Originally conceived in 1989, Strider was a staple of the arcade – making Capcom a gaming giant prior to the release of Street Fighter.
Since its original release, Strider has seen several re-releases on a plethora of home consoles through the ages as well as several sequels over time. Yet, for quite some time, all has been silent on the Strider front.
Until now!
Strider is finally set to have a modern re-release, and I got my hands on the game while wandering the show floor of New York Comic Con’s Javits Center.
From the moment the demo begins Strider is oozing with style. It’s a somewhat unique, somewhat clichéd combination of old-school eastern visuals combined with the futuristic cyborg-esque enemies and surroundings. It was a juxtaposition that I really appreciated and latched on to during my playthrough.
The speed of Strider is truly exhilarating. In the shoes of the Hiryu, I was give the ability to sprint from left to right while aggressively brandishing my sword. As soon as I was dropped into the level, I immediately sprinted while wildly slicing. I, of course, died nearly instantly.
This brings to the forefront the more intricate strategy of Striker: You can’t just run-and-gun (or run-and-slice if you will). You have to be aware of the enemies shooting at you and time your jumps, slides and attacks to both avoid and deflect enemy projectiles. Killing enemies in a timely manner will net you some more health, allowing you the pleasure of entering the next room to face its challenges.
One mechanic that concerned me was the presence of a hook that allows Hiryu to climb on walls and ceilings. It makes it kind of easy to get from place to place, and over-simplifies avoiding enemies. This is a minor complaint since the game was more than challenging enough – I’m just concerned that it could give the gameplay some uneven pacing issues.
**They didn’t know what hit them (hint: it was my sword).**
Overall, Strider wasn’t on my radar before now, but after playing the demo I’m pretty excited to get my hands on the final product and slice some robot-men up. Strider will be coming out in early 2014 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.
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What about the retro action of Strider is getting you most pumped? Sound off in the comments down below and maybe we can run super fast while slicing cyborgs all over!
