Up late talking games & writing? You're...

*

RetroReviews

*

Strider 2 – Second Opinion

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Platform: Sony PlayStation

Originally reviewed at @GameCritics on August 14, 2000

(The main review by Ben Hopper can be found here.)

   

Like Ben, I enjoyed growing up in the golden age of arcades, and have many fond memories of riding to my local 7-11 to play the latest cabinet, and many evenings spent trying to connive my dad into taking me to Chuck E. Cheese, only to spend three hours there without touching the pizza.

However, the good feelings of those golden years don't carry over to the current incarnation of Strider 2. Based on my memories of the original arcade release and the nearly flawless Genesis port of the first Strider, I was ready to put my money down sight unseen and trust in Capcom to produce something as solid and fun to play as the first. However, I was quite disappointed.

For starters, I found the graphics to be unappealing, lacking the character and personality I expect from Capcom. The studio usually turns out above-average (if not outstanding) sprite graphics. Instead of the big, bright rendering found in the first game or in the Vs. series, the main character is tragically small, and things are rather pixelly in general. The focus on showing larger portions of the levels and having the character in a smaller scale definitely takes away from the appearance of the game. There are a few choice areas such as a battle which takes place on top of a row of floating cars, or in the polar laboratory area when a giant cyborg mammoth lumbers forth for battle, but such memorable moments are few and far between. Also, as a side note to purists, the clean "ching!" sound of Hiryu's blade from the original game was mysteriously omitted. It's missed.

I also concur with Ben regarding the "quick cuts" the game makes. After clearing a section of level, the player is mysteriously whisked to another area with no segue whatsoever. One moment I was in a strange, techno-gravity chamber, and the next I was on top of an icecap attacking a huge mutant crab with nothing but "loading" taking me from one area to another. It absolutely kills any pretense of plot the game may have had, and only serves to destroy immersion with abrupt loads three or four times per level. While the plot or story segments may not matter much in arcades, in this day and age I definitely expect more than the few crumbs that were tossed in.

As far as the quality of the platforming goes, it seems like it might be extremely difficult and probably would be except for the fact that the game provides unlimited continues, which kills any challenge. There's really no need or incentive to play the game with skill since you can continue exactly where you died with no penalty. As a consequence, what could have been an enjoyable workout of manual dexterity and skill devolves into a mindless affair which consists of walking from the left to the right and holding down the attack button, jumping sporadically. There's no reason to even try and dodge incoming damage -- just hit the "start" button when you die and you'll finish the game in approximately thirty minutes. In comparison, the old Strider sent you back to checkpoints, so there definitely was a necessity to master certain sections in order to progress. Why Capcom didn't keep that system I can't imagine.

Due to the extremely short playtime, Capcom did add a bit of replay by being able to start a game with a different character after beating the game once, though the second character has no story segments and uses homing blades as a weapon, which means that you have to work even less to beat the game. There's also one hidden level which becomes accessible after playing through classic Strider and using the save, but it makes as much sense as the other levels do and is just as appealing, which is to say… not much. 

While it's great that Capcom included the original version of Strider (and I'd definitely like to see more arcade or orginal versions packaged with newer sequels) with the limited replay and general disinterest Strider 2 generates, I can't recommend it. There is the core of a good game here, but it needs polish and fleshing out in so many areas that it feels a lot rougher than the average Capcom release. I'd suggest it only as a purchase to people who are huge Strider fans or those who want a copy of the original Strider for archival purposes. For others, it's a rental at best and a substandard offering in general. 

Rating: 5 out of 10

*