| The Warriors review |
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"Can you count suckas? I say the future is yours, if you can count. We've got the Saracens sitting next to the Jones Street Boys. We've got the Moonrunners right by the Vancourtland Rangers. Nobody is wasting nobody. That is a miracle, and miracles is the way things ought to be." Stirring words indeed from Cyrus, president of The Gramercy Riffs and central to the plot of Rockstar (Toronto) Games' recent movie tie-in - The Warriors.
The very words "movie tie-in" are enough to strike fear into the hearts of games-players across the world, and with the number of poor cash-ins vastly outweighing the genuinely brilliant, it's easy to see why. With The Warriors though, a huge amount was at stake for any potential developers. The 1979 movie has a huge following, elevating it above most cult films and with a real hard-core of devotees. This isn't the kind of franchise which is basically a license to print money *cough* Harry Potter *cough*, and Rockstar itself is a household name and one with a world-class pedigree. The trick then, was to produce a game worthy of both names, and a good one to boot.
Thankfully Rockstar have delivered, and with bells on. The first thing to strike the player as they sit in front of the game for the first time, is the quality of the presentation and how much attention has been lavished on it. The artwork used throughout fits with the 70's gang theme perfectly, and really reflects the ambience of the movie. Fans of the film will no doubt gasp and make overly-excited gesticulations towards uninterested partners (as this writer did) the first time they witness the opening sequence from the film, only this time rendered in real-time and duplicated shot for shot using the in-game engine. That's attention to detail! Once finished, the player is left facing the elevated view of the Coney Island "Wonder Wheel", watching it slowly amble its way round to the haunting theme tune, and it's at this point that the next layer of shining lacquer is revealed - the audio.
It's all too easy to state that audio in games is overlooked, and often it's true. It's very easy to mute the TV and nod along to a favourite CD instead, especially with the Xbox custom playlist feature. But it's no excuse for developers to become lazy, and in The Warriors, we have a shining example of how all in-game sound should be. The original music from the movie has been brought up to date and re-mixed in order to make it longer and more atmospheric. This was an important move, as sections of the game can take up to thirty minutes to play through, and a one minute sample of music from the film repeated for the duration would have even the most ardent fan looking for the music volume slider in the options. The graphics in-game are fairly standard fare, but do the job admirably. The well known faces from the film are present and instantly recognisable, and the voice acting is remarkably true to the original too. The frame rate ticks along nicely, it's just a shame the faces are low-poly, but that's a minor hangup. Everything stays smooth - and at the same time gritty - with blood being spilt, cars and shops getting wrecked, atmospheric lighting, and punk-ass boppers getting wasted in a glorious destructive melee.
The game itself plays as one might expect a Warriors game to - plenty of 'bopping' of the rival gangs and all-round general thuggery and vandalism is encouraged - it's the kind of game that has Jack Thompson in conniptions. Perhaps best described as a 3D Streets of Rage, it's a brawler through and through (with occasional platform skills needed). Players punch, kick, throw, stomp, break and mangle their way through the nicely realised 70's New York cityscape, with the possibility of using just about anything as a weapon. Often the player finds themself leading the gang, and with a handy pop-up menu, commands can be given to spread out, or group up, or cause a ruckus. For a brawler there's a surprising amount of depth to the fighting system, and a play through the tutorial (which in fact follows Rembrandt's initiation into The Warriors) is a must. Anyone familiar with the Def-Jam games should pick it up quickly, since there's a surprising amount of similarities. If there's one gripe about the controls, it's the sensitivity of the analog stick (which players have to use). There's a very fine line between walking and "disorientated gazelle on speed" style sprinting, and unfortunately that line is a few mm from neutral on the stick. It's soon forgotten though, and quickly becomes second nature. "Tagging" areas of the city with the Warriors' famous "W" logo is an integral part of the game-play, and needs a steady hand as you attempt to trace a W shape on screen much like the old metal-wire-and-loop-buzzer games.
The story of the game is cleverly constructed so that it doesn't really have much to do with the film per se, more the events leading up to that night. Games which try to follow the story of a film exactly are often trite and short-lived - perhaps with the notable exception of Goldeneye. Despite the lack of directly reflecting the events of the film, it still feels like The Warriors, and if anything fleshes out the world of the movie and makes it more real. Scenarios in the game range from straight gang fights, chases across rooftops (crashing through windows and greenhouses in the process), defending the businesses paying for your protection, to graffiti contests and raids on gangs' headquarters. This variety adds to the longevity of the game and helps relieve and almost nullify the inherent boredom of repetition in brawler games. The missions progress as the days tick down until D-day: the mass congregation of gangs which starts the film.
Rockstar need to be commended for the amount of content that's been stuffed beneath the supremely polished veneer. Missions are started from the gang's base, and it's in this base that all of the extras can be accessed. The radio plays out reports of the fallout of The Warriors' last foray into the city (complete with sultry DJ), character stats can be built up in the gym area, scenarios related to the main story can be actually played out as mini-missions. In these, players learn how Cleon came to the warriors, how the other main warriors got their vests, and a variety of other background stories. Players can also create their own gangs with members of the other gangs they've unlocked (by playing through the main game), and have fights with set numbers in certain areas from the game, either against the computer or against a friend and their gang. All in all there's an absolute ton of stuff to get through for the 100% completion fans. Couple this with a brilliant two-player co-op mode for the main game, and you have a super-violent, aurally pleasing, long-lasting piece of software. A labour of love and a splendid homage to a well-loved film.
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System: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: Action
Developer: Rockstar Toronto
Publisher: Rockstar
Players: 1-2
Version: European
Reviewed: Mar 2006
Writer: Adam Richards
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Pros:
- Immaculate presentation and authenticity
- Good variety and a strong fighting engine
- Great sound and music
- Two player co-op mode
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Cons:
- Graphics a little dated
- I don't want to RUN everywhere
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The Warriors Video: 5.6MB
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