What could've made Sleeping Dogs an amazing game

I finished Sleeping Dogs about a week ago and I have to say it is a great game. The story really picks up in the end and there's also an interesting twist. However the one complaint that I really have with this game is the girlfriend system they implemented. It could have been a great addition to the game's story had it been better implemented.

When I was playing the game, I didn't understand how girlfriends worked into the gameplay mechanics. Doing some research I later found out that you can take certain women you meet throughout the game on dates. Now I had no idea how many dates you could go on nor how many girlfriends you had. So I figured, I might as well just see how it works out: enter Amanda Cartwright (voiced by Emma Stone). She's the first woman you meet who is touring Hong Kong, so of course you, Wei "the undercover cop trying to infiltrate the Sun On Yee" Shen (voiced by Will Yun Lee), starts to fall for her. It's a pretty classic scene of guy has secret life and meets girl who doesn't know exactly who he is. It's been done in "The Departed", "The Town", and more movies (especially those cop movies). So right off the bat I'm thinking, "Oh I bet I'm gonna have to choose a girlfriend and Amanda Cartwright is gonna be the one because I want Shen to stay a cop." Then later on I meet Tiffany Kim (voiced by Yunjin Kim), the owner of Club Bam Bam who enjoys being with bad boys a.k.a. triads. So now the game has introduced two women: one who doesn't know Shen is a triad and one who does. It's starting to be really obvious that I have to choose one.

Living a normal life as a cop with Amanda Cartwright.....

There are other girlfriends besides those two, but for the sake of explaining all of them I'll just focus on the two that will illustrate my point. Unfortunately, my previous assumptions proved to be false. The only gain from going on dates is that markers appear on your map of where special items are located like security cameras, health shrines, etc. While this isn't a bad thing, it would have been better if the game forced you to choose a girlfriend. Ultimately this would have changed the whole story in that there would have been multiple endings because the girlfriend you choose would have pushed you to either be a cop or a triad. 

....or becoming a member of the Sun On Yee with Tiffany Kim?

Looking back though, it's really sad that United Fronts didn't go this route. Even some of the reports you unlock hint that some potential girlfriends are more beneficial to Shen being a cop than others. Shen even acts differently around the two, which is understandable since those two represent the different sides of his life. Really that's life though. You choose certain people to associate with because they define who you are as a person. Throughout the game, your point of contact with the police tells you he's worried that you are getting too attached to the Sun On Yee. In the beginning, one of the Sun On Yee suspects you of being a cop and you have to convince him otherwise. Clearly the game is showing you that choices have to be made, so why can't you choose one girlfriend to have her define you?

You have to choose Shen!

My complaints are minor. This game is still great and anyone reading this should not pass up the opportunity to play it. This, I feel, is just one of the things that could have elevated it to a much better game.