great news - was looking forward to this one. :)

metro.co.uk

In one of gaming's most surprising comebacks Grand Theft Auto clone True Crime: Hong Kong looks like it's going to be released after all - but by Square Enix, not original publisher Activision.

Back in February, Activision famously cancelled all of its music games - including Guitar Hero and DJ Hero - but it also canned True Crime: Hong Kong at the same time, despite the game being almost finished.

In the immediate aftermath there vague rumours flying around that another publisher would pick it up, but never anything ever came seemed to come of it. But now, six months later, that's exactly what's happened.

They'll have to give it a different name (Activision is retaining the True Crime brand) but Square Enix has bought all the rights to the Hong Kong game and has retained the services of original developer United Front Games, who also made ModNation Racers.

There's no new release date, or even really an official announcement, but industry website Gamasutra reveals that Square Enix London Studios (i.e. what once was Eidos) will be supervising the sort-of-new project.

'When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it,' said Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton. 'When we met the team at United Front Games it was a done deal in our eyes - we instantly recognised the huge potential in the game and the team.'

'It's one of those games where you don't want to put the controller down; it's what we call 'sticky'', he added. He also praised the, 'incredible new game engine, rich new story with deep and complex characters, and gameplay features which have simply never been seen at this level in an open world game.'

We wouldn't say our reaction to the game was quite as positive, though, and from what we saw in previews we'd have to agree with Activision's original assessment that: 'Even our most optimistic internal projections show that continued investment was not going to lead to a title at, or near, the top of the competitive open world genre.'

Although the first two True Crime games were fairly straightforward Grand Theft Auto clones the new game uses its Chinese setting to add improved melee combat and destructible scenery. Originally the game was due on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, so we assume that's still the case.

The bigger question though is do you think Activision was right to dump it, or have Square Enix snapped up a bargain here?

Its hard not to be sceptical after all the on/off business, and the fact that I played True Crime New York and it really wasn't up to scratch - very repetitive gameplay, unclear storyline, very easy to put down..

but this does look brilliant. Proof of the pudding and all that though..

i enjoyed both the PS2 games. i love anything with a big open city map and they had impressively accurate models of NYC and LA.

there were some cool features like being able to flash your badge, fire a warning shot or fire a non-fatal disabling shot in bullet-time to take down a fleeing perp and then cuff them. some functions there that LA Noire could've benefited from. shooting from a car in bullet-time worked well too and again you could make a karma choice (shoot tyres or petrol tank). car stunts were a little cheesy but some of the environment interaction in the brawl scenes were fun.

as i recall the stories were a little odd in that they were designed so that you could progress regardless of whether you passed or failed a mission.

i guess non-story play - answering random calls from the dispatcher - was a little repetitive but there was reasonable variety in the types of calls and i'd play for hours without touching the story.

will reserve judgement until reviews are out but evidently Square Enix figured it was worth a punt...

Answering the dispatch calls was one of my favorite bits.. really made you feel like a cop

again LA Noire could've learnt a lesson... the dispatch calls there were heavily scripted. it was nice to get a little bit of story and dialogue but i only wanted to do each one once.

since Square Enix only bought the game and not the name, True Crime: Hong Kong has been renamed Sleeping Dogs. this is from the recent press release, preview to follow next week.

Sleeping Dogs catapults players into the role of undercover cop Wei Shen, tasked with taking down one of the world’s most fearsome criminal organisations from the inside... the Hong Kong Triads. As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.'

Offering players an island packed with action, every street corner, market stall, harbour dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat. Featuring one of the most intuitive and imaginative combat systems, Sleeping Dogs empowers players to perform an extensive set of martial arts moves, singlehandedly taking on numerous opponents. Players perform bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors.

as promised...

preview: metro.co.uk

interview: metro.co.uk

GC praise the alpha build for its impressive model of Hong Kong with skyscrapers and bustling streets and for its well-implemented combat, shooting and driving gameplay.

'Sleeping Dogs' controls are much more fluid though, as long as you manage to keep the flow of button presses that have you jumping up walls and across roof tops. Once the Triad and his cronies are cornered Square Enix's most obvious influence upon the game's development becomes clear: the melee combat is based on Batman: Arkham Asylum/City.

Thats the winning phrase! Trouble with so many open world games (Skyrim, GTA, Just Cause) is that the combat mechanics are shit. Seeing this kind of hand to hand gameplay in a game like this will be awesome.

Although I'd like to see some new footage!

I've never properly played a TC game. The idea of it being in Tokyo does intice me to be it though.

this one's in Hong Kong, the rogue androids of Binary Domain are in Tokyo. :) definitely makes a nice change to the American settings of GTA, Saints Row, etc, and the developers can draw on the rich tradition of HK cinema.


the fighting could've been a lot better in Red Dead Redemption too. imagine some proper bar-room brawls using the Batman system. they really missed a trick there.

I've never played Arkham Asylum so could someone please explain the combat in that? I'm guessing it's a bit more complex that button mashing?

it combines the freedom of normal fighting with the slick action of QTE's. you're free to move and attack but if you time and plan it right you can build a really fluid seamless combo of strikes and counters. the game helps you by telegraphing your opponents' attacks so you know when to counter.

this trailer with commentary explains it nicely: youtu.be

...and you really should check out the Batman games!

I must say that does look pretty awesome!


Yeah I think I will. I never bothered initially because I've never really liked superhero games (apart from Prototype if you call that one).

Sequel coming this year! Woooooo

Oh yeah! Sweeeet

Loads of videos on their website. It looks even more gory and insane than before. They've really overhauled the tentacle powers and made it so you can use 'tactical dismemberment' to defeat the larger monsters..

Shameless gorefests ftw!

exciting new overview trailer for Sleeping Dogs (previously True Crime HK)...

That looks fucking wicked!

have been having a lot of fun with Sleeping Dogs. here's a quick summary:

- main character is undercover cop in triads
- large immersive free-roam environment (Hong Kong Island)
- 30 story missions, 36 mini side-missions, 4 multi-part police cases
- 30 jobs, 5 girls to date
- 11 random open-world events and 17 drug busts
- cockfight betting, karaoke and mahjong-poker minigames
- separate cop, triad and face (rep) levels
- 42 unlockable moves and perks
- quality mo-capped martial arts combat, counter-based like Arkham games
- loads of gruesome environmental kills
- 4 underground fight club tournaments
- cover-based shooting with bullet-time
- over 160 clothes and accessories
- over 65 cars/bikes/boats
- 17 street races
- car-to-car hijacks and fantastic directional ram move
- ten radio stations including Warp Records and Ninja Tune
- clothing, accessories and food give a range of buffs
- over 150 collectibles (four types)
- online and offline stat challenges

metacritic.com score is 82%.

don't have time to post more but happy to answer questions!