The Warriors review

Looking back to the 70s as someone who never lived through that period, it does seem like quite an odd period. The clothes, the music, the hairstyles, it was all, well, astonishingly camp. But this part of history gave birth to some quite wonderful films, in particular Walter Hill’s The Warriors; a brutal cinematic experience based on a New York gang accused of killing a big time gang leader by the name of Cyrus.

At first glance, this does seem like quite an ideal premise for a video game. Brutal street battles with weapons consisting of whatever you can lay your hands on, and gang based warfare in order to claim the streets; something akin to the much underplayed ability to control various territories in San Andreas. In reality, things work out even better than any of us could have hoped.

For those who have seen the film, you’ll be pleased to hear that Rockstar hasn't gone down the easy route of tacking on an extra story to the end of the film. Instead, the main storyline centres on the three months leading up to the events of the film, focussing on The Warriors rise to fame in the New York back streets.

GTA-lite

The Warriors works via a hub based system, giving you the option of progressing through the story, training up your on screen avatar, heading out onto the streets to earn some cash, or proceeding through the various flashback missions which are unlocked during the course of play.

The way you move forward through the game is entirely of your own choosing, but everything is predominantly based on the story based missions. It’s not quite as free-form as the GTA series, but your more than able to waste a few hours earning cash and improving your characters stats before you attempt to take on a particularly difficult missions yet again.

Unfortunately difficulty spikes occur a little too frequently, especially when it comes to boss battles. As much as I love harking back to the olden days, bosses that cause so much frustration due to their ridiculous invulnerability to certain attacks can become very tiresome.

All too often you’ll end up sprinting wildly in all directions, attempt to take small pot shots at your opponent when before you could make use of the entire wealth of attacking options you had in your hands. It isn’t helped due to the fact that these boss battles take camera control away from you, leaving frustration levels spiralling upwards as you lose sight of your enemy for the umpteenth time.

Where are my flares?

First praise must go the delightful way that The Warriors manages to drag you away from the real world and truly place you right at the very centre of The Warriors gaming universe. Even if you’re yet to see the film, the introductory sequence alone, combined with some outstanding voice acting is enough to draw you in. The drab, colourless streets where you’ll frequently beat people senseless show off the sense of a dark, depressing world to a very high degree.

Even the cut-scenes that occur before, during, and after missions are all easily watchable, and carry on the game’s tradition of impressive voice acting. While the looks aren’t exactly what you’d call attractive – they’re definitely what you’d call functional – the sheer number of characters on screen cant help but amaze. One mission in particular can see easily fifty characters onscreen, all getting stuck into each other with no harm to the frame rate.

Attempts to bring the Final Fights/Streets of Rage style games to the third dimension in recent time have all failed quite miserably, with camera issues being the main bugbear of many a gamer. But Rockstar, being the talented group that it is, has managed to develop a system (remember the excellent engine that powered Manhunt?) that brings that old gameplay style bang up to date.

A quick tap of a button is all that’s required to lock onto your next target, with surprisingly little input needed by yourself thanks to the game’s alarming ability to guess whose teeth you wish to smash next. However, you do frequently find yourself targeting an enemy outside your line of sight, therefore a little camera tweakage is required before you can get back into the brawl.

A brick to the face

These beatings you’ll dish out have a sense of brutality that’s been lacking in most major game releases in recent years. The way that bodies recoil after a punch to the stomach, the audible air being knocked out of someone’s lungs and the smash of shattered glass as you throw yet another thug through a shops front window all make for a fighting system that’s just about without flaw.

Throw in a few bottles to smash over heads, and bog standard house bricks and you’ll made more than well aware of just why The Warriors gained an 18 certificate.

A nice boy really

It’s not all just about fighting though. Some missions require you to tag walls with The Warriors logo via tracking a line with the analogue stick. That’s not all however, as you’ll perform in other short mini games (we’re talking WarioWare Inc style short here) to steal car radios, pick the locks of shops, and help your gang mates out and break them out of their cuffs.

The good old stealth missions make a brief appearance, but are thankfully much more forgiving than most examples of this much over-used gameplay mechanic. Simply heading into a dark area around a corner is more than enough to shake off most enemies.

The Warriors doesn’t even remotely deserve to be considered a top game. The camera can prove hugely annoying, the ridiculous boss battles can’t help but frustrate, and even the graphics are functional rather than attractive. But, it seems that this particular title has that mysterious X factor which makes it a guaranteed gem.

Whether it’s the storyline, or purely the traditional beat-em-up action, I can happily make known that The Warriors is quite a wonderful gaming experience. With a little extra polish it could have been an absolute masterpiece, but instead Rockstar have brought us a solid, if a tad unspectacular title, which totals up to far more than the sum of its parts.