To further stray from the repetition that plagues the genre, missions are broken up with other tasks, which include robbing stores, stealing car stereos or mugging citizens to round up money, running from pursuers, bailing gang members out of trouble or using stealth to sneak into enemy territory.
While the stealth mechanics aren’t exactly the most exciting (or fun) moments of the game, they do their job to keep the fighting from wearing thin. On my play through of the game, the stealth segments tossed a few bugs my way, with a couple of checkpoints not appearing on the screen until I restarted from a previous checkpoint.
The game’s most glaring setbacks unfortunately come in play due to the translation to the PSP. Without the right analog stick, camera controls and issuing “war chief commands” (to direct A.I. allies) don’t feel as fluid as they should and can lead to potential frustrations when legions of enemies are on your case.
Rotating the camera requires players to hold the L button while manipulating the view with the infamously oversensitive analog stick. To further aggravate matters, the camera only seems to be a problem while in battle and asks a player to balance out simultaneous tasks with the left hand while keeping tabs on the action around their character. The commands have been mapped to holding the R button and selecting with the analog stick – not as big of a deal as the camera, but it’s not as fluid as the console versions and can feel a little clunky.
The Warriors also implements the always-bad Rockstar auto targeting system. Holding the R button auto targets somebody, in which somebody could mean anybody. Why someone would want to target a member of his or her own gang is beyond me, but there were a number of times where I got sucker punched because the auto targeting focused my player on my own teammate. Utilizing the feature, while it works most of the time and is necessary, can at times be a gamble.
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