Rockstar’s Forgotten 2005 Action Game Remains One of Its Best

The Warriors is a 1979 film adaptation of a 1965 crime novel that eventually became a cult classic. The movie is decidedly gritty: shot on 35mm film, its blacks are crushed and oppressive, its atmosphere often unnerving. This, in turn, is balanced by an absurdist plot and wacky characters that helped cement The Warriors‘ reputation as a hidden gem in the years following its release. It’s set in an alternate version of New York City, where gang activity has reached an all-time high. Individual gangs have effectively instituted de facto governments throughout the city, all of them at constant war with the police. The film centers on the eponymous Warriors gang, who are framed for the murder of Cyrus, the leader of the most powerful gang in the city, while he’s in the midst of brokering peace between the various factions. The story proceeds to follow the Warriors as they make a daring escape back to their Coney Island home turf, facing off against deadly rival gangs along the way.

Rockstar’s The Warriors Is a Perfect Companion to the Film

It’s quite fitting that Rockstar—especially 2005 Rockstar—adapted The Warriors. The game was preceded by the various seminal works from the developer, with GTA: San Andreas and Manhunt perhaps being the closest parallels to the Warriors movie. It’s easy to argue that these games, at least in part, were inspired by the frenetic and amoral tone of The Warriors, particularly in their portrayal of gang activity and violent crime.

Rockstar’s The Warriors isn’t really an adaptation in the traditional sense, however. While it does feature strong overlap with the movie in parts, at least half of the story is original content. The game kicks off with the murder of Cyrus, like the film, but it then turns back the clock a few months, providing hours of backstory on several main cast members before the inciting incident of the movie. It’s hard to overstate how valuable this creative decision was, as it allowed Rockstar to further flesh out these iconic characters years after they debuted on the silver screen. In this way, The Warriors is not only an adaptation of the cult classic, but an extension of it, providing an enriching, canon narrative context.

Eventually, though, The Warriors does fall in step with the movie, and Rockstar flexes its writing and production muscles to faithfully recreate a number of iconic scenes, including:

• Kelly’s famous “Warriors, come out to play” taunts
• Cyrus’ opening “Can you dig it?” speech
• The “I like it rough” honey trap for Ajax by Mercedes

The Warriors Is a Classic but Bombastic Old-School 3D Beat-Em-Up

Unsurprisingly, gameplay is the pillar of The Warriors that crumbles the most when held up to modern scrutiny. Still, its melee combat sandbox is fun and expressive, filled with expressive combos and over-the-top animations. The majority of the campaign centers on massive brawls, often featuring a dozen or more enemies, which lends it a unique sense of chaos when paired with its third-person perspective.

The Warriors has a surprising amount of variety too, though. Between each mission, players return to the gang’s Coney Island base, where they can train to raise stats or engage in several mini-games like Wheels of Steel (a wheelchair race) and Survival (an endless brawler mode). Notably, many of these mini-games support multiplayer for up to two players.

The campaign itself is rich in content as well, especially compared to other 3D brawlers of the era. For one thing, the game provides incredible environmental diversity: The Warriors‘ level design covers greasy bodegas, run-down parks, and networks of neon-laden, claustrophobic streets. Mechanically, each gang member has a unique fighting style, and the missions themselves will often feature non-combat objectives, like spraying graffiti tags or running away from hordes of bloodthirsty enemies.

Why The Warriors’ Rendition of New York Is Still Special

Most gamers know that New York City is a nearly ubiquitous setting for video games, having been the backdrop for a number of well-received and influential games, with prominent examples including:

• Marvel’s Spider-Man
• Grand Theft Auto 4
• True Crime: New York City
• Max Payne

Although it’s not open-world like Spider-Man or GTA 4, The Warriors manages to present its version of The Big Apple with far more verve and impact. This is because each level of the game is isolated and designed more like a setpiece than just an interchangeable part of a larger map. In another games, NYC staples like subway bathrooms, Chinatown, and graffiti-filled alleys are merely small parts of a greater whole. In The Warriors, these New York staples are characters in and of themselves, designed around specific gameplay and narrative setpieces.

It’s important to point out that The Warriors presents an extremely fictionalized and stylized version of New York, even more than something like the heavy-noir Max Payne. Of course, the gangs of real-world New York don’t have so much power or freedom, nor is virtually every city street a hotbed of unabashed violent crime (despite what some may think). The Warriors presents a hellish version of the city, its very real crime problems turned up to eleven, resulting in pure anarchy and destruction. Rockstar’s take on the film upholds and underscores this fictionalized idea of New York, and in doing so, offers one of the most surprising and refreshing New York settings in gaming history.

Systems

Released

October 17, 2005

ESRB

M // Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Developer(s)

Rockstar Toronto, Rockstar Leeds

Engine

RenderWare

Multiplayer

Local Multiplayer