Reboots are common now. Tomb Raider, DmC, Deus Ex, even Donkey Kong. Now, Capcom has rebooted an old classic; Strider. The new Strider doesn't brave bold new frontiers like other reboots and aims more to bring fans some more classic Strider gameplay. Can Double Helix bring some classic Capcom gameplay to the newest generation of gamers? Or is this Strider ready to die the way a Strider lives?
The story is as simple as a Strider's story always has been. Strider Hiyru is assigned a mission and that mission is to eliminate Grandmaster Meio. Meio is threatening to bring the world under his control and he must be stopped. That's really the extent of the story. There are very few scenes and just as few lines of dialogue. The story is so unimportant that I am not even going to score it. Though it does have a great early '90s feel to it.
The gameplay is almost the same as in Strider 2. You run around in a 2D plane and hack at the enemies in your path with Strider's trusty Cipher. You can still climb walls like in the previous Strider games and the game's primary gameplay functions as it always has. The biggest change is the flow of gameplay and the stages themselves. Instead of a left-to-right linear series of stages you are presented with a Metroid style sprawling environment. Just like in Metroid games, you have only one destination at a time and can only progress as your abilities will let you. After a certain amount of exploring a new area, you will come to a boss and after the boss has been defeated you will earn a power-up.
Your power-ups range from traversal techniques; such as double jump, and combat techniques; such as kunai. Every ability in Strider's arsenal is as important as the last when it comes to exploring the environment and there are plenty of upgrades hidden throughout the large world. Strider gains a variety of techniques that allow him to progress and many of them can be used in the combat. The combat is simple but very satisfying all the same. You jump around and attack your enemies with the square button and the gameplay is incredibly smooth. Just simply attacking is not enough to defeat most enemies and you are required to mix things up if you want to defeat enemies without taking damage.
There are plenty of bosses for you to face throughout the world and they are also really fun and satisfying. It will take a lot of spacial awareness to defeat them without either dying or taking loads of damage leaving you vulnerable. The bosses get more difficult as you progress, but the game remains mostly easy playing on Normal. Without exploring the world and finding health powerups you can make the game harder for you, but you are bound to find some unless you are rushing through the game. On my first playthrough, only semi-rushing through it, I was able to complete it in 4 hours. This is not a low number considering the $15 price tag and the ability to bolster that number by finding all the collectables but it's still only just enough. Overall, it's an insanely fun game with no primary gameplay issues.
On the audio side, it's well done, but not memorable. Sure, a lot of them are remixed tracks, but it doesn't stand out from the gameplay. The lightning combat is much more memorable than anything you'll hear in the game, but the voice work is done in a very '90s style. Every character is over-acting and the voices work well, despite there being very few instances of dialogue. Overall, it's good, but nothing special.
The game looks pretty, if not a little simple. The 2.5D plane lets the backgrounds be interesting to look at and the 3D models look great. The basic enemies look good, though they tend to be overused often, which is to be expected. The bosses look great and are fun to watch as well as fight. The special effects are flashy and the smoke is sort of cel-shaded and the rest of the visuals have a semi-cel-shaded look to them. The environments don't show much variety, seeing that you are inside a city, and it's disappointing to see the variety from the previous games missing. The visuals in the PS4 version are nothing mind-blowing but it does offer one valued advantage over it's older console brothers and that is 60 frames a second. The gameplay is buttery smooth and I have experienced only one bout of slowdown and it fixed itself pretty quickly. Overall, it looks great, it's stylish and smooth.
PROs
- Satifying, smooth and responsive gameplay
- Metroidvania style adds some meat to the gameplay
- Loads of upgrades to collect
- Plenty of power-ups and special enemies to use them against
- Large world
- Visuals are great and runs at 60fps
- Voice acting is very '90s
- Game is simple and to the point
- Gives us more Strider
CONs
- Too simple at times
- Not much variety visually
- Shorter than you'd hope
- Music is not memorable
- No real story
- Doesn't reinvent Strider just gives us more
Overall, the Strider reboot is a fantastic entry in the Strider franchise even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel. The gameplay is smooth, fast, frantic and enjoyable and the Metroid style world adds some meat to the basic gameplay. It's fun to explore the world and slice Meio's henchmen apart while looking for upgrades. It may be a little short, a little easy and may lack a real story but it's one fine game and it delivers what games are supposed to deliver; a fun experience that makes you want to play the game. If you enjoyed any of the previous Strider games you owe it to yourself and Double Helix to play this game. It's what Strider should be and that is nothing more than Strider.
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 10/10
Audio: 8.5/10
Presentation: 9.5/10
Total = 9.5/10