Home Gaming Triad Wars preview – Comatose Dogs

Triad Wars preview – Comatose Dogs

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Triad Wars Preview -

From the faithfully recreated, bustling streets of Hong Kong to the visceral hand-to-hand combat, Sleeping Dogs was a sleeper hit when it launched, and quickly cemented itself as a cult classic. It’s one of those polarising experiences though, that either had you loving or hating it, with a pretty standard sandbox formula giving way to a new setting and gameplay mechanics. Instead of a proper sequel, we’re getting Triad Wars – an online vertical slice of Sleeping Dogs that’s probably going to divide far fewer people.

Triad Wars starts relatively well, plunging you into a very similar Hong Kong embroiled in a three-way turf war. You’re asked to pick a side, and I ended up following the dirty gambling, cock-fighting kings of the metropolis, the Shing Wo (mainly for their awesome gang tag though). After that I got to choose from three stock characters, and dive straight into the game. It may be an MMO (or, at least, it thinks it is), but there’s virtually no customisation from the start here. You pick up and go, no questions asked.

Triad Wars Preview 1

It doesn’t take long for things to get interesting either. Before I knew it, I was running through dingy alleys chasing a man in a suit, only to be confronted by three goonies in a spacious arena moments later. It’s here where Triad Wars excels, because it shares the exact same DNA with Sleeping Dogs. The Batman-esque combat allowed me to effortlessly pull off weak and strong strikes, reverse opponent attacks and deliver some truly gory finishers with environmental hazards.

Taking down thugs and completing objectives will reward you with standard XP,, which you can then use to make your kung fu really fast, of beef up your abs to take a few more hits. It’s standard RPG elements that hardly made a noticeable difference in-game, and it’s pretty disappointing that most of the abilities you can unlock for your eventual gang mimic the ones you unlock for yourself. There’s very little discrepancy – even if actual multiplayer isn’t exact working right now.

But wait, how is it an MMO then? Well, it actually isn’t in a sense. Triad Wars will eventually allow you to collect some friends for co-op fun, but right now it’s little more than a shared world Sleeping Dogs. You won’t run into any other players on the streets, and you won’t be able to visit social hubs for trading and socialising. You’re playing in a bubble of Hong Kong that is all yours – and only populated by AI controlled mirrors of other players.

Triad Wars Preview 2

They become important with the only really new part of Triad Wars, which lends a lot from popular mobile games such as Clash of Clans. You’re given a piece a land to transform into your own front (what happened to joining that other gang? No idea). Earn enough money and Face (the equivalent of rank) and you’ll be able to establish more business opportunities around your headquarters. You can open up far-from-legitimate gambling rings, counterfeiting operations and smuggling, all to generate more cash per minute and acquire goods. These processes take real-world time though, and it was common for me to hit the headquarters page, launch some productions and just…wait.

Similar enemy headquarters are peppered around the map, with a limited number of side-quests accompanying them. Raids on rival ground comes with a time limit, so completing optional objectives first grants more tick tock for the clock. These quests are bland and predictable though, forcing you to either drive to a location in a limited time, or take out a few thugs to send a message. It eventually dawned on me that it wasn’t even required though, since raiding a rival was just so darn easy.

Triad Wars Preview 3

With the starting meat cleaver and 9mm pistol, I was racing though carbon copy safe houses in record time. You earn more cash and Face for taking out a rival’s businesses before confronting the AI version of the player you’re attacking, which holds promise for more complex raids in the future. But that wasn’t the case during my few hours with the game, and mashing said cleaver into some truly unfortunate faces got the job done most of the time.

Once you’re done with a raid, you’re then left with seemingly no other option than to push on through to the next one, which offers nothing in terms of variation. Triad Wars is a gruelling grind of a game that trades play time with in-game buffs, weapons and cosmetic rewards. You can visit the store to spend precious gold bars, or take the plunge and whip out the credit card for hassle-free progress. It’s the trick of the smartphone game trade, boiled down into an experience that is a husk of the adventure it’s based on.

Triad Wars Preview 4

And it’s probably why there’s been so little fan-fare about the game at all recently. Triad Wars, as it stands, feels like nothing more than a cheap cash in on a surprisingly well received action title, from which it channels mechanics and puts them to the most boring use possible. Combat is still aces, and the city of Hong Kong looks better than ever, but there’s little else to commend here.

Even the most die-hard Sleeping Dogs fans will find it difficult to suck any enjoyment out of this predictably cheap knock-off. Unless something truly drastic changes things over the next few months.

Last Updated: April 8, 2015

37 Comments

  1. Oh DRM Wars. I actually forgot about this game. How do you take a game that most people liked and turn it into shit that no1 will play.

    Don’t Support DRM.

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      April 8, 2015 at 13:47

      What about paid for DLC? The Witcher III Is coming, with paid for DLC *RUNS

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        April 8, 2015 at 13:53

        So? What’s your point? There is a chance that the paid for DLC will land up in retail with no DRM.

        Long before the Witcher 3 was even announcement CDPR said that they will not charge for small dlc and will only charge for big dlc that has hours upon hours of content.

        So I don’t know why you trying to troll me with this. Unless you think those 30 hours, 2 story arcs, new area, new dialog, ect, is small DLC.

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          April 8, 2015 at 13:55

          Making the point that after everything you have said about the Witcher III they are in fact charging for DLC.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            April 8, 2015 at 13:57

          • RinceThis

            April 8, 2015 at 13:58

            BWAHAHAH! I am waiting for ‘Day One Patch’! Hand the popcorn 😉

          • Hammersteyn

            April 8, 2015 at 13:59

            XD

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:19

            Got any trickster gifs

            My word did it feel like I was watching the joker on The Flash last night

          • Admiral Chief

            April 8, 2015 at 14:19

            DUUUDE, tell me about it.

            That “I AM YOUR FATHER” thing cracked me up

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:21

            Oh yes the Star Wars feels I got from that

            Is there nothing that man can’t do?

          • Mark Treloar

            April 8, 2015 at 15:27

            Yes, i’m sure Disney/Marvel just cracked themselves when they heard it.

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 14:26

            Oh I loved seeing Mark Hamhil as the Trickster on The Flash. It was just a cool fucking episode. Oh that laugh.

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 14:30

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 14:33

          • Admiral Chief

            April 8, 2015 at 14:32

            *Hamill

            And yeah, that laugh, you close your eyes and you can see the Joker!

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:34

            Admiral Grammar Nazi :p

            But wait how does one see the Joker if one’s eyes are closed?

          • Admiral Chief

            April 8, 2015 at 14:36

            By using the Force, duh!

            😛

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:38

            Oh Har Har

            Tricked me there:p

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 13:59

            What did I say that left people thinking that there will be no paid for expansion packs. I did say that I doubted they would support expansion packs because I hoped they would turn their full attention onto Cyberpunk 2077. Turns out that is not the case.
            So I still don’t get this no paid for expansion packs. That was never the case. As in never. Yes small useless dlc will be free. That was always the case.

        • Hammersteyn

          April 8, 2015 at 13:59

          When’s the GOTY edition coming? That will have all the DLC for free surely.

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 14:01

            Hoping for expansion pack in retail when that second expansion is released next year with all the DLC and expansions in the box.

        • Lord Chaos

          April 8, 2015 at 14:07

          I got Witcher 1 and 2 on a very nice Steam special. 😛

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            April 8, 2015 at 14:10

            Now get your GOG backup no-drm copies. Lot’s of added stuff on gog.com.

  2. Hammersteyn

    April 8, 2015 at 13:47

    Triad Wars! Because TESO was such a resounding success.

    Reply

    • Rock789

      April 8, 2015 at 14:14

      So true. You’d think they’d learn…

      Reply

      • Corrie

        April 8, 2015 at 14:17

        No one in this industry ever learns, the only things they now know is DLC, P2W,Micro Transactions and remasters…oh oh and Multiplayer Subscriptions

        Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          April 8, 2015 at 14:20

          I wouldn’t say they don’t learn. They keep doing it cause there’s an element that keeps paying for it.

          Reply

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:22

            Nooooo you’ve just given them a new idea

            P2L – Pay 2 Learn

          • Lord Chaos

            April 8, 2015 at 14:24

            I’m afraid e-learning is already a thing. EA and some others just don’t know about it yet.

          • Corrie

            April 8, 2015 at 14:27

            Oh they know about it, they’re just waiting to spring the Premium Edition on everyone

            Or Pre Purchase the answers to the questions you haven’t seen*

            *Coming 2017 because nothing is better than announcing dlc content before the the game is out yet and coming later on

  3. Rock789

    April 8, 2015 at 14:12

    I am so sad they’ve done this to such a fun franchise! Sleeping Dogs was awesome (so good I even bought the Definitive Edition on PS4). This… This is to Sleeping Dogs what Crikey is to Nike – a flippin’ cheap knock off. 🙁

    Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      April 8, 2015 at 14:13

      TESO to Skyrim

      Reply

  4. Brady miaau

    April 8, 2015 at 14:59

    Leave well enough alone?

    Reply

  5. Captain JJ the flash noob

    April 8, 2015 at 15:28

    This looks like a re-skinned, re-labeld and re-boringed Sleeping Dogs.
    I seriously love Sleeping Dogs and I was quite interested in this.
    But now I’m a bit less convinced.

    Reply

  6. ScubaSteve

    April 9, 2015 at 08:18

    I am still terribly disappointed with the original release. I feel it is the worst R600 I spent on games

    Reply

  7. sicluceatlux

    April 9, 2015 at 18:14

    ..so true. I played it. There is no reason too support this game. And I’m considering myself as die-hard sd fan …but this is just a punch in the face of the supporting community. they just want to drain out the last potential money in this cultgame…sad…with a minimal effort on of development. I recommed to play Sleeping Dogs (again) there will be more fun …and it is not Pay2win.

    Reply

  8. MonsterBansheeRage3D

    April 11, 2015 at 06:54

    “Unless something truly drastic changes things over the next few months.”

    Considering it’s an early beta, things will change over the next few months. What you expect those drastic changes to be is unknown, because nowhere do you elucidate what there needs to be other than that there is a lack of content. Which makes sense, being in beta.

    Reply

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