You always add so much great color and info in these articles. Glad I follow you out here.
I really loved Sleeping Dogs. I'm kind of surprised because I'd kinda gotten bored with open world games about crime after GTA San Andreas. Like the itch had been scratched or something. I dove head first into this one though.
The thing that intrigued me though, and I'd love if anyone could shed light on it, was how much I loved the fighting in Sleeping Dogs while I absolutely hate it in the Arkham Games.
I'm in the minority, but I couldn't get into any of the recent Batman games. The fighting was a big part of that. Battles didn't feel like I was doing anything significant. It was as if I was playing a rhythm game more than fighting. And why Sleeping Dogs has similar mechanics, I LOVED getting out and going to take on thugs with my bare hands.
Thanks for the kind words! Glad my posts are entertaining!
I feel you about the open world aspect of games these days. It seems that it's just a box to be ticked rather than add an actual layer. Alot of modern games should be linear, in my opinion, it'd serve their story better than an open world environment.
You said it well about the Arkham games, it's more a rhythm game more than fighting, and the fact that every move the enemies make is pointed out to you doesn't help. Also, you can just mash the punch button and you'll eventually win, while in Sleeping Dogs, some enemies are completely immune to some attacks, so it forces you to adapt. It might also be the fact that it's 99% of what you do in the Batman games, I mean sure there's the detective stuff, but they're way too easy to be any type of meaningful content. Arkham City was nice though, at least for me, though I generally hate superhero games. Maybe a large area to explore and do stuff in (other than fighting) is the answer? Or the setting? I dunno what exactly it is, but Sleeping Dogs was definitely a winner for me.