Does Sleeping Dogs deserve a definitive edition?
The original Sleeping Dogs was a good mixture of free-roaming action with cinematic kung-fu combat, a decent story and a nice looking Hong Kong. I gave it a 8.3 back in August 2012 (Original review here) and my issues were that the experience was a bit on the short side, but does the Definitive Edition suffer the same problem?
It is exactly the same game, but with all the DLC added for no extra cost. The downside is that you have to actually use in-game cash to access the costume packs, but other than that…the DLC does add roughly another 6-8 hours to the game.
Comparing it to the original, it is a better looking game…that’s for sure. But it’s not without its issues, the framerate drops during the action scenes, usually during car chases and I’ve come across a number of glitches like disappearing and floating enemies, getting stuck between two cars and having to reload my save, and vanishing cars. Luckily they aren’t that much of a problem, but it is frustrating nonetheless.
The camera is still quite problematic too, so ultimately…the Definitive Edition of the game has all the game’s highs, but also its lows. Fortunately, it’s still an incredibly fun game and reminded me of how much I enjoyed the original, while also making me want a true sequel that may never happen, I hope it does one day though…
The Verdict
Sleeping Dogs may not have deserved to be re-released with all the DLC and upgraded visuals, especially since the technical issues from the original still remain in this version. Having said that, it’s hard not to deny that is still a good game and is a bargain if you missed it the first time around. If you didn’t however, there’s nothing new here to entice you back to Hong Kong’s underworld, which feels like a missed opportunity.
