Plot: What’s it about?
The plot of The Warriors is simple enough, a street gang is framed for the murder of a man who sought to unite the city’s gangs, which results in a massive manhunt. The Warriors have to cross the entire city to get back to their own turf, with every rival gang in their path. In The Warriors: Street Brawl, you control one of several of the Warriors in their effort to get home, so prepare yourself for non stop fisticuffs. In a welcome move, you can also engage in four player co-op and thanks to a well executed lobby system, you’ll have a full crew in no time. The game play is rather basic, just attack, attack, block, and attack some more. You also have goals of certain combo levels and score plateaus, which add some depth. But at the core, this is a side scrolling beat em up that will have you mashing the buttons to no end.
I enjoy most side scrolling fighting games, so I was interested in The Warriors: Street Brawl. As it turns out, it isn’t one of the better ones available on the Live Arcade, but it is solid. The game can be brutal at times in terms of difficulty, so don’t be upset if you’re beaten down from time to time. The simple game play is good in that you can pick it up with ease, but the lack of depth does cause it to feel repetitious at times. I mean, it is fun pounding out the rival gangs, but the combat system only has a few tricks, though weapons do spice up things when available. In the end, this game can’t keep pace with the genre’s best, but fans of the license should have fun with this. The addition of some bonus modes like Survival and Vs. are welcome, so combine those with the four player co-op, and The Warriors: Street Brawl offers solid value.
Video: How does it look?
The visuals here are not on par with XBLA’s best looking titles, but the game looks good. The sense of depth in the backgrounds is fine, as are the character models. Some of the characters do look a lot alike, which can cause confusion at times, so a little more detail to differentiate would have been welcome. The attention to detail in the backgrounds is good though, which adds some atmosphere and that is important. Overall, more than solid visuals for an XBLA release.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is capable, but never stands out. The various sound effects of the fights come through well, but again, won’t dazzle your ears by any means. The music is passable as well, as are the rare dialogue moments. So this isn’t going to light up your surround system, but it gets the basic job done.
Supplements: What are the extras?
N/A
