SLEEPING DOGS BEST PC GAME.

Playing Sleeping Dogs kept me on the edge of my seat, but not for the reasons you might expect. Sure, Sleeping Dogs’ melee combat and gunplay provide plenty of thrills, the driving is extraordinarily fun in all of its arcadey glory, and there’s a whole lot to do in the version of Hong Kong Canadian developer United Front Games created. But at the end of my nearly 20-hour experience, none of that mattered to me as much as the story did. It’s that story, coupled with rock-solid mechanics and a task-heavy world that sets Sleeping Dogs apart from its competition.

See, Sleeping Dogs isn’t your typical Grand Theft Auto clone. Unlike recent titans of the genre -- Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption and Saints Row: The Third -- your character, Wei Shen, doesn’t have roguish, violent tendencies just because he’s a criminal looking to make a few bucks. Rather, Shen is a calculated and complicated figure, an undercover cop with plenty of experience in both the United States and Hong Kong who returns to his native land in order to help get the city’s thriving criminal enterprises under control. But as Shen gets sucked further and further into the Triad underworld he initially wants to unravel, his motives – and which side he’ll end up falling in line with – become increasingly blurred.

Sleeping Dogs’ blurred lines come to the fore as soon as you’re introduced to the game’s unique leveling system, which allots Shen experience points in three specific areas: Cop, Triad and Face. The experience points are, in turn, used to unlock new, unique abilities. Cop and Triad points often intermingle with one another as you complete the game’s primary missions, rewarding you for how careful you are with innocents and personal and private property (Cop) while simultaneously challenging you to brutalize your enemies with as much reckless abandon and gore as you can muster (Triad).

Face, on the other hand, has everything to do with how the citizenry of Hong Kong feel about you, making it not only the most abstract of the experience meters, but perhaps the most interesting as well. Doing all kinds of favors for the anonymous masses net you Face experience, so whether you’re assisting a merchant, chasing down some drunks or otherwise generally helping out the working class folk (and the occasional two-bit criminal) of Hong Kong, expect your Face meter to rise steadily.

A unique, multi-faceted experience system like this makes Sleeping Dogs a more deliberate affair than its contemporaries. On most main story missions, for instance, you will be docked police points for ramming into street lights with your car, accidentally striking a civilian or letting stray bullets seep into a storefront. But this is balanced by your brutality with Triad members. Using the game’s array of exceptionally gory kills is a great way to build that Triad meter to its maximum level as quickly as humanly possible. The experience system’s dynamics will keep you on your toes, and because you can replay missions once they’re completed, you could always go back to try things a little differently if you’re unsatisfied with the outcome as it currently stands.

As you’re kept engaged by its fascinating story and the general fun you’ll be having driving, shooting, punching and adventuring, you’ll also be kept busy. That’s because Sleeping Dogs is a pretty long game. There are certainly sandbox titles that have more for you to do, but expect to spend somewhere in between 20 and 25 hours to see and do everything, and more of that if you want to chase a Platinum Trophy or a maxed-out Gamerscore. Apart from the main story, expect to stay busy with finding collectibles, engaging in races, singing karaoke, and taking part in all manner of side quests, even ones that bring out the full cop in Shen.