Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn vs Sleeping Dogs
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a fun and hilarious beat 'em up game that takes quite vicious, satirical jabs at various pop culture, celebrities, people stereotypes, and even the developers' own indiegogo campaign. The game starts you off in China where Shaquille (Shaq for short), a black baby was raised in a small village in China after he was found drifting down the river in an expensive-looking handbag. He was naturally bullied by the local kids when he was little because he was so much taller than they all were but his taller and bigger stature helped him gained the mentorship of the local village elder and he was eventually trained in the ancient martial arts of Wu Xing. Sounds like a the generic start of a kung-fu story, right? Well, the game does it so much better by peppering it with plenty of humor.Anyway, one day, his fighting skills were called into action when the god of death, Yen Lo-Wang, once again escape from the underworld and unleashed his plan to take over the world... that is by possessing various celebrities with his demons and brainwashing the world's people into subservience. Of course, this is not something Shaq will simply ignore, especially not when his elderly mentor was murdered by one of Yen Lo-Wang's minions.
Now, the gameplay in this game isn't what you'd call "hardcore", but the boss fights are quite challenging and the enemies you go fist-to-fist against have their respective sets of abilities in which you'll need to find ways to counter, besides being downright amusing. Just look at the animations! Controls are very simple to get into, especially if you had played such beat 'em ups before, and it's really nice that the developers put in the extra effort to vary their range of enemies and background art.
The best parts about the game though, aside from the funny dialogues and the cool moves, include crazy fun power-ups that can turn Shaq into a spikes-spewing cactus-man or equip him with an Iron Man-like suit, albeit a suit that is powered by diesel, which allow him to dish out a flurry of fists to any enemy unlucky enough to be standing in his way!
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn's brand of humor may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you enjoy beat 'em up games, and you like to see the amusing side of things and you don't take the world too seriously, then this game is definitely right up your alley. It'll be able to make you cough up a chuckle or two, at least - I daresay I laughed a bit too much at some of the jokes in this game. Oh and a quick tip if you will - make sure you listen closely to the lyrics in the game's very own theme song. I got my first chuckle from it!
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is one of the most critically-acclaimed martial arts-themed action-adventure game that is set in the grittier streets of Hong Kong. In this game, you'll be playing as an undercover cop called Wei Shen who is tasked to work his way up and take down the notorious criminal organization known as the Triads. Being undercover, you will need to make difficult decisions at times to keep your cover and perform some hideous act or to try to help your victims to escape their fates. Besides your fists, you will also have access to a wide variety of weapons, including guns. There are plenty of other stuff to do in this game aside from completing your mission, including gambling and singing karaoke, and of course, like GTA, the game wouldn't be complete without thrilling high-speed races that will take you all over the city of Hong Kong.The best part about Sleeping Dogs is the incredibly well-researched nuances that added the overall realism of the game. You can actually hear some NPCs talk ill of mainlanders, which is typical of a Hong Kong resident, as well as a slew of cantonese dialogues (with English subs of course). There is even a quest in the game that lets you disrupt someone's feng shui decor that is regarded to be just as bad as cursing that person.
If you have always had a penchant for martial arts/shooter games, Sleeping Dogs is literally a dream come true. So, if you haven't already, you should definitely buy the game and try it out. You won't regret it!