Though True Crime: Hong Kong might have switched publishers and switched titles to Sleeping Dogs it hasn't lost any of the qualities that made it a unique take on the open world genre. Set within the organized crime rings of Hong Kong, Sleeping Dogs is a familiar story with some inventive gameplay mechanics.

To help establish that Sleeping Dogs hasn't lost anything except an initial publisher, Square Enix (the new publisher for the game) has released a new trailer. It's a combination of story set-up and brief teases of gameplay, and should convince any True Crime fans to make the transition with United Front Games.

It's been a tough go of it for this title over the past year or so — with Activision canning the third entry in the True Crime franchise (after first delaying it) — but now that Square Enix has picked up publishing rights, things are right back on track. Still, there might be some who, despite being familiar with the True Crime series, don't know what new qualities this game brings to the table.

As the character of undercover cop Wei Shen players will experience a multitude of gameplay features including high-speed vehicle chases, foot chases, shootouts, and martial arts combat. This isn't your typical Grand Theft Auto knockoff, something established by the first True Crime titles, and further expanded on in Sleeping Dogs.

Check out the trailer:

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While the trailer certainly sells Sleeping Dogs much better than anything else, Square Enix has also released the box art for the game, which was designed by artist Tyler Stout. It could be argued that the core gameplay contained within Sleeping Dogs — the open world crime elements — don't set the title apart from its competition, but this box art is certainly something truly original.

All in all United Front Games has a lot to offer gamers this August both in terms of a clever little riff on the criminal underworld genre, and with an interesting new locale. It might not be entirely new, but sometimes just a change of scenery is nice.

What do you think of Sleeping Dogs' first trailer under the new title? Has box art become an underappreciated quality in a video game's release or does it still matter?

Sleeping Dogs releases August 4, 2012 for the PS3 and Xbox 360.