I played Batman's ages ago but I think SD has more unlockable combos which makes combat deeper and more interesting with progress so it can stand on it's own. Might be wrong though, I might have been just ignoring combos in Batman and using mostly basic moves all the time as I played it for stealth mostly.

It arguably has my favorite radio in any open world game, so there is that.

I think it was a very good idea to copy the Arkham combat and add a bit of environmental options to it. The creators of Arkham Asylum said they tried to create a combat system which resembles Sammo Hung movies, so copying that for a Hong Kong action game is a no brainer in my opinion.

Sure, that could all be accurate.

However, stealing Arkham's combat makes Sleeping Dogs into more of a derivative variation of another game, rather than an original game...so IMO that lack of originality takes Sleeping Dogs down a whole bunch of pegs.

If Sleeping Dogs was the first game to use such a combat system, if Sleeping Dogs was the originator of it rather than merely a co-opter of it who is riding on the originator's coattails, then phrases like "masterpiece" and "best open world game ever" and praises of that magnitude would be much more appropriate.

But with it being a derivative game instead of an original concept that the Sleeping Dogs devs made themselves, then high praise like that becomes much harder to warrant.

I hear that notion a lot in general about innovation in games. I never really agreed with it though. If something excellent is copied the end result is still excellent, so i don't consider innovation itself a sign of quality. If the creators of Sleeping Dogs came up with the combat system before anyone else did it and released the exact same game it would still be the exact same game and therefore would deserve the exact same praise to me. Many of my favorite games of all times are highly derivative of others (Final Fight, Saints Row, Splinter Cell, etc.).

I can see how some people (especially easily bored ones who want something new and fresh as often as possible) might disagree though.

I'm not a great fan of this kind of games, but I loved Sleeping Dogs. It's truly amazing game. What impresses me the most is how well it merges good story and open-world freedom of choice, it's such an unusual thing in gaming today. Also setting is quite unique and creates great atmosphere. This game is definitely worth much more than $3 it costs often on sale.

While I stayed out of whether Sleeping Dogs is the best open-world game ever...

... I will say that I played Sleeping Dogs on the PS3...

... then on PS4...

... and I purchased it on PC (GOG).

And where I would suggest a game like Mad Max -- using the same general combat system -- specifically to people who like Just Cause and have a high tolerance for "mission monotony," I'd suggest Sleeping Dogs to almost anyone enjoying story-based action games.

Such a shame it didn't sell as expected. I would have loved to se a sequel.

Damn. You guys convinced me. Installing it again on my PC.

The Saboteur is about a billion times better than Sleeping Dogs. Sleeping Dogs has so many glaring issues (such as having arguably the worst waypointer in video game history - if there is a worse one, I haven't come across it) that I can kinda see why Activision would shitcan the entire project. I don't approve, but I can understand.

GTA melee combat is so much of an afterthought that I don't mind if some dev wholesale copies Batman Arkham combat into their GTA-like game.GTA combat anyway is only decent in San Andreas and Vice City Stories, at its peak in IV, and is degraded in V.

If the end result is "combat copied from Arkham" instead of "GTA devs invent their own own combat (albeit much crappier combat than what Sleeping Dogs has)" I'll go with "combat copied from Arkham." Not that I think this is valid criticism anyway, as Arkham doesn't let you finish off enemies by bashing their heads against air conditioner units or stalls.

Ditto. Yes, very Donnie Brasco-y, even one step further.

Love this game. Way more than Saints Row, to name one. There is a strong story, lots of minigames, missions, objectives, toys (vehicles, accesories...) and if you ever want to do something silly, the game offers tools for that. On the other hand, trying to play seriously in Saints Row you are swimming upstream. Indeed in another thread a while ago some people mentioned about Skyrim that in the end, going 100% open world and ignoring completely the story was fun for a while, but ultimately boring (for them, I concur). But it feels nice to have some freedom, or a good illusion of freedom in a game. Possibly the best is starting with the first mission(s) that is showing you the world and mechanics, then exploring what the game world has to offer, a little, then mixing it all in a cocktail that works for you. IIRC there are some sparse optional police missions where you have to plant a wire or hack some devices. Not annoying and they are optional. Not repetitive as they do not come all the time. It is amazing how much you get for so little. The magic of good old games. Did you go to the organized street fights/tournaments? In your regular clothes or wearing something different?

Plenty of triad missions in the final version. Did not find any need to grind whatsoever. Grinding for power in an open world is a possibility, just not a fun one for this player.
The game allows you to throw your helment if really feel you have to do that. The game will not allow the player to ride a bike without a helmet. That is a decision from the devs dealing with traffic afety and not glorifying helmet-less riding.
Indeed.
This

Don't mind Ancient Red Dragon. He gets his jollies shitting on everything as if there is a black and white answer to every situation. It's just what he does.

Yup, I 100% the game and got the plat on PS4 so I did do all the tournaments. I did wear the Bruce Lee infamous yellow leotard but didnt wear any of the special outfits that change up your moveset.

The only time I used a special outfit was the monk steel skin for the poison knife special fight iirc. That fight was tough and I was having trouble with the throwing the gold knife to kill everyone technique.

Yes they did fix the triad exp in the final definitive version of the game. The death tournament DLC (which is basically a homage to enter the dragon) provides a ton of Triad exp to get those last final levels much easier iirc. I just know that when the game first came out, players had trouble maxing out triad exp and it became a problem for players going for the achievement.

I do think the cop exp earning was unbalanced and not fun from a gameplay perspective. It was subtraction based and encouraged slow careful driving to avoid hitting other cars or doing environmental damage which is sometimes unavoidable. Police exp is quite easy to get and the 50% boost makes getting max police levels a cinch but from a game mechanic perspective, I was not a fan is all.

Since so many people are gushing about SD, I have a question I thought I'd ask. I played and platinumed it o PS3 and loved it but since I've tried playing on PC I feel like a get a lot more motion sickness with the camera whipping back around. Has anyone else noticed this or found a solution? I've tried turning the mouse look thing off but nothing's worked.