Wei Shen has been through so much since the “Sleeping Dogs” main story ended. Wei has battled the undead in order to save his girlfriend in the Nightmare in North Point downloadable content (DLC) and has been in a major martial arts tournament in the Zodiac Tournament DLC but the player has never really seen Wei Shen take responsibility for his undercover exploits, until now.

In the latest DLC, The Year of the Snake, Shen’s bosses are very upset at all the property damage and casualties that were caused during his time working undercover and demote him to a regular officer. Here, Shen must follow orders, help citizens and even give out traffic tickets. While amusing to see Shen’s aggravation at being demoted, is the DLC worth the money and more importantly the time?

The Year of the Snake is the first of the DLC packs to actually promise to follow Wei Shen after the initial story, unlike Nightmare in North Point which could have easily taken place in the middle of the main story. This story begins before the Chinese New Year and Shen has been called to investigate some strange happenings going on around Hong Kong. Several bombings have been taking place and it is up to Shen to find out who is behind it and why, before the New Year.

The Year of the Snake contains roughly six missions along with new collectibles, trophies/achievements and weapons. For each mission accomplished, the clothes, weapons or vehicles that are unlocked may be used within the main story. As Wei Shen must settle down as a regular cop, so too must the player. You cannot simply beat down assailants as an officer, but you can tase them or beat them with a baton before arresting them. Moreover, if a riot starts Wei Shen can tear gas the entire crowd to gain back control. These weapons provide a new experience to an already great game.

Despite becoming an officer in Hong Kong and having the ability to tase criminals, there really is not much else to this DLC. Seeing Wei Shen punished for his handling of his undercover work was satisfying but that is all there is to it. As a final ending for the “Sleeping Dogs” main story, it is lacking but then again the main story’s ending was very anticlimactic as well, so you get what you pay for. There aren’t any twist ending or surprises, just Wei Shen dealing with being demoted.

Rating – 4/5: The Year of the Snake is a short but sweet DLC which provides a realistic consequence for Shen’s actions during the main story and gives the player a new angle to play from after tormenting Hong Kong as a gangster. This DLC is worth the money for the liberties one can take as a cop, however in the end, you will want to go back to being undercover because being a member of the Triad is still much more fun. The Year of the Snake is available for the PlayStation 3 ($6.99 USD), Xbox 360 (560 Microsoft Points) and Steam ($6.99 USD).

The article “Sleeping Dogs” Latest DLC, The Year of the Snake Reviewed appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Sleeping Dogs brings you into the undercover life of Wei Shen, an undercover cop operating in the criminal underworld in Hong Kong. The enemy is the Triad gang and you are placed in an open world where the line between cop and gang member blurs constantly.

The internet is abuzz with key words like ‘potential’, ‘sleeper hit’ and ‘underrated’ as the days countdown to the August 14th release of the game. Preview videos have fans creating increasing hype about the greatness of the game. Across the board, all aspects of the game appear to be very solid additions to the core storyline.

Canadian developers United Front Games has a decent track record despite the relatively young group of developers being drawn together from the ashes of several defunct game developers such as EA Black Box, Rockstar, Volition Inc. and Radical Entertainment. Co-developer Square Enix London Studios has also been credited with games such as Just Cause 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Gameplay footage proves that they have seemingly crafted a world of violence centered on the decisions of one man with morale issues and a sense of duty. Who he saves or kills will determine everything from the rating of missions to the amount of respect that Wei Shen garners as he walks the streets of Hong Kong.

The combat and choreography looks and feels pretty organic since UFC fighter George St. Pierre was on hand to add his own mixed martial art style to the game. Beyond the expected levels of ass whooping surely to be handed out, the developers wanted the violence to be understandable. That is to say, they wanted gamers to sympathize with the choices that Wei Shen has made in his life.

This way, every punch or kick that the player completes through Wei Shen draws gamers further into the reality of Sleeping Dogs. Additionally, the environment is also a key player in the game, allowing Wei Shen to use doors and garbage cans as handy tools of destruction.

Open world is the gameplay style for Sleeping Dogs and it should not come as a surprise given Rockstar and Radical Entertainment’s finesse with creating large city size maps. The producers of Sleeping Dogs determined that Hong Kong was the best choice for a vibrant city atmosphere that would be familiar enough to gamers but also set in a rarely experienced culture that kept things fresh and exciting.

One side of a street would be designed with stone buildings featuring Asian inspired concept art while the other side included western style British influenced buildings that are in keeping with Hong Kong’s history. One side beautiful form, the other perfect functionality meshed together.

The racing and automotive aspect of Sleeping Dogs is almost expected, once readers know that members of United Front Games also includes EA Blackbox whom worked on many of the recent Need For Speed games. The open world aspect plays right into the racing as Wei Shen drifts across lanes of authentic left side driving traffic in search of his next target. Expect to experience nice cars that provide a fast rides down short cuts of the Hong Kong side streets as you go bust some heads.

Undercover aspects of the game come into play from Hong Kong cinema influences such as the 2002-2003 “Infernal Affairs” trilogy film series. American audiences will be interested to know that this trilogy has been adapted into the Martin Scorsese film “The Departed”. This film series and its American counterpart play a key role in the gritty feeling of the game with the cops vs gang gameplay.

Additionally, from that Infernal Affairs series, original actor Edison Chen is also voice talent on the Sleeping Dogs voice cast. Notable voice actors included in the game are Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider Man), Tom Wilkinson (Mission Impossible 4), James Hong (Kung Fu Panda), Kelly Hu (X-Men 2), Will Yu Lee the voice of Wei Shen, Chin Han (Dark Knight) and Yunjin Kim (Lost TV show). Otherwise, in game voice acting is in authentic Cantonese and English, giving gamers the experience of living and breathing on this Chinese island.

Like the city of Hong Kong itself with its interwoven quality of criminals vs cops and new high rises vs old Buddhist temples; Sleeping Dogs is a meshing of many concepts and game play aspects. Hopefully this weaving of ideas has created a game that can bring Square Enix out of its funk and give United Front Games some much need gamer credibility. With anticipation building and the gamer community waiting for the arrival of this game, this summer seems to have just gotten a whole lot more exciting.

Look out for Toonari Post’s Sleeping Dogs review, coming soon.

The article Upcoming Game Profile: “Sleeping Dogs”, Welcome To Hong Kong appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.