Sleeping Dogs is free on Xbox Gold this month, so I thought I'd give it a try and see how Square Enix handles a GTA clone. So far I really like it, and despite the bland-awful story, the game introduces a lot of cool new ideas. I've never played a crime-sandbox with this many RPG elements before, and I really enjoy scouring Hong Kong for collectibles.
After a couple hours though, I started thinking about one of my favorite NES games from childhood, River City Ransom. Sleeping Dogs reminds me of it at every turn, the Chinese turf wars, the brutal environmental takedowns, the greasy hair, almost everything about Sleeping Dogs just feels like a polished-up modernization of the grandfather of good beat-em-ups. So I saved my game in Dogs, and turned on the old virtual console to play some River City Ransom, something I haven't done in years.
River City Ransom was the first side scrolling beat em up that I ever played, and I consider it the best of it's era. This was an NES game that gave you the ability to upgrade your damage and defense, more moves than just punch and kick, with way more weapons than Streets of Rage or Double Dragon. It had money, and shops, restaurants to fill your health bar and punks who would scream BARF when you kicked them.
When you play Sleeping Dogs, think about River City Ransom and just how far the old Hong Kong street punk theme has come in video games.
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