Sleeping Dogs New Threads

Amongst the glut of videogame remakes that seems to grow every day ( and wont stop until the gaming goose is stripped clean), you can find some good ones,. Admittedly the price tag looks like Dick Turpin rides again, but if you happen to be a fan of the original, then taking a punt on the reboot makes the price sting a little less.
I was a huge fan of Sleeping Dogs on PS3 so when the 'Definitive Edition' was released a few days ago on PlayStation 4, I was on it like a fat kid on pizza.
£40 is too much, even when you get extras like the 2 DLC stories thrown in, with some very bizarre outfits for Wei to take on the lawbreakers of Hong Kong,band I can see many gamers not bothering because of it which will be a shame because Sleeping Dogs is great game. Wei is a cross between Dirty Harry and Bruce Lee so its sad to see that once again The PS4 needed a third action game after the ace The Last of Us Remastered which was pure brilliance and proof of what creative people with similar ideas can come out with if they're on the same page.
Not played Sleeping Dogs on PS3 yet? Then do yourself a favour and go get it especially I you're a fan of over the top 80s action movies. And don't forget, Wei has more than karate kicks to the throat to defeat thugs, when you gather enough experience points you can unlock special moves either for your cop list or Triad list, which oddly do more harm to enemies than firearms because following the PS3 version, the goons in Sleeping Dogs are like bullet sponges and are able to take a fair amount of rounds before getting dead.
Unfortunately the game seems destined to stay below the top shelf either though lack of promotion (PS3), or having a hefty price have for the PS4 and its such a shame for a game packed with some very cool stuff.  Another downer is that looks wise it doesn't look that much different to the PlayStation 3 version. Outfits and vehicles look better but the city itself looks and 'feels' the same as the original.
All in all Sleeping Dogs Definitive Version is a tidy game  all wrapped up in a decent enough story, but depressingly that forty squids price tag is going to scupper its chances of winning any new fans. A £20 offering would have done them a lot more favours. Like its doing for the Oddworld remake, New n' Tasty.  Throwing in a few extra 'cop jobs' isn't going to be enough to entice the fence sitters.
Speaking personally, I think this game is going to rock better than the forthcoming GTAV on PS4.

Uncle Salty Crabs

So the Hong Kong crime caper, Sleeping Dogs, is coming to Playstation4? Well you know what? Amidst all the negative nancies complaining about there being too many remakes emerging for current gen consoles, I for one am pretty excited about this one. It plays like movie classic Hard Boiled with you as a karate  kicking cop yer Crissakes! What's not to love? GTA Japan anyone?
Actually (and this is only my opinion of course), but Sleeping Dogs is better than that. "Better than Grand Theft Auto?" You ask. "What could be a better sandbox game than GTA?" Well the setting for one. My personal love for Japan aside, Hong Kong is the perfect backdrop having plenty of 'flavour' from the East to make it exotic while still having a fair dose of Western culture to keep it familiar. Sure you'll hear Japanese music on the radio (beautiful it is too), but flick a few channels and you can hear everything from Mozart to Black Stone Cherry.
There's nothing ground breaking about Sleeping Dogs but what it does, it does well and is a welcome break from creating mayhem in California. Comparisons with GTA are inevitable and while vehicles are lacking, (petrol heads will be disappointed),  it makes up for in other, some would say cooler ways. Side missions and things to do when not killing folk for example. In Grand Theft Auto the player can relax with a round of golf or do yoga (yes YOGA). Reports of a knitting circle are unconfirmed.
Sleeping Dogs has much more suitable past times for a career criminal however. Maj jong poker on a private ship. Kung fu brawls that would make Bruce Lee happy. Oh and cock fighting. Controversial perhaps but no real roosters were harmed during the making of this game. It all fits so well.
I've played some great videogames recently, including the mighty BioShock Infinite (easily in my gaming top 10), but Sleeping Dogs is the one that revved my thrill clock to the limit. I had a f**king blast on it, so much so that I will be visiting Hong Kong again pretty sharpish. And the fact it reminds me of classic Shenmue is bonus.
I'm not saying the game is a stellar 10\10 gold, and it does have some (minor) niggles but nothing that ever comes close to spoiling a wonderful experience. Every gamer should play Sleeping Dogs, and I'm in raptures over the fact it is being rebooted for PS4.
The only thing I can imagine some being upset about is the map. Its fairly small when compared to say Red Dead Redemption but then again, that can be a blessing too. After all who wants a huge map filled with nothing to do?  This is just me of course but after completing the missions in GTAV, I wasn't in a hurry to get back to Los Santos. Like I said, yoga isn't exactly laugh a minute (no offence to yoga loving hipsters reading).  But the whole Hong Kong city vibes hooked me in proper and I loved just wandering the markets listening to food vendors (the pork bun man is legendary) sell their wares, and seeing dodgy DVD sellers tell you they have the latest movies.
A big mention is the hand to hand combat which makes fighting in other open world games feel boring. It does a good job of making you feel like a martial arts master and even getting surrounded by 10 thugs you never feel too worried (in fact the more the merrier).
To cap it all off, Sleeping Dogs is like being in 80s movies American Ninja and Remo Unarmed and Dangerous. And for a guy growing up back in those neon tinged glory days when Commodore and Spectrum ruled the games world, this is indeed good news. (There's also a cool retro DLC pack).
So a reboot for PlayStation 4 is very welcome news for this gamer. I have a feeling these current gen consoles are just what the game needs because machines have the 'oomph' to bring Hong Kong truly alive. Whisper it, but I reckon it could do better than the GTAV reboot. You read it here first.