Some things are better left untouched. Like The Fog, for instance. John Carpenter's horror film was fine the way it was, and yet Columbia Pictures felt like they needed to do a modern take on it. Surprise, it sucked. Same with Assault On Precinct 13 and House of Wax, two modern day twist-arounds of classic film that basically go nowhere fast, running out of fuel faster than a Yugo on a bender. Now I hear word that The Warriors, the 1979 Walter Hill classic, is being remade, and I cringe at the thought. I say this because this remains one of the better "old" films I've seen in a while, dealing with a mature level of violence and yet maintaining a great deal of suspense. I shudder at the thought of a PG-13 rated remake with Laurence Fishburne playing Cyrus. Seriously.

But there's something to be said about video games and the way they can actually produce magic when they bring back an old license and make it feel new again. Factor 5 did this a couple of years back with Star Wars: Rebel Strike, a game that brought about scenarios from the original films with a great deal of appreciation and well-thought-out gameplay. But, once again, The Warriors entered the topic of discussion when Rockstar Games, the folks behind Grand Theft Auto, decided to tackle an adaptation into an action game. Would the gameplay be just right? Would the presentation be up to par with the movie? Would it be something that we could "dig"? Well, yes, yes, and yes. Once again, Rockstar surprises with a mature, righteous take on the film, drawing you into its theme and then surprisingly attempting to bash you in if you aren't careful.

The game doesn't just focus on the events of the movie, but they do come into play. It's late 70's New York City, and a number of street gangs are dominating the streets, even outnumbering the cops on a 3-to-1 basis. This brings about Cyrus, leader of one of the toughest gangs in the city, to call upon a unification of the gangs and an all-out takeover, in which many approve. But one happens to spoil the party by shooting Cyrus right out of the crowd and vanishing, leading a particular gang, the Warriors, to be blamed. Soon they are hunted, but before this takes place, the game actually flashes back to a few weeks back, before the fatal fall of Cyrus, and what could lead up to it.

This would eventually be a problem, as it runs a risk of alienating the original storyline. But Rockstar knows what it's doing, and their Toronto studio has managed to stretch a 2-hour movie into a sustainable 15-20 hour experience with just the right amount of script play and dialogue, without falling into the realm of cheesiness. They keep it rough, loaded with obscenities and violent acts, and keep true to the theme of the film. That's an amazing feat in itself, but, wait, it gets better.

The game puts you in control of a number of the Warriors, including the likes of Swan, Ajax, Cleon, and more, as they make their way from terrain to terrain, battling different gangs left and right, from a group of all-females that can definitely get vicious during their ambush or a bunch of baseball-loving flunkies with painted faces and bats in their arsenal. The cool thing about The Warriors is how it combines the typical beat-em-up action with team tactics, as you can call upon your fellow gang members to do a number of things, like trash the area to their liking or watching your back when you find yourself overwhelmed with obstacles. This sort of thing adds a bit of variety to the gameplay, which is actually balanced unto itself.

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