The 52-Week Challenge - Game 1 - Sleeping Dogs

The 52-Week Challenge is something I came up with when thinking of a new way to update this little blog. The way I was doing things before took a fair amount of work and time that I cannot spare so much anymore. The challenge is simply to beat 52 games in 52 weeks, ending on 1st April 2014. Each game will be given a quick 'review', though I will probably post anything interesting I think of while playing the game. I have other ideas, but they can wait for now. So, let's begin.

Sleeping Dogs

Developers: United Front Games

Publisher: Square-Enix

Year Released: 2012

Console: PS3, 360, PC

Sleeping Dogs almost never happened. Playing through the game I simply cannot see how Activision had pulled the plug. The story was that it was going to be a new entry in the True Crime series, but Activision didn't think it would bring in a big enough profit. Square-Enix stepped in, helped to complete the game and then published it. It sold nearly 1.75 million copies. It should be more than that because this game is absolutely fantastic.

I actually bought the game when it first came out, played it for a couple of hours and while I liked it, I barely touched it and eventually traded it in. A couple of months ago it was one of the free games on Playstation Plus, so I decided I might as well download it. It took another month for me to give it another try, and this time I was hooked. This game is easily one of the best open-world games of this generation. It found a nice balance between the bleakness of GTA IV and the silliness of Saint's Row so it never delves too far in either direction. Another Square-Enix published game you could compare it to would be Just Cause 2 which was fun as hell - though the map was too massive which made trying to 100% it a near impossibility. Sleeping Dogs has a good variety of activities to do while having a good sized map that you can easily navigate. It helps that the reconstructed Hong Kong is so visually stunning, especially at night, that driving place to place rarely feels like a chore.

The driving is fun too, some of the developers were former employees of Black Box, who have made several Need for Speed games, so the high quality of the driving is no real surprise. Motorbikes in Sleeping Dogs are a joy to ride, I never seem to be forced off them as much as I do in other games.

However, the bread and butter of the game comes from the combat and it is awesome. It is the only game I can think of where being forced into a firefight is a disappointment, as the melee combat is one of the best in any game I've ever played. It is similar to the Batman: Arkham games, but with the addition of environmental attacks. If you grapple someone, some objects will glow red. Just drag them over and you can perform an, often brutal, attack that immediately knocks them out. Some of them are enough to make even the most desensitised gamer wince. Gunfights are good, but it is a lot more satisfying to beat them up and throw their head into a fan or a pallet of swordfish heads.

The story of the game is rather good too, it was designed to be a tribute to Asian crime films. You are Wei Shen, an undercover cop infiltrating the triad group 'Sun On Yee', which seems to be heading towards a civil war due to tensions rising between a couple of the 'red poles' (leaders). The characters are pretty well written and they do well to make you almost sympathise with some of the Triads - one character, Jackie Ma, you're left rooting for by the end of the game.

Do I recommend getting this game? Yes, definitely. It's probably available for fairly cheap these days, and on it's occasionally on sale on Steam (it's PC version is meant to be pretty good). It is worth every penny.

Taken From: Sleeping Dogs Wiki

Now, like all things, I don't like making decisions myself. So, I went to my trusty Backloggery to pick the next game for me. It picked well...if I didn't have to try completing it in a week...

Deus Ex - Episode 1.2 - More Training at UNATCO

The last time we were here we had just completed basic training with Dr. Reyes. We now know how to move, how to use keys and bash wooden crates with a crowbar to goodies. But we can't counter terrorism with our new-found piñata-bashing skills, we need guns. Luckily, a kind German man will teach us how to use them. 

Say hello to Gunther Hermann, probably one of my favourite characters in the early-game. His voice alone wins me over every time.

Pistols, as you would expect, are our basic gun in the game. Once upgraded with mods they can actually become incredibly useful, especially with the scope (basically turns it into a sniper rifle making headshots so much easier). For now just take a gun, release a target and...

...just take my word for it, a glass pane with a target man on it comes forward. With the pistol, the aiming reticle will shrink if you're aiming at something while sitting still for a few seconds. The littler the reticle, the more accurate your shot will be. After a second glass-pane man (from now on, I'll refer to him as Max. Max Pane.) gets shot, we're off to the next section.

Oh, sniper rifles! Here he's going to show us not only how to use the scope (press the '[' button) but also how skill can affect our performance. But first...

You can't tell through a still image, but with no training in Rifles, JC does not have a steady aim, instead the rifle moves about like he is trying to conduct an orchestra. This makes it rather difficult to hit Max here.

Gunther somehow makes us a Rifle Master, meaning...

...the picture was rather unnecessary but now JC has a steady aim, making it incredibly easy to hit Max here. That's all for guns. Now is it time to make things go boom? 

IT IS TIME TO MAKE THINGS GO BOOM!

See the dot on the middle of the target there? That is a LAM. Here it is being used as a mine. Gunther asked us to press a button to send a robot to its doom.

BOOOM! MUHAHAHAHAH! AGAIN! AGAIN! Well, actually Gunther does ask us to place our own LAM mine, and it goes the same as the last three images, so just re-look at them for effect. LAM's are not just mines though...

...they are also grenades. There are three doors in this room. Two cannot be breached, but one is made out of wood. This is where the 'Door Str' comes into play from last part. If the 'Door Str' is less than INF. then it can be destroyed with some explosives. I've already thrown one into the room, so...

The door is in pieces. Grenades can also help blow up cracked walls.

However, we are not the only ones who can set up LAMs like mines, the enemy bases will occasionally be booby trapped with them, but there is a way to disarm them. You can run into them and let them blow you up. 

Thus ends Deus Ex.

...oh, okay, you can also double right click on them.

Clicking once disarms it and clicking it again puts it in your pockets. It's usually nice to have a few of these on your hand, they only take one inventory space anyway. That's the end of Gunther's training session. Now is it time to meet accent #2 as we go to...

Covert training! This is where we learn how to be a ninja! 

Anna Navarre is Russian, so you can already form an idea on how her accent goes. Yes, a big part of this game is that if you prefer you can be a sneaky snake and sneak your way through levels. You can also be stealthy yet kill everyone at the same time, if that appeals to you.

We get Tech Goggles. I never used it, so I could be misremembering, but I think they are similar to night vision goggles? The data cube just contains the instruction manual for the goggles. I'll be putting all the DataCubes at the end of updates in case anyone wants to read them.

This is actually really easy. It's also very easy to accidentally get caught. One person patrols one side, the other patrols the other. There are crates to hide behind, crouch behind one and just wait until one passes you (their peripheral vision is very bad) and make a run for it. 

There is also this camo which pretty much turns you invisible for a short period of time.

We have one last test, we have to use everything we know to get to the exit.

It's literally a case of find the code behind some barrels, avoid the patrolling robot (it sees you and it will shoot) and get to the bridge. You'd have to be an idiot to get caught by the robot though.

...I got caught that's why there's no pictures of the rest of the course because I was panicking. This is just the training mission. This won't end well.

When we make it to the end we get a chance to learn a bit more about the Deus Ex world.

UNATCO are an arm of the United Nations. If any peace needs to be kept then it up to us. These are the generic UNATCO trooper we'll see quite a lot of.

The NSF are our main baddies, at least at the start of the game. You will see, and potentially shoot, a lot of these generic soldiers. However, this game wants you to stealth for a reason - even a couple of these can potentially overwhelm you. They usually have simple enough patrol routes though.

This is the bastard who shot at me earlier. They will generally patrol an area and will shoot any enemy that enters its sight. Useful if they're on your side. Deadly if they're against.

These are the robots we'll most likely see early in the game. A rocket would blow these up easily. Again though, stay out of the sights of these, even the baby ones can wreck you big time.

High-level UNATCO soldiers, like Anna and Gunther are basically half machine, with very visible machine parts. However this is the old technology. WE are the new technology.

This is our bro, Paul Denton. He is the first of the new augmented agents with no wires sticking out of him. JC is the second. Paul is however very human, many people at UNATCO are constantly disappointed in his insistence in not killing people, an idea far beyond the intelligence of most UNATCO troopers. That's all the holograms for now. Well...except one. Meet Mr. I'm Totally Not Evil - BOB!

Thanks Bobby! Finally, it's time to get a taste of some actual field experience! See you next time where we kill a bunch of people instead Lady Liberty!

Deus Ex - Episode 1.1 - Training at UNATCO Part 1 - The Basics

We're here at the lovely state of Continental, USA (I think it's near California?) to put JC Denton through his training. Here we will learn the three basic S's of the game: shooting, sneaking and, most importantly, 'splosions. But before any of that...

This is how mission support staff will communicate with you, directly in your ear. They will talk to you to provide mission objectives, gameplay hints, story exposition and when they're feeling lonely.

Our friend here, Jaime Reyes, is watching us through these windows. He'll follow us through all the rooms. Beside him is a MYSTERIOUS MAN. Perhaps we'll meet him again...

The first thing we learn is how to pick up objects. Just left-click on it and you pick it up. Nano-Keys go straight into your 'Key Ring'.

With the key ring equipped, you can open a door you have a key for. In the first screen notice the 'Lock Str' and 'Door Str'. We'll get to that eventually...

Well...we all know what the main use of a crowbar is, surely?

SMASH!

LOOT! Lockpicks help you pick locks. I'm an infinite source of knowledge.

Metal crates cannot be smashed, no matter how many BANGS and THWACKS and other onomatopoeias you throw at it.

DataCubes usually contains either codes/passwords or provide extra story-fluff. This one is a code for the next door...

This is what a keypad looks like for all you keypad-lovers out there.

Multitools are like lockpicks but for electronics instead. Their main functions is to open electronic locks, but they can also disable cameras and such. You want lots of these.

After each training section, all of your items will be confiscated. Probably for the best he took the knife away from us for the next section...

According to Jaime, this fella 'volunteered' to be knocked out. If only I still had my knife...

If you click on his body once you search him, he gives you a key. Click on him again and...

...you can pick him up and throw him about. This is more useful for hiding enemy bodies in the main game, but now we'll use it to tuck UNATCO Soldier into bed. Sadly there is no button to make JC Denton sing him a lullaby (someone get to work on that mod).

Now, JC Denton is not your old school agent like your Grandmother used to make, oh no. He is nano-augmented. This means that throughout the game he can be upgraded and can do more stuff normal humans cannot. For instance...

Pressing F12 makes you a shine a light. It also allows Denton to take a Steam snapshot every time he turns on his light. *Sarcasm mode* Man, I can't wait to share this shot of a dark room with all my frien..

...touché.

Repair bots replenish your bioelectric energy, that green bar beside the green man in the top left corner. There are items that do the same thing but it also recharges (slowly) by itself.

These are cameras. You'll find that 2050 terrorists do not do a good job of making these cameras subtle. I say that, but I guarantee they will be my worst nightmare in the game. Destroying them sounds an alarm. Getting caught by them sounds an alarm. You either need to hack it with a multitool, or hack into a nearby computer and switch them off - we'll get to that in the main game though.

Platforming. It's never complicated, mainly just ducking or jumping, but being in first person can make it rather awkward sometimes.

Metal cubes are portable platforming devices. You can lift them and place them where you need them to be in order to act like a step to a higher place. They don't offer any companionship though, so they're only second in my all time favourite video game cubes.

Ladders. You walk into them and look up. Much like in real life.

Hazmat Suit. I don't know if Mat haz suit but I shall ask him later. For now, just know that Hazmat Suits only absorb SOME of the damage done by toxic water.

You can't see very well, but it says 25% absorb on the left hand side there. That's right, new recruits at UNACTO are expected to swim through radioactive water, suffering a great amount of health loss as a result...as part of their training. Surely, that's not ethical?

Luckily, this is THE FUTURE! And thus we can just press a button and a machine makes us all well again. Look at the left-leg though, and that's WITH the 25% absorb. Naturally, if your legs or arms lose all their health you will struggle to move or use items (I think, I've never been at 0 arm health).

This actually ends the first part of the training. The next two are a lot shorter and thus I will put them in their own update next. What will we learn? Just remember the 3 S's: Shooting. Sneaking. And...

'SPLOSIONS!