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The Warriors - Hands On Preview

Jon Wilcox

30/09/2005

TVG takes to the mean streets of 1979 New York and asks the question - Can You Dig It...?

Raw and close to the edge it might have been in 1979, but looking back retrospectively at Paramount Picturesâ The Warriors, itâs very much a camp affair between various fictitious gangs of youths in silly costumes with big hair and even bigger attitudes. The film followed a group of nine individuals called The Warriors who are framed for the killing of Cyrus, the âPresident of the biggest gang in New Yorkâ at a mass gathering of the Big Appleâs disparate gangs. Stuck in the middle of the Bronx, The Warriors have to the gauntlet through the city back to their home turf of Coney Island â“ with the rest of the gangs in pursuit.

The videogame adaptation of the sixteen-year-old movie is nearly upon us thanks to Rockstar Toronto, with promises that the game will not only provide players with an experience that closely matches the film, but also reinvents a tired genre thatâs failed to adapt to the third dimension â“ the brawler. Days when titles such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage ruled both the home consoles and the arcades are now long gone, and previous attempts to bring the genre into the 21st Century have failed to satisfy so what are the chances of The Warriors defying the odds and making it?

TVG first caught a glimpse of The Warriors back in the summer but it wasnât until recently that we managed to experience playing the game itself. The events of the movie itself actually take place during the final third of the game, with Rockstar Toronto producing a substantial back-story that begins three months before the Bronx meeting and the death of Cyrus. The early part of the title acts as a tutorial to the various gameplay mechanics with the character of Rembrandt being inducted into the gang. Learning the brawling moves whilst attacking a group of âhiredâ bums one word instantly came to mind that stayed with us for the duration of the demo: brutal. From the basic moves such as punches, the game walked us through some of the more painful moves including combos, grabs and nose splitting throws into walls with the sort of crunching noises that canât fail to make you wince. Even during the tutorial itâs plain to see that the developers have created a solid combat system that allows gamers to fully immerse themselves into the world of street brawling.

Building up the combos also fills a meter that once complete allows gamers to access Rage Mode and unleash a number of Rage Attacks specific to each member of The Warriors; these moves are particular heavy handed and have the ability to drop an enemy with a single blow. Finally, in conjunction with a fellow Warrior, gamers are given the ability execute tandem moves with enemies tied up in a full nelson by one member of the game and being hit by another. The AI of the game (something that weâll discuss shortly) also initiates these tandem manoeuvres allowing players to make the final attack â“ did we mention that this is one brutal game?

Besides hand to hand combat The Warriors features a full and varied amount of objects that can be used as weapons including baseball bats and trashcans that empty their fill or even more weapons such as glass bottles (cue some brutal in-your-face moves.) When asked about the restrictions on what can be used as a weapon, Rockstar representatives said that anything that can be realistically used in the real world has the potential to be a weapon. One type of weapon that appear to be excluded in the game are guns, a good move by Toronto since it therefore allows the action to focus on the main stay of the title: brawling.

Besides the fighting The Warriors also features several gameplay elements that add a level of variety to the experience. Money plays a significant part in the game, and can be attained by various means including smash ânâ grabs and stealing car radios. Picking the shop locks by stopping each of the mechanisms within a certain shaded area is a straightforward affair that relies on timing, but with the threat of alarm bells and the NYPD always hanging over your head, speed is very much of the essence. Car radios on the other hand can be unscrewed from their housing with a few quick turns of the left analogue stick; whilst these âmini-gamesâ may not sound like the deepest examples of gameplay, they do offer a respite from the action.

In the streets of New York (as with most other areas around the Western world) thereâs one tried and tested way of making a mark and thatâs with a wall and a can of spray paint, and in The Warriors itâs no different with certain mission objectives calling on Rembrandtâs skills to tag the city. As with certain aspects of the brawling, the ability to graffiti the streets is context sensitive, and thereâs always the need to carry enough paint to do the job though there always seemed to be supplies close to hand. Players then have to trace over a symbol on screen as smoothly as possible without going off the line, which causes the flow of the paint to stutter and thus waste time which can prove to be precious, especially when certain tags have to be completed within a time limit. Heeding the warnings by Rockstar that you can never carry enough paint for the job, we headed for the nearest dealer and stocked up on the red stuff (thatâs paint, not blood.) Like the lock picking and stealing car radios, the graffiti events help to mix up the gameplay, something that hopefully should stop the feeling of repetition from kicking in, and is very much an integral part of the title.

Of course The Warriors will get hurt during the course of the game, and to recuperate players can use the drug/health pack of the game called âFlashâ, which can be bought, stolen or grabbed throughout the various locations of the city. Using the Flash is as simple as pressing a direction on the d-pad and has the visible effect of reinvigorating the characters.

If thereâs one thing that was stressed during the course if the demo by Rockstar itâs that players will have to learn when to pick a fight and when to run. As in the movie the gang is chased not only the other mobs of the city, but also by the NYPD, and whilst itâs more than possible to knock-out one of two officers without being overwhelmed, losing a fight with man in blue will mean an arrest and Game Over. During a confrontation with the police the radar is surrounded by a ring of blue and itâs only when this disappears that The Warriors are safe from the law once more. The ability to identify when to run also shows itself through the gameâs nod to the side-scrolling brawlers of the late-1980s and 1990s. Chased by the baseball uniform clad Furies, the game switches viewpoints to the classic side-scroll as The Warriors make their escape through the back roads and alleyways of New York, leaping fences and gaps as they go. Timing is everything during these sections since the characters have two distinct ways of traversing a wire fence: getting the timing right means that the character will leap neatly over the obstacle; getting it wrong means that theyâre left to scramble over, wasting valuable time as the rival gang approaches. At this point we asked about whether we could stop and fight our way through the Furies, but it was advised that it wouldnât be the best course of action â“ so on we ranâ¦

It was explained to us that during the course of the game players would take control of each of The Warriors, sometimes even changing character halfway through a particular mission â“ it was at this point that Rockstar explained the 2-player co-op mode that will feature in the game. Two player action can be accomplished at any point in the game, much in the same way as the traditional brawler/bet-em-ups allowed gamers to do. Best of all we were told that game could be completed from start to finish in co-op mode, which having witnessed two of Rockstarâs finest battle through a particularly brutal battle, weâd have to say is one of the key appealing aspects of the game. However, a lot of multiplayer third person action games played through a single TV does throw up the question of boundary limits. These are the maximum distances apart that the two player controlled characters are allowed to be; it came as a massive relief to us when we were told and demonstrated the vertical splint screen and independent camera systems that are defined whenever such an event occurs. Seamlessly switching between whole and split screens, the feature had clearly been thought through by Rockstar Toronto and worked very well indeed, and allowed the tandem moves to be accomplished with even greater satisfaction.

Back in the single-player version, the game utilises a series of six âWarlord Commandsâ that the gamer can order the rest of the pack to obey including âFollow Meâ (the default command), âWatch My Backâ (perfect for when Rembrandt is spraying a tag), and âWreck âem Allâ (the command for just laying into an opponent. Whilst these commands are important to grasp in the game, one gameplay element that requires players to use the âHold Onâ command is stealth. Now before you begin to roll you eyes and mutter, the stealth moves seem to be fairly solid with players staying in the shadows and causing distractions for opponents to follow â“ remember itâs all about knowing when to pick a fight and when not to â“ with the radar turning blue when the controlled character is hidden from view. In such circumstances the Hold On command becomes important since some of the following gang may give the game away, allowing the lone opponent to call of reinforcements.