The Warriors

Written by Tom Clare in PS2 Game Reviews, Wednesday 9 September, 2009

Released: 2005
Developer: Rockstar Toronto
Publisher: Rockstar
Genre: Sandbox
Platform: PS2

Off the back of three increasingly gigantic hits from their Grand Theft Auto series, Rockstar’s next port of call was something of a surprise – a video-game adaptation of cult 1979 gangland film The Warriors. Fortunately, it turns out to be ideal fodder for open-world style gaming and barring some uncharacteristically rough presentation, ticks all the right boxes.

As in the film, the game opens with the assassination of the messianic preacher Cyrus at a mass-meeting of around a thousand representatives from New York’s various gangs, for which Coney Island’s Warriors are later wrongly accused of perpetrating. Around three quarters of the game are played out prior to this moment however, as through a series of missions we learn of the trials and tribulations of the Warriors and how their warlord Cleon helped build their stature in the run up to the meeting.

The first uncommonly good trait for a film tie-in (if you can call it a tie-in twenty-six years after the event) is that in recreating the story and atmosphere of the film, it never feels handcuffed by its source material. Indeed, in many instances it actually expands on the films narrative, such as in the handful of ‘Flashback’ missions that give a credible back story as to how the gang came about and how several of their key members were recruited. Fans will also find a good deal to like about the audio side of the game; the music’s ominous undercurrent fits the tone ideally and it also helps that many of the original cast members have returned to voice their characters, meaning that, foul-mouthed as it often is, the dialogue is of a good standard.

Though its environments are markedly less sizable, The Warriors showcases a number of innovations that weren’t present in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Living the life of a gang member involves such tasks as spraying graffiti tags, where you use the left analogue to trace along a variety of designs, whilst stealing car radios requires the quick twisting of the stick to remove a series of screws. Elsewhere, you can mug people for a few dollars and pick locks with a mixture of visual prompts and timing skills. All of these mini-challenges occur in real-time, meaning due to the hectic nature of the game, you’ll often be under pressure to perform them quickly and efficiently. They work well because each is instantly accessible and yet no two are alike, meaning the tasks retain a degree of variety even though they are all frequently called upon. Ostensibly though, The Warriors is a brawler at heart, and perhaps Rockstar’s biggest step is in its revised combat system.

Scraps in The Warriors involve the usual gaggle of punch/kick combos, as well as throws that can send your opponents clattering into their comrades or one of the many destructible elements in the scenery. Weapons are of course in ample supply around the streets and the use of bottles, bricks, bats and planks is actively encouraged thanks to additional damage and style points they accumulate. The fights can be a bit manic and the controls a touch wayward at times, but there’s plenty of fun to be had, especially given that for the most part you’re accompanied by allies who’ll help out when things get heated. Whilst specific targeting can be a touch hairy and your character has an annoying tendency to flap at nothing at times, the system is definitely a positive step for Rockstar.

The streets look suitably grimy in the night time settings, but next to the GTA games, there’s a certain ugliness to The Warriors. Whilst it’s understandable that things look a little muted, the environments are nevertheless unattractive, with buildings looking particularly low-res and the FMV’s appearing barely any better than the in-game cut-scenes. Whilst characters move and fight with acceptable levels of animation, there’s very little in the way of facial detail and additional variables such as hats, clothing and hair tend to look rather underwhelming as well.

But in fairness, what Rockstar sacrificed in terms of the games aesthetics, they more than made up for in the level of depth that has gone in to reimagining the world of The Warriors. For starters, between all the shop owners, gang members, civilians, tramps and police officers there are more than three hundred and fifty individual characters – a staggering number when you consider that each and every one of them can at some stage be unlocked and played as in a gang of your own devising.

This gang can then be put to good use in the Rumble mode, which contains a variety of cool fighting-game style modes to tackle, and there’s also the much-vaunted co-op where that allows you to play through the story with a friend. It works well, though not quite well enough to be a selling point. The constant switching between a split-screen and a full-screen viewpoint depending on players proximity to each other can be quite jarring. In certain sections, most notably a rooftop chase that involves timing jumps, the vertical split-screen makes it very difficult to see where you are going. Still, it’s a good laugh and certain levels that are tricky on your own can be polished off easier with a bit of teamwork.

Besides all of this, there’s still plenty to see and do. For starters you can take part in a series of San Andreas-style gym workouts that require some vigorous button-bashing to increase your attributes, whilst you can also explore Warriors territory on Coney Island by doing some missions for the locals, rewarding you at various times with more health and enhanced strength, and these distractions make for a nice break from the bigger levels.

Consequently there’s a healthy amount of replay value once you’ve finished the story, as each level challenges you to polish off all graffiti spray tags and secondary missions, as well as a target score, generally achieved by causing prolonged bouts of mayhem. Even if the fighting takes precedent for the most part, there are plenty of other memorable moments, like trashing a rival gang’s art-gallery, tailing a junkie so as to find a rival gangs hideout and, when the Warriors are on the run in the later stages, some stealth sections.

The stealth sections are among the rare moments where the game feels a little outside of its comfort zone. That’s not to say they’re terrible; they actually work pretty smoothly on a technical level, it’s just for once simplicity hurts the game. Provided you are in an area of shadow, enemies will never see you, and this leads to some bizarrely comic moments. If you’re spotted and then run to a shaded area, half a dozen foes will walk right to the edge of it, apparently staring at you right in the face but not registering your presence. The strong fighting credentials mean that edging around on tip-toes eventually feels unwarranted, like you’re overcomplicating matters.

Something’s never change and Rockstar’s renowned wit is still as prominent as ever, with some gems the hobos come out with providing some laugh-out-loud moments. It features a fictional drug called ‘Flash’ that’s used as a health pick-me-up and is bought from shady dealers, who are just as prone to nick your money and do a runner as give you your contraband. Rather brilliantly, completing The Warriors rewards the player with a surprisingly sturdy scrolling beat ‘em up called ‘Armies of the Night’, a full-length arcade game that not only accurately and amusingly parodies the likes of Double Dragon and Final Fight, it easily surpasses them in length.

Despite the developer’s excellent track record in the sandbox field, The Warriors still has to go down as a very pleasant surprise. It isn’t the prettiest member of Rockstar’s glittering PS2 stable, but they certainly didn’t rest on their laurels, tabling and executing a number of good new ideas, with the new combat in particular proving a big plus. It’s long, well-made and faithful to the film upon which it is based, meaning that in terms of a game adaptation, it’s realistically all fans of the movie could ever have wished for.

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