Developed by Double Helix Games/ Capcom Osaka Studio
Published by Capcom
The Story:
Strider is considered a retelling of the original Arcade game with elements of the NES Game. In Strider, The Strider Organization sends their best assassin, Strider Hiryu to kill the villainous, Grandmaster Meio in the metropolis of Kazakh City. As he makes his way through Kazakh City, Strider must take down numerous assassins sent to stop him from carrying out his contract.
The Gameplay:
Strider is a 2D Platform game with elements of the Hack & Slash genre. The game world is huge with loads of hidden passages which if entered grants Strider brand new upgrades for primary weapon; The Cypher which is a plasma sword capable of dealing great damage and special power ups. In addition to this, Strider also has a wide variety of Bosses including Ninja’s, Mechanical Monsters & Highly Kitted Mercenaries which if defeated grants Strider a new skill which he can use to his advantage such as Double Jumping aswell as a customization menu which allows you to alter Strider’s appearance however the hack & slash style action of the game can get slightly repetitive and does at times require some serious backtracking however the difficulty of the game and the occasional puzzles make this game all the more enjoyable.
The Sound:
The Music & Sounds of Strider pay homage to the classic Strider themes but with modifications. The other background music of the game blends a retro style music with a futuristic style to create a retro/techno music score. Other than this.Strider features generic slashing & gun shot sounds aswell as decent voice work with the characters having numerous accents between them including Strider with a Japanese Accent aswell as Enemies/Bosses in the game having a variety of accents including American & Russian.
The Graphics:
The graphic style used in Strider is incredible with the art style looking as though it has been ripped straight out of an Anime/Graphic Novel. The Environments & Characters were extremely well polished. The futuristic setting of Kazakh city looks stunning with the graphics the PS4 offers and the art style is similar to previous Capcom titles like Okami & Viewtiful Joe which had brilliant graphics in a cartoon-like environment.
Lasting Appeal:
Strider is in many ways a very enjoyable title with plenty of re playability such as trying to gather all of the collectables, exploring the entire city or even trying to conquer the game on the highest difficulty however as stated in the gameplay section, it does have its minor faults such as the repetitive gameplay and the backtracking however this game is still an extremely fun action platformer and definitely worth its price tag and hopefully this title is a sign that Strider has a decent chance at further titles in the future.
My Score – 8/10
The Good:
The Bad:
Strider is available now on PC via Steam, PS3 & PS4 via PlayStation Network & X360 & X1 via Xbox Live. Thanks go out to Capcom for supplying the game & assets. Be sure to let me know what you thought of the review in the comments section below and be sure to stay tuned to UGNN for all your gaming news and reviews and remember to follow us on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit & YouTube.
Review by Matthew McNamee
