GTA VI: 10 Things It Must Learn From Sleeping Dogs

10. Character Progression & Unlockable Moves

Somewhere along the way GTA opted into this strange idea of being unrealistic enough to have characters get embroiled in situations that would otherwise kill mortal men - but not to much that the gameplay ever changes from hour zero to hour 100 and beyond. Quite the opposite, story-wise Sleeping Dogs has main-man Wei Shen as an undercover cop, playing both sides off against each other whilst forever really wondering which horse he should back in the long run. As he was also a martial arts expert, it opened up three pathways to unlock moves across the course of the game; learning things like leg-breaks and ground-punches at the dojo, weapon disarms or access to additional firearms on the cop path - and brutal sprint attacks or elbow strikes if you favoured the criminal underground. Of course you could eventually get all of them, alongside a 'Face' stat that basically amounted to reputation - holding back certain clothing items and additional functions (like calling for a private car) until you were respected enough. Naturally the flow of SD is different to GTA in terms of where your character is starting out, but considering Rockstar didn't do anything with things like Michael's standing in the world versus that of the more streetwise Trevor or Franklin - as well as the fact they all play exactly the same - it's a huge missed opportunity that Sleeping Dogs more than steps up to.