Sleeping Dogs

The PS3 era’s most underrated sandbox

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You can’t overstate just how formidably open-world games dominated PS3. In addition to iconic Rockstar sandboxes GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, we got to enjoy a breathtaking mix of competitors and copycats. There were the Batman romps of Arkham Asylum, the island escapades of Just Cause 2, and the compendium of carnage called Saints Row: The Third. Often lost in discussions of that heavyweight mix is the most underrated of them all: Sleeping Dogs.

That this Hong-Kong-based brawler even became a contender is surprising given the development hell it endured. Initially conceived in 2008 as a sequel to cop sim True Crime: New York City, it would take four years, a name change, and a switch of publishing rights – from Activision Blizzard to Square Enix – before Sleeping Dogs finally made it to console. And while True Crime had been a cult favourite, its spiritual successor surpassed it in every way.

Central to its success was its leading man; Wei Shen is an undercover officer with a dubious history, which plays a role not just in the story but in how you tackle the case you’re on (initially, to bring down the Sun On Yee triad). Despite being a man of the law, you’re given free rein to commit crimes, with a heat meter denoting your current wanted level. XP comes in three flavours: Police, Face, and Triad, with the latter rewarding you for bad behaviour, and neatly subverting the usual crime-related procedural-drama tropes.