Strider - a two dimensional ninja game, you control a character named Strider Hiryu (Hiryu meaning flying dragon) trained for the best, you are sent into a city known as Kazakh City to terminate an oppressive ruler whom other Strider ninjas failed to accomplish. Most would know Strider Hiryu from Marvel vs Capcom.

The gameplay is similar to Castlevania: symphony of the night. You have a side scrolling field of view where the character can only go right and left, jump, duck and go up and down. During the first phase of the game you can't really explore but after much later into the game the game allows exploring the various level world. There are many abilities and upgrades to acquire; some unique, some that are plain but require some skill to master.

little robot, say hello to "flying dragon"

The camera is kind of quirky at times and requires some patience in dealing with it at certain areas. The visuals are very nice for 2D game blended with anime style smoke. However, platforming is kind of difficult, not Mario hard but getting shot at in certain areas while dashing through can be problematic, other times its simple as a jump to the right moment.

The map feature is very well implemented in strider, player won't feel lost while exploring.
It is definitely one highlight aspect of the game

Boss battles are very hyped up and sometimes chaotic requiring you to keep precise movements from not getting over burdened with damage.

The game also offers a hit counter, similar to hack and slash games but unlike a combo counter - it fills up gradually as you hit the enemy and not take damage, on harder modes its much more difficult to fill up but once you do, your world slows down and the damage output exponentially arises helping you kill the most willful/defensive opponents.

As your exploring, you may come across an 8-bit strider icon, these are customization for Hiryu's outfit changing to various colors to suit your exquisite tastes as you acquire more in your adventure.

Customizable character costume add interest to the game for collect-all type of gamers

The game is currently released for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox one and PC.

There is also various game modes once you've unlocked them in your journey, survival and beacon runs. There is also enemy backstory logs, concept art and location stories to get further into the lore of Strider.

Game scene do offer a lot of varity, from traditional to futurist design setting

Overall, I give the game a good 8, the dialogue could be better and the camera needs to be patched in some sectors, the sound is very nice and the boss battles crazy as they are tend to be repetitive at times, landscape artwork I felt needed to be more presentable in the game, some felt like it didn't get some justice it deserved.

Trophy difficulty - 4 to 5 out of 10 The trophies are mostly story based while others are just finding all the upgrades which will require you to backtrack for later into the game. The only difficult trophy is the time rush mode as the platforming in the game can be chaotic or the bosses.

Overall Score: 8.0 /10

The games you might like if you enjoy Strider:

• Castlevania: symphony of the night
• Castlevania: mirror of fate
• Shank