OK I've just completed Sleeping Dogs and now I don't understand the hate it's been getting from some places.
What a refreshing experience! I loved it. Parallels between it and GTA are inevitable, but it's actually nothing like GTA at all when you start playing it properly. Movement isn't like walking through water, the martial arts in place of gunplay (there is some gunplay, they're just usually mission specific (though you can find them in various random places, like in the back of a police car)) since China's gun laws are a lot stricter and it's set in Hong Kong.
And the setting, I love it. It's really brought to life. Street vendors shouting things like "WHY DUN YU HAF A PORK BUN IN YU HAN!". The main character is well written. So is the story. My only complaint in this area would be the "love interests" which amount to meeting various girls (5 across the whole game) on various missions, getting their numbers, calling them, going on one "date" (the main character is an undercover cop who's working his way up in the Triad, so he has to "play the part" of a gangster), having implied sex and then never seeing them again. Some variety would have been nice here.
The game is just fun to play. I'm speaking as someone who loved GTA 3 and Vice City back in the day but found it hard to get into San Andreas because it just took too long to get anywhere. And I've never completed IV, even though I have it. Might have to do that soon now I've finished this and getting back into the Sandbox swing of things. But damn, that Rockstar movement speed just annoys me so much.
So yeah, Sleeping Dogs is an awesome game. The story has a few great twists I wasn't expecting. It's still free on PS Plus for anyone who's interested. I'm going to get the platinum trophy, just got a few more random trophies to get.
EDIT: Oh yeah general movement is quite fun, because you can sprint and run over things and tackle people and when you're driving (which is also awesome) you can "action hijack" other cars, it's so win to do that.