The Warriors

The Warriors is a brawler based on a film of the same name. In the movie a man by the name of Cyrus held a meeting with all the gangs in New York. He wanted all of the gangs to join together to create one gang that could take over the city. He says "Can you dig it!" a couple of times to the crowd and a shady character with a mullet shoots and kills him. The shooter quickly blames the Warriors resulting in them having to sneak, fight, and run they're way back to their hideout.

The game shows this opening cutscene showing you what happens at the begging of the movie but then it quickly jumps back to about a little over a month before the huge meeting and tells of how the Warriors went from no name to big time. The game starts you off as a new recruit in gang called Rembrandt. You take control of him and have to fight to prove your fit for the gang. This acts as the games tutorial teaching you the ways of the fist. But you won't just play as him. Throughout the game you'll play end up playing as all of the Warriors in various missions, but they all really just play the same. For a game based so much on beating everyone to a pulp the combo system is very simple. But maybe that's a good thing. When you fight your really just rely on whatever combos you feel comfortable using. But it's good to know that while the fighting system is simple, it never gets repetitive or tedious. The game does a good job of making you feel like your a powerhouse and can take on anyone. Every punch or kick you land makes a devastating blow and the screen tends to shake just a tad. This adds a sense of realism to the fights. Missions in the game do repeat. Every mission your either sneaking through to a location, having to steal things, or beating up everyone. You won't really notice this, nor will you care, because the game is just so much fun and the story will keep you wanting to trek forward and see what happens next.Speaking of the story this game has one of the best stories in any game. This is all thanks to the perfect voice acting and deep character development.

The Warriors isn't a terribly long game. It will take you 10 to 12 hours to make it through the main game. But as you progress you unlock flashback missions that tell of how the Warriors gang got started and where it got all it's members. There are around 5 or so of these missions and they add even more back story and character development. They also last upwards of 30 minutes to an hour a piece to they add even more length to the game. The game also has a Rumble Mode were you create your own gang from members of others and take them to the streets to fight other gangs. This mode is fun and you'll probably come back to it a few times just to beat some people up. There is also a Double Dragons style side scroller that is pretty fun to play but really won't keep you coming back to play.

Graphically The Warriors looks ugly. Textures are washed out and the characters hair uses some of the lowest polygon count seen in a game. But all this adds to the dark and gritty atmosphere the game is going for and it nails it. This is one of the most atmospheric games ever made. But with all this praise there are some faults. The loading times are pretty long and it's a pain that the game has to load every time you die or mess up a mission. There are a few really frustrating parts in the game that will keep you dying and it's a pain that it's got the load the whole level over again every time you fail. Also, while the sound is great sometimes it will cut out or not even play at all. It doesn't help that the camera moves quickly and frequently during the course of the game and the PSP screen tends to smear things when it does this. It doesn't happen too often but it happens enough to where you'll notice it. The games combo system isn't really specular either.

But all in all The Warriors is a great beat em' up with a great story and any PSP owner should add to there collection. If you never got the chance to play this on the consoles then the PSP version is well worth your time.