OLD REVIEW: Tenchu: Shadow assassins

READ THIS BEFORE THE REVIEW: since in the past I posted other reviews
with
the wiikly news reports I'm gonna post them here too, so that you
won't
miss them. I'll post an old one each day until we are caught up
with
the current ones ^^

Keep in mind that those reviews are
old...I
did this one almost one year ago, so my writing and my way to
explain
things may have been quite a bit worse back then (and were also
shorter
than now), but I figured it would be interesting ^^

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WII GAME OF THE WEEK: Tenchu: Shadow assassins
Genre: Stealth game
First of all I’m gonna say that I never played a tenchu game before,
just watched some gameplay video of the previous ones ^^; so I’m pretty
much a new fan of the tenchu series now, so I apologize if I make a few
mistakes about names and stuff X3

Ahem, anyway…when I started to play this game it felt very…different if
compared to the more actiony games I played and reviewed recently…Tenchu
isn’t a fast game…or rather, it is fast when it needs to be. Tenchu
shadow assassins isn’t a game to be taken lightly and I’ll soon explain
why ^^ so, lets start with the review!

The gameplay is quite simple…your goal is to make it trough different
sections of the levels without being spotted…the penalty is not only a
lower ranking at the end of the level, but also you being pushed back at
the start of the section, thank to a good old smoke bomb.

In this game you can’t move without thinking first. You actually have to
analyze your surroundings, spot the shadow areas, bushes and other
hiding spots you can use at your own advantage. One good thing about
this game is that you can face situations in many ways. The difference
between the two ninjas you can play as aren’t many, just the fact that
ayame is quicker and rikimaru is stronger.

There are many hiding places you can use…bushes, behind walls, on roofs,
underwater and even using the shadows to form a sort of black aura
around you that will prevent the guards from seeing you (though the
smarter ones will be able to see trought he shadow aura if they get too
close to you).

There are a few kinds of guards who will try to spot you…all of them
have a certain level of AI…some will be awfully stupid, while some,
especially going forward in the game will be very smart and will be able
to hear every single noise you make, even when you are supposedly
hidden from them. So your way to get trough them is either to avoid them
or obviously to kell them with hissatsu moves (hissatsu means instant
kill in Japanese :3) you can do so by sneaking behind them or simply
wait for them to go close to your hiding spots…or better, if they’re
close to water, cliffs or ontop of waters you can kill them instantly
with a shuriken or a kunai. The hissatsu moves will be done using the
wiimote movements, and most of the time they’ll be easy enough to pull
out, since the hardest part of the work is actually sneaking behind the
guards…the hissatsu moves are proven to give you a feeling of
satisfication as you know that one guard will not bother you anymore X3
in a few cases you’ll also be able to pull out more than one hissatsu
move in a chain-like attack if you’ll be good enough to sneak behind an
entire group of guards.

Not all the guards will be easy to kill and going trough the game you’ll
find yourself in some very difficult situation.things such as other
ninjas hidden in the shadows or the smartest guards who will spot you
right away if you’ll make any wrong move. The ninjas will not have just
their sneaky abilities to protect them…during the levels you’ll find
different objects, like a water-launcher, very useful to breath
underwater and to take out the lights to create the shadows you need,
the usual kunai’s and shuriken and even bombs and the popular shinobi
kitty! Wich will be useful to explore the area without any risk of being
spotted and to bring to yourself useful items.

One little note: you’ll find map pieces around the levels…take them all
if you want to see the real ending XP

Ahem, anyway, during the game you’ll also happen to find swords that you
can use to defend yourself…though this is the only real bad point of
the game I’m going to point out, since the combat system of the game
willl probably remind you of a bad rip-off of the red steel sword-fight.
It works in two phases. First of all you have to defend yourself moving
the wiimote in certain positions to block the attacks of the enemy,
thing that will get quite frustrating with the guards, since you won’t
even have the time to realize wich position you’ll have to use before
you are hit. The second phase is the attack phase that will have you
follow certain arrows to hurt the enemy more…unluckily the programming
of this phase wasn’t done too well, since the movements will not always
be the ones you meant to do.

The good news about this is that you’ll be forced to fight just against a
few of the bosses and they’ll be much easier than the fights with the
guards.

It’s the only one big flaw in a gameplay that overall is quite nice,
various and intriguing.

The graphical look is above the average wii game. The models of the
characters are all well-done, except for a few funny bugs in the
animations that will happen now and then, but not enough times to become
a bad thing…most of the times they’ll make you laugh :3

The backgrounds are well-done too, even if the textures aren’t anything
of special, but the overall result is quite good, even if a few effects
could have been done better.

The plot, I think, is something that would be quite epic to the tenchu
fans, while others may get a bit not know who a few characters are,
though I’m sure that if you played the first tenchu games you’ll have a
sure hit with this one :3 so, overall the plot is average-good and
Rikimaru’s quotes are just epic X3

Talking about the soundtrack…it’s great…the game will use different
themes based on ancient Japanese music, sometime crossing it with a few
modern instruments…the result is a quite unique soundtrack that fits
very well with the style and the situations of the games…so yeah, gonna
download it myself >:3

So, overall, the game is for people who would like a game that differs
from the latest trend of actiony slash and shoot games. This game needs
thinking, strategy and also a high attention-span, distractions aren’t
forgiven X3

This game will probably be loved by people who like challenges…the
replay value is high given the high rankings you can get and the bonus
stuff and items you can unlock, real ending included

the flaws of the game are, like I said before, the badly programmed
combat system and a few bugs and graphical effects that could have been
worked on a little more.

Tenchu shadow assassins is a fun, addicting stealth game and it will
probably be appreciated by the fans of the genre or the ones who are
intrigued by this kind of games ^^

here are a few screens:


ninjas love bushes :3



one of the cutscenes



pwning incoming >:3



Rikimaru is my fave character X3

here are a couple of videos:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45115.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/42042.html