Every once in a while you’ll find one game that is so epic it’s almost impossible to find a new game that’ll top the experience you’ve just had. I found myself in that predicament when I played and finished Dragon Age: Inquisition. DAI has been my sun, moon, and stars for the last four months of my gaming life. Moving onto other games (until Bioware releases DLC or an expansion to extend the DAI experience) has been a difficult task. What game is worthy of my time and devotion for a whole month? Fortunately, I’ve been able to answer that question and make my choice after feeling out a few games before making a commitment to one.
I started playing Sleeping Dogs before Inquisition came out in November. It’s a no-brainer that Inquisition would be my next video game challenge to take on, but it’d be an ongoing one. To pass a little bit of time until release day for my most anticipated game of the year, I decided to try out Sleeping Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs has been on my radar since it came out in 2012. What typically happens to games I want to play but aren’t on my “must-buy right now” list, I tend to wait for a good deal on the game. The day to call this game as my own came when Xbox’s Free Games with Gold program offered this as free to download and own. After browsing through some of the digital downloads I had sitting in my console, I decided to see what Sleeping Dogs was like.
I instantly immersed myself into modern day Hong Kong and really wanted to see how well main character Wei Shen is able to juggle his double life as an undercover cop, who has to infiltrate and pose as a newly recruited member of the Sun On Yee to be able to bust this dangerous drugs and crime ring from the inside. The game can be both fun and frustrating at times, but I’ve managed to go through at least half of the story already before putting it away upon Inquisition’s arrival.
In between playing Inquisition, I’ve been lucky enough to play Sunset Overdrive when the whole game became free to play for 24 hours as part of Xbox One’s one year celebration of its release. I wasn’t expecting to really get into Sunset Overdrive, much less like it, but I couldn’t pass the opportunity to try it out. Two hours later, I completed maybe five or six missions of the game. It immediately became a game I wanted to have on my buy list. What was also helpful about testing the game out during this special offer was it’d save your current progress if and when you decide to buy the game. Over the Christmas holidays, the Xbox Store offered a special price for Sunset Overdrive and I bought it.
During the time I needed to pick a new game post-Inquisition, I went back and forth between Sunset Overdrive and Sleeping Dogs. Both games are in similar stages of progress, someplace in the middle of the story, but each presented their own set of frustrations for me to deal with. Sunset Overdrive is a platformer game, which I’m not particularly good at. Certain Mario games already give me a hard enough time to play, and trying to master timed jumps is definitely a weak spot for me. Sleeping Dogs has the familiar open world aspect I’ve seen in Grand Theft Auto games and have played in games like Saints Row. However, part of the game has me fighting against thugs as Wei Shen by using his fists and only gives you the option of using a weapon sparingly and for specific missions. It feels like a fighting game, but where I can’t rely on button mashing, I do have to remember to apply a few button combinations to get the upper hand against my attackers. This is especially important when you’re one person against a gang of five. A bit stressful to say the least.
After spending one weekend alternating between the two games, I’ve ultimately decided to make Sleeping Dogs my video game challenge pick for March. What led me to make this decision is the much more involved story this game has over Sunset Overdrive. There is a bit of a story in Sunset Overdrive, but it’s something I’m barely paying attention to when all I want to do is kill the orange zombie like things running around the city or trying to perfect my character’s stunts and moves in the game. Don’t worry, Sunset Overdrive. You’ll get your turn in the spotlight in the future.
Check back at the end of this month to see if Wei Shen and I make it out onto the other side!
simpleek 
I love Sunset Overdrive. Problem is there is a known glitch in mine and I can’t go any further until they fix it. In the meantime, I just running/jumping around the city. Guess I need Dragon Age.
The times I’ve played Sunset Overdrive, I haven’t encountered any glitches so far. Hopefully by the time I pick the game up again, the glitch would have been fixed by then. Inquisition is an amazing game, but I’m sort of biased since I’m a huge fan of the series already.
Have fun!! I played part of Sleeping Dogs a little while after it was released but got stuck on one silly fight and never came back to it. I should pick it up again sometime! It was pretty fun. =)
I was stuck in one part of Sleeping Dogs at one point, but I eventually figured out what I had to do and haven’t had any more “stuck” moments since! 🙂 The game is massively fun and I love the entire look of the game and characters.
I did not know Sunset Overdrive was a platformer! Will need to give it a try now I think. Looking forward to reading more about Sleeping Dogs, it’s one of those games that I’ve just never got around to, so will definitely be fun to read about!
I hope what I have to say on the game will be an interesting read! Sunset Overdrive breathes new life to the platformer genre I think, but it does require a level of skill and patience for some missions. It took me a while to get past one mission where I had to do a lot of jumping and switching. It was all about timing and I sucked at it. Somehow, I made it through! Definitely give it a try!
Yay for Sleeping Dogs! That was a really fun game, though you’re right about the hand-to-hand combat. It took some time to get used to the control scheme and it wasn’t the best part of the game. (On the other hand, the driving [and shooting] was awesome!) But man, that story! Okay, maybe it’s not all that unique, but I had a great time watching it unfold. Looking forward to seeing how the game turns out for you.
It really took some time to get used to the control scheme for the hand-to-hand combat, but once you do, it’s a piece of cake! I loathe the driving/chase scene aspects of the game because I’m so bad at driving and controlling vehicles in games overall, but I revel in the times I get to use a gun and shoot the bad guys! A friend also said he enjoyed the game, but didn’t really like the ending. I think he found it predictable like you did, but I’m sure it won’t spoil my experience with the game.
Picking between Sunset Overdrive and Sleeping Dogs is a great problem to have. You win either way.
Haha, yeah, I think so too. Both are fun to play, but I’m still on a play-a-game-with-a-richer story kick. Sleeping Dogs indulges that craving quite nicely for me.