First off I must point out that I only really play handheld games. I have never owned a PS1, PS2 or xbox. This may go some way to explaining just why I am loving this game so much right now. Also, this is the first time I've written something like this so it may be crap.
It is a feature of videogaming that it allows one to participte in behaviour that in the real world no decent person would dream of perpetrating. In the warriors you get money by mugging people (using a basic analogue stick rotation technique to find your victim's weak spot), by stealing car stereos and by smashing your way into shops then breaking the display cases and stealing the goods.
But it is the actual combat that has so far made me lose hours at a time without realising it; the implementation of the hand-to-hand fighting is very good. I haven't encountered any guns yet so it's just been bats, planks, bottles and lots and lots of fists and feet. One of the earlier levels involves a riot, with concomittant looting - your 'job' is to mug, smash and grab your way to a certain sum of money - and to beat police to death if they get in the way. The whole place really felt quite organic in a way few PSP experiences so far have for me. Just running around, smashing the hell out of people, cars, shops - grabbing whatever you want - it made GTA's two PSP outings look old and rigid with their highly scripted, intricate missions. Whenever I have had to repeat a level, I have enjoyed doing so - on several occasions I actaully chose to replay levels because they were so much fun. This is not quite how I feel about repeating levels in GTA....
You 'hunt' in a pack, and can give your fellow miscreants general commands like 'watch my back', 'wreck the place' or 'lets go'. For the most, they perform their role admirably - and genuinely help out. My only gripe is that when your gang has a poor unfortunate on the floor and surrounded, it is all too easy to hit fellow gang members by mistake as you struggle furiously to kick and punch your victim. Yes, that's right; there's nothing to stop you kicking people when they are down. In fact, the game postively encourages it.
There is one strong and and one quick attack. The plot (there is one - and it seems OK, actually) starts off with a short tutorial that shows you how to effectively create basic but satisfying combos.
In fact, if I had to describe what I think of this game so far in one word, it would be "satifying". It's on par with the feeling I had the first time I ever played Final Fight as kid.
The cool, funky way they walk, the glorious graphics, the sheer quality of the voice acting - is all just superb. And the music! If someone knows the name of the song in the background of the Soho Writer's Block Spray Paint Contest I'd be very very grateful. And then there's the homage to Final Fight in the form of a 2D scrolling fighter arcade machine in your gang's hideout.
Interspersing the fighting are 'burning' segments - grafiti-ing your gang's logo onto various places - both within your own turf and other gangs' (your character in these stages is called Rembrandt). This kinda works like the board game operation - you use the analogue stick to trace a preset path. Strangely, I quite like it so far, but I can see it getting tedious. In fact, variety may be a more general worry - my only concern so far is that the novelty may wear thin after a while. Hopefully Rockstar have thought of ways to keep it from becoming repetitive.
In conclusion, for me at least, The Warriors may well turn out to out-GTA GTA (at least the two PSP incarnations - which I thoroughly love). Anyway sod this - I'm off to play some more!
It is a feature of videogaming that it allows one to participte in behaviour that in the real world no decent person would dream of perpetrating. In the warriors you get money by mugging people (using a basic analogue stick rotation technique to find your victim's weak spot), by stealing car stereos and by smashing your way into shops then breaking the display cases and stealing the goods.
But it is the actual combat that has so far made me lose hours at a time without realising it; the implementation of the hand-to-hand fighting is very good. I haven't encountered any guns yet so it's just been bats, planks, bottles and lots and lots of fists and feet. One of the earlier levels involves a riot, with concomittant looting - your 'job' is to mug, smash and grab your way to a certain sum of money - and to beat police to death if they get in the way. The whole place really felt quite organic in a way few PSP experiences so far have for me. Just running around, smashing the hell out of people, cars, shops - grabbing whatever you want - it made GTA's two PSP outings look old and rigid with their highly scripted, intricate missions. Whenever I have had to repeat a level, I have enjoyed doing so - on several occasions I actaully chose to replay levels because they were so much fun. This is not quite how I feel about repeating levels in GTA....
You 'hunt' in a pack, and can give your fellow miscreants general commands like 'watch my back', 'wreck the place' or 'lets go'. For the most, they perform their role admirably - and genuinely help out. My only gripe is that when your gang has a poor unfortunate on the floor and surrounded, it is all too easy to hit fellow gang members by mistake as you struggle furiously to kick and punch your victim. Yes, that's right; there's nothing to stop you kicking people when they are down. In fact, the game postively encourages it.
There is one strong and and one quick attack. The plot (there is one - and it seems OK, actually) starts off with a short tutorial that shows you how to effectively create basic but satisfying combos.
In fact, if I had to describe what I think of this game so far in one word, it would be "satifying". It's on par with the feeling I had the first time I ever played Final Fight as kid.
The cool, funky way they walk, the glorious graphics, the sheer quality of the voice acting - is all just superb. And the music! If someone knows the name of the song in the background of the Soho Writer's Block Spray Paint Contest I'd be very very grateful. And then there's the homage to Final Fight in the form of a 2D scrolling fighter arcade machine in your gang's hideout.
Interspersing the fighting are 'burning' segments - grafiti-ing your gang's logo onto various places - both within your own turf and other gangs' (your character in these stages is called Rembrandt). This kinda works like the board game operation - you use the analogue stick to trace a preset path. Strangely, I quite like it so far, but I can see it getting tedious. In fact, variety may be a more general worry - my only concern so far is that the novelty may wear thin after a while. Hopefully Rockstar have thought of ways to keep it from becoming repetitive.
In conclusion, for me at least, The Warriors may well turn out to out-GTA GTA (at least the two PSP incarnations - which I thoroughly love). Anyway sod this - I'm off to play some more!
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