Our X1 videos of Sleeping Dogs DE

Driftwood
Wednesday, October 15, 2014 | 9:25 AM
6 comments

GSY Video PC PS4 Xbox One

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition sometimes feels a bit closer to a disguised GOTY edition than a true "HD" remake as this Xbox One version is still way behind the original Sleeping Dogs on PC. Frame rate is a bit choppy as soon as you take a vehicle, there's a bit too much aliasing to be seen, so basically the major difference with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions is the resolution. Gameplay mechanics have not been tweaked either, which is bad news when it comes to driving, but thankfully, the rest of the game was solid and still is today. If you have never played Sleeping Dogs before, this is definitely the version to go for as it includes all the game's DLC (even though the two additional campaigns aren't that memorable). If you have, the very few visual differences probably won't make it worth your while.

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2014-10-15 13:37:58

Yeah i played it last weekend on Xbox One too. The higher resolution is noticeable right away, but the framedrops are ridiculous. It truly is a rather lazy version.

In reply to

Sdarts

Commented on 2014-10-15 13:58:20 In reply to Moonwalker

Not sure what's happening with Square Enix, not only the Xbox One version, but the PS4 and PC versions are troubled as well. The PC version even lost some visual effects and a lot of performance with the upgrade, as Digital Foundry's Face-Off explains.

It's like Square Enix is trying to spend the least amount of time, money and resources porting its games now. Right now I don't care if FF15 ever comes to PC, the reason FF fans wanted it on PC was to play the game with the quality of the E3 2013 demos, but since Square Enix most likely won't put any decent amount of effort, might as well play on PS4.

tetsu3000

Commented on 2014-10-15 17:13:25

Wait, what, DE PC is worse than original? Holy fuck. Original was pretty sweet PC optimized...

Nathaniel_Wu

Commented on 2014-10-15 17:22:24

Well,could you make some footage of the PS4 version?I'm wondering wether the problems still exist…which is important for me to decide if I should buy it…

Commented on 2014-10-15 18:26:04 In reply to tetsu3000

I will try to explain it more clearly, sorry in advance if it gets too long. To put only 2 excerpts from Digital Foundry's Face-Off:

"The PC edition shows a change in 1080p performance too. On our Core i7 3770k PC, equipped with a GTX 780 Ti and 16GB of RAM, we're left with lower metrics after the upgrade. Surprisingly, the vanilla version gets us an average of 75.1fps during its benchmark, with all settings set to maximum, and v-sync disengaged to unlock the engine frame-rate. The Definitive Edition, meanwhile, running with its added fog effect and improved draw distances, gets us an average of 50.1fps in the very same maxed out tour of the city."

"The end result is that only the new PC version lives up to its Definitive Edition moniker. But are its extra touches worth the extra money for owners of the original PC release? While the broadened draw distances are a major plus, we'd argue many other tweaks are simply too subtle to justify another expense. Edits to character model designs, upped object density and new city atmospherics are welcome. But it's fair to say, for most developers, much of this falls into the territory of a courtesy, free post-release patch."

Source: Face-Off: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - PC, Xbox One and PS4 versions compared with the 2012 original.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2...

It's worth mentioning that you lose a lot of lighting quality and a lot of billboards and adverts are missing, redesigned or without proper "bloom" effect in the Definitive Edition, which diminishes the impact of the game's atmosphere and tone. Even so, you do get an arguably slightly better looking PC version with the Definitive Edition, but you also take a massive hit to performance.

Considering you go from 75fps to 50fps, that's 33% (1/3) less performance, and from what I have seen, the Definitive Edition doesn't look 33% better than the original. Point being that the improvements don't justify the performance loss. More optimisation would have helped a lot here.

It's also important to take notice that if the GTX 780 Ti can only reach 50fps and it's only approximately 5% less powerful than a GTX 970, you would need to have either of them overclocked or have a GTX 980 to be able to achieve 1080p@60fps. That's a lot to ask for the new version of a game released in 2012 with only some minor improvements. Again, optimisation plays a large part here.

Note: I'm not sure the GTX 780 Ti Digital Foundry used was overclocked, but since it wasn't mentioned in the article and they always mention when it is, I assumed it wasn't.

This Digital Foundry's video comparing the 2 versions on PC shows better what you lose and what you gain:

Sleeping Dogs PC: Original vs Definitive Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_1wjWJUqY

In the end, if you're upgrading the PC version, you're basically paying $10 more for all the DLCs and some minor improvements, at the cost of 33% less performance and less atmosphere at night.

I can't remember, but I believe most missions occur at night, and since it's set in Hong Kong, you lose some immersion with the absence of bloom and most billboards and adverts.

I will try to explain it more clearly, sorry in advance if it gets too long. To put only 2 excerpts from Digital Foundry's Face-Off:

"The PC edition shows a change in 1080p performance too. On our Core i7 3770k PC, equipped with a GTX 780 Ti and 16GB of RAM, we're left with lower metrics after the upgrade. Surprisingly, the vanilla version gets us an average of 75.1fps during its benchmark, with all settings set to maximum, and v-sync disengaged to unlock the engine frame-rate. The Definitive Edition, meanwhile, running with its added fog effect and improved draw distances, gets us an average of 50.1fps in the very same maxed out tour of the city."

"The end result is that only the new PC version lives up to its Definitive Edition moniker. But are its extra touches worth the extra money for owners of the original PC release? While the broadened draw distances are a major plus, we'd argue many other tweaks are simply too subtle to justify another expense. Edits to character model designs, upped object density and new city atmospherics are welcome. But it's fair to say, for most developers, much of this falls into the territory of a courtesy, free post-release patch."

Source: Face-Off: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - PC, Xbox One and PS4 versions compared with the 2012 original.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-sleeping-dogs-definitive-edition-face-off

It's worth mentioning that you lose a lot of lighting quality and a lot of billboards and adverts are missing, redesigned or without proper "bloom" effect in the Definitive Edition, which diminishes the impact of the game's atmosphere and tone. Even so, you do get an arguably slightly better looking PC version with the Definitive Edition, but you also take a massive hit to performance.

Considering you go from 75fps to 50fps, that's 33% (1/3) less performance, and from what I have seen, the Definitive Edition doesn't look 33% better than the original. Point being that the improvements don't justify the performance loss. More optimisation would have helped a lot here.

It's also important to take notice that if the GTX 780 Ti can only reach 50fps and it's only approximately 5% less powerful than a GTX 970, you would need to have either of them overclocked or have a GTX 980 to be able to achieve 1080p@60fps. That's a lot to ask for the new version of a game released in 2012 with only some minor improvements. Again, optimisation plays a large part here.

Note: I'm not sure the GTX 780 Ti Digital Foundry used was overclocked, but since it wasn't mentioned in the article and they always mention when it is, I assumed it wasn't.

This Digital Foundry's video comparing the 2 versions on PC shows better what you lose and what you gain:

Sleeping Dogs PC: Original vs Definitive Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_1wjWJUqY

In the end, if you're upgrading the PC version, you're basically paying $10 more for all the DLCs and some minor improvements, at the cost of 33% less performance and less atmosphere at night.

I can't remember, but I believe most missions occur at night, and since it's set in Hong Kong, you lose some immersion with the absence of bloom and most billboards and adverts.