But therein lays some duplicity as 'A mess' is exactly what you'll be able to create in The Warriors, since the development team has managed to bottle the user-controlled anarchy idea pretty effectively. Luckily it's a lot more than that too, as it also boasts a pretty hefty combat engine, better artificial intelligence, and an easier to access mission-based design that will allow players to jump in and do exactly what they want without too much of a mess.

On the surface, The Warriors looks very much like a mish-mash of the titles that Rockstar has seen success with over the last couple of years - in other words, it's Grand Theft Auto crossed with Manhunt without the huge streaming world or questionable psychopathic weirdness. After spending the better part of three years in the planning stages, The Warriors joins Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks as one of the few real successors to the previously dead beat 'em up genre (while pushing the category beyond the simple mold of 'punch, punch, kick, and kick').

Rockstar Toronto has taken a cult favorite license that's aged more than 25 years and turned it into something that's truly worth playing.