The enemy Al is spotty and the poor camera will cause more than its share of frustrating moments. These complaints aside, Tenchu is a refreshing, fun and challenging title. I don't understand why Sushi is so down on the voices in Tenchu. Maybe it's just me, but I find them to be rather amusing. But enough about that, Tenchu has other problems. It's a bloody shame too, because aside from this and some questionable Al, Tenchu is actually a real solid game.
Great atmosphere, too. Do you remember, as well as I do, dressing up as a ninja for Halloween? The chance to sneak around and blend into shadows? The upset stomach from too much candy? Where the hell am I going with this, anyway?
Oh yes, enter Tenchu: Stealth Assassins from Activision, the mystical realm of Chinese dynasties, and hired assassins known as ninjas. The ninja code and technique is passed down through many generations into your hands, and you must "live by honor, and kill by stealth" if the tradition is to be passed on. You are to become one of two ninjas under the guidance and power of Master Gohda.
Rikimaru is a leader of the Azuma Shinobi -Ryu ninja sect, and is graced with the swiftness you need as a ninja. Ayame is a young female ninja armed with two swords and a beautiful combo attack that will leave your enemies searching for blood donors. This is the tale of two shadows of justice born unto darkness and destined to die in darkness Let's first of all give it up for Activision for not only making an espionage game, but for making it enjoyable for almost anyone.
The patience for the right moment of attack is absolutely outstanding. In most games you go all-out shooting, slicing, and killing everything in sight, but Tenchu turns killing into an art form. This coming from a reviewer that is not into fatalities from Mortal Kombat , or blood-spewing zombies from Resident Evil. Tenchu provides a third-person perspective of what it must have been like to be an assassin before the invention of any guns, and making do with an oversized Ginsu knife and an arsenal of ninja tricks and weapons.
Forget about the side-scrolling past ninja wannabes, and get ready for some arm-amputating, head-decapitating 3D action that will have you wanting a sequel. For starters, I would like to express the ease at which I picked up this game. Upon playing for the very first time, I pretty much was already a full-fledged warrior of darkness.
I could control every slice, crouch, and wall-scale imaginable. I had a hard time imitating the double flip while running, but even that came easy with a couple of tries. Tenchu has a Practice Mode which allows entry ninjas to test their patience and the techniques that are clearly spelled out in the manual.
The Practice Mode not only helps you sharpen your skills, but also grades you upon completion. I have yet to obtain a Grand Master rating but feel you would have to be O. Simpson to achieve that. All jokes aside, the Practice Mode is a great tool in your growth into ninjahood no pun intended. A trained ninja has an array of weapons, but the game is lifelike and you can only carry so many items. Among these items are a grappling hook which is not an option but a must , shuriken Chinese star , Caltrops multi-pronged spikes to deter followers , mines, grenades, and smoke bombs.
Since on some levels there may be small animals that will give away your presence, Tenchu has an option to pick up poison rice. I also found that some of the guards in the game could have opted for a job in the Oval Office after a couple of them also ate the poison rice.
While the standard equipment is more than enough to finish the game, you also have a chance to pick up some extra items if you complete a level with a high ninja rating. Back then, there were no such electronic gadgets as infrared or binoculars, so the ninjas of long ago had to rely on what was referred to as their Ki.
The neat thing about the Ki meter is that it is displayed when you get near an enemy. The closer the enemy, the higher the meter reading, and you do not always have to see from your standpoint for the Ki meter to pick them up.
Also, you have to worry about being seen by the opposition. Your Ki meter also registers with? Since this game has a third-person perspective, you have an excellent view of your ninja as you slice and dice your way through the 10 levels of action. Tenchu also allowed you to view from the eyes of your ninja by pressing and holding L1, which allowed full motion camera panning of your current position. When you spotted an enemy, your next objective was to sneak up behind them or wait until you had figured out their guarding procedures.
This was the first game I have encountered that brought out the espionage factor in all of us. One complaint I had about Tenchu was the lack of different ways to kill an opponent. One day in her travels, Ayame came across a destroyed ninja village. She hoped to find survivors, but arrived too late. As Ayame was about to leave, a young female ninja stood in her way. Her name was Rin, back from her training, and devastated to see her village in ruins. She sees Ayame as the only person alive, and blames her for the destroying of her village.
Eventually, Rin sees that it was not Ayame that destroyed her village. Developer K2 has also done a nice job giving a series coming from PSi the necessary graphical facelift--the huge levels and detailed characters look great. Though the camera still causes some frustration, it's much better than the old Tenchu games' clumsy cinematography. My biggest gripe is with the enemy A. If a guard spots you, most of the time, all you need to do is run away and wait for him to return to his previous position.
Plus, the ridiculously easy boss battles require little strategy. In fact, more skilled players may want to bump up the game's difficulty level right from the beginning.
I was also hoping for multiplayer modes that felt less like a collection of minigames. Maybe next time. With a few gameplay tweaks and a more compelling story line everything here is either vague or silly , this could have been a must-have PS2 title. Still, Tenchu fans and gamers looking for some stealthy Metal Gear Solid-style action should give this game a shot. If nothing else, Wrath of Heaven succeeds where it absolutely must--executing stealth-kills as a ninja is simply exhilarating, and the animations rock.
It's enough to make you want to play through the whole game with each character--but don't expect perfection. Locking-on to enemies works OK, but Wrath's overly constrictive camera adds loads of artificial difficulty, balanced out only by often inept enemy A.
And there's nothing like being 20 minutes into a level and falling into a pit you can't even see-- pure frustration! Luckily, the solid gameplay and multiplayer thrills win out in the end. Luckily, the most memorable thing about the series--namely, the emphasis on cool, grizzly stealth-kills--is in full effect, and the flowing blood does quite a bit to keep the experience afloat.
Sneak-murders aside, the combat controls are still a bit cumbersome, despite improvements made over the previous games. Ditto with the A. Overall, it's no classic, but the carnage alone makes it worthwhile. With Shinobi , Ninja Gaiden and now Tenchu 3 all just around the corner, it's been nothing but ninja on the brains for us lately. Tenchu 3 takes place just after the events of the first game. Tenchu 2 was actually a prequel to Tenchu 2. Judging by the time we spent with the game, Tenchu 3 appears to be a true and proper evolution in this popular ninja-simulation series.
What is easily most impressive is how the environments aren't just massive, they're also loaded with detail. The levels feel organic, with events unfolding differently depending on how you approached your goals. On the back end, Tenchu 3 also brings more depth to character development. By performing certain tasks, Rikimaru can now acquire new skills and "level-up" as players tiptoe their way through the game.
True, Tenchu 3 may not look like much of a leap over the previous games.
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