When it comes to going through the levels you will never be
alone. No matter who you play as you will
always have a computer controlled Warrior next to you to help you out. Early on this may be nothing more than aiding
you in your fights, but later in the game you will find that they do everything
from distract guards, refill your life, and even take the handcuffs off if you
get arrested. Thankfully you get to
order the computer-controlled players around, but you’re limited to only six
commands – wreck ‘em all, mayhem, let’s go, scatter, watch my back, and the all
important hold up. For the most part
these are the only commands you will need, but there are times in the game
where you wish they could have fleshed this section out a little more.
Part of the reason the Warriors works so well is that you
are always doing new and different things.
In some levels you’ll be doing nothing more than fighting and running
from the police, yet in other areas you will be robbing stores and collecting
loot. There are also a number of levels
that require you to mark your territory with a spray paint min-game, a bunch of
stealth levels, and even a few moments where it’s your job to start riots. It’s a testament to the experience that some
of the most tense segments of the game have nothing to do with fighting,
including one of the most cutthroat tagging competitions you’ll ever see.
The Warriors is also easy to get into because you often have
a lot of freedom when it comes to taking your enemies out. A lot of people will rush right in and simply
fight a collection of baddies all at once, but the game leaves it open for you
to toy with your prey, to use some strategy and take them out as you see
fit. Each of the areas you visit has a
lot of little places to hide and escape to; including some secret spots that
will give you the jump on anybody you want to knock out. It may not hit you the first time through the
game, but the Warriors has some pretty cool level designs … even if it’s not
nearly as ambitious as Grand Theft Auto or Rockstar’s other titles.
Of course, a lot of people are here just to see the gangs,
and those people are not going to be disappointed. The Warriors features well over a dozen
different gangs, each with their own logo, uniform, weapon, style, and
attitude. You’ll run into Moonrunners,
Hurricanes, Orphans, and the Jones Street Boys.
You’ll battle the Destroyers, the Hi-Hats, and even an all-girl gang
called the Lizzies. If it was a gang in
the movie then it’s recreated here in slightly-detailed polygons. Yes, that means that fan favorites the
Baseball Furies make an appearance (or two).
Games like Final Fight and Double Dragon are notorious for
being extremely short affairs, often only lasting an hour or two (if
that). Thankfully this is not something
you will have to worry about when it comes to the Warriors, depending on your
skills the game will last anywhere from 15 to 20 hours, which is a lifetime
compared to other games in the genre.
And once you’ve beaten it chances are you’ll want to go through and
finish all of the bonus missions in each level, collect as much money as you
can, and even go through the game again with a second player.
That’s right, the Warriors is a two-player game as
well. In fact, a second player can join
game at literally any time, which can be really useful in some of the harder
levels towards the end. When both
players are next to each other the game keeps the action on one single screen,
but as soon as the characters split up so does the screen. Although the split screen takes some getting
used to, it’s easier to manage than the sometimes buggy single-screen set up
they have going on. Luckily you can
customize this (to a certain extent) in the game’s option menu. Unfortunately the game has no Xbox Live
support, so your two player experience is going to require some adjusting on
both players part.
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