The Warriors - First Play - Scenario 3/23

Rockstar’s the Warriors is based on the cult movie from the late seventies of the same name. To be honest, I had never heard of the Warriors movie until the game was announced at this past E3, and I have still yet to see the movie. Which prompted some of my nerdier friends to ream me and point me towards some of its more famous quotes like “Can you dig it”. And for those of you who watch the WWF, it’s the wrestler Booker T’s catch phrase. So of course I had to play this game.

Well that’s not really the reason I decided to rent this game. From what I read about the title- it’s an update of the beat-em-up genre utilizing squad commands in addition to the usual brawling. Now I am a fan of beat-em-up games going back to classics like Final Fight, Double Dragon and Streets of Rage to more obscure titles like Combatatribes and Ninja Combat. For the most part most 3-D beat-em-up games have left me disappointed. Their brawling systems have been clunky, combo systems mediocre, and their character design is extremely droll (cough cough -Beatdown: Fist Of Vengeance) although there have been exceptions like Ninja Gaiden and the first Devil May Cry.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find the battle system in the Warriors quite versatile if a bit convoluted for a button masher like myself. Still, the game offers up a good deal of attacks like being able to hit people from any angle with jabs, elbows, and round house kicks as well as being able to throw enemies onto each other from any direction. This works well while fighting large groups of enemies in a 3-D space- although there are times when the camera wonks out a bit . Fortunately, they’ve included the ubiquitous Zelda 64-like targeting system where your character will lock onto an opponent and navigate around them allowing you follow your enemies closely.

Group battles are a large part of the combat in the Warriors, and your colleagues fight savagely. They even have the ability to grab opponents from behind giving you the opportunity to pummel, tackle or stab them in cold blood. Its quite brutal in practice and this game certainly earns its Mature rating within its first seconds. And this is on game play alone- I’ve yet to talk about narrative content.

The game opens from the Xbox splash screen to the Rockstar Logo followed by an impressive cinematic that begins at the Coney Island Ferris wheel and follows several gangs on their way to the climatic meeting place at the start of the film- all without you pressing a button. This has always been a feature I admired of Rockstar- having the game load straight up into the cinematic before seeing a menu screen or anything of the sort. When a button press queue does arrive, it does so in the context of the cinematic- a ‘press start’ marquee blinking in a small corner with a shot of the Ferris wheel in frame. This was obviously a precise choice and it’s a testament to the cinematic craft work that the designers choose to implement in the game. And it does not end here but continues through every portion of the game. Even the tutorial is embedded in a cinematic type narrative as the Warriors’ Warchief instructs you on how you will be initiated into the gang-by beating up bums who’ve been bribed with liquor. This style of exposition plays out organically and I immediately felt immersed in the world the game was presenting- quite an impressive feat.

You begin the game as Rembrandt, a new recruit and a “writer” which is slang for graffiti artist. As I mentioned before, the game’s opening segment is a tutorial where you are instructed to beat up a bum. I found this scene to be rather wrenching- as I felt bad beating the poor bum up. However, this moment fits with the theme and ambience of the game world: ugliness and savagery, but I didn’t feel any less bad for beating up the bum and subsequent bums thereafter.

The next few missions were also introductory- giving me the opportunity to break into cars and steal radios, mug people, give my troops orders, taking hand-cuffs off my comrades, and tag various spots around Coney Island. Each one of these activities have their own mini-game associated with them ranging from simply tapping the left and right triggers in sequence, or by twirling the analog sticks in certain directions to unfasten the screws in car radio. Mugging, for me, yielded the most interesting mini-game: the game requires you to move the left analog stick around in a circle looking for points that vibrate. When you find the rumble point the user needs to push the analog stick in that direction. On screen these actions correspond to your avatar twisting the arms and tightening the hold of your victim and the action plays like a staged dance. Interestingly, the inputs and animations change up quite a bit so one isn’t playing the same sequence repeatedly. The inclusion of these mini-games work as a whole, some are trite but others are engaging. However, the sheer breadth of them are emblematic about how the designers didn’t want the player to get through the game using simple button presses- instead every facet of action has its own unique interface and that’s an impressive feat of game design or at least an ambitious idea.

The game truly kicks off after the tutorial. A rival gang called the Destroyers, who are introduced in a nice 70’s styles slow mo introduction rife with a dark brown and blue color palette, has decided to encroach on Warriors territory. In retaliation the Warriors decided to tag over all of their territory. At this point, Rembrandt and several other gang members sneak through Destroyer territory and mug, beat, and tag their way through. At the best of times, I felt powerful with my crew backing me up as I beat up Destroyers and cops alike. At other times, I felt my crew were complete numbskulls as on more than one occasion one would straggle off and start a fight somewhere out of my sight. A message would appear stating “So and So is being attacked”- well if the numbskull had stuck with my orders he wouldn’t be getting attacked. Every game that I’ve played involving squad-based commands has this hang up.

Regardless, when my crew was following my commands properly my blood began to rush. Group combat against the Destroyers was a blast. I took a baseball bat from one of my fellow Warriors and swung it wildly about- smashing into several Destroyers. I began button mashing as I forgot what the various combo attack sequences were, but it didn’t matter- I was whipping some ass and it felt visceral. This is an important quality to brawlers- the feeling of inflicting damage. I feel like Viewtiful Joe captures that feeling tremendously when using the SlowMo and Zoom functions in tandem as your literally punch a hole in your enemies chest. While, no chests are imploded in the Warriors, the crunches and wet sound of flesh being hammered into pulps adds to feeling of causing major damage. So in this aspect, the Warriors combat succeeds.

Graphically, the game uses the same engine as GTA- which isn’t a bad thing. Although the character models aren’t very detailed- one can easily discern the different Warriors from each other by voice acting. The game uses a dark color palette taking place mostly at night and in the seedier parts of New York City- and this works fine. Obviously, this choice was made for the brawling scenarios as at one point there were about 20 people on the screen duking it out with no slow down. Thats impressive as in most 3-D brawlers, as you’d be lucky to have six enemies on the screen at one time.

I don’t know what the rest of the game holds for me- it can be sure it involves some more vicious brawling, stressful scenarios and interesting dialogue. Some of my favorite moments so far have been when I let the game sit while I wrote up my notes for this review- the ambient dialogue between your fellow Warriors and people standing around in the city has been hilarious. That and its adds greatly to the atmosphere- in the Warriors headquarters your colleagues bicker over women, complain about the weather, and trade tips on beating people up. What more can a hoodlum want?