The Warriors Review (PSP)

Double Dragon and Final Fight in 3D in your hand? Yes please!

When I was young, I used to watch TV at night with the sound off. This was of course so that my parents didn’t know I was watching TV past my bed time (ignoring the fact they could see the light under the door? doh!)ho

Some shows and films worked fine this way, Basic Instinct, Running man and Poison Ivy all spring to mind. As does The Warriors. In fact, to this day, I have never seen The Warriors with sound! But that didn’t make much of a difference. The films I mentioned were all about action, with scripts being rather secondary. As was the case with The Warriors.

The Warriors followed a gang, called The Warriors in the late 1970s. They are atteneding a meeting organised by Cyrus, the Warlord of the biggest Gang in New York. All of the main players are there to discuss peace between the gangs so that they can take over the city. As it turns out the gangs outnumber the police 60,000 to 20,000, nice! However peace is not on everyone’s mind and Cyrus is gunned down mid speech. The gangs all leg it to escape the police. During this The Warriors are framed for the killing and have to make it back to their ‘turf’ in Coney Island before the other gangs catch them. What follows is a very tense chase through the backstreets and subways of New York, with garish and weird looking gangs knocking seven bells out of each other!

The game starts with that scene, Cyrus getting shot. But then it takes you 3 months into the past. A point when Rembrandt, The Warriors best burner (graffiti artist to you and me) is just going through his initiation. Cue tutorial! This is the first step into your new world. The tutorial sees Cleon, Warlord for The Warriors, teaching you how to fight by getting you to beat up hobos, how to tag, how to run about the backstreets and roof tops and finally gets you to fight some of the real gang. This may be an old tutorial device, but it works fantastically, removing almost any need to use the manual!

The main game is broken down into stages, each taking you through the events that lead up to the meeting. Each has some form of plot, but as I said, that is not all that important?for now. The stages all follow the same tried and tested , go there get /destroy/protect this return, format.

But that only tells half the story. This is not GTA nor is it trying to be. Each stage is more like a large arena than a proper free roaming level. The main idea of the game is to brawl, like a 3D Double Dragon! And this is what the game does very, very well. There is a nice variety of moves to learn, from simple punches, to throws, to special combinations and ground attacks. All are easy to perform and are all essential to master in order to do well in combat. But this is not about 1 on 1 fighting. This is about gangs and multiple attackers! You can have 6 v 6 rumbles, with your gang watching your back for you. This adds another set of moves, where you and a partner can double team the poor victim!

As well as your fists, the world is your weapon. With almost everything destructible, shop windows and telephone boxes all smash nicely as you throw your assailant through them. You can also pick up weapons such as baseball bats and wrenches.
There is a basic group managment part to the game. You can tell your gang to watch your back, stay where they are, trash whatever you are trashing. It is not deep, but it adds a little.[pagebreak]

Although the game does take you up to the actual events of the film (including the chase through New York) it doesn’t end there!
First of all as you play you open up Rumble modes. Basically arena based fighting games, such as 1 on 1, 3 on 3 and 6 on 6. As you progress you will also unlock Battle Royal, King of the Hill and other Rumble modes.

But that’s not it. From the outset thgere is a game included called Armies of the Night. This is very like Double Dragon, except here you are playing as character from The Warriors, fighting your way through a 2D beat em up version of the game. This is worth the price alone in my opinion!

Still there is more. As you play through you will open up Flashback levels. These show you key events in the history of the Warriors. How did Cleon start them up, why did Swan or Cowboy join. These levels still follow the same themes of the main game, but really add to the story and the feeling that a lot of careful thought has gone into the production!

Speaking of which all of the characters from the film are present and voiced, for the most part, by the original cast. The original Barry De Vorzon score is all present and correct as well as a number of 70’s tracks!

The world is grubby and dirty, with graffiti and rubbish all over. It is also populated with the occasional passer by and cop, not to mention other gangs. The city is not teaming with life, but as most missions take place at night, this never breaks the illusion. On the whole it feels lived in and real. The graphics look almost as good as the original PS2 version, although in larger brawls you do get some slow down. But on the whole it is fast enough� the roof top chase scene is particularly spectacular!

Essentially though this is a port of the PS2 version, so if you own that you may not be all that interested in this.
However for those of us who do not own the PS2 version, there is a lot to recommend here!

The whole game is designed for 2 players and ah-hoc connections allow you to enjoy the fun for 2.

It is also worth bearing in mind that this is not a game for kids. There is an 18 certificate on it for a reason! The violence is very realistic, not cartoon at all. There is also a huge amount of swearing in the game. But as I said, it says 18 on the box!

Overall this is a great fun game. The action is non stop, the fighting is frantic and down and dirty. No ?Peoples Elbow? here. The story develops nicely and is scripted and presented extremely well. For me it is what I have dreamed if since first playing Final Fight or Double Dragon, a proper 3D brawler?that plays well! There is also a lot to keep you coming back, bonus games and Rumble modes will have you returning time and time again. It is not perfect. Some may find the game a bit repetitive. Some of the levels are a bit long for a handheld game, with save points being quite fare apart! But it is highly playable and ultimately very satisfying.

The Good: Great fighting system, with superb voice acting and story line.
The Bad: Not all that deep and at times repetitive.


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Silver Y AwardSilver Y Award
4 4 / 5

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