The Warriors

Rockstar enters the game license fra-ay, as The Warriors come out to pla-ay. Our full verdict along with the final (and best) trailer, and some final gameplay clips.

	Version PS2, Xbox	Developer Rockstar Toronto	Publisher Rockstar	Genre Action/Adventure

By Stephen Rowley

Every gamer knows that licensed games, aside from a few rare instances (or Rare instances), tend to suck harder than a leech's vacuum cleaner. Every gamer also knows that such licensed games are rarely marketed at them; they're for the fans of the license, for the young 'uns, or, in the case of E.T., for being buried in the desert. Well, Rockstar knows gamers; and it certainly understand its target market.

The Warriors has been in development for around three years - and it shows, in good ways as well as bad. But if this is how long it takes to do a licensed game properly, as opposed to rushing them out to coincide with other supporting media, then if nothing else The Warriors should be seen by other developers as the way things should be done. Regardless of how good a game it may be, the polish, attention to detail and accuracy in capturing the essence of its inspiration marks it as a well developed game, which alone should ensure a solid showing with critics and players alike.

Rather than the Halo methodology of extending 30 seconds of fun over the duration of the game, The Warriors instead throws in so much variety that there'll be at least one thing every gamer enjoys. But really, most of what you can do is enjoyable. Our favourite is easily the tagging mini-game, with a control method invoking memories of Gitaroo Man, which could potentially even be used as the basis of an entire game. Tracing the phallic and yonic shapes (though perhaps that says more about us than Rockstar) with the analogue stick is intuitive and fun.

Of course, the main focus is on the fighting system. It's a solid yet simplistic affair, which never outstays its welcome, thanks to the nature of the brawling in the game. Sure it gets repetitive, to the point where you could comfortably just use the same move(s) throughout. But because you're only fighting one opponent for a few punches before moving onto the next, things always stay quite fresh. However, what really keeps your interest is the variety in each of the game's missions - completely quashing the fears we had from our earlier preview.

This variety is sometimes evident in the game's diverse locations. While the streets of New York are dark, dirty and drab, staying authentic to the film, you'll still face loads of different missions - whether it's on a ghost train, a rooftop chase, or trashing an art gallery. The variety can also come from the mini-games: the stealing of car stereos; picking locks and trashing shops; laying down 'burners' (tagging); the obligatory stealth sections (which although solid, are still the least interesting parts of the game).

Variety also comes in terms of the sheer scale of battle; while the majority of the game involves 'bopping' (fighting), it can include anything from 1-on-1 rumbles, to a full complement of nine Warriors wrecking rival gangs - all the way up to the odds stacked at 15-1 against (and not a hint of slowdown with it).

It is a shame that variety isn't quite there with the members of rival gangs. Each particular gang certainly looks the part - the film wasn't short on iconic visuals - but aside from the leaders and lieutenants in each gang (most of whom are Rockstar fictions), the foot soldiers look too samey, and they fight the same as you (and every other gang). Where are the fire-breathing porkers, the 8ft bouncers, the ninja-y ninjas and the whip-wielding, uh, leather-clad 'ladies of the night'? OK, maybe such would have been ill-fitting for The Warriors license, but some more standout characters wouldn't have gone amiss. Still, it's a minor quibble.

As a licensed game, The Warriors is right on the money. Everything from the opening credits sequence, the understated title screen, the musical stabs during gameplay and the personalities of each of the Warriors, is perfectly captured. The majority of the game being set before the events depicted in the film works too, in fact it works so well that the portion of the game based directly on the film is somewhat of an anti-climax. This accuracy and authenticity is thanks in part to that three-year development time, but on the flip side, so are the rough character models.

However, all of the good things to be found in The Warriors easily cancel out anything negative that can be said about the game. There's a lot to see and do, even if on the surface a lot of it looks the same. There's even plenty to do after completing the main game, of particular note are the retro-styled bonus (that puts Tekken's 'Farce' Mode to such shame as to expunge all memory of it), the two-player co-op, and the player vs. player Rumble modes.

The Warriors is ace - we dig it.