Warriors! Come out to play-ay! Or, you know, don't
I recently watched The Warriors for the first time in years and was struck by how great it is for a film that's not particularly good. Considering that so much of the action consists of running for subways, the movie rides high on two things: its monumental silliness (now let's fight the mime gang!) and its gripping, almost mythic concept.
The latter gives me high hopes for the forthcoming Tony Scott remake. There's no reason this movie can't work great -- in a different way -- with realistic characters and action. It also made me think, damn this would be an amazing videogame. By the time I got online and found that indeed a game is in the works, I had it all thought out: It would have to be a GTA-style sandbox game. The first half would follow the plot of the movie, with the goal being to get home to Coney Island. Only you could do it any way you wanted: take the train or steal a car; fight your way through each gang's territory or talk your way through; make enemies or make alliances. The second half of the game begins after the movie ends with the Riffs enlisting you to take charge of Cyrus's dream of uniting all the city's gangs. Now every decision you made on your way home will affect how you have to go about doing that (or, if you want, doing something else entirely, like taking over the city for yourself). Do not tell me this doesn't sound like a kick-ass game.
So when I found it info about the actual game online, I first saw that it's being developed by Rockstar, and I thought: perfect (and the Lizzies mod should make Hot Coffee look like Iced Tea). Then I watched the trailer and I thought: they nailed it. I was ready to fork over my $50.
Then I read the preview and I thought: WTF?! It's a fighting game, where you just happen to be wearing leather vests as you beat up round after round of opponents? Why bother?
As for the plot, they got it backwards: "The digital version of The Warriors will only use [the movie plot] in its third act. The first two-thirds of the adventure will flesh out what the Warriors did with their summer beforehand and provide a better understanding of why these guys are the way they are." Yes, just what we wanted to know. What makes Rembrant tick?
Oh well. We can always hope these guys do another live version.
Comments
What about Escape from New York? That has to rank near the top on bad movies that need to be remade as video games.
Posted by: JacksonRabbit | July 21, 2005 7:58 PM
Can you wait until Christmas?
Posted by: radosh | July 21, 2005 10:41 PM
Hey, a Tom Servo quote! Good on you.
Posted by: wildsoda | July 23, 2005 1:01 PM
Wildsoda - Really? Would love to say it was intentional, but I don't even know what you're referring to. Surely MST3K never did The Warriors, right?
Posted by: radosh | July 25, 2005 9:55 AM