Struggling to find new titles for this generation of consoles I was pleased to try out the new Strider game on the Xbox One. Trying out this game soon became addictively playing, not taking breaks and then became an amazing nostalgic trip into old school side scrolling 2D action. Strider hasn’t been it’s own standalone game since it was out on the PlayStation back in 2000.
14 years has passed and still it uses the same formula and mechanics of classic, fun gameplay and proves how revamping a retro game can be done successfully. So what makes Strider work, how has this style survived and is it worth a position in your console’s arcade library?
Back in the heyday of coin operated arcade machines players didn’t have any issues with playing games that weren’t fun. The simplicity of goals, destroy everything in sight with colourful explosions, an awesome memorable soundtrack and unique sound effects.
Strider has always followed this and what better setting of an urban ninja scaling the futuristic metallic metropolis environments could there be? One thing that isn’t too important and isn’t appealing is the story itself. To be fair I didn’t pay too much attention to it and still had a great time playing which is a good sign that the gameplay was on point.
You’ll have to charge up your attack by holding down the strike button mixing up the action. Later on ll find yourself hammering the attacks whilst dashing through hordes of robot foes and what Capcom does to keep this from being this simple is throwing frequent t affect the pacing at all.
The further you progress the more abilities you unlock and you’ll find yourself as the player becoming stronger and more versatile against previously tough enemies. As I sliced my way through the rooftops and sewers of the game I couldn’t help but realise how unique each level was, adapting with how strong the Strider was becoming. Areas I previously cleared out became populated with new enemy types that were surprisingly relieving to see as I didn’t want to cut through the same bots over and over again.
You’ll see some of the best level mechanics come into play as you fight and traverse across antigravity stages which mixes up the gameplay as you run upside down and become mesmerised with what else could be thrown your way in such a game. And this game keeps on delivering the unknown, weird and wonderful keeping up the pacing and action from the start to completion.
The extra features include a survival mode from different unlocked levels in the campaign as well as a timed race against the clock mode where you must head through checkpoints in the fastest time. The traditional Capcom artwork for character and level design is amongst the bonus features and if you’re up for a challenge there are several difficulty settings to master. I completed the base standard game less than 6 hours and that was barely pushing the 50% completion rating which even at that is longer than your typical games on the market already.
I was pleased with how addictive this arcade title was and would happily say this style of genre hasn’t lost touch with the old school roots. Strider defiantly deserves a place in your arcade library.
