The Top 10 Video Games of Summer 2012

2. Sleeping Dogs

The term “Grand Theft Auto clone” no longer applies, if only because the idea has been re-used so many times in the last 10 years. Sleeping Dogs falls into a new genre—the open world crime drama—but thankfully gives gamers a different take that will make you feel like you’re walking around inside of a John Woo movie. The gameplay elements that make an open world set-up work—shooting, driving, and hand-to-hand combat—all get an extra layer of polish beyond what you’d expect from a game that tries to do it all. The main character, Wei Shen, is an undercover cop who’s in deep with the Triads in Hong Kong. He also happens to be an expert martial artist who can disarm an enemy in one press of a button, then use just about anything in the environment—iron gates, circular saws, refrigerator doors—to whoop some serious ass. If you’re the type who likes to tool around at your leisure, you can do that here, but the story offers enough incentive to ditch the free-roam aspect, and push forward to see what happens next.