Game Review: Sleeping Dogs DLC (Xbox 360)

The extra content available in Sleeping Dogs is plentiful so, if like me, after you finished the main game you wanted more then there were several add-ons for you to enjoy. This review will cover 2 of them, the 2 I downloaded & played to completion.

The first important thing to say about both DLC’s is that they are quite short & if they were charging 800 Microsoft points it would be hard to justify buying them. However this is not the case & you can pick up Nightmare in North Point & Year of the Snake for 560 MS points each.

Nightmare in North Point

This DLC sees Wei returning from a late-night movie with Not Ping. They are attacked by a ghost called ‘Smiley Cat’ who has risen from the underworld to take his revenge on the Sun On Yee. Not Ping is captured in the fight forcing Wei to get involved. Smily Cat used to work for the Sun On Yee before he was killed by Uncle Po’s order. Now he wants revenge & he has an army of undead to help him.

Lets not kid ourselves here…I’m a big fan of the main game but they are taking the piss with this DLC. It’s so light on content that its not even funny. A handful of repetitive missions, bad-guys & collectibles…that’s your lot. An early mission sees you collecting ingredients to imbue your fighting skills with magic power to help you beat the ghosts & as soon as that happens it becomes 1 fight after another of the same thing, beat them all up & close the portal by dumping 3 of them back into it. Sometimes a bigger demon will show up who takes a little bit more work but if your skilled in the game they hold no challenge really. Oh & don’t get me started about the boss battle with Smiley Cat….it’s far too easy.

None of this is helped by it all taking place in the small area of North Point. The reusing of 3 old sub-bosses seemed lazy rather then clever & they all play out in similar fashion to the main game. You have none of your vehicles but you do seem to have all your abilities, you are given money but there is nothing to spend it on. There is not much going on at all in this DLC.

It really shouldn’t take you any longer then 2-3 hours to finish all the main & side missions. However that being said it is still Sleeping Dogs & the same quality gameplay is on show. The enemies are very unique playing on the mythical Chinese kind of zombie/vampire. It was very cool to see them bouncing around & Smiley Cat is an interesting enemy. It’s just a pity they didn’t add a little bit more too it.

A disappointing DLC that seems to want to be Red Dead’s Undead Nightmare but falls well short.

Now this is more like it!

Set after the main game Wei is back on the beat, writing up tickets & busting two-bit criminals. It seems like all that triad business has not made him friends at the top. While writing a ticket one day he spots someone acting strangely & when he investigates the person runs off forcing Wei to give chase. Once caught & back at the station it seems like a cult has sprung up in Hong Kong led by Master Chu. Predicting an end of the world scenario with the unbelievers cast into hell it seems like Wei is up to his neck in it again.What follows is a race against time to stop the cultist from carrying out their fanatical plans of seeing in the year of the snake with a bang.

Offering more quality & variety then Nightmare in North Point, Year of the Snake improves on a lot. For starters it being set after the main game means we get to see where Wei’s life went. It’s cool that after all the action of the main game he had to go back to writing up tickets & dealing in petty rows!

The cultist angle is very cool & having to race across Hong Kong disarming or disposing of bombs was a fun thing too do. The enemies are as standard as they come though & baring the different coloured outfits & ‘cultist’ exchanges they are no different. Some of the new features are great though such as the addition of a taser & handcuffs in your fighting style. It made it feel more police like to kick the crap out of enemies before slapping the cuffs on them. Also the mission where you get to use tear gas was a lot of fun!

Overall it should take no longer then 4-6 hours to complete. The main story is fairly lengthy & while there are a number of side missions they amount to roughly the same thing, doing cop stuff with occasional bomb threats being dealt with. I don’t know why I enjoyed arresting someone for public urination so much, maybe all that triad stuff got to me too!

Once again vehicles don’t cross over with your main mode of transport being police cars & while the city is open for you too explore there isn’t much beyond police jobs & side missions too do.

The ending is satisfying & ends the games story arc in a good way. This is the last piece of DLC for the game now & it is a good way for Wei to sign off.