The Warriors - PlayStation 2

The Warrior's story is simple: when Messianic gang warlord Cyrus decides to unite New York’s underworld into one unstoppable NYPD-stomping force, he’s killed before his plan reaches fruition. The Warriors get the blame, meaning you have to fight your way home through 60,000 extremely angry, tooled-up gang members on a remorseless quest to make you bleed. And you don't have any guns--1970s New York gangsters had ethics, thank you very much.

A brawler in the classic Streets of Rage style, this is fast moving, mission based gameplay at its best. Don some dodgy '70s clothes, pick up your baseball bat, and pray you get home in one piece.

The lowdown:
Based on the 1979 cult movie classic of the same name, The Warriors is about street fighting. Grabbing absolutely anything you can find from meat cleavers, to baseball bats to crowbars, the violence is intense and gritty -- with no guns available, the only option is to go hand-to-hand with New York's nastiest.

Most exciting moment:
Get your Rage Meter high enough and unleash some imaginatively gruesome special moves, further ratcheting up the brutality in a game that’s already unnervingly violent.

Since you ask:
Stealing car radios and holding up convenience stores isn’t as easy as it looks. Specially created mini-games let you break into shops and cars and mug passers-by so you can save up for sweet, life-giving "Flash" -- just the thing for patching up those partially battered Warriors.

The bottom line:
Publisher Rockstar is well used to repackaging life on the streets, but let’s hope this mirrors the excellence of Grand Theft Auto rather than the dismal pointlessness of State of Emergency.
Nick Gillett