
	Platform PlayStation 2 Genre Action Publisher Rockstar Developer Rockstar Toronto ESRB M (Mature) Released October 2005

- The game expands upon the movie's story - Convincing environments - Good audio - Tons of things to do

- Some of the characters faces look weird - Spray painting tags is a pain in the butt

Review: The Warriors (Xbox) Review: GTA: San Andreas (PC) Review: State of Emergency (Xbox)
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The Warriors

Score: 8.1 / 10

Well, this certainly was a pleasant surprise. Here we have a game based on a movie that isn’t total crap. All through the game’s development, I was more than a little skeptical whether The Warriors would live up to the cult movie of the same name. Would it do the movie proud, or be like all the other derivative movie license pap littering game store bargain bins these days. Thankfully, Rockstar Toronto came out swinging for this game, providing a title that not only provides an entertaining mix of mayhem and fan service, but takes things a step further by adding considerably more meat to The Warriors’ mythos.

Over the course of the game, it’s quite impressive just how well Rockstar was able to recreate the gritty, grungy New York originally portrayed in the movie version of The Warriors. The streets and alleys players will wander through have plenty of little touches that help to make the game world feel far more alive. Walls of buildings will have tags marking off gang turf, there’s plenty of litter on the street, and there’s this constant, over-arching dirtiness to everything that helps drive home that players are indeed walking through gang-ruled ghettos. However, while the environments look great, the characters in The Warriors could use a little work. Their animations are up to snuff, with very convincing fence jumping, face punching, and groin kicking, but the details, especially for their faces, isn’t pretty. All of the characters look like they did a ton of botox, leaving their faces numb so that only their mouths move, with some occasional eyebrow raises for extra flavor. It’s creepy to look at.

What’s particularly nice about The Warriors is that the game isn’t a total remake of the movie. Instead it takes place a few months before the events of the film,

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explaining how The Warriors established themselves, and key members joined. A lot of games suffer from regurgitating the plots from the movies that they’re based on, causing players to lose interest due to the “been there, done that” feel such a route can take. This decision to provide new content instead is most welcome.

Also nice is that while the game is about a group of street gang toughs, players don’t constantly have to beat the tar out of rivals in a

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never-ending turf war. There are plenty of opportunities to break into cars and shops to score cash, help out the local transients, and even tag some walls. Of course, the local law enforcement tends to frown on this behavior, so make sure the coast is clear before doing these sorts of things. Of these activities, cleaning out stores, and muggings tended to be the most viscerally activity simply because there was always a sense of urgency to get the job done before the cops showed up. Unfortunately, spray-painting the Warriors’ logo on walls proved more annoying due to the fidgety controls involved. In order to paint, players need to follow the lines shown on-screen with the left analogue stick of the PS2’s controller, but it’s way too easy to deviate from those lines, slowing players down, and causing them to run out of paint faster. Something more on par with the tagging methods found in Jet Grind Radio would have been far more fun than this system.

Even the audio holds up well in the game. Rockstar went out of its way to get as many actors who were involved with The Warriors movie to reprise their roles for the game, and it has gone a long way in adding to the authenticity of the title. Also, with all of the chaos that can sometimes be seen swirling around on various missions, all of the various sound effects blend in extremely well, with shouts, and smashing objects popping out, and blending into the background appropriately. However, what is by far the best thing about the game’s audio is its music, especially during load sequences. The choice of instrumentation, and general direction that the music goes in fits all of the game’s various situations perfectly.

Regardless of whether or not one has seen the film version of The Warriors, there’s plenty of action to enjoy over the course of the game. There’s never a lack of things to do, the story is interesting, and the overall atmosphere of the game is very convincing. It’s not often that well made games based on movies come along; this is one of them.

- Mr. Nash

(November 23, 2005)