Sleeping Dogs Review

Despite its severe setbacks, Sleeping Dogs is finally here. Back in 2009 the game was known as True Crime: Hong Kong, a name that excited long-time fans as they eagerly awaited the revival of a long-absent franchise. Unfortunately, Activision lost faith in the project toward the end of its development cycle and dropped United Front Game’s game, but not before plenty of coverage articles had littered the internet praising the upcoming True Crime title’s potential. Then, late last year, Square Enix came riding in like a knight in shining armor, saving the nearly-finished game and changing its name to Sleeping Dogs to avoid legal issues with Activision.

Engaging Story

Now, players can finally step into the shoes of Wei Shen, an undercover cop tasked with infiltrating a Triad organization known as the Sun On Yee in Hong Kong. Wei quickly learns that his objective will force him to forget the rules laid out by his law enforcement superiors and push him to perform unspeakable acts, ones that will plague his mind. Since the law and the Triads promote and demand completely opposite actions, Wei will have to make certain choices to maintain the balance between his two lives. These twist themselves around a compelling story that is intense, dark and emotional. The game reminds the player of past sequences by replaying important dialogue when Wei goes to sleep, causing him to wake up startled due to the night terrors. This ensures that Wei and the player never forget what grisly situations they have been caught up in. It isn’t too common for open world titles to contain such an engrossing narrative, but Sleeping Dogs pulls it off and, once you begin to experience the horrors that can accompany undercover work, you won’t want to stop until you’ve seen how everything ends up for Wei.

Solid, Diverse Gameplay

In order to live this edgy lifestyle, one must be skilled. Luckily, Wei is skilled in nearly every aspect that matters when it comes to taking down opposition. Wei Shen is an expert fighter and can effortlessly take on groups of men, thanks to the fluid multi-directional combat system that is reminiscent of the recent Batman games. The face buttons control the ability to to assault enemies, grapple and counter attacks. It’s a simple set up, but it is an in-depth system once you get into it. If Wei gets overwhelmed, he always has the environment to back him up. Launch a spinning back kick off of a wall; grab a tire iron out of the trunk of a nearby car; toss a gangster into a dumpster. The options are all there and they’re quite varied. It adds substantial depth to the fighting system as the player has several options, whether they’re taking on a single enemy or ten. In the event that you end up taking on ten crooks, you may end up receiving a few harsh blows. Further enhancing the experience, Wei’s appearance will change as he takes damage, which is shown through bloodied clothes and skin. It’s much more satisfying when the enemies are the ones looking worse for wear, but it is a nice touch reminding us that our hero is only human.

When Wei’s fists just won’t do, he’ll wield firearms with deadly efficiency. The third-person shooting is solid and event contains contextual slow-motion, which can turn the entire Hong Kong playground into one huge John Woo movie. As is expected with most third-person shooters, a cover system is present. However, differentiating itself from other cover-based shooters, Sleeping Dogs encourages offensive play. Leaping over obstacles is rewarded with momentary slow-mo, making it more beneficial to transition quickly from cover to cover instead of sitting still. Each gun feels and sounds powerful, making them a pleasure to utilize.

Now that we’ve covered fighting and shooting, let’s focus on Sleeping Dogs’ third pillar of gameplay: driving. Driving scenarios are usually dreaded when it comes to free roam titles, but given United Front Game’s background, driving is an absolute treat. Cars and bikes alike drive smoothly, able to drift around corners with ease. And boats are no slouch either. Because of the solid driving mechanics, the races that I wished to avoid in games like Grand Theft Auto become events I looked forward to. Part of the enjoyment also stems from the fact that cars can ram in any direction, much like we saw in the game The Wheelman, although it’s handled much better here.

Customizable Experience

Surprisingly, all of your time won’t be spent roaming the streets. The player will spend a fair amount of time in the menus allocating points in different skill trees. Since the Triads and cops handle situations differently, the game awards the player for playing either role. Perform lethal kills and the Triads will be pleased; keep reckless driving to a minimum and be mindful of civilians and the cops will know you’re still on their side. You can spend these points in their respective upgrade sections. The obtainable abilities range from special ammunition to increased melee damage to new moves all together. The constant flow of unlocks makes sure the game feels fresh even when you’re well over 10 hours in.

Through locating jade statues and completing side missions, Wei can upgrade items in the Martial Arts and Face trees. For every jade statue returned to the martial arts instructor, Wei is taught a new move of his choosing, my personal favorites being the arm and leg breaks which cause surrounding enemies to flinch in horror. By helping out the locals in random, varied side quests, the Face Meter begins to fill up and will level up. Gaining “face” does more than just award a skill point; it also allows the player to purchase nicer cars and equip fancier clothes to match Wei’s new face level. With 28 cars and 179 different clothing options, players will be busy for a while customizing Wei’s look and ride to their liking.

Tons of Mini-Games

Hong Kong is filled to the brim with activities and, many times, these activities lead to mini-games. Wei’s personal closed-circuit television in his apartment is a part of an engaging side activity. By clearing out specified spots of hostiles, Wei can hack nearby cameras by figuring out the proper numerical combination. In turn, these cameras stream live video back at the apartment. While viewing the video feed, Wei can highlight important criminals remotely, at which point an officer will spring into action and arrest the selected individual. This one type of optional side mission contains three parts, two of which are entertaining mini-games. Other mini-games, such as lock picking, appear as progress is made throughout the story. One of the most interesting is Karaoke, where Wei can show off his vocal talent in front of a hostess. By using the left analogue stick, Wei can sing recognizable songs like a pro. However, mess up and feedback from the mic will override Wei’s impressive singing voice. Interestingly enough, even conversations are transformed into mini-games with button prompts briefly appearing when Wei needs to think on his feet to talk his way out of a situation. It may not be the best replacement for being able to select your own conversation topic, but for an open-world title, it’s impressive to see so much jam-packed into every aspect.

Slightly Outdated Graphics

While Hong Kong itself looks beautiful bustling with people, cars and shops, the characters vary from acceptable to down-right ugly. During certain cutscenes, faces lack detail and animations look a bit stiff. This is partially remedied during scenes with rain as the characters glisten from the water, creating the illusion of more visually pleasing characters. With the game having dealt with delays and cancellation, the graphics may not be as detailed as they should be given that we should have seen this title earlier. That’s not to say that they’re terrible by today’s standards; they could have just used an extra layer of polish.

Noticeable Screen-Tearing

Would you be surprised if I said Sleeping Dogs didn’t contain a single performance issue? Yeah, me too. While gawking at the insane scale of Hong Kong, I noticed occasional screen-tearing as I moved the camera about to take in the lively environment. With so many positives backing this game up already, it’s hard to put too much weight into this issue. Minor screen-tearing is a small price to pay to gain access to everything this expansive title has to offer.

Final Thoughts:

Sleeping Dogs is a huge step forward for free roam games and with Grand Theft Auto V’s absence this year (so far), it may very well snag the top spot in its genre. The money is well worth the amount of content contained in this game and with several months of DLC planned on top of the already lengthy campaign, Sleeping Dogs is sure to hold the attention of many for the foreseeable future. Even though a few issues can be found here and there, it would take much more to really detract from this engaging experience. I must agree 100% with Mike Fischer of Square Enix, Activision was crazy to drop this game.

Darksiders II Review

2010 saw the release of an exceptional title known as Darksiders, but unfortunately, it went largely unnoticed despite all of its glory. The story of War’s journey for redemption was an epic tale revolving around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, angels, demons and the complete annihilation of mankind. Not wanting anyone to miss the latest apocalyptic adventure, THQ has gone all out in the marketing department to avoid releasing another “sleeper hit”.

While the title Darksiders II informs the player that it is a sequel, the game isn’t your typical follow-up. Instead of picking up at the end of the first entry, Darksiders II follows Death — brother of War and most feared of the Horseman– as he tries to absolve War’s alleged crimes while the events of the first Darksiders are currently going on. The long and perilous quest leads the Pale Rider on a remarkable journey where he must perform the opposite task than he’s accustomed to: bring life back from the dead.

Death is Swift

One of the most drastic changes from the previous entry is that Darksider II’s protagonist, Death, plays and handles much differently than the unstoppable force, War. Unlike his brother, Death is agile and relies on dodging to avoid taking damage; blocking is not an option here. Players must take on a more proactive role during fights as movement is key in these battles. Thanks to the speed of Death and the quick slashes from his dual-wielded scythes, we end up with a character that has more of a rogue-like build; although Death is perfectly capable of wielding weapons that rival that of War’s sword thanks to the new loot system, but more on that later. Death’s iconic scythe is always at his side, but his secondary attack comes from whatever other weapon he has chosen to equip. These can range from the hard-hitting, slow-swinging hammers to the lightning-fast gauntlets. Death’s combat capabilities are much more diverse than War’s and the increase in combat depth is quite welcome. In a second, Death can switch from twirling scythes around him at blinding speed to bringing down the business end of an oversized axe down upon an unfortunate enemy’s head. The varied styles that Death takes into battle is rewarding and, with plenty of new moves to purchase and an all-powerful Reaper form, is easily adaptable for the several types of enemies found along the journey.

This Horseman’s agility is put on display outside of battle as well. Death can run up/alongside walls (Prince of Persia style), leap to and from pillars with ease and perform various other acrobatics to traverse the many lands he crosses. This creates a much different platforming experience than we saw in 2010 and it allows players to move steadily throughout the many areas contained within the game, resulting in the inability for boredom to be an issue.

More RPG Than Action-Adventure

The first Darksiders was very much an action-adventure game. Darksiders II has changed the formula a bit and the end result feels more like an RPG. Death is now able to level up throughout the game by earningexperience. Upon leveling up, skill points are awarded. These skill points can be placed in one of two skills trees — Harbinger and Necromancer. Each skill tree provides its own unique set of abilities that players can invest in to customize Death to their personal play style. For example, Teleport Smash is the first option in the Harbinger Tree. Death can restore health and simultaneously deal damage to opponents by teleporting through them. The game allows further enhancements to these powers by either leveling up the ability (a maximum of three times) or by investing more points in to complimentary abilities. Immolation will start accepting skill points after Teleport Smash has been unlocked and will augment the move with fire damage. On the Necromancer side of things, Death can learn to call upon a flock of deadly crows and can even outfit the group of birds with healing attributes and ice damage. The abundance of powers and handful of possible alterations forces the player to really analyze their current needs so they can figure out where to allocate that invaluable skill point.

Further dipping into the RPG side of things, Vigil Games has added one of the genre’s most iconic features: loot. Loot sits inside hidden (some not so much) chests and breakable objects. Approach these chests and Death’s reaper form will tear the lid right off of them, causing a cascade of items to come flying out and onto the ground. You’ll get used to seeing piles of gold and color-coated weapons — a color-based system was implemented much like Borderlands — litter the area around Death’s feet, and it never gets old. Taking out a tough opponent and watching a pair of scythes illuminated by a blue aura is always exciting. One of the best features is that the player isn’t required to pick up the items to see if they are worth hauling. Numbers will appear above the weapon/armor showing attributes either in red (worse than the currently equipped item) or green (better than the currently equipped item). However, I found it easier to enable Auto Collect and amass large quantities of loot to sift through between dungeons. Sure, I ended up with a lot of junk over the course of the game, but I always had plenty to sell to obtain the items I really wanted. Also, regarding armor, due to its ability to change stats, collecting shards is no longer necessary to increase health or wrath.

For those of you who played the first title, you may be surprised at just how much time you spend in the menus this time around. With all the available skills (and the option to respec) and constant flow of armor/weapons, players will find themselves weighing the pros and cons of new equipment as they decide whether or not to switch. Instances such as this can turn a harmless scroll through your obtained treasures after a dungeon into a twenty minute task, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.

Possessed Weapons

Although this falls under the category “loot”, it deserved its own section. Possessed weapons are a special type of item that Death will come across during his journey. These red-highlighted weapons are able to “eat” other weapons and armor to boost their own stats. For example, “feeding” armor to a possessed weapon can add a Resistance or Strength rating, providing defensive aid from an offensive item. Let the possessed weapon absorb other weapons and it’ll see increased Critical Strike percentages and/or elemental damage. It’s a unique upgrade system and one that makes players rethink selling everything they come across.

Compelling Narrative

The story of War was only part of the story and now we get to see the same events fold out through the eyes of his brother, Death. With the Four Horsemen sharing a strong bond, Death will do whatever it takes to War’s convictions, no matter the cost to others or himself. The new perspective on events will draw current fans in with ease. Newcomers need not worry though because the game explains the events going on from the first game thoroughly. This way, the story isn’t lost on anyone. The 20+ hour adventure is filled with familiar characters, welcome additions and outstanding bosses that highlight the entire experience. Although our grim-voiced hero rarely strays from his standard tone, Death manages to be a compelling character, especially once the player learns more of his past and internal conflict. Many characters that appear throughout the story are memorable and have unique personalities, from the massive Makers to the shining angels of the Hellguard. All of these further tie together a strong narrative that brings itself to a satisfying conclusion.

The Crucible

Roaming the open-world landscapes of Darksiders II is fun and all, but sometimes its nice to beat up tons of enemies without the need to search for dungeons or large groups. The Crucible makes all of this possible with 100 waves of glorious combat. Of course, all 100 waves aren’t readily available from the beginning. Players will have to play through the story, and a partial second run, to gain access to every wave. The waves are divided up into four stages (25 waves per stage) and the difficulty increases with the completion of every wave. Things start off simple enough, but soon grow to the point where you’ll be facing bosses from the story, and even multiple at a single time. This arena mode is very addictive and with the addition of leaderboards, the competitive aspect is sure to bring people back for more as they alter their equipment to better their chances at reaching the number one spot. If that isn’t motivation enough, rewards are given for reaching certain milestones in The Crucible. Amongst these rewards lies the ultimate loot: Death’s Ultimate Armor. If you manage to make it through all 100 wave in a single sitting, the game will bestow great gifts upon your character, allowing you to stand out from (and above) everyone else’s personalized Death.

Beautiful Environments

The detail in each environment is something we should all take the time to observe. Darksiders II’s scenery is eye-catching and as the environments begin to shift to new areas, it’s easy to appreciate the diversity. The Forge Lands seen in the beginning are teeming with open areas filled with vibrant green grass and other shrubbery covering jagged rocks. The game then takes the player to new areas, such as the golden cities of the angels and the empty, dark streets of Earth. Each area is a refreshing change of scenery and each provides its own visually stimulating backdrops.

Camera Issues

The camera works as intended in most cases, but there comes a point (usually in tight, crowded rooms) where it decides to work against the player. When locked on to enemies in areas with little maneuverability, the camera can lose track of Death. This mainly happens when attempting to avoid incoming attacks with Death’s back to a wall. It may not occur all the time, but when it does, it can be annoying. The issue is much more infuriating while playing on the game’s harder difficulties Apocalyptic or, the newly added, Nightmare where avoiding attacks is more crucial than ever.

Various Glitches

No game is perfect and Darksiders II is, unfortunately, not an exception. Some glitches present themselves throughout the campaign and each ranges in severity. For starters, there were noticeable issues with pop-in and screen-tearing in both open areas and tightly-packed dungeons. Far worse than those, however, were the two instances of freezing due to an event I could not identify. It could have been that I had attempted to perform an action at an undesired time or that the game simply went kaput for another unknown reason. Whatever the case may be, the severe issues were rare and unable to be both reproduced and confirmed with other copies. However, screen-tearing and pop-in were a noticeable problem on multiple copies of the game. It is worth noting that these smaller problems are not enough to detract from the superb overall experience the game has to offer.

Final thoughts:

Darksiders II is a spectacular game with loads of content that is sure to please everyone. From its gripping tale revolving around Death’s unrelenting search for the answer to War’s absolution to the added RPG elements, this sequel has done what very few follow-ups nowadays can do, and that’s maintain the spirit of the franchise while fixing the flaws of its predecessor. With its abundance of content, ranging from the 20+ hour campaign to the 100-wave Crucible, Darksiders II is one of the few games that can justify its $60 price point. Although a few issues are present in-game, they are but small blemishes on what many may consider a masterpiece. With “Game of the Year” already sitting on the tip of my tongue, I can’t recommend Darksiders 2 enough.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane Review

Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a turn-based strategy game that was developed by Ino-Co Plus, whose previous titles include Majesty 2, Fantasy Wars, Elven Legacy, and many others. The game borrows heavily from the current turn-based strategy king Civilization 5 and even borrows some elements from the DOS based MicroProse classic Master of Magic.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane features solid gameplay, great sound design and an insane amount of replayability. However, the game is not without its issues. The look and feel is pretty much a blatant ripoff of Civilization 5. Will that quirk lead to a bad game? Let’s take a look at what’s Hot and what’s Not in our review of Warlock: Master of the Arcane.

Gameplay
Warlock is all about dominating your other great mages and vying for control over Ardania. This means the game is mainly about war, while there are other paths to victory you may not know about them unless you read the game’s guide or visit the website. These victory conditions include seizing all Holy grounds, killing God’s avatar and absorb his power, and casting the great spell ‘Unity’. These other conditions are hard to come by only because most of the elements in the game favor war.

The game features basic elements of economy, research and religion. All of these elements are crucial in producing units that help you in your struggle for power. You will use research to learn new spells. These spells can buff your units, increase production and even cause harm to emery units. Although, the damage is not large enough at the lower and middle stages to justify its use. You use the economy mechanic to recruit armies and construct buildings that allow you to recruit more armies.

Besides fighting your other rival mages you may find yourself trying to appease one of the many gods in the game. There are a bunch of ways to do that. You can build a temple to them on holy ground, which is hard to find. You can also complete quests from them. If you complete a quest from a god you will receive favor with them, gold, and a special spell. If you refuse a quest or you do not complete it then you will lose favor with that god.

All in all, the gameplay in Warlock is very solid and very streamlined. I find it easy to just pick up and get into a game.

Graphics
If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, than Civilization V should feel very complimented, as Warlock imitates the Civilization 5 quite heavy in the graphics department. The look and feel is heavily borrowed from Civilization 5. I feel that if you’re going to rip off another game’s look, at least try do it better than them and not worse.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a fun game and there is a lot of content to be seen and experienced. I enjoyed my time in Ardania, and can’t wait to start up another playthrough soon. The fact that the game has the exact feel as Civilization V is not a big issue in my book. However, it still needed to be pointed out. With the price tag of $19.99 you’d expect to see some concessions some where along the lines. Overall, Warlock: Master of the Arcane deserves its score of a 7.5 out of 10

Krater Review

This is a brief review of the new game by independent game developer FatShark.

A game in the Steam store recently caught my eye.  Mainly because of the brightly colored title. Now, the game will only run you about 14.99, and will be reviewed not as a full 60.00 game but as a 14.99 cost game.  Although buyers should know that the game is still in testing phases, but FatShark has put it on the market early.  What does this mean?  Most likely that FatShark was running low on funds for further development or they just wanted a wider range of testers.  Regardless, that is one of my major gripes with the game, as you are paying for an unfinished product.  On the other hand you can expect frequent content updates. 

The game plays like an RPG with a top down view, similar to what we've seen form Diablo and other dungeon crawlers.  Although it is not exactly a dungeon crawler.  More of an old school RPG.  The combat in the game is squad based.  You are allowed 3 people in your squad at any time, and there are 4 classes to pick from.  A medic, tank, crowd control, and DPS character.  Each having their own gear and weapons.  Each class only has 2 abilities but they are upgradeable.  The abilites vary from unit to unit.  By this, I mean that two medics may not have the same two abilites and so forth for the other character types.  You can also hire new party members in the towns across the world.  The level cap for units is 15 and works in 5 level intervals.  By this i mean every five levels you need to rank up by buying the next set of 5 levels from a vendor.  

The overall gameplay is satisfying, but you will probably have to be a fan of dungeon crawler style combat to fully enjoy the experience.  Only have 6 abilities max is fairly frustrating after hours of gameplay.  The tanks have aggro moves, the medics obviously heal, the crowd crontrol stuns and slows, and the DPS well...does damage.  You'll find yourself venturing from city to dungeon to city to do tasks for various people along your journey.  

The story isn't all that immersive but it is still there.  Its the typical post-apocalytic speech, and everyone trying to dig into a "Krater" in order to find riches and other valuables.  Although some people have split off and created their own faction, these "evil doers" are your main enemy and you meet them rather early in the story.

All in all this game in my opinion is worth 14.99 would but not be worth say 24.99 or above.  Rated as a 14.99 game i would give it an 8/10.  Hopefully the development team can spice things up over the course of its testing stages to make the game a tad more deep and emersive.  

SMITE Review

About three weeks ago, Hi-Rez Studios released their newest game called SMITE. It has entered the Closed Beta phase and will remain there for most likely a month or two until either open beta (most likely) or full release. The only way you can participate in the beta is if you have a beta key or if you buy gems. Gems are the in-game currency used to buy more character or skins/aesthetic things.

After playing SMITE for 1 week it is obvious that this game is well made and has the potential to be a smash hit if handled correctly by Hi-Rez. The playable characters in the game are based off of Gods throughout certain mythologies. They currently have about 4 gods from each: Greek, Chinese, Norse, Egyptian, and Hindu mythology. When you start the game you are given 5 starter gods. These being Kali, Ymir, Ra, Artemis, and Sun Wukong. As you play games you will level up, each level gives you 1000 favor. This favor is in-game currency similar to gems except you can not buy skins with it, only gods. You will also receive a fair amount of favor after each game (more if you win).

I would now like to go over the basics of the game so you can get a feel of how it is played. Smite is a new MOBA style game that is very similar to Land of Chaos Online, which is another third person, FPS style MOBA. Where other MOBA's include various elements such as auto attacks that can only be 'dodged' by statistics such as dodge or evasion, just about every single ability in smite, including auto attacks, must be aimed to hit both creeps and enemy Gods (Players = Gods).

So from this you can see that this game is much more action oriented and fast paced than other MOBA games such as DotA 2 or League of Legends. Speaking of other MOBA games I will now try to explain the key differences between this MOBA and others such as the aforementioned ones.

As an introduction, there are, thankfully, a few elements that Smite shares with other MOBAs, so the transition shouldn't be too rough for most players. There are 3 'lanes' in Smite that include the Right Lane, Middle Lane, and Left Lane (instead of the traditional Top, Middle, and Bot). As with most MOBAs, the middle lane is the shortest and is easily accessible to other lanes to gank or get ganked, which makes it the lane where you'd either have a mobile carry/farmer/ganker. The other lanes are more or less even, and are located on the left or right sides of Middle Lane.
Creeps spawn and run down these lanes just like other MOBAs, battling it out and giving gold and experience on their deaths. The difference compared to other similar titles is that creeps in Smite give gold regardless if you last hit them or not; you receive a small bonus for last hitting, but most of the time you will not gain a huge advantage if you last hit mediocrity throughout the game. Being within about 30 feet of creeps will grant you both gold and experience, though these values decrease the more teammates that are close by.
You have a large shop in which you can buy items and build your God in order to deal more damage, provide utility to your team, and become more resistant to physical or magic damage. You can also buy consumables to assist with laning, or buy wards to place around the map and grant vision. There are various differences here, the most notable being that you do not 'combine' items to create other items in Smite. Instead, it uses a system that started by DotA, but utilized heavily by Battle of the Immortals; when you shop, you buy an item that can give various stats, but when you return to shop, you can upgrade this item further to provide more similar stats and, eventually, bonus passive effects. This is pretty user-friendly and helps remove the curve of learning item paths and builds.
For consumables, instead of having a bunch of slots for whatever you need, you can only use 1 slot dedicated to consumables, meaning if you bought health potions at the start, you can't buy mana potions to put in this slot until your health potions are used up (or destroyed).
In addition to items and potions, Ability items bring utility to teams; they have effects such as removing crowd control, giving you or your team a speed boost, making you invulnerable for 2 seconds, as well as many other effects, though are limited by cooldowns. You have 3 slots for these items, and are useful for countering many different Gods at different stages in the game.


After playing this game for quite some time I can say that it is worth checking out (if you can get a beta key) or if you want to spend 7.99 to buy gems and start off with 2 more gods (that you choose). It is a fairly easy transition from League of Legends as there are many similarities between the two games, generally speaking. Overall, I would give SMITE's closed beta a 8.5/10 I am very excited to see what they have in store for future patches and the full release!