All 3D and HD-era GTA games are set in the United States. That’s fine, I guess, but the world is a big place, and Sleeping Dogs takes the GTA-like formula to a fresh location: Hong Kong. There aren’t many games set in Hong Kong, and none of them are as fun and good as Sleeping Dogs. What really helps this game stand out from all the other GTA clones is its focus on melee combat and hand-to-hand fights. Guns are rare in the game, like in Hong Kong, so you have to learn combos and use the environment to your advantage in fights. You can also grab someone, smash their head into a phone booth, shove them into your trunk, and then drive them off a cliff. Can’t do that in GTA V.
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There are of course many more open-world games that are heavily inspired by the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Not long after GTA III was unleashed on the world it seemed every game developer decided to take a swing (or a few) at recreating the formula that Rockstar helped pioneer.
So it’s very likely you might have a favorite GTA-like game that didn’t make this list. If so, let us know in the comments below!