Overall 8.2 Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 4 Depth 4 Difficulty 8
7.4
A good port of a good game. Popful
Graphics: The graphics themselves are very detailed, and the character designs are memorable, from Strider himself, to the giant communist centipede and other enemies, such as the amazons, the little coonskin hat-wearing robots, and the famous robotic gorilla. The cutscene graphics are nicely drawn, too.
One problem with the graphics, however, is that they don't have very many frames of animation for each action, and it just somehow looks odd in motion. This isn't too big an issue, however, but I still think a few extra frames for things like Strider walking would've helped.
Sound: The music is memorable, but not something you'd seek out an MP3 for. A huge problem, though, and I don't know if it affects every copy, but music from the first stage gets reused in levels that are supposed to have their own music. This was present in early builds of the original, so that's probably the reason. The sound's real strength lies in the effects. The clinking of Strider's hooks, the *shing* of his sword, they sound great, though the falling sound is odd and irritating.
One of my favorite things about the sound is the multilingual voiced dialogue during cut-scenes. Having characters from different countries speaking their native languages such as Japanese, Russian, and English, while the on-screen subtitles translated for the player helps give it an international-thriller feeling.
Addictiveness: There are plenty of difficulty tweaks you can do, and it'll ultimately take many tries to get through the whole game, but ultimately it's the same game every time, nothing new to find after you beat it. This is alright, considering that this is an arcade game, and was included as a bonus for people who bought the sequel (which I haven't had the chance to play yet).
Story: Well, again, this is an arcade game, so of course the story is pretty thin. It's definitely told decently, what little of it there is, but it left a lot of unanswered questions, such as where the Master came from, and what he is (besides an ugly guy with a dumb costume who looks like a James Bond villain).
Also, the ending's somewhat underwhelming, as is the final battle. After laying waste to giant robots, a teleporting guy in a black-and-red hood is disappointing. Difficult, of course, but still.
Depth: Again, you have the difficulty settings, and all that, but it's a very linear game, no exploration involved, just get from Point A to Point B without dying. Again, this is an ARCADE game, so I can't really criticize the game for that.
Difficulty: It's an arcade game from Capcom, the same people who brought you Mega Man. Do I need to spell it out? Anyway, enemies are relentless in this game, and the controls are somewhat steep to learn, not to mention the sadistic level design in some places. This was of course designed to keep the quarters rolling in, and I imagine that they succeeded in that plan.
Overall, I'd recommend giving it a shot, but if you already own the Sega Genesis version, just stick with that, since it's surprisingly accurate, and pretty much the same game overall. Alternatively, play it on MAME, since you're reading this on a site that has it.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 4 Depth 4 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 06-28-13
Updated: 06-28-13
Review Replies: 1
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