“The game was, in a sense, discovered. I’m making air quotes: ‘discovered’ by the folks in Wimbledon. The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough,” Fischer related.
“Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision,” he went on, ”I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy. Because this game is just fantastic. The scale and scope of the game really encompasses all of everything you’d want to do in Hong Kong. The acting, the story, the characters are very deep.”
Square-Enix acquired the game, and renamed it Sleeping Dogs, since the “True Crime” videogame trademark still belonged to Activision.
Fischer then compared the game to some popular crime dramas.
“There’s clearly a lot of inspiration from The Departed and Infernal Affairs. You play an undercover cop who starts to feel mixed loyalties,” he gushed, ”But the open world feels like Arkham City, the combat feels as good as a fighting game, the driving is as good as a Need for Speed, and the story is every bit as rich as compelling as a Mass Effect. All in one game.”
“In a sense it reminds me a little bit of Dead Island, which Square Enix America did the sales and distribution for. Nobody had heard of that game coming into E3, and in the U.S. alone it sold over 2 million units. It’s great to have a sleeper,” Fischer concluded.
Sleeping Dogs is due to be released on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on the 14th August in North America, and the 17th August worldwide.
