Storyline:The 1979 film and cult-classic The Warriors has inspired and been sampled by countless hip hop artists for years. It's the story of a Brooklyn gang that travels all the way to the Bronx for a meeting of peace between all the gangs of New York. The facilitator of the event, Cyrus, leader of The Riffs, is assassinated during his speech and a rival gang named The Warriors are the perpetrators. Now on the run, The Warriors must travel through rival gang neighborhoods to make their way back to Coney Island. The game, The Warriors starts about four months before that fateful meeting in The Bronx. You first take control as Rembrandt as he joins the gang. You learn how to fight, how to mug, how to steal car stereos, break into stores and tag up walls. From then on you take on various missions leading up to the meeting. Does this game do justice to a film that every cat who's ever been on the streets adores?
Audio/Visual: The look of The Warriors character models are a mix of Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt. The characters don't really have any fingers, just paws with a thumb, but the animations during fights between the characters are well done. The best part about the visuals, however, is the environment. The designers did an excellent job in capturing the essence of the film and 1970’s New York. With most missions taking place at night, the dimly lit streets littered with trash, abandoned cars, and bombed out buildings adds to the authenticity of the game. The soundtrack of the game is mostly the same from the movie, with the creepy score plus old school 70’s jams. For the voice acting, Rockstar was able roundup a couple of the original actors to reprise their roles for the game: James Remar (Ajax), Dorsey Wright (Cleon), David Harris (Cochise), and Michael Beck (Swan). If you listen real close, you can catch the voices of El-P, Sheek Louch, Styles P, Aesop Rock and DMC. The only down part is the cursing, which wasn't that prevalent in the film.
Controls: There are different controls for different things. For fighting, you use the A and X buttons to punch and kick while the Y can be used to tackle or throw folks or even pickup a bat, 2X4, broken bottle, trash can or anything not nailed down to throw at foes. When stealing stereos, you bust a car window and actually have to unscrew the stereo using the left analog stick. There are also times when you're leading your gang through some madness, you can click your stick and command your crew to watch your back, destroy everything in sight or just follow you throughout the mission. It sounds like a lot, which it kind of is, but you get the hang of it real quick and just improves the experience of the game.
Hotness: If you're a fan of the film, it gives some great background story to the movie such how each member joined and how Cleon started the gang. The game as a whole is so engaging that you won’t want to put down your controller for days.
Wackness: Has to be the language. The film didn't have much cussing in the first place, but when it did it served its purpose. In the game, it seems like the characters are cussing just because they can. It comes off cheesy and corny, and could have been handled better.
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Copyrights
Quibian Salazar-Moreno. The Warriors. Copyright 2005 Vibe.com.
