The following was written by me for a GOTY voting thread back in 2012...

In my experience, sandbox games usually sacrifice atmosphere and detail for abundant scale and empty, lifeless environments (hello Just Cause 2). Not Sleeping Dogs however, and that's what I loved about it. It doesn't feature the biggest world to roam around in, but what's here is chock full of detail and ambiance, with its setting really feeling like a living, breathing and (somewhat) accurate depiction of Hong Kong. A melting pot of influences that range from Infernal Affairs to Grand Theft Auto to the Batman Arkham games, Sleeping Dogs is derivative for sure, but pulls off its multitude of differing gameplay mechanics sufficiently. It's packed with content and a wide variety of things to do, and straddles a fine line between the realistic and the absurd, keeping the tone consistent throughout and avoiding the pitfalls of GTA IV. Hell, even some of the hacking mini-games are fun.

At best, it represents the most unexpected delight of the year. And at the very least, it acts as an extension of the middle finger to Bobby Kotick and the rest of the spawn of Satan over at Activision who axed such a great game in the making.

I REALLY NEED TO REPLAY IT!!!

idk if it is my rose-colored nostalgia glasses, but i do think it's second best "gta-like" next to saints row 2. or maybe it's more of a rgg-like...? there's even karaoke! /j ok i actually haven't played any rgg games before i played this, so i can't make a comparison

there are so many things i liked about it. hong kong was fun to explore, i loved wei shen and his story, even the way things like romance quests are implemented is so realistic - wei shen is undercover and non-committal, and none of the situationships go anywhere? and the main story was so good and memorable. some of the scenes, like the unfortunate wedding or the forced cannibalism moment, just stuck with me.

and god... the false hope the story plants in you... then seemingly all is saved... and then you get your heart crushed all over again... idk why when i didn't even like [redacted] that much but i don't remember feeling as devastated over any other death in a videogame. maybe because it was just so cruel. though the entire game is quite violent and cruel. i don't know

i feel like i may have different thoughts on wei shen being a cop and the ending if i play it now, but that's for future me to find out

i also remember liking the combat, though it was somewhat limited, and the use of environment. the final boss was particularly brutal

some negative memories i have is that one of the QTE sections in the final level was bugged and i barely managed to get wei shen to climb that ledge. i sure hope they fixed that in the definitive edition... also there was some racing mission that starts with a sharp diagonal turn and it took me so much effort to master it LMAO

but anyway yeah. great game. deserves all the late praise it seems to be getting in patient gamer crowds <3