POSTED 22/2/14


STRIDER

Capcom

I spy something beginning with ‘S’...

This is Strider. Those with a spot of classic arcade appreciation will recognise the name. Well, they should. Late ’80s, side-scrolly, dystopian future, ninjatastic, slashy-slashy plasma sword...

The core of that classic remains in this similarly titled – well, identically titled - Strider. You’re still ninjatastic ninja person Hiryu, and you still have a slashy-slashy plasma sword, which you still wield – lots. You glide into Kazakh City tasked with taking out big cheese bossy-type Grandmaster Meio – who is, despite the name, not a cat. As with any such task, you’ll need to take out a vast array of henchmen who probably aren’t paid enough to block your process. Then again, the Strider man’s having them for dinner tonight, and corpses don’t need bucks. Any spouses or close family members may disagree though.

So anyway, your trip towards Meio will involve numerous minions, assorted environments, regular mini-boss assaults and an increasingly funktastic array of enhanced weaponry and abilities. This isn’t to say that basic swordiness isn’t fun, but as somebody might say to somebody who’s never encountered zero, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Where Strider most differs from, erm, Strider is that rather than being linear like the first, here you can faff about backtracking and exploring. If you want to complete the thing completely, you’ll need to do more than blitzing through. That latter bit isn’t necessarily super-demanding on normal level, although some boss patterns may cause frustration – but not as much as the ham-fisted re-spawn points.

Add unlockable challenges to change things up a wee bit, some very nice graphics indeed, collectible symbols that unlock art and stuff and some painfully naff-but-fun talky bits and this particular Strider should entertain arcadephiles long enough to prove investment-worthy.

“Come into my parlour,” said the Strider to the fly...

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