Sleeping Dogs Guide – Version 1.08 – 14 March 2013 – by Barticle at _____ _ ______ ______ _______ _ __ _ _____ . ___ . ____ ____ ____ . \ . ___ . _ . \ _ ____ ___ ___ ____ \ \ ___ .____ . ___ ___ _____. \ \ _ _ \ ___ ____ ____ ____ \ ___ ._____. ______ ______ ______ _ _ _ \_ ._____. ____________ ___________ ____________ ____________ . . . . . . . ______ _____ ______ ______ ___ _________ . ___ ._________ _____ ___ _ ______ _____ ______ ______ ____________. .___________. .____________. .____________. 01 INTRODUCTION .—————–. 09 CLOTHING 02 OVERVIEW C O N T E N T S 09a Store Inventories 03 GAMEPLAY —————– 09b Buffs 03a Controls 09c Outfits 03b Pause Menu 06 STORY WALKTHROUGH 10 STAT AWARDS 03c Face Meter 07 DISTRACTIONS 11 TROPHIES 03d Health 07a Cases 11a Standard Trophies 03e Heat 07b Favours 11b DLC Trophies 03f Display 07c Dating 12 COLLECTIBLES 03g Money 07d Jobs 12a Health Shrines 03h Hacking 07e Martial Arts Clubs 12b Jade Statues 04 CITY MAP 07f Events 12c Lockboxes 05 LEVELS AND UPGRADES 07g Drug Busts 12d Security Cameras 05a Cop Level 07h Street-Racing 13 SAFEHOUSE UPGRADES 05b Triad Level 07i Cockfight Betting 14 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT 05c Face Level 07j Poker Mahjong 15 DLC WALKTHROUGHS 05d Melee Training 07k Karaoke 16 CONTACT 05e Health Upgrades 08 VEHICLES 17 THANKS .————.—————————————————————–. Section 01 INTRODUCTION s01 —————————————————————————– This is a general guide to the video-game Sleeping Dogs which was released in August 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Although Im only playing on PS3, the contents of this guide should apply equally to all three platforms, except that my PS3 bias will be evident when I mention joypad controls or trophies. Ive previously written around thirty guides for this site, mostly for mahjong titles on the PS3/DS and for various games from Segas excellent Yakuza series (plenty more oriental/urban/gangland/freeroam/brawler action to be found there!) but this is the first time Ive made a full guide for a large open-world game. I take my lead here from the legendary ThePatrick whose magnificent guides for several titles in the Yakuza series are available here on GameFAQs/Gamespot. Tip: To jump to any section (or subsection) of this document use your browsers Find function (using Ctrl+F on a PC or Cmd+F on a Mac, probably) and search for the letter s followed by the appropriate two or three-digit code in the contents above, for example youd search for s02 to find Section 02 or s03c to jump directly to the third category in Section 03. Sections 02 to 05 form a guide to playing Sleeping Dogs – the game mechanics, controls, game world and experience/upgrades systems. Section 06 is a walkthrough for the main story missions and therefore contains storyline SPOILERS throughout. Similarly Section 07 includes coverage of the various side-missions (and other diversions) that become available to you. Some of the other sections will mention characters and mission titles occasionally. Sections 08 to 15 at the end are effectively appendices, covering the vehicles, clothing, stat awards, trophies, collectibles, safehouse upgrades and DLC. I welcome contributions of information and strategies to add to this guide. Your submissions may be edited or reworded but will always be properly credited so be sure to include the name you wish to be credited under – if I deem your efforts worthy of inclusion! You can find my email address at the top of this page. This guide is designed to be viewed using a monospaced (non-proportional or fixed-width) font, preferably Courier New. Some sections of the document will display incorrectly if you are using a proportional font like Times New Roman. .————.—————————————————————–. Section 02 OVERVIEW s02 —————————————————————————– I love open-world games with large, detailed, immersive, urban environments and was a big fan of both True Crime: Streets of LA (2003) and True Crime: New York City (2005) so Id been following the (somewhat chequered) development of this game with great interest for the past couple of years. The developers United Front Games of Vancouver decided to draw on their teams experience of open-world games and love of Hong Kong cinema to create a new game originally under the working title HK. After about a year of development the publishers Activision spotted an opportunity to re-boot their earlier True Crime franchise and the game was rebranded as True Crime: Hong Kong. At the same time the Treyarch studio was working on a loosely similar title called Black Lotus but Activision cancelled that so that Treyarch could focus on the Call Of Duty series (after the runaway success of COD 4) and some elements of their Black Lotus project were incorporated into True Crime: Hong Kong. However in August 2010 the publishers announced that the game would be delayed to an unspecified date the following year and then in February 2011 a financial report from the company declared that they had completely cancelled the project (simultaneously discontinuing the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero brands and suspending the Tony Hawk skating franchise too). Luckily for us the rights to the game (but not the name) were acquired by Square Enix in August 2011. They retained United Front as developers and assigned their own London studio to supervise. The new title – Sleeping Dogs – was revealed in early 2012 and the game was finally released worldwide in mid-August that year. With its large freeroam urban environment, driving/combat gameplay, big-name voice-acting cast and numerous side-missions, Sleeping Dogs could fairly be described as a Grand Theft Auto clone but it distinguishes itself by drawing on the rich heritage of Hong Kong cinema* – the game is set in the bustling streets and alleys of Hong Kong Island and you play as Wei Shen, an undercover cop who infiltrates one of the triads (in simple terms the Chinese mafia) but has no qualms about leaving a trail of bodies in his wake! Sleeping Dogs has no co-op or multiplayer modes but it provides a rich single- player experience with an engaging cinematic story supplemented by a wealth of side-missions, minigames and various other distractions (see Section 07). The cornerstones of the gameplay are martial arts combat with hilarious but brutal environmental interactions, driving with vehicular stunts and slo-mo shooting and occasional cover-based shooting (again with a bullet-time feature). There are also tons of upgrades and collectibles to provide many hours of gameplay. You can continue playing after completing the story so you can leave most of the side-content until then if you want. See Section 11a for notes and advice on playing for trophy achievement. *On several occasions the developers have cited as a major influence on their work the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs which similarly featured a cop in deep cover inside a triad organisation. Conversely the other main character in the movie is a triad mole who has infiltrated the police department; in a flashback prologue this role is played by Edison Chen who now provides the voice of Wei Shens childhood amigo Jackie Ma in Sleeping Dogs. (Another key influence was The Protector (the 2005 Thai film, not the Jackie Chan one from 1985), particularly Tony Jaas epic staircase fight scene.) .————.—————————————————————–. Section 03 GAMEPLAY s03 —————————————————————————– This section gives a summary of the basic mechanics of playing the game and should be read in conjunction with the next two sections which cover the map and useful locations on it (Section 04) and levelling-up and upgrades (Section 05). .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03a Controls s03a —————————————————————————– Press X to Jason. (sorry, wrong game!) Sleeping Dogs gives you plenty of tutorials and on-screen prompts but for the sake of completeness heres an annotated summary of all the controls. There are no alternate controller configurations available but you can use the Options \ Game And Controls menu to invert look and adjust stick sensitivity. General These are the basic controls youll be using throughout the game. Left Stick = Move When on foot you can hold L2 if you want to walk rather than run. Right Stick = Look Triangle = Interact with an object or person / Enter or exit a vehicle Youll also use Triangle for a fast talk QTE (quick-time event) when your character has to persuade someone. Youll need to press Triangle quickly when the on-screen prompt appears. Cross = Hold X to sprint / Tap X (when prompted) to vault or climb Both these functions are crucial during scripted chase events in missions – youll need to tap X to vault or climb over obstacles. You can also tap the left stick left/right to dodge sideways. If you time a vault correctly youll get a smoother animation and negotiate the barrier more quickly. Bad timing can result in a small Clumsy penalty to your Cop XP (see Section 05a). You can hold X to sprint while swimming too. Forum poster isarai notes that when falling from a height you can tap X just before you reach the ground to land more smoothly. Start = Pause / Access the pause menu (see Section 03b) Select = Access the main map L3 = Tap repeatedly to cycle through the currently available objectives Selecting a mission automatically sets your active waypoint and programs a satnav route on your minimap. You can also select your waypoint from the map screen. For certain other objectives youll need to phone your contacts. D-Pad = Tap up to access the following functions on your smartphone: o Contacts Your smartphone is so smart that it only lists contacts with activities currently available! Mostly these will be phone calls to meet a mission objective or to initiate a date or job. With the corresponding Face advantage (see Section 05c) you can also call your Car Valet to have a vehicle delivered to you. o Messages When you receive info in a text message during a mission you can re-read it here (but only during that mission). o Reports Read intel reports youve unlocked by completing missions. o Social Hub This is a shortcut into Social Hub without having to pause the game. You can view stats and replay missions/races from here. Press Circle to put away your phone after using it. Youll also use your phone during missions for things like hacking (see Section 03h), calibrating a bugging device or tracing a cellphone signal. Sometimes you even use it to talk to people! Fightin As you would hope and expect for an action game set in Hong Kong, martial arts combat is a major aspect of Sleeping Dogs. Tip: Drinking a can of energy drink gives a temporary buff to your melee damage. You can buy this from the plentiful green vending machines or grab one for free out of the refrigerator in your safehouse. ___ ___ Lock-On = L2 ___ ___ R2 = Throw (weapon or person) ___ ___ L1 ___ ___ R1 = Pick Up Weapon While youre holding L2 to lock-on you can use the right stick to select a new target or aim with the left stick and press Square to make attacks in different directions. Also when youre holding L2 a circle will appear beneath the feet of each opponent showing their remaining health and fighting class if appropriate. Square = Tap for a light attack / Hold for a heavy attack These are your basic unarmed/armed melee attacks. Heavy attacks have a chance of stunning or flooring an opponent. You can do a simple combo by stringing together several consecutive light attacks, with or without a heavy attack on the end. The longest chain you can do is four light attacks followed by a heavy finisher. As you progress through the Melee Training (see Section 05d) youll unlock several new attack combos. Circle = Grapple (grab) / Environment Attack / Pick Up Enemy / Disarm You can use a grapple to break an enemys block. After successfully grappling you have the following options: o tap Square to hit them (unarmed or with weapon) o tap R2 to throw them o hold X to run with them and slam them into a wall or tabletop o tap Triangle to release them. For maximum entertainment value however youll want to perform an environmental takedown on them (this is where Sleeping Dogs really earns that PEGI 18 / ESRB Mature rating!). Drag your victim over to any environment feature thats glowing red and then press Circle again to deliver an ultraviolent attack that effectively gives a one- hit kill against most opponents. (To do this quicker you can hold X to run with them and automatically do the environmental kill.) [Doing five unique environmental kills earns the Environmentalist trophy.] You can also hold the Circle button to pick up an enemy whos laying on the ground (and enter a grapple). Tap Circle while running to tackle someone to the ground. Finally the Circle button can also be used to disarm opponents. Triangle = Counter an opponents attack (when they glow red) This is an important and effective aspect of the combat in Sleeping Dogs so keep watching for enemies glowing red and always be ready to quickly tap the Triangle button for a reversal when they strike. If youve already started another move, using a counter will cancel the previous incomplete animation. Tip: Wearing a matching set of three items of either Minor Thug Bonus or Thug Bonus clothing gives an increase of +5% or +10% respectively to your melee damage. (see Section 09b for details of clothing buffs) Press R1 to pick up and equip a (blue flashing) melee weapon in the ground. You can only carry one weapon at any given time and each weapon can only be used a limited number of times before its destroyed. You can tap R2 to throw a melee weapon or hold d-pad down to drop it. Tip: You can collect a tyre iron (melee weapon) from the trunk of some cars. [Killing with ten different weapons earns you the Whatevers Handy trophy.] There are four special classes of opponents that youll face in melee combat: o Grappler (cannot be grappled so try to use counters and heavy attacks) o Striker (versatile and more likely to block your attacks) o Armed Thugs (dangerous and best handled by countering their attacks) o Brawler (strong attack and defence but easy to grapple) You can practise fighting against these four classes at Sifu Kwoks training dojo in southern North Point which unlocks during the Amanda mission. Shootin Guns are illegal and therefore uncommon in Hong Kong so the developers decided to incorporate them into the game in the same way that they appear in many HK movies, effectively as a temporary power-up. So your character doesnt routinely carry a gun but you can disarm enemies to take their weapon or just kill them and collect the gun from the ground. Several of the missions feature sequences of standard cover-based shooting. Tip: After unlocking the cop upgrade Police Trunk Key (see Section 05a) you can also collect shotguns from the trunks of police cars. ___ ___ Free Aim = L2 ___ ___ R2 = Shoot ___ ___ Cover = L1 ___ ___ R1 = Reload After pressing L1 to enter cover you have the following options available: o Hold L2 to popout and aim, then tap/hold R2 to shoot o Tap/hold R2 to blindfire with greatly reduced accuracy o Press X to vault over the cover. Hold the aim button (L2) during the vault for a slow-motion bullet-time effect; you can extend the duration of this effect by scoring headshots on your enemies. If theres an enemy with a gun standing directly behind a piece of cover you can also use the vaulting move to disarm them and take their weapon. o Press L1 again to exit cover Press R1 to pick up and equip a (blue flashing) firearm in the ground. Hold R1 to pick up a new gun replacing the one you were already carrying. [Killing with ten different firearms earns you the Gun Nut trophy.] Hold d-pad down to drop a gun. If you have a handgun you can holster/conceal it by tapping d-pad down and then draw it by pressing d-pad down again (or R2). It is possible to pick up and use a melee weapon while you have a pistol stashed but drawing the gun will force Wei to drop the other weapon. On certain weapons youll be prompted to tap R3 to toggle accessories on/off. Drivin Between the missions, side-missions and races youll be doing a lot of driving. Hong Kong is a former British colony so traffic drives on the left side of the street and consequently the vehicles are right-hand drive models. (Of course you can drive on the right if you want but the collisions will be worse.) ___ ___ Reverse / Brake = L2 ___ ___ R2 = Accelerate ___ ___ Free Aim = L1 ___ ___ R1 = Shoot Just like in the True Crime games, you can shoot whilst driving a vehicle and the game automatically applies a slow-motion effect that enables you to deliver more accurate fire on your targets. Shooting a tyre can disable a vehicle. (Note that the driving controls use the trigger buttons L2/R2 to accelerate and brake so the aiming and shooting controls move to the shoulder buttons L1/R1.) Left Stick = Steer (left/right) / Lean on motorbikes (forwards/backwards) On a bike you can lean back and accelerate [R2] to pop a wheelie or lean forwards and apply the handbrake [Circle] to do a stoppie. Right Stick = Free Look (rotate stick) / Rear View (hold back) Triangle = Enter or exit a vehicle You can use any vehicles you own (collect from a garage), steal a parked car off the street or hijack a civilian. Tip: With the cop upgrade Slim Jim (see Section 05a) you can steal a parked car more quickly and without causing damage to it or triggering the anti-theft alarm. Circle = Handbrake (emergency brake) You can hold Circle while turning to perform a drift turn. Also when your vehicle is stationary you can hold the handbrake and apply the accelerator and steering together to do a burn-out move thats handy for turning around (or just doing doughnuts). Mmmm, doughnuts. Square = Directional Ram As long as youre not driving too slow you can perform a ramming move by tapping Square. By default this gives a forward ram but if you tap or hold the left stick to the left/right as you press the button you can do a sideways ram. You can use rams to take out vehicles that are chasing you – slow down a little to let them come alongside you then sideswipe them. Use the rear view to check their position or (at night) watch for the beams of their headlights. Tip: With the cop upgrade Increased Ram Damage (see Section 05a) you can deliver extra damage when you ram another vehicle. You can also use sideways rams to dodge left/right to avoid an obstacle, swerve between traffic or re-align on the centre of the lane after taking a corner at high speed. Cross = Hold to initiate an action hijack, then tap to perform the hijack Wei Shen can perform a dramatic action hijack move – leaping heroically onto another moving vehicle and taking control of it. You begin this by holding X while driving a road vehicle – if its a car he will open the door* and lean out (and if its a bike he will perch on the saddle ready to jump). When you approach another vehicle from behind, a large arrow symbol will appear and when this turns green you can tap X to jump across and hijack it. [Completing an action hijack earns you the Stuntman trophy.] Tip: With the upgrade Action Hijack Reduced Heat (see Section 05a) you can use action hijacks to lose Heat (wanted rating). When you do an action hijack on a larger vehicle (like a truck or van) Wei will hang onto the back and youll need to work your way up to the cabin, with an occasional QTE to hang on. *This has potential for mischief: R3 = Horn / Sirens in emergency vehicle Using the horn makes pedestrians move out of the way. D-Pad = Hold left/right to adjust the radio volume Tap left/right to cycle through the radio stations: o Real FM – modern hiphop o Kerrang! Radio – rock (with Kerrang! magazine) o Sagittarius FM – classic rock o Daptone Radio – modern funk/soul (with Daptone Records label) o Softly – atmospheric / traditional Chinese o Boosey & Hawkes – classical (with Boosey & Hawkes publishers) o H-KLUB – Hong Kong hiphop o Warp Radio – electronica/experimental (with Warp Records* label) o Ninja Tune Radio – downtempo (with Ninja Tune label) o Roadrunner Records – rock/metal (with Roadrunner Records label) (In a police vehicle you can also tune into the HKPD channel to listen to random cop chatter.) Check the official game website for radio station playlists: *For a retrospective of the golden years of the label check out my Warp Records megamix from 2002: .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03b Pause Menu s03b —————————————————————————– This is a quick run-down of the features of the pause menu. (Mainly I just want to draw your attention to the save/load and mission/race replay functions.) o Resume – unpause the game o Map – access the main map (see Section 04) o Upgrades – this shows your Cop, Triad and Face levels/unlocks, the unlockable fighting moves and your health upgrades (see Section 05) o Social Hub: Social Log – this is like a Facebook wall which posts your latest stat award achievements, mission high scores and other records Stat Awards – these are various challenges which can be completed at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels (see Section 10) Stat Games – this lists your personal bests for various jumps and streaks Missions / Races – you can use these options to replay any missions and races o Restart from Checkpoint – if things go wrong during a mission o Cancel Mission – if things go *really* wrong during a mission o Save / Load – you can use up to four save slots (although the game has an auto-save function I would strongly recommend that you use at least one manual save as a back-up in case your auto-save is lost or corrupted; ideally you should use several slots on rotation) o Game Log – use this to review on-screen text like hints and rewards o Statistics – you can track your completion with a range of stats here o Options – adjust the display/sound settings and tweak your control set-up o Quit to Main Menu – exit the game .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03c Face Meter s03c —————————————————————————– The Face meter is the yellow gauge on the right side of the minimap. This fills as you defeat enemies during combat (melee and/or shooting) and when its full it becomes activated giving you various perks until it empties. This is separate from your Face Level (see Section 05c) which is a measure of your rep in the city and unlocks a series of advantages as you level-up. Many of these advantages are the combat perks that are only applied when your Face meter is activated. One of the most significant is the first to unlock – while your Face meter is activated during combat you regenerate health. This can make a massive difference during a fight. If your health is getting low but your Face meter is nearly full you can use counters to intercept attacks. This effectively blocks incoming attacks, prevents further damage and hopefully fills your Face meter so you can start regenerating your health. Tip: Taking advantage of the personal services available at a massage parlour gives you a temporary increase to the rate at which your Face meter fills. .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03d Health s03d —————————————————————————– Your health bar is shown in red immediately to the left of your minimap. Tip: Finding health shrines (see Section 12a) adds permanent extensions to your health up to a total of 200%. This bonus health is displayed as a secondary blue health bar on top of the standard red one. In freeroam your health regenerates but by default it will only replenish up to half its maximum value. Consuming food will give a temporary buff that allows you to regenerate your full health bar and you can unlock Face advantages (see Section 05c) that double or triple the duration of this effect. You can buy various types of food from stalls in the Night Market and from street vendors. [Consuming ten different foods/drinks earns you the Foodie trophy.] During combat you get a temporary health regeneration effect when your Face meter becomes activated by filling it (see above). When your health reaches zero you die. If youre in freeroam youll respawn at a medical clinic and youll be charged for treatment (that resurrection is a very expensive business!) – the size of the fee increases proportionately according to how much money you currently have, up to a maximum of HK$15,000. If you die during a mission you have the option to restart from the most recent checkpoint and try again. If you choose not to continue then the game proceeds as if you had been killed in freeroam – in other words itll cost you money! .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03e Heat s03e —————————————————————————– Your character is a cop but his uniformed colleagues on patrol dont know this so law-breaking will attract their attention. (Luckily theyre not interested in the laws about speeding, violating traffic signals or driving on the wrong side of the road but they will react to theft, assault and criminal damage.) A blue man icon on the map is an HKPD patrolman and similarly a blue star is a police vehicle. Each police icon on your minimap will be surrounded by a blue circle which indicates the crime-detection radius for that unit. If they see you commit an offence you will gain Heat (which works almost exactly like the wanted rating in the GTA series). Your minimap will pulse red and the number to the top-left will show your Heat level. Police icons will now flash red/blue as they pursue you and be surrounded by red circles instead of blue. The various levels represent the scale of response youll experience so at Heat level 1 officers will pursue you on foot, in cars and on motorcycles; at level 2 theyll start shooting; at level 3 theyll supplement the cars with vans; at level 4 theyll add SUVs and start using automatic weapons and then at level 5 theyll send SWAT teams in armoured trucks and set up roadblocks with SUVs. You can escape from the police by evading their red circles or by ramming their vehicles to disable them. You can also stop police vehicles by shooting out their tyres or by doing an action hijack, although that can raise your wanting rating! When you successfully escape them all, your minimap will flash green a few times but you will still need to avoid police contact for a few seconds. Tip: Doing a big jump off a vehicle ramp can help you lose the police too or you can just seek sanctuary in one of your safehouses. When cops are chasing you on foot theyll tackle Wei to the ground and try to cuff him. Get ready to do a [Cross] QTE for a reversal – handcuffing the cop! 🙂 (You can just hammer the X button and youll always escape.) If Wei gets cuffed hell be arrested – youll subsequently be released from the nearest police station but youll have to pay bribe/bail money. Just like the medical fees, the more money you have, the more you have to pay! The ceiling value appears to be HK$25,000 …so I guess its cheaper to let them kill you! .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03f Display s03f —————————————————————————– The in-game minimap in the bottom-left corner of the screen will display any nearby points of interest (see list in Section 04). The gauge to the left of the map is your health bar and the one on the right is your Face meter. When youre being pursued by the police your wanted rating will appear at the top-left. Red triangles above the minimap indicate Triad XP gains while blue shield icons there show Cop XP losses (see Sections 05a and 05b). When you have a weapon equipped it will be shown in the top-right corner of the screen. If its a gun there will be two adjacent figures indicating the number of rounds in the weapon and the amount of spare ammo youre carrying. Any buffs that are currently active will be indicated by one or more circular icons on the right side of the screen during play. Segments around the icon will gradually disappear to show how long the effect will last. If the game wants you to do something with your smartphone youll see a prompt in the bottom-right corner of the screen urging you to press up on the d-pad. If you miss any instructions or hints you can review them in the Game Log which is accessed via the pause menu. .————-.—————————————————————-. Section 03g Money s03g —————————————————————————– The currency in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Dollar (hereafter HK$). You can view your current money total in the top-right corner of the pause screen. To give a rough idea of equivalent value, at the time of writing (August 2012) the exchange rates are HK$500 = 41 UKP = 52 Euros = US$64 = 5,068 Yen. You can use your money to… – buy various goods and services (see Section 04) – buy vehicles (see Section 08) – buy clothing and accessories (see Section 09) – upgrade your safehouses (see Section 13) – gamble (see Sections 07i and 07j) – quick-travel by taxi – pay costs for medical treatment / police release (see Sections 03d and 03e) You can make money by… – completing story missions (see Section 06) – winning races (see Section 07h) – r
