The game follows the nine lead members of The Warriors (with flashback missions showing how they came to The Warriors): leader Cleon, Swan, Ajax, Cowboy, Cochise, Snow, Fox, Rembrandt, and Vermin. During the game, the player will control each member, usually acting as a war chief and leading a squad of Warriors on a mission. Missions vary from simply wrecking another crew to completing a series of objectives while avoiding arrest or worse.
During missions, players can mug pedestrians, steal car radios, commit smash and grabs, tag walls or bomb other gangs’ burners, and load up on flash. Between each story-based mission, The Warriors return to their Coney Island hangout where they can train to improve their stats, go out on patrol, review their accomplishments, replay levels, or enter into a series of quick-play combat matches.