Name: Strider
Platform: Varies (Played it on the PlayStation 4)
Style: Metroidvania
Publisher(s): Capcom
Developer(s): Double Helix Games & Capcom Osaka Studio
Release Date: February 18, 2014
Date of Completion: May 7, 2018
I’ve never played a Strider game, before. I know. I know. BUT! Better late than never, right? At least, I played him in the Marvel vs Capcom series. Haha! Well, at least, I managed to get this game through my PlayStation Plus account for soooo cheap. So cheap in fact that I ended up getting another game; I think I bought like three games for twenty dollars. But, enough of that, let me praise this game.
So, in case you didn’t know, Strider is a reboot of the 1989 video game of the same name that is also based off an original manga from Moto Kikaku. You play as Strider Hiryu. To be put it simply, “”Hiryu” is an elite-class member of a group of futuristic, high-tech Ninja-derived agents known as the Striders, who specialize in various kinds of black ops and wetwork such as espionage, sabotage, and assassinations.” (Wikipedia) Yeah, I had to look that one, don’t judge me. Anyway, as Strider Hiryu, you’re tasked with killing the villain, Grandmaster Meio, in the metropolis of Kazakh City. Yep, it’s just straightforward – much like most 90s games.
But, what makes a ninja is their equipment and you have to do a good amount of exploring to find them all, hence why it falls under the Metroidvania genre. See, one area of the map can be explored as long as Strider has the appropriate upgrades and properties to progress. So, the environment is freely explorable and it’s encouraged to search EVERY nook and cranny to make Strider the most powerful version of himself before facing the final boss.
The team behind this game took their time to make sure that they followed the schematics of the original game while adding a few new touches of their i.e. giving the Cypher (Strider’s sword) the power to change forms. This allows him to make the game their own and allow the players to change up their way of playing as they see fit. And, trust me…all of those forms will be used at some point in the game.
Oh! And the OST features a handful of tracks that pays homages to the original Strider theme, just with a more upbeat tempo which I respect.
After playing Strider, I’m going to give it a 9 out of 10 only because of the difficulty curve that the player has to experience. Trust me…this game is no walk in the park and the enemies can turn from simple nuisances to a swarming death trap in a blink of an eye.
