Sneak Preview: The Warriors™
Mission 1: New Blood
From the The Warriors Official Strategy Guide,
published by BradyGames,
for Rockstar's action game The Warriors on PlayStation® 2 and Microsoft® Xbox
Mission Numbers
Target Score: 5000
Bonus Objectives: —
Arenas Unlocked: —
Soldiers Unlocked: 1
Other: —
Coney Island, 8:00 pm, April 13, 1979
3 months earlier
Mission Leader: Rembrandt
This first mission stars Rembrandt, the new Warrior known for his "writing" skills with a spray paint can. Rembrandt's not yet savvy to the ways of gang life, so it's time for a rite of initiation. This mission serves as a tutorial for the basic controls and gameplay elements in The Warriors.
The Story
Cleon, the Warriors co-founder and Warlord, decides it's time to meet up with the "new blood," young Rembrandt, the latest member of the gang. Cleon calls him "a born writer, he'll get us up." That is to say, Rembrandt can paint the Warriors tag with skill, anytime, anyplace. But Vermin wants to know, can the kid brawl? Or will he get wrecked? Time to find out.
The gang gathers above the Warriors "arena," the fenced-in Auto Skatter yard. Simply follow the onscreen instructions to move Rembrandt to the yellow markers and to swivel the camera view.
Next you practice your fighting skills against a bunch of ragtag locals. Approach Rudy and, once again, follow the simple onscreen instructions to execute your basic attacks, light and heavy. Then execute the basic moves—grab Rudy, hit him light and heavy, throw him to the ground to get on top, and beat him down some more. Then let poor Rudy go.
Now, practice targeting enemies, and attack using the light and heavy combos listed onscreen. Next you practice the two-button-press moves. First, slam Rudy with a "strong attack" and then grab him hard with a "strong grapple." Finally, with Rudy in your grasp, finish him off with a power move and an extended power move. It's not pretty, but Rudy gets his reward for being such an excellent punching bag.
The rest of the bums crowd in to give you a taste of fighting against multiple enemies. Here's where you work on your "snap attack," either a quick elbow to the rear or a fist-punch to the side. Just push the stick in that direction while tapping the light attack button. Follow up with a few grab-and-throw moves.
Snap!
Many a gang fight feature swarms of foes that come at you from all angles, so master the snap attack right away.
A weapons tutorial comes next. Cleon explains how you must be resourceful when it comes to street fighting, and then tosses down an armload of baseball bats. Grab one and start clubbing bums. Execute the sideways sweep attack, then a downward heavy attack.
Keep clubbing away until your Rage meter bar fills up with red and then starts flashing yellow—you hear the Rage alarm as well. This means that Rage mode is available. But Rage is not triggered automatically. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter Rage mode. For the next 30 seconds you are impervious to damage; your strong attacks also inflict greater damage.
Now grab an enemy and follow the directions to execute the Rage power move, a lethal finishing move with devastating results.
Once Rembrandt finishes off the last of the hobo dregs, Cleon explains that "toe to toe" (one-on-one) fighting is fine, but the essence of gang warfare is the wild and wooly melee known as a rumble. Three Warriors drop into the arena for the final phase of your fighting initiation. Use the moves and techniques you've just learned to fend off your brother Warriors.
Simplicity Works
It's possible to win almost every brawl or rumble in the game by simply using basic light and heavy attacks. Power moves, grappling, using melee weapons, and tossing projectiles can make fighting much easier and, frankly, more fun. But in most cases you can survive with just your fists and some quick thumb work on the two basic attack buttons.
Once you've fought and survived long enough, you've passed the first initiation test and Cleon grants you (Rembrandt) your new "colors," the Warriors vest. He then sends you out with Vermin to score some Flash to heal your wounds.
As you leave, Vermin explains the turf situation; this side of Coney is Warriors turf, but East Coney belongs to the Destroyers—for now, anyway. Then he lays out the three ways a Warrior gets cash: mugging, stealing car radios, and doing "smash and grabs" (breaking into stores).
Rob a Store
Start this phase of initiation by burglarizing the Gift Shop. Approach a window or door and punch it out, then enter and start smashing counter cases. Use the Pick Up/Action button to nab three items. In most cases, nabbed store items automatically turn into cash; the amount flashes quickly onscreen.
Steal a Car Radio
Next, it's time to steal a car radio. Cross the street to the car next to Vermin and punch in the driver's side window. Press the Steal button indicated onscreen to have Rembrandt lean in and start stealing the radio. Rotate the indicated control stick counterclockwise to unscrew all four screws that secure the radio. Every car radio you steal is worth $15 plus 100 style points.
Mug a Mark
The next lesson is in the most available source of gang finance: mugging pedestrians. Approach the man leaving the phone booth down the street. When you get close, tap the Grab button to seize him, and then press the Action button to start the mugging process.
Once a mugging is triggered, two status bars appear onscreen. The bottom bar measures your victim's struggle progress; this bar fills with yellow, slowly and automatically. The top bar is your mugging progress bar. Your task is to fill up your mugging bar with red before the victim's struggle bar fills with yellow.
To fill your mugging bar with red, quickly push the control stick all the way in any direction and then rotate it around until you feel vibration; the onscreen control stick icon also flashes red. As your controller vibrates, your mugging progress bar fills up red. When the vibration stops, quickly move the stick until you feel vibration again and hold it.
No Blood from Turnips
Mugging 101 says you can't put the squeeze on somebody who's got nothing. If you try to mug someone with no cash, the Mug prompt will not appear onscreen.
Again, this is a race. If the victim's struggle bar fills up first, he breaks your grapple-hold and the mugging stops. You can grab him again and start over. If your mugging bar fills first, you win and the victim gives up his cash—the amount flashes onscreen. Now you can release the victim.
When you do this, a red objective marker appears next to Vermin. Note that objective markers also appear on your radar.
Return to Vermin
Walk into the red marker to trigger the next initiation sequence. Most objectives won't be quite this easy to accomplish, of course, but it's good to understand the basic idea: Use your radar to navigate toward a mission objective marker, then find the marker in the game environment and enter it.
Follow Vermin to the Dealer
Now follow Vermin. He leads you over a pair of chain-link fences; press the Action button as you approach a fence to climb over. Remember that you can climb any chain-link fence that doesn't have barbed wire on top. If you run and then punch the Action button just before you reach the fence, you clear it with a quick hop instead of a slow climb.
Fence Hopping
During a chase or escape, the advantage you gain by hopping instead of climbing chainlink fences can be considerable. Master the timing! Warriors are the only characters in the game that can perform the fast fence hop. This helps distance the player from pursuing cops or enemy gang members.
Stay on Vermin's tail as he leads you to a dumpster next to a building. Climb on top of the dumpster, then crawl up onto the building and walk into the yellow objective marker. Vermin points out the next objective.
Jump Across to the Yellow Marker
Run across the rooftop toward the next yellow marker, and tap the Jump button (as indicated onscreen) just before you reach the edge of the roof. You leap, crash through a window, and land inside the opposite building. Vermin follows you. He then takes the lead through the next window, jumping across to the next rooftop. This time, you must be sprinting (just hold down the indicated button as you run) when you jump in order to leap far enough to clear the gap.
Now follow Vermin as he hops down off the roof and climbs over another fence. Your last task is to follow onscreen instructions to break through the dilapidated wooden fence nearby. Just sprint at the fence and tap the heavy attack button as you approach. Rembrandt lowers his shoulder to charge, splintering the rotted wood and revealing the Flash dealer.
Buy Some Flash
Flash dealers always have a green lightning bolt icon twirling above their heads. The first time you spot any dealer, the same green icon also appears on your radar, marking his location for the rest of the mission.
Walk up to the dealer. He offers his wares for sale. You should have plenty of cash from your initiation activities, so press the Action button to buy a hit of Flash for $20. The green Flash icon now appears in your inventory with the number of Flash hits you've purchased.
Use the Flash to Heal Yourself
Now press the button indicated to ingest the Flash and bring your health back up to 100 percent. Vermin is satisfied with your progress—mission accomplished. The two of you head back to the hangout to see what Cleon's got planned.
For more hints, secrets, maps, and strategy, check out BradyGames' The Warriors Official Strategy Guide!
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education. Reprinted with permission from BradyGames.