This resurrection of the True Crime franchise is something that had me ecstatic, as I was a fan of the first two games. Playing through the demo at Square Enix’s booth, any fears I may have had about the series’ return were quickly washed away.
The demo was definitely one of the better-paced ones I played on the floor; after a short cutscene to set the story, you step out into the city. After pushing Wei through the crowds of Hong Kong to do some investigative work, you find yourself involved in an intense on-foot chase scene through the neighborhood.
The chase scene showed off a couple things about control and movement; leaping over obstacles and climbing up walls after your prey was as easy as a single button press, or a couple taps. It definitely made it so that you could focus on catching up, instead of struggling against the environment.
The chase leads you right into an ambush, which shows off the game’s hand-to-hand combat system. Combos felt pretty effortless, and being able to use the environment to pull off some devastatingly painful-looking finishes was a lot of fun.
My time with the demo was short–and unfortunately I didn’t get to play any of the driving segments, which can be a make or break–but what time I did get made me super excited for Sleeping Dogs; the fast-paced action and hard-hitting combat sequences seem to pick up right where the True Crime series left off, only better.
