Strider

I’m happy to report that Double Helix nailed all of the classic elements of the series while launching it into the modern era.

It's not perfect, and the chrome finish is marred by a few pacing and polish quibbles, but successfully taking Hiryu's seemingly anachronistic style into the 21st century has only proven how much he has improved with time.

Lightning-fast arcade action, precision control, constant movement and numerous gadgets.

Even though it is lacking fresh ideas and the exploration elements are a bit underwhelming, this is a successful and thoroughly fun reboot for the Strider franchise, thanks to its super fast combat, responsive controls and neat visual design.

While its slightly unbalanced design holds it back from being a genuine classic, it nonetheless does enough right to put a swagger back in Strider’s step for the first time in decades.

For now, if you don’t mind a world that’s full of rather bland environments, feeling contradictory to the game’s intense, blistering action, then jumping into the ninja boots of Strider is sure to supply a fun afternoon or two.

Strider is a liberating, free-form action platformer studded with frustrating callbacks to an arcade era better left behind.

For its price, Strider has great value, especially if you can switch gears towards being more exploratory at the end. Otherwise, it’s frustrating as heck to have the difficulty curve go from playing tag with some school chums, to enemies darting for your throat with the gnashing of werewolf-like fangs for your body's fleshy sustenance. Ninjas are lean meat, after all.