Ben-DutkaYou never can tell a blessing in disguise when it comes upon you. Only hindsight will reveal it.
And that's what happened with developer United Front Games. They started work on what was to be True Crime: Hong Kong , reached the alpha stage, and then their publisher – Activision – dropped 'em. Bad news, right?
As it turns out, no. The team got extra time to polish and refine the project that had become Sleeping Dogs and then, Square Enix picked them up and gave them even more time to make the game great. In speaking to OPM UK , producer Dan Sochan said that extra time was absolutely necessary:
" We were just about alpha. So we were pretty far along and at that point we had a 4-5 month gap that let us really focus on the core aspects of the game,” he explains. “Once we were with Square it gave us a year to really polish and tune the experience, and get some fresh eyes on the game. It was a great partnership for everyone. "
This allowed them to have "more user testing," too, and Sochan added that Square understood the necessity of producing a top-notch, ultimately competitive title. We also recall Square Enix executives saying they couldn't figure out why Activision dropped the project, because it seemed extremely promising. Well, the end result seems to have been positive the whole way 'round. Finished Sochan:
" It’s been amazing. It’s exciting to us to see that same sort of response from the media, from the fans. It really has been a dream come true. We’ve always felt very strongly and passionately about the game and we’ve continued to work on it in-between publishers because we felt we had something unique and special. "
And of course, everyone wants to know about a sequel. But Sochan repeated what we've heard before from the developer, that they're not thinking about a follow-up effort right now. Rather, they're focusing on DLC for Sleeping Dogs , so get ready for more of that.
Related Game(s): Sleeping Dogs
I really did enjoy Sleeping Dogs. I was sad when they announced that True Crime: Hong Kong was cancelled, as I used to play the True Crime games all the time and couldn't wait for the next one. The wait definitely was worth it though, as Sleeping Dogs is one of my favorite games this generation.
Activision dropped it because they couldn't turn it into a CoD game. I bet they weren't happy that it turned out to do pretty well.
Hoping to pick this up on Black Friday.
If this wasn't a gangsta game i would have enjoyed it much more. I played True Crime to be a cop, not to be what i am in saints row or GTA.
IMO, any game that can get away from the clutches of Anti-vision's Boobie Kotex, & still get made, is a good thing.
happy to see the franchise was successful.
i hope they do a sequel and this time add a much more complex fighting system, and a more interesting story.
the fighting in this was just so plain and simple and that made the gameplay really boring!
it was just missing that little something, the thing that turns a good game, which it is, into a great game, which it isent.