Capcom Arcade Stadium: Strider Review (jb2097)
NOTE: I have played it :) I'm guessing the time spent on it counts towards Capcom Arcade Stadium, and not the DLC.....
Eeeh....this is a tough one to review. Mainly because it's one of the earliest games I got to play in the arcade, and also at home through a fairly decent console version, and nostalgia for a favourite of yesteryear is clashing with being objective.
In Strider you play a bloke called, er, Strider, and he is a ninja at some point in the near-future, who is pissed off with a Communist warmongering state. For reasons the game doesn't bother to explain, he intends to open a family-sized can of whup-ass on these neer-do-wells.
You do that by running, jumping, sliding, climbing and stabbing lots of people, animals and robots. Made at a time when Capcoms arcade hardware was delivering bigger sprites, and more of them, than their competitors, Strider aims to utilise that extra grunt by delivering dynamic, fast-paced action and cinematic presentation.
It's a fairly early example of set-pieces, such as running down a mountain side while huge explosions go off around you, and you're jumping over collapsing portions of the environment. Not only was the graphical level of detail several notches above everybody else's, bringing out the best of an excellent art-style, but also so too was the responsiveness to the controls, the fluidity of how smoothly the game performed, and having all these things together.
In 1989 It was leagues above anyone else's efforts, and even today it is still a good game that's fun and playable. However.....that goes with the caveat that it's pretty cheap, and I'm not that mental that I'd suggest this is anywhere near the levels of basic modern indie action titles when it comes to the game-play.
Strider is still fairly unique in that the character can walk up walls, and hang from most surfaces, and the game seeks to bring this into boss battles and platforming challenges. It's undoubtedly the inspiration for many games, and has much about it that has aged very well. The graphics are excellent, as is the design.
Fundamentally though, the very best 1989 had to offer is still somewhat clunky in 2021, despite handling quite smoothly. Bosses look ace, and make some attempt to be reflex-driven, challenging show-stoppers, but...well..... they don't quite play with the thrills and spills of a title that isn't 30+ years old.
The inevitable passage of time has been a bit unkind to games like Strider, as even though it's artwork holds up and mechanically it's still capable, the quality of execution since then, and the game-play that allows for, has reached massive levels. It's not unheard of for indie developers to come out with titles that blow this away (Iconoclasts, or Blazing Chrome, for example, or Hollow Knight etc), it's pretty much the default standard for even the most basic offering.
Strider can't compare, but if you want a cheaper alternative, or are interested in experiencing the genesis of action platformers, then for the price I can recommend it. On the other hand though, something like Onikira Demon Killer doesn't cost much more, and is a much better game. Simply because it has the luxury of several decades of technical increases and game-play mechanics to further refine what Strider achieved in the early days of the genre.
I would also add that it's own reboot (a very decent 3d update with some more depth added to it's mechanics) has the same obvious benefits, and is the better version. Though it does cost something like 10 times the price, so.....