Sleeping Dogs (video game)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Sleeping Dogs is a 2012 action-adventure open world video game developed by United Front Games and published by Square Enix.

Taking place in Hong Kong, the game has the Player Character in the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop who infiltrates a triad gang called the Sun On Yee to bring it down from within. Its gameplay appears to take elements from many other series such as Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause, Max Payne, Batman: Arkham Asylum (especially the hand-to-hand combat system), and Assassin's Creed, mixing them all in one big package.

The game had originally begun development as the third game in the True Crime series and was originally called True Crime: Hong Kong. Due to the poor reception and performance of the second game, however, as well as delays and budget overruns, Activision, the original publisher, canned it in 2010. Shortly after that, however, it was picked back up by Square Enix and renamed.

Got a free to play multiplayer game set in the same universe named Triad Wars that nobody asked for and was shut down before even exiting beta.

Tropes used in Sleeping Dogs (video game) include:
  • Becoming the Mask: Wei gets too attached to some of his "allies" undercover.
  • Book Ends: The game proper starts with Wei and Pendrew in the interrogation room and ends with Pendrew and Wei in the interrogation room, but their roles reversed.
  • Bullet Time
  • Collection Sidequest: A few. Notable for a game in its genre some of these can not be completed till the end game, as several of the collectables are located in areas only visited during late missions.
  • Dead Little Sister: Wei's sister Mimi.
  • Dirty Cop Pendrew
  • Expy: The Sun On Yee triad's name is a reference to the real life triad gang called Sun Yee On.
  • Framing the Guilty Party: Serves as the tutorial on firearms and an early clue Pendrew isn't a good cop
  • I'm a Humanitarian: When Mrs. Chu is given the men that killed her son she butchers them and forces them to eat each other
  • If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten: While Wei does relatively well with his initiation and opening tasks, some members of the Water Street Gang quickly notice Wei is resistant to dropping bodies. Suspecting he is a cop, they demand blood at an upcoming raid. This raid goes a little too well, Wei gets a What the Hell, Hero? from his superiors.
  • Ironic Echo: In the ending Pendrew's arrest has mirrors of previous conversations with him, particularly the opening where he and Wei are on opposite ends of the interrogation room.
  • Old Save Bonus: A few other Square-Enix games from around the same time period will award bonus outfits.
  • Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: The profiles for each triad leader gives their general business focus (drugs, protection rackets ect.), except Broken Nose Jiang, yet she has no shortage of funds. The framing device for the profiles (police dossiers) suggests this may mean the police have no idea she does.
  • Punk in the Trunk: One unique feature of the game is the ability to stick enemies in trunks. This leads to a few required variations in missions and a even more options in free play.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Wei eventually takes the opportunity to quite violently dispose of Dogeyes for his abuse of his sister and false flag murder of Winston Chu
  • Secret Secret Keeper: Sifu Kwok implies he knows Wei is an undercover cop, which is why he trains him despite his refusal to train triads.
  • Ten-Radio Station Band
  • The Triads and the Tongs
  • Undercover Cop Reveal: After the opening mission happens to Wei at the end of the game.
  • Wedding Smashers: Winston's wedding. Not really a huge surprise given the genre.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Sleeping_Dogs_(video_game)?oldid=1956899"