Sleeping Dogs Wheels of Fury DLC Review
A bite-size slice of vehicle mayhem that feels a little out of place
nited Front Games has certainly taken a unique spin on the DLC front. A fully-fledged expansion here, a few new costumes there – the content’s been in constant flow, but it’s been one hell of a mixed bag. And the new Wheels of Fury pack is no exception.
In principle, it’s a sound idea: five missions that give you a tricked-out super car to wreak vehicular destruction across Hong Kong – and a few extra races thrown in too. Each new mission gives you a new upgrade – from increased armour to the obligatory twin-gattling gun/extra beverage holder combo.
Let’s make something clear – this is by no means a bad piece of content. It’s loud, fun and bombastic, but it’s the kind of addition more suited to the comic book rule set of Saints Row The Third than the gritty semi-realism of Sleeping Dogs.
There are a further eight side-missions split between the islands four districts, but these are just simple rehashes of the ones you just played.
The arcade-style controls we came to love with the game are present and correct – and the new car is just as entertaining to tear around the streets as any other of the game’s excellent vehicles – but it feels distinctly out of place in a game that already gives you a powerful shooting mechanic whilst driving.
The set of wheels in question – the DZS-90 – offers you so many features that driving it becomes something of a balancing act. As well as holding down the accelerator and using the handbrake to drift, you’ll also need to press A to charge an EMP pulse or hold down LB and RB to use the gattling guns. Having to track so many controls like a strange, gaming octopus turns driving the new car into a bit of mess.
And while we can’t knock the length – at 320MSP it’s hardly going to be of Oblivion’s Shivering Isles proportions – we still think five missions aren’t enough to fully test the cars potential. The final mission provides your last upgrade and then point of it all seems a little… well… pointless. There are a further eight side-missions split between the islands four districts, but these are just simple rehashes of the ones you just played.
As add-on packs for Sleeping Dogs go, this is an explosion-obsessed little romp that will give you a good hours worth of explosive action. Sadly, the cars presence risks removing some of the game’s sense of danger, with its god-like super specs. Who needs to get into a fist-fight when you can use a mow them down with a hood-mounted death machine?
