The Warriors Xbox Review

With War looming over New York City, ‘The Warriors’ are wrongly accused of killing a big time gang leader and now every gang in the city is out for revenge. ‘The Warriors’ must make their way from one end of New York to their turf on the other side of the city. All that stands between The Warriors and their survival are 20 miles and 100,000 gang members. The streets are owned by the armies of the night and there’s no turning back. ‘The Warriors’ must fight for their lives as danger and uncertainty emerges from the city night. Watch out Jack Thompson, The Warriors are coming out to play-i-ay!

Gameplay

The Warriors is a game based on the 1979 film of the same name it tells the story of a gang-run New York from the perspective of a gang called The Warriors. The game itself is very story driven and not as open ended as you would expect form a title that bears “Rockstar” on the cover but still has a nice selection of things for you to mess about with. Before I go any further I should say any similarities The Warriors has to the GTA series are very small as it is Rockstar Toronto who developed The Warriors and not Rockstar North so don’t jump in expecting 100 of hours of Carl Johnson fun all over again. Anyway back to the game; what is The Warriors about? Well the main task you should find yourself doing is beating the blooming hell out of everyone you see that is not wearing your gangs’ colours. Thankfully this beating up is loads of fun as there are lots of combos, different strikes and grapples which are easily done with a few taps on the controller. There is also a Rage Move where can be built up and unleash on an unsuspecting opponent which will result in a quick trip to a hospital for the unfortunate victim. These victims can range from random people on the road to cops and rival gangs which are the hardest to beat as they attack you in large numbers.

Weapons are also available for use with bats, pieces of glass, bear bottles and trash cans all waiting to become your own personal ass kick devices. The main base of operation in the game is the warrior hideout which can be used for training, talking to other gang members. Outside of your hideout is where the fun really begins though. Once you hit the streets you are free to mug people, steal car radios, break into stores, take drugs (which give you more HP), spray tags, break people out of cuffs and all sorts of other stuff, all these tasks are preformed via cool mini-games. For example to spray tags you must trace the tags shape with the analogue stick and to get people out of handcuffs you have to rhythmically tap L & R. there is also a feature called “Warcheif Commands” which are orders you can issue to the other Warriors making them do less or more damage or if you want go completely crazy and wreck everything in sight These mini games and other extras are nicely done and do a great deal to stop the game from becoming boring and put it above being just a regular brawler.

Graphics

On first impressions the game looks great graphically but after about 30 minutes play, little inconsistencies will pop up with make to game look very sub par. If you venture through the city at a quick pace everything will look hunky-dory but if you stop to fight some gangs then you will notice some areas are made up of low-res textures which look very bad while viewed close up, the lighting is also not the best seen in a game making the whole environment look very drab, this low lighting may have been intentional but it leads to very lifeless environments. Then there are the characters themselves which seem nicely built and have good animation and move quite realistically but they are not very well detailed with not many polys been used on the models. This problem persists when you meet new gangs to fight as each of them are even less detailed than the lass and many of them look the same. Much more work could have went into this area of the game but it is only the graphics that disappoint in The Warriors; all of the other parts of the game are very well done.

Sound

All in all The Warriors does a pretty good job in the audio department. First of many of the original actors from the 1979 film have returned to lend their voice to the game, and for those that have not returned good sound-a-likes are used to add a layer of authenticity to the title. Even though the game is not directly based on the film (it tells another part of the story) many direct quotes are used which should bring a smile to the faces of the fans of the cult film. Sound effects are also well done with each punch, kick, crash and bash having lots of oomph behind it. The music is also top notch with the original score and lots of licensed tracks heving been used to set the 70’s scene.

Lifespan

There is no doubt that The Warrior offers great value for money. The single-player game alone should keep you entertained for hours and gives you the chance to play through it multiple times to find and unlock new things. Then there is the co-op where is fantastic if you have like-minded friends to play the game with. The second player can jump into the game at any time. Then finally there is the rumble mode which is a great multiplayer option the game which lets you and your friends create your own gang by choosing members from the gangs already available, then do battle in a variety of different arenas. When all is said and done you should get lots of gameplay out of the single and co-op game and you could be playing the multiplayer for many weeks to come.

Overall

Remember Final Fight, Double Dragon and all those other game in that genre you loved as a kid? Remember how sad you were when the genre died? Well be sad no more as the Warriors is a fantastic rebirth and evolution of the genre. There is no doubt that the game does has some problem, mostly centring round a rather iffy camera but the core gameplay is lots of fun and in the end that is what matters the most. A lot of fun can be had in both single and co-op games and for anyone who as spent the last few years looking for a quality brawler then The Warriors is without a doubt, a must buy title.

8.4 out of 10