

Individual body parts can also be targeted. The cover system allows the player to move between cover, fire blindly, aim freely, and target a specific enemy. The combat system revolves around hand-to-hand fighting, similar to Batman: Arkham Asylum/ Batman: Arkham City's "Freeflow" combat system. Players also drive a variety of vehicles including automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements.

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely.
