You can easily relate to his journey as he digs up his troubled past, hoping to make amends only to get dragged back into old habits and entanglements. You’ll follow his story as he rises through the ranks to prove himself to the clan as a trustworthy informant-thug. It helps that Wei is such a good fella, likeable in spite of the sketchy company he keeps, the glaring mishaps in his contradictory antics and extreme ways (pun 100% intended). That mild shift of perspective appealed to my flimsy sense or justice-morality. When it comes to how it distances itself from its bigger GTA brother, SD manages to tread that tenuous line between ‘hey, I’m a ruthless hoodlum on duty doling out the typical douche-baggery you’d expect (stealing old ladies’ bags, emptying bank vaults and other general burglaries) to ‘I’m an equally angry pseudo-thug, except when I’m actually carrying out justice which incidentally gives me a license to shoot to kill if and when provoked’. As in former relationships, there’s often nothing there but a decrepit tomb filled with creaky skeletons but I wanted to see if I could re-experience the thrill of playing my first legitimately-bought game on Steam and by doing so uncover why, in spite of what I thought I looked for in games, it was so hard to put this down. You must know that feeling all too well by now, it’s that inexplicable emptiness followed by launching a game you’ve played and thoroughly enjoyed but can’t bring yourself to play a second time with the same passion or gusto. Most notably, the lingering feeling of familiarity we often get from playing a generic clone wasn’t there, at least not for the most part. Looking back and apart from the fun combat it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what drew me into Sleeping Dogs’ world of karate proficient undercover cops, but there’s something really cool about how it sets up its story and characters. It boasted all the charm and flair of a b-lister though it was certainly not promoted as such and I remember quite vividly how they drummed up its launch with a snappy, well-put together live action trailer filled with ultra violence which is something we know most pre-teens drool over. Sometimes something would emerge, a thing not at all tied to a long-running franchise with repackaged ideas and I was fine with that. It was at the time working under Square-enix way back when it wasn’t so dead set on chasing trends and people-pleasing. It came from a relatively lesser-known, (now defunct) developer with ‘United Front’ as its moniker. However, amid all of these changes, a few game releases still managed to vault their way past some of the emergent nonsense. But just as nothing lasts, so did the thrill of mindless hoarding also wear off.īack then, so many well-accepted yet once shady industry practices were still in their infancy, add-on cosmetic DLC, exclusive pre-order bonuses, and free to play, digital online-only releases (to name a few) were slowly but surely worming their way into the mainstream, becoming staples of modern gaming. At first, that thrill might have been comparable to the moment you checked out your first cart carrying a ransom in digital goods at staggeringly low and alluring discount prices. I hope your memory slots are accessible (rapidly) enough to remember the time before we pledged servitude to our most excellent, all-powerful, wallet-consuming Steam machine.ĭay after day, year after year, a stack pile of games gets added to your meticulously sorted selection, and as an EULA sentinel stands watch at the steps of your password gate, games get carelessly launched, put down and dismissed in the blink of an eye, likely with quite the same volatility with which they were acquired.īut I remember there being a time when there was a certain thrill to obtaining games off the grid, through sketchy suppliers and by less ‘legitimate’ means. I came late to the party, circa 2011 according to my ‘years of service’ badge (a rather sinister but fairly accurate way of putting it). Steam has been around since early 2003, roughly. And with that disclaimer and no further meandering, let’s get underway! Just please don’t hold me to the standard of Steam’s review section, I could never measure up. However glib this may come across, only the hypothetical reader can best determine the time and place where their life is wasted. That is to say, please do not mark this as helpful. Please don’t resent the fact this won’t be sorted under the ‘helpful’ tag. It is of no monetary value and yet the fact remains, I have something to say and it’s about a 12-year-old, mostly forgotten video game but it may be about other things too. I’d like to say something and it does not matter at all. Posted: 2 April (DON’T) LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE
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