Square Enix might not allude to it directly in its press release, but it looks to us like Sleeping Dogs is indeed the publisher's take on True Crime: Hong Kong having bought the rights to the game off Activision last year. Announcing the game for real with the first four screenshots and a blistering live-action video that's like a trailer for the best martial arts action movie never made, Sleeping Dogs is a Hong Kong crime story that casts you in the role of undercover cop, Wei Shen.

Like past True Crime games, Sleeping Dogs is an open-world action game set in the vibrant neon-soaked Hong Kong, where Wei Shen finds himself embroiled within the inner workings of the Triads, and a story of loyalty and betrayal unfolds. And as the trailer suggests, there'll be plenty of intense gunplay and visceral martial arts action to get caught up in.

"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," said Lee Singleton, GM of Square Enix London Studios.

Said melee system will enable players to wield weapons and engage in bone-crunching combos, as well as performing nasty executions with refrigerator doors, circular saws, incinerators and phone booths. Nice. Sleeping Dogs is scheduled to release later in the year. Check out the debut live-action trailer and first four screenshots below.