Strider Preview

The moment Strider Hiryu lands in the neon dystopia of Kazakh City from his hawk glider, you know you're in for a treat. Your first experience of Strider's return sends you sprinting head first into enemy soldiers whom you slice through so satisfyingly, the instant thrill and appeal hooks you in, and then you understand why fans of this Capcom icon have been pining for a comeback for the last 16 years.

As a long-time fan of Strider, the first thing I noticed as I sliced, jumped and climbed my way across its grand scale maps, is that despite its obvious increased scale, the very true nature of Strider's essence has been faithfully restored. With a new lick of paint and an extra half dimension, it has the look and feel of XBLA's underrated 2.5D masterpiece Shadow Complex, but set in the breathtakingly fast world of Strider. His acrobatic jumps remain, the 'phss-ying' sound of his cyber blade sounds as cold as ever, and is now seen with more than one frame of animation. The story still finds you hunting down arch enemy Grand master Meio against a vast mechanical futuristic backdrop, lit up by depressingly bright neon. Action occasionally zooms out as he climbs one-handedly up the miserable cityscape's skyscrapers, and back in during some close-quarter combat.

The controls feel right. Simple attack and jump combinations are standard, and climbing up, in and over walls and ledges are as simple to perform as they are marvelous to look at.

But extra features have been added to Strider's world to keep things more relevant to the modern player. The focus of Strider as a whole has been split between the classic action adventure it's known for, and exploration. Spending a little extra time around many of the game’s environments and you can find some hidden treats, power ups, etc. From collectibles such as art work and new game modes, to upgrades to your health and energy bars, it pays to take a break from the slicing and dicing and look around.

Downing each boss grants you a new ability which inevitably allows you to venture forth to places as yet unreachable. You'll soon be backtracking to the point where you found a ledge too high, and now armed with the 'double-jump' ability, for example, you will find new areas, enemies and items. Don't care much for retracing your steps? No problem, your new abilities work wonders in a fighting scenario too, so march onwards, ignore the extra items, it's your call. Completionists will love Strider for its rewards for exploration, and those after a more fast-paced, exciting game with no time for backtracking will adore it for the large variety of combatants in and out of almost every room.

Boss battles come surprisingly frequently, and are introduced in fun yet daunting comic book style freeze-frames. The handful I got to experience were very varied, including fights in close-quarters where only well-timed charged attacks will win you the battle, two-on-ones, and epically scaled fights with lasers and bullets coming at you from all angles. Not to mention my personal favourite from the arcades - climbing up the body of a humongous mechanical dragon trying to slay it via its head.

After my time with Strider, I was so relieved with the outcome. To balance fans' expectations to keep things faithful, whilst also adding new features that only change the format subtly without losing any of its charm, is a difficult feat to pull off, but if there's one thing that Capcom know how to do, it's fan service. Strider appears to accomplish this balance with aplomb. Whether this format keeps delivering all throughout its 8-12 hour campaign or gets a bit stale and samey remains to be seen, but the first impressions all look top notch. Graphics are striking. Combat is easy, fun and fast. Exploration is simultaneously vast and quick. Most importantly, Strider Hiryu still feels like Strider Hiryu.

Strider is out now for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Expect a full review very soon.