"The Warriors" / "Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance"
By Nick Hackett
Monday. Dec 12, 12:20 AM
Two fighting titles go head-to-head.

BEAT DOWN: FISTS OF VENGEANCE
Platform: Xbox (also: PS2)
Rating: M (mature)
Genre: Fighting, Adventure
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 22 August 2005

THE WARRIORS
Platform: Xbox (also: PS2)
Rating: M (mature)
Genre: Fighting, Adventure
Developer: Rockstar Toronto
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Released: 17 October 2005

Quick Comparison:

The Warriors

The scene-perfect adaptation of Walter Hill’s 1979 movie of the same name, The Warriors is a true beat-‘em-up game. Its story follows the head-kicking, window-smashing hi-jinks of warring gangs in 1970s New York, exactly restaging many scenes from the film. Imagine a modern day adaptation of Streets of Rage, but with an interesting script and plenty of replay value. Everything about the game is up to standard with Rockstar’s usual quality (music, atmosphere, script, acting, depth), but don’t forget that few of their games look pretty. The Warriors can be graphically sloppy at times, so remember this: the Cleon model you see speaking at the beginning of the game is the same that smashes heads with beer bottles in the 12-man gang battle later on. It’s a matter of economy. Flaws like this can be overlooked due to the game’s other many strengths, from two-player co-op to unlockable material to simply being able to hit someone with a brick in slow motion.

Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance

If The Warriors borrows all the right elements of Streets of Rage, then Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance borrows all the wrong ones. Both games are 3D fighting games with some free-roaming environments, character interaction, and hitting people on the head with pipes. But Beat Down does all these things wrong. The free-roaming environments are thin, the loading time is annoying, the fighting engine is weak, and everyone swears constantly. I fully support the use of graphic language in games, but the script is unbearable. You can’t even skip through it without hearing “motherfucker” bleated once or twice. Of course, the constant cussing is really a symptom of larger problems with the game’s design. The characters are thin and unlikable. The music is predictable techno/rock, and some of the tracks sound like a loop of about four bars of music. It begs to be shut off. The game also features a significant leveling-up element (buying clothes, playing dress-up), but the fashions are a mix between bad MTV and superhip garbage. None of the elements (dressing-up, fighting, running around) is done particularly well, and the end product is a mess.

Nick Hackett

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