Strider Reviews
Strider makes a great first impression, but really shows its true colors as the short title wears on. Little variety in the environments, a lack of challenge in combat, and a little too much handholding at times, outweigh the flashy presentation of this reboot.
Strider has a solid foundation. The formula is there, but it needs a lot of tuning. The climbing feature should have been better executed in regards to combat, and climbing gets in the way when the game requires players to hurry. The boss fights lack action, and while the last boss has lots of attacks filling the arena; the fight itself is just tedious. When combined with the aforementioned control issues the last fight becomes annoying. By the end of the game I was left with the impression Strider could have been a lot better. Still, this is an above average title for what Strider does do – provide action and wall climbing.
Enjoyable, authentic, and oh-so-cool... when it doesn't break.
This retelling of the original Strider arcade game has a lot of cool moments, but a lack of meaningful challenges holds it back.
Austerity, in Strider, has many benefits. But it also amplifies flaws—and this one may be too much.
Double Helix made an admirable attempt at re-inventing Strider for the modern era with a new look and other amenities like online leaderboards. In some ways, it successfully re-captures the action of the older games, but too often it misses the mark when it comes to delivering a solid Metroidvania experience. It's a game torn between two personalities, and it shows. The new Strider is at its best when it's delivering arcade-style action moments, but sadly these come too infrequently and too late for its own good.
I don't feel the game worked very well as a 2d platformer when compared to games like Ninja Gaiden. There were too many times where the lack of a 3rd dimension made dodging attacks near impossible and the camera in general just got in the way of things. Strider is a good attempt at making a 2d game similar to the modern Ninja Gaiden games and would have been quite good had it not have been a 2D game.
Strider wears its influences on its sleeve, but ultimately, this reboot doesn't bring much to the table beyond its stellar presentation.
I didn't feel like I was experiencing a madman's vision when playing the 2014 Strider. It was more like a tempered salute. Yeah, I ran into the aforementioned mecha gorilla again. That was OK. And the final boss was kind of cooky, I guess.
Strider is more than worthy to bear the name: a slick, exacting and breathlessly hectic action-platformer powered by superb combat. Though botched 'MetroidVania' exploration adds tedious bulk rather than value, amplified by a grim lack of colour, arcade aficionados and challenge-seekers will be in their element.
Signs of greatness lie hidden in Strider that could grow if Capcom decide to offer someone the chance to evolve the reboot. For now, if you don't mind a world that's full of rather bland environments, feeling contradictory to the game's intense, blistering action, then jumping into the ninja boots of Strider is sure to supply a fun afternoon or two.
A decent revisit of a fondly remembered classic, Strider gives its ageing source material a modern twist to solid effect. Beware though; if you've no patience for tough, pattern-filled, old-school boss fights, you may want to look elsewhere.
Strider is basic fare to snack on between larger courses in the release schedule. Double Helix has easily attained its unambitious goals.
Does Strider really do anything new? Not really.
At its blistering best, Strider is a joy to play – its silky smooth controls making it difficult to not feel like the unstoppable agent himself. It's a welcome return to a beloved franchise, but it falls just short of maintaining the momentum that's expected of it, and instead opts to slice its way into a new generation with some less than exhilarating gameplay additions.
Strider doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but we get so few good Metroid-Vania style games these days that it's still definitely worth a play. On higher difficulties it will require skill, but otherwise Strider is a brainless exercise in platforming, exploration, and (button mashing) ninja combat.
Remarkably, Double Helix has managed to nail down the classic feel of what Strider Hiryu is all about: athleticism, agility, and destroying everything in his path. At the same time, the game modernizes the design into something unique, even if it borrows heavily from the Metroidvania genre. Strider may have been gone for over a decade, but his return is more than welcome.
Strider is an enjoyable game but it's not one that particularly stands out against others of its type. It is cleverly designed, as this style of game must be, but not so much that it earns the right to sit alongside the genre's ageing greats like Symphony of the Night and it's not quite up to the complex replayability of modern classics like Shadow Complex. It's a decent game that generally looks very nice and will while away a few hours, but you won't be rushing to tell your friends about it and you might not want to return after completing it.
For its price, Strider has great value, especially if you can switch gears towards being more exploratory at the end. Otherwise, it's frustrating as heck to have the difficulty curve go from playing tag with some school chums, to enemies darting for your throat with the gnashing of werewolf-like fangs for your body's fleshy sustenance. Ninjas are lean meat, after all.
Sadly, Strider falls somewhat short of the original. Despite its failings, though, it manages to be the best Strider game since that old coin-op. With a little more polish and creativity, this could be the start of something great.