Square Enix has today formally announced Sleeping Dogs for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, a new open-world action game set in Hong Kong and due for a release towards the latter half of 2012.

Currently in development at United Front Games (Modnation Racers), Sleeping Dogs is described as “a gritty and visceral openworld cop drama set in the vibrant city of Hong Kong,” a depiction that is not coincidentally similar to Activision’s True Crime: Hong Kong.

Development of True Crime: Hong Kong was halted by Activision once the publisher deemed the game to be in a state of disrepair after many years in the making, so it was decided that no further resources would be spent on its creation, but a buyer for the current work was to be found.

Square Enix picked up that work, including created assets and code, but Activision held onto the True Crime intellectual property as well as rights to the story and characters of True Crime: Hong Kong.

This meant that while Square Enix had a game on its hands with development partner United Front, the pair needed to come up with its own name and intellectual property ideas, as well as a new story to fit the already created world.

Thus, Sleeping Dogs was born and the formal announcement of the game today must come as a relief for developer United Front whose work may not have ever been seen, otherwise.

Sleeping Dogs places you in the shoes of undercover cop Wei Shen, a Hong Kong police officer who has been tasked with infiltrating and destroying the city’s fearsome Triad criminal organisation.

Square Enix tells us:

“As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.”

General Manager of Square Enix London Studios Lee Singleton said of Sleeping Dogs:

“From the moment you pick up the controller and experience the blend of driving, close combat and shooting you know you’re playing something fresh and a bit special.”

“Sleeping Dogs has one of the best melee combat systems out there – it’s super brutal with devastating takedown moves, and when added to UFG’s proven heritage in driving games, a first class story and the vibrant backdrop of the Hong Kong underworld we get a fiery recipe with fun written all over it.”

Sleeping Dogs from Square Enix and United Front Games is said to offer players an island “packed with action, every street corner, market stall, harbour dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat.”

Intense!

Square Enix claims that Sleeping Dogs features one of the most “intuitive and imaginative combat systems,” while empowering players to use an included array of extensive martial moves to whittle down numerous enemies at once.

“Players perform bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors.”

Look forward to Sleeping Dogs during the second half of 2012 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, but don’t leave without watching the game’s adrenaline-jammed live-action announcement trailer:

Sleeping Dogs - Announcement Trailer