Strider (PlayStation 4) review "Perfectly competent, but with a bit more work, it could stride towards greatness."

When I was younger, I didn’t have a great deal of Strider knowledge, since I didn’t have a Genesis back then and my only familiarity with the series came from its NES installment, which apparently only bore passing resemblance to the Sega games or the arcade originals. I mean, other than the main guy — Hiryu — I don’t even know that they shared any characters. With how NES games often had really shaky translations, I did spend a long time thinking NES main villain Matic was series main villain Meio, but apparently they are completely different people serving vastly different roles in this series’ world.

But thanks to Double Helix, Capcom resurrected this series with a 2014 reboot, allowing me to play a more modern take on the original arcade/Genesis games. About the only thing carried over from that NES version is how the new Strider is a Metroidvania. While the entirety of this game takes place around the city of Kazakh, as opposed to providing a globe-trotting journey, you’ll still have a lot of places to visit, ranging from factories to laboratories to residential districts and slums.

And Strider makes that formula work. When done well, there is a certain addictive nature to this sort of game. You’ll be walking through an area and find a place you can’t access, so you’ll remember it or jot it down in order to return there after you’ve obtained whatever power is necessary to pass that roadblock. You’ll encounter enemies that give you fits with your present equipment, but a bit later, you’ll find a new weapon seemingly designed to tear through what had been formidable opposition.



Every time you play, you’ll advance a bit farther into the game’s world, while also picking up weapons and special items that make it worthwhile to travel backwards to see what new routes have opened up because your character is now more mobile and has the capacity to open a few doors that had previously been locked. This sort of game provides a fun and intuitive form of exploration, as you’ll start out being led on rails and then find your linear path transform into something far more open as you get more and more tools.

And Strider gives you all sorts of fancy toys. The sword that is your primary source of offense will gain a number of forms that have multiple uses. Not only will you be able to eventually do things like freeze foes or fire projectiles from it, but you’ll also be able to circumvent the defenses of enemies with similarly-colored shields — as opposed to those with basic shields, which simply require a charged attack. And, as you progress through Kazakh, you’ll also notice all sorts of doors that can’t be passed. Many of them get “unlocked” by being whacked with the appropriate version of your weapon.

You’ll also get throwing knives, which can open certain doors that are being locked by a remote mechanism; as well as the ability to zip through the air, which is great for both collecting hard-to-reach items or reach higher ledges and for zipping through portal-shaped doorways. There also are three special add-ons, which both can be used in battle and to get through the world via manipulating machinery or providing a limited version of fast travel.

The act of exploring Kazakh was what carried me through Strider. I had fun advancing through its areas and, after getting a new item, I enjoyed seeing what previously-locked stuff I could open to find more weapon variations or boosts to my health or the energy used to power those knives and add-ons in battle. And Hiryu was a fun character to control during all this, as he’s a nimble guy capable of leaping and flowing around foes while peppering them with slashes. At least one of those add-ons was a real difference-maker in fights, too. The first one you get allows you to send out a snake-like projectile that will greatly damage anything it contacts. When considering how energy recharges very quickly and how great this attack’s range is, it didn’t take long for me to prefer it over my sword in many situations.



Now, if only combat was as enjoyable as exploration, this game might approach greatness. The boss fights are quite fun and there is a nice variety of combatants ranging from a bevy of ninja babes to an airborne bounty hunter to giant machines designed by a mad scientist. That creativity isn’t quite on display with the rank-and-file opposition, though. You’ll fight a seemingly infinite number of generic soldiers that all blend together, a robust collection of shield-bearing soldiers, an assortment of massive powerhouse guys, a couple varieties of combat drone and a handful of other foes.

After a while, this starts to get tiresome. Running through random corridors and chambers while fighting the same guys over and over, with the only difference being whether they’re firing basic bullets or something like a sniper rifle, grenades or those damn ice guns that temporarily freeze you. While this isn’t a particularly long game and even has an achievement for beating it in under four hours, it’s one that feels like it could have been stronger if it had been a fair bit shorter. Or, you know, had a few more enemy types so it doesn’t feel like you’re doing the exact same thing over and over.

Strider won’t be entering my personal Metroidvania Hall of Fame, but it was a fun game to play through. I’d have liked some more variety in my opposition — and, no, I don’t mean three or four differently colored soldiers! — but it connected all the right dots when it came to exploring Kazakh, gaining new abilities and finding all sorts of power-ups to help in challenging imposing bosses. This is a game that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but does adhere to the formula quite nicely.

Community review by overdrive (January 31, 2025) Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers.