U .S. Gold have done it again with another action-
The scenario, for what it matter, is simple. You've just finished off the Reds from Strider 1 and are looking forward to a well-earned rest when your services are urgently requested by the planet Magenta. Their leader has been captured by alien terrorists and the Magentans are so desperate to get her back that they will agree to equip you with a measly Gyro laser and send you out alone to face the hordes. Smacks of conspiracy, that.
Armed with your trusty, well notched sword and the new gun, you stride (geddit?) boldly forth to fight your way through five levels of murder and mayhem, and let me assure you, this game is murderous.
It takes about 30 seconds to realise just how homicidal things can get, and after that you spend the remainder of your time waggling away like mad in an attempt to merely survive. 'Rock hard' is a fitting description for the difficulty level on this game, especially if you're not a beat-'em-up ace. I for one am still nursing a sprained wrist.
The terrorists come in many flavours. The least dangerous are those most recognisably human, which just walk through you or pepper you with little bullets, lowering your life level.
The really dangerous ones are the cyborg types and the more stationary obstacles, such as exploding flowers, robotic machine gun bunkers, force fields, and little R2-D2 type things which pop up, shoot, then slink back down again.
The weirdest enemies are the crows that fly about dropping hover bombs. These float gently down until they get to eye level, then streak across the screen at you causing a great deal of damage. Some of the crows seem possessed of the kamikaze spirit, crashing into you with predictable results. You soon start feeling a bit like an American aircraft carrier in the Pacific of 1944.
When you finally reach the end of the first level you come face to face with the end-of-
With enough of these under the belt you are automatically transformed into a hulking motorised robot, and your laser is given a few more watts of killing power. Without these, you might as well use a peashooter on the chopper for all the good your sword will be.
He spits homing missiles at you, and generally gives you the impression that your presence is not appreciated. Must have been something I said or maybe something my best friend should have told me.
After a couple of attempts (who are you trying to kid? Ed.), I finally defeated the beast and proceeded to the second level. From this stage onwards the warrior's agility is one of his best weapons. Climbing ropes and somer
It didn't do me much good, however, as I seemed to spend more time jumping into trouble than out of it, landing most of the time either in a force field or on top of a very annoyed robot. For these reasons, and by virtue of the fact that I'm about as naturally gifted for this type of game as Gordon the Gopher, I got no further than halfway through the second level. The game gave me a generous five lives, but these were quickly squandered as I stumbled around frantically leaping and shooting in every direction save the correct one.
For non-stop, smooth scrolling action, Strider 2 is hard to beat in every sense of the word. There are already far too many beat-'em-ups on the market, but if you're thinking 'not another one!' then think again. Strider 2 is a cut above the average and definite value for money.