The Warriors (video game)

Gameplay

The Warriors is an action-adventure, survival game which focuses heavily on brawling. Like most games from Rockstar Games, several minor gameplay elements are mixed into the experience, such as the ability to use spray paint to mark turf or to insult other people. The playable characters are the Warriors leader Cleon, Cleon's lieutenant Swan, heavy muscles Ajax and Snow, Cleon and Swan's friends Vermin and Cowboy, the scout Fox, Harlem native Cochise, and Rembrandt, the Warriors graffiti artist. Cleon, Swan, Ajax, and Rembrandt are the most heavily featured characters. An arcade game called Armies of the Night is unlocked after you complete the main storyline of the game. The playable characters are Swan and Ajax.

In this prequel segment, The Warriors' headquarters serves as a hub. From inside, you can train (10 ranks of physical fitness such as, sit-ups, press ups, chin ups, and heavy bag, that increase your stamina), talk to fellow gang members, play through rumble mode and other bonus material, walk outside to Coney Island for extra missions, or begin the next level of the story proper. The player is presented with mission objectives such as beating up a certain number of enemy gang members or stealing a certain amount of items, with more complex and creative tasks like winning a graffiti competition in SoHo, stealing goods to plant on crooked cops and rival gang members, and wild chases away from baseball bat wielding members of the Baseball Furies. Fighting takes the form of gang rumble style action with the player being assisted by other Warriors at the same time (a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 8). Combos are performed with 2-3 button chains for weak attacks, strong attacks, holds and throws. Grab attacks can be used for the playable character to perform their own unique power attack that will quickly decrease the enemy's health. The games sees the Warriors fight their way through the ranks, building a heavy rep and getting their colors out in force, until they get the invite to meeting of all of the gangs of New York City, which is where the movie (and the last few missions of the game) begins.

The game progresses linearly from one mission event to the next, usually presented as a cutscene. Combat in The Warriors occurs in real time and involves pressing buttons to initiate attacks by the on-screen character. By pausing the game, the player can find combat techniques ― 2-3 combos, wall smash, grab and throws, charges, body cross attack, snap attacks, weapon attacks, and counter-attacks. The player can also look at the characters stats. This menu is manipulated by using the right analog stick, while movement is controlled in the 3D environment using the joystick, and camera controls are managed using the up arrow on the digital pad and the analog joystick, allowing the player to navigate the menu while avoiding or approaching enemies. In addition, players can choose to mug people, receiving money, flash, and spray. Each level contains items the player can collect or steal, such as car radios and jewelry. Completing these actions earn the player points, which count towards unlocking soldiers, arenas and game modes for Rumble Mode, the game's free-for-all multiplayer mode.

The playable character has a bar below their feet to determine their health level, reducing whenever the character takes damage, although it can be replenished by using flash. The circular grey bar inside the health bar is your grappling stamina. When grabbing or mounting an opponent, your bar will drain. The top-left hand side represents the character rage meter, which, when filled, allows the player to pull off a variety of combos and styles. In rage, you will become temporarily invincible, using finishing moves and inflicting serious damage on the opponent. The player's allies, if they are knocked out, the player can use flash to replenish their health. However, if the playable character's loses all of their health, the mission ends and the player will be prompted to resume from the checkpoint or restart the mission from the beginning. Defeating enemies will cause items to fall from their bodies; flash to restore your health; spray to spray over enemy gang territory's; and money which can be used to purchase items from dealers.

Character development

The player can choose to help other people in Coney Island. In return for helping these people, the Warriors will learn new abilities, such as defeating policemen to receive cuffs to subdue and arrest anybody, cuff-keys that will allow you to free Warriors with keys instead of breaking cuffs, escape from cuffs yourself with cuff-keys, increase flash capacity, and earn brass knuckles and steel-toed boots to inflict more damage to the enemy. The player can also choose to have the Warriors members to exercise in the headquarters to increase stamina.

Setting

During The Warriors, there are a collection of levels, referred to as missions, which the player must progress through. Eighteen can be accessed, along with six more bonus missions, known as "Flashbacks", which show how the Warriors were formed, and how each member of the Warriors came to join the gang, and to unlock an arcade machine that will allow you to play Armies of the Night. The setting in the game for the Warriors is their home territory, Coney Island. However, throughout the game, the player travels to other areas of New York City visiting other gangs' territories in the process. Completing the missions/game allows the player to replay levels, to improve on your score, and unlock new characters, and a game mode called Fury Mode where you play as the Baseball Furies.

The design and casting of the characters was very faithful to what was seen in The Warriors. Each character is still portrayed as their respective role from the film ― Cyrus the Riffs leader, inhabits Van Courtland Park, where the meeting took place. Luther the Rogues leader, is based out of his hearse, The Baseball Furies' territory is Riverside Park, The Lizzies their apartment, with other smaller gangs based around the city. When starting a mission, the Warriors will occasionally stay at their home turf or travel to another place via train to use as a starting point.

Missions and events normally begin at the Coney Island headquarters, which is also used as a launching point throughout the game (except after the meeting), and the player can also travel to places all across New York City, includingTremont where the Warriors encounters the Orphans, a low-class gang, and also Riverside Park which is run by the Baseball Furies, a well respected gang. The main players travel from one turf to another all across New York, to let the public radio station know there is a new gang in town. This sometimes results in Warriors brawling with the rival gangs. At the Warriors hangout there is a machine which resembles a pinball machine called "Rumble Mode" which, upon completing missions, you unlock special stages where you can fight all of the gangs in New York City.

Characters

The primary protagonist is Cleon, the Warriors leader in the first half of the game until after the meeting. Cleon's role was to increase the Warriors reputation and rid Coney Island of the Destroyers. The major protagonist is Swan, the second-in-command throughout most of the game, covering the film itself. Swan's role was to bring the Warriors back to Coney Island from the meeting where they were set up as the Murderers of Cyrus. The other Warriors feature an important role with each Warrior having a role, like the heavy muscle Ajax and Snow, Vermin is the bread man, which means he is the one who carries carries the money, Cowboy keeps track of The Warriors inventory, although this is only mention in the film. Fox is the scout who goes ahead of The Warriors, warning them if trouble is ahead, Harlem native Cochise is the watchman who watches their back when walking in a group, Snow is the radio man, which is also only established in the film. and Rembrandt The Warriors' graffiti artist.

Mercy serves as Swan's love interest in the second half of The Warriors. The primary antagonist is Luther, the Rogues leader, responsible for Cyrus' murder and framing the Warriors for the crime. During battles and encounters you have with enemies, other Warrior members will assist the player in various situations.

Other areas contain other gangs of New York City, which the player must defeat in a battle. On one occasion, gang members tend to be scouts that appear in orange dots on the radar in different areas and spaces. When you are spotted by the gang member, the scout will call for backup, and the orange circles up the radar ― the player can then choose either to attack or stealth kill the scout. Policemen will appear as blue dots on the radar; if the player commits a crime, the blue circles up the radar, the blue dots will flash and the crime that is committed will appear on the middle screen, prompting the officers to chase and attempt to handcuff you― the player can also assault the officers or sneak into a hide area if no-one can see you at the time. Civilians in local places will rat you out to a gang member or the police when committing a crime that disturbs their inhabitants.

Throughout the Warriors endeavours, they will be aided by Flash, Spray, and Knife dealers, to help them out ― Flash dealers are there to supply the player with flash, the game's equivalent of health packs, which costs 20 dollars, Spray dealers supply the player with spray paint, which costs 5 dollars, while Knife Dealers supply you with knives, which cost 50 dollars. However, some of the dealers tend to rip you off and make a run for it, but the player can chase them down to recover their money. However, if the player chooses to attack the dealers, they will either retaliate or run, though they will respawn. In "Rumble Mode", playable characters can also be other gangs that have been unlocked in the game, to compete against other gangs in a match you choose.

Missions

In the story mode of the game, there are a total of 18 missions. Missions 1-13 take place three months before the meeting and missions 14-18 cover the movie itself. The player can only control one specific character in each mission, while the others are computer-controlled. The main Warriors that are controlled by the player are Cleon, Swan, Rembrandt, Ajax, Cowboy and Cochise. The only Warrior to not have a full playable mission to themselves is Snow, the only time you do play as him is in the second half of mission 6 Writers Block, also Fox doesn't have a mission where he leads a War party. Along with the main missions, there are 5 bonus missions called "Flashbacks", which tell how the Warriors started and how each member joined. During each mission, the Warriors will meet and face off with other gangs in New York. In most missions, they will take the subway train to the other gang's turf. Although they are featured and mentioned in the game, the Electric Eliminators, the Panzers and the Van Cortlandt Rangers are the only gangs that the Warriors do not meet. The Destroyers are the only gang that are not featured in the film. Completing each mission unlocks gangs, arenas and mini-games.

Warchief commands

During each mission, there are 6 commands that the Warcheif can issue out to his fellow Warriors.

Plot

The game follows the plot of the film The Warriors, focusing on a Coney Island street gang the Warriors. Led by Cleon ninety-days prior, the Warriors dispose their long time rival gang the Destroyers after Virgil, the Destroyers leader and former friend of Cleon is defeated. Their reputation increases by humiliating a small-time gang the Orphans, killing Chatterbox leader of the Hi-Hats, spraying on trains, allying with the Saracens and set up their rivals the Jones Street Boys, and corrupt NYPD officers. Meanwhile, Cyrus, leader of the Gramercy Riffs, the most powerful gang in New York City plans a meeting to unite the gangs as one.

On the night of the meeting in Van Courtland Park, Cyrus proposes to the assembled crowd a permanent citywide truce that would allow the gangs to control the city. Everyone opens to Cyrus' idea, only the leader is fatally shot by the Rogues leader, Luther―in the dramatic chaos, the killer frames Cleon and the Warriors. The Riffs hold the Warriors responsible and beat down Cleon, leaving his fate ambiguous. Swan, the Warriors "warchief" takes charge of the group and make their way home. Cyrus's death sends anger through the city and the Riffs call a hit on the Warriors on a radio DJ, while the gang themselves remain unaware they are implicated in Cyrus' murder.

After the Turnbull AC's failure to kill the Warriors as they escape to board the train en route to Coney Island, the train is stopped by a fire on the tracks at Tremont. On foot, they re-encounter the Orphans―who the Warriors humiliated prior. Swan makes peace, and Orphans' leader Sully allows them walk through their territory unharmed; his partner Mercy mocks him, instigating a confrontation. The Warriors use a molotov cocktail, blowing up Sully's car and Mercy follows the Warriors.

Swan, Mercy and the Warriors arrive on the 96th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, where they are detected by the police and separated. Three of them board a train to Union Square. As Mercy escapes, Fox struggles with a police officer, falls to the tracks and is killed by an oncoming train. Swan and the other three run outside, and are chased into Riverside Park by the Baseball Furies, where a fight ensues and the Warriors emerge victorious. After fighting, Ajax notices a lone woman in the park; he is sexually aggressive and is arrested when the women is revealed to be a undercover.

In the meantime at Union Square, Rembrandt, Vermin, and Cochise are seduced by an all-female gang the Lizzies, only to learn its a trap. The trio escape, learning the truth―that everyone believes they killed Cyrus. Swan meets with Mercy and travel to Union Square where they are stalked by the Punks but the pair reunite with the other Warriors and defeat the Punks later on in the toilets. The Riffs receive a tip-off from a gang member who attended the meeting and witnessed Luther shoot Cyrus dead.

The Warriors finally arrive at Coney Island, where the Rogues are waiting for them and decide to face them. Luther freely admits to the murder and Swan suggests he and Luther have a one-on-one, but the Rogue leader pulls out his gun. Swan throws his knife at Luther's arm, disarming him. The Riffs arrive in force to confront the Rogues and make peace with the Warriors, before turning to fighting executing the Rogues and a shattered Luther; the DJ announces the big alert has been called off and apologises to the Warriors saluting them with a song―"In The City". Swan, Mercy, and the Warriors safe and finally home walk down the beach.

Development

Rockstar Games began working on The Warriors in 2002. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game were developed by Rockstar Toronto, who were previously known as Rockstar Canada. Promotion of the game was aided by its appearance at E3 2005. The game was later ported to the PlayStation Portable platform, and developed by Rockstar Leeds. This was first announced in October 2006, and Rockstar Leeds worked with original developers Rockstar Toronto in order to make the port easier. A spokesperson had said "We have worked closely with Rockstar Toronto to maintain the extremely high standards they've set for this game," said Gordon Hall, President of Rockstar Leeds. "The PSP system allows us to deliver the experience in an entirely different way, while staying very faithful to the original source material and maintaining the high standards we set for ourselves as a developer."

Promotion

The Warriors then began to look a lot like several of Rockstar's other projects such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt, and Red Dead Revolver. The look and presentation are definitely familiar, despite coming from different production houses, each developer shares their toolsets and proprietary technologies with each other on a consistent basis A combination of the company's biggest hits like State of Emergency and Manhunt, The Warriors successfully mixed multi-character co-op brawling with stealth action. Just as was the case on PlayStation 2, if there is anything that positively sticks out regarding how The Warriors plays, it's the surprising depth of its characters. All nine playable fighters, while similar, have their own unique selection of moves and strengths and offer slightly different takes on the same concept. Due to the PlayStation Portable being a handheld platform, differences to gameplay came about as a result of the port, such as the control configuration receiving a drastic change.

Audio

During the review, a spokesman had stated "the audio, on the other hand, is on the other side of the scale". Many of the original actors from the film have returned to voice their characters—at least, most of the ones that are "still alive". Michael Beck, James Remar, and Dorsey Wright once again were praised in their excellent performances (despite sounding quite a bit older than the 20-something characters they play), and the remaining voice cast delivers, too. The spokesman further explains "it helps that the dialogue is well written, but there's hardly a bad voice actor in the bunch; the one weird thing about the voice work, though, is that a lot of it is made up of lines directly from the film." It seems as though, in some situations, Rockstar might have been better off just taking audio directly from the film rather than rerecording it. Obviously, they'd want the voices to match, but there are situations in which they could have easily gotten away with it, and ultimately would've had a better piece of dialogue. The audio in this game is great. As the spokesperson further explained he said: "To begin with the voice acting for all characters in the game is very, very good. From all the main characters to plain NPC, each and everyone is done amazingly. On the subject of sounds effects in the game it's also very good. Every little thing makes a sound and does it well."

Voice cast

The Warriors features voice actors for both the 1979 film and the game versions. The film and game version use the respired Michael Beck as Swan, the protagonist of The Warriors. Other notable voice actors included returning actors, James Remar as Ajax, Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Mercy, Dorsey Wright as Cleon, Thomas G. Waites as Fox, and David Harris as Cochise. A special effort was made to preserve the official voice actors of characters from The Warriors movie used in video game itself.

While the movie version featured David Patrick Kelly as Luther, Roger Hill as Cyrus, and Marcelino Sánchez as Rembrandt, the game version featured Oliver Wyman as Luther, Andy Senor as Rembrandt, Joe Lo Truglio as Vermin, Michael Potts as Cyrus, and Kurt Bauccio as Cowboy. Supporting characters involves Darryl McDaniels and Jordan Gelber.

Reception

Upon its release, The Warriors received a largely positive reception from critics. Many praised the game for its deep combat and control, stating that the game helped breathe life into the brawler genre. The game was also praised for its unique seedy underbelly style, along with its story and music. Critics praised the audio as it "really shines above all else", with a replicated soundtrack and absolutely superb voice acting by many of the original actors who starred in the film. Rockstar Toronto has gained the most media coverage for its development of The Warriors, which overall received positive reviews, and made about $37 million worldwide. "Like the best of Rockstar’s games, 'The Warriors' immerses you in a world that feels at once authentic and highly stylized, and it might just be the best game adaptation of a film ever in terms of capturing the mood of the original movie." 1UP admitted "As fanservice, The Warriors is a treat for anyone who loves the movie, and as a beat-em-up, it outclasses recent efforts from competitors. Yet as a complete package, it's somewhat inconsistent. But with bonus missions, multiplayer rumbles, and a very fun 2-player co-op mode...we can most definitely dig it". The Warriors received a score of 7.4 for the design, the story received 8.5, while the gameplay received 7.9.

Critical response

Game Informer praised the feel and style of the game, stating "The Warriors immerses you in a world that feels at once authentic and highly stylized, and it might just be the best game adaptation of a film ever in terms of capturing the mood of the original movie. Fans will notice that all of the iconic scenes of the film are recreated almost shot for shot. In addition, Rockstar Toronto has gone to the trouble of creating a completely new storyline that shows players how the Warriors came together, and the events leading up to the start of the film." The reviewer went on to applaud the developers, saying they "Tried to stretch the conventional formula for what's considered a "brawler". Unlike most of the genre, where you walk down single-path alleyways, The Warriors, taking cues from other popular Rockstar titles, creates the illusion that you’re in a real, living city.

Although, sizewise, the levels are much closer to Manhunt than Grand Theft Auto, there are areas to explore both on the ground and vertically, hidden items, amazing unlockables, and numerous side missions. They’ve also tried to expand the gameplay to incorporate more than just fisticuffs. You can engage in all sorts of petty crime, including muggings, stealing car stereos, lockpicking, and tagging graffiti. Throw in a little more variety in the form of some cool chase and stealth sequences, and you've got something more than a typical brawler."

As Game Informer further explained, he stated "The fighting engine itself is fairly deep, allowing you to pull off some very brutal moves with a modicum of button presses (including some cool co-op maneuvers). You’ll definitely feel cool kicking ass as a Warrior, whether hand-to-hand or with any of the numerous weapons. However, I found the feel of the combat to be sluggish and chaotic at times, especially when fighting large numbers of enemies. He recommended that "turning on the option that makes it stay in split-screen, but even that is hampered by your very narrow field of vision." Critics enjoyed the graffiti writing, which is done through an "ingenious mechanic". He stated "Although it’s certainly not a masterpiece, The Warriors gets by on style, flair, variety, and simple fun. The gameplay – while still enjoyable – isn’t nearly as polished as it could be, the story and the appeal of the world that The Warriors recreates will be enough to pull you through to the end."

Lawsuit

In 2006, Roger Hill, who also played Cyrus in the movie, filed a lawsuit of USD$250,000 ($297,003.96 when adjusted for inflation) against Take-Two for using his voice and depiction in the video game without his permission. He claimed that it would not have been difficult for Take-Two to pay, since the game made $37 million ($43,956,586.33 when adjusted for inflation).

Other media and cancelled sequel

A spiritual sequel was planned by Rockstar, which was to be unrelated to The Warriors. The game was to be titled We Are The Mods and was to be set in 1960s England during the mods and rockers brawls. However, later in 2009, an arcade game was released entitled The Warriors: Street Brawl which is a beat 'em up scroller video game created by CXTM and released on Xbox Live Arcade. Dabel Brothers Productions in 2009, began a five issue comic book adaption of the film. Following that was a four issue mini series entitled The Warriors: Jail Break, which takes place several months after the film's events.