighting is fast and seeing as he must be about 50 now I'm surprised he looks as incredible as he does. Yet his fighting looks comical and it seems as if they have sacrificed power for speed to make it look more impressive but instead it looks like about ten happy slaps a second, not enough to knock out these bad guys, and a lot of 'signature' moves are repeated. The final fight scene was also not that impressive and if you look at what Hong Kong was making 40 years back, it isn't even close to that type of skill.

So perhaps the story is enough to keep you hooked? Well, not really. It's so melodramatic and unsubtle that you can't help but laugh through half of it and the negative display of foreigners has apparently got a lot of Japanese upset, but you don't see the Germans complaining when Hollywood does a war film do you? Also, haven't the Chinese and Japanese always hated each other? I think it's time to move on guys. The British don't get a good rep either, but then the British guy is clearly not British so I don't mind too much.

Overall, I left the cinema without really knowing what was supposed to be going on but keeping with it enough to know who was supposed to be good and bad. The directing was OK and the scale was somewhat small as it felt like it had been made in a studio rather than drawing you into the scene. I can't say I was ever really bored but I was never entertained, it's a poor introduction for those who haven't seen the rich content that Hong Kong cinema provides and I do hope this film brings in more money into their industry but for smaller, more cutting-edge films rather than Hollywood-wannabe cheese-fests like this one.

Maybe see it on DVD if you're really that bothered but with an April cinema release date, don't expect it until Christmas 2011. Ambitious, but ultimately dull.

Rating: 3/10