A Silicon Valley whiz kid had left his life in a small town to become the billionaire creator of the most intelligent computer on earth. But this kid's got bigger problems than being on the cover of Time magazine. To begin with, the corporation he works for is planning to use his ideas to take over the world. Worse yet, his girlfriend just couldn't bear to leave the peaceful Midwest to join him on his quest for wealth and fame, and he's still pining over her. Things get stranger yet when he spots her in town, and not only does she have a different name, but she doesn't even seem to recognize him.

At that point, things go from bad to worse. As it turns out, not only does his employer have its sights set on world domination, but they are planning to wipe the slate of humanity clean and install their own race of superbiengs in their place. The unwitting prototype? Our angst-ridden programmer, of course. He finds that not only is his only friend in on it, but all his memories were implanted in lieu of his true origin. Now that the corporation's done with their testing, they are preparing to move into the next phase of the project. But there is one minor problem: their prototype isn't exactly ready to forgive and forget. The corporation (and the Pentagon) wants him dead at all costs, his life is a myth, everyone he knew is an enemy, and he suddenly grows a foot and a half and develops a body that Stallone would envy (hey, life's not all bad). Will he be able to escape the unlimited resources of his former employer and stop their evil plans?

A good idea done badly. Dark Warrior, other than being every nerd's fantasy (more or less), has an interesting concept and a plot that could definitely go places. Unfortuneately, the production is poorly done, and the premise ends up going to waste. If you ignored the visuals and the specifics of the plot, the story isn't bad: there's angst, tragedy, secret plots for world domination, and a programmer with superpowers--what more could you ask for. But the actual writing is weak, the story is thin and full of holes, and I never really felt much empathy for the characters. There's also the fact that you aren't too likely to mistake this version of Southern California for the real thing.

Technically, Dark Warrior doesn't fare any better. The art is unremarkable, the animation is average at best (and usually not that good), and the action sequences aren't very well done. There are a few decent moments, but none worth mentioning, and not enough to save the production as a whole. The character designs are at least decent, but not noteworthy.

Finally, the acting in the Japanese version is mostly unremarkable, although the main character has a few well done dramatic moments. In all fairness to the production as a whole, it's possible that the later installments in the series could improve, and the whole thing might well end up being watchable. But the first part is a pretty poor start.

In summation, Dark Warrior - First Strike has a good premise, but the story is very badly done, and is visually unremarkable. Later installments in the series may improve the situation, but there's not much to see in the first installment, other than a superpowered nerd (which does have its appeal...).