Tenchu 4 Impressions (thanks to Lyte Edge)
"Not bad, not bad at all. The use of waggle is overall minimal and there are some cool news moves. You can spring up and hide between the corners of walls, or roll out of a hiding spot and stealth kill from the rolling animation. There are several different control set-ups, but all of them make use of the Wiimote and nunchuck combo. With the default set-up, you move around with the analog stick, run with the B button, and perform various actions like stealth kills, picking up bodies and objects, and blowing out candles with the A button. The Z button gives you free control of the camera, highlighting light sources where you might be seen, places you can safely hide unseen, and shows the enemy's field of view. All of the other actions, such as rolling, dashing, and jumping, are done by flicking the Wiimote (or the nunchuck) in different directions. When you go in for a stealth kill, you can also flick the Wiimote in different directions to get different kill animations. Items you find are mapped to the d-pad. This simple set-up works pretty well and the minimal use of Wiimote waggle is appreciated. My only gripe so far is that the fighting system isn't so hot. They changed it into a turn based first-person attack and defend sword duel. You have to use the Wiimote to block (similar to one of the micro-games in Made In Wario) and sometimes the directions to turn the controller seem to appear too quickly. But despite this the game is pretty fun so far. There is more of an emphasis on stealth than before; getting seen 100% means you can either fight (if you have a weapon) or you get one chance to run away as the guard will slash your clothes up. The second time you get caught, if you are weaponless and shirtless, you are dead. The more linear level design helps the stealth mechanics though and the control, even with the waggle, is better than the previous games. It's much easier to hide somewhere and roll or dash to a closer hiding spot. The game feels different than before though, and I think some fans are going to dislike the changes. You don't have as much freedom to go everywhere now, and the grappling hook is gone (at least where I am). Rikimaru is the only playable character in the beginning of the game; hopefully Ayame has some sort of game play differences to set her apart from Rikimaru. If she still uses daggers, I am curious as to how her sword fights play out." "Beat level 2. The final room is an two-floored area FILLED with guards and one samurai in the middle. There are only a few places to hide on the wall where you start and in the middle of the room so it was tricky, but intense...managed to slowly take out every single guard and then caught the samurai when he was drinking. This game is officially awesome, automatically amazing, etc. etc. The situations you are thrust into and then have to figure out, like a stealth-puzzle game, are just great and refreshing since you get a couple of chances if you mess up, and you continue in the same area, not from the beginning of the level. Most fun I've had with my Wii (that will never sound right) this entire year. Only Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is going to beat this in my book." "Finished level 5, which unlocks Ayame for play in levels 6-10. The game's challenge REALLY ramped up during the fifth stage, too. Unfortunately some of it was due to frustrations with the control; there was an area where you simply need to do some running jumps, and it took an alarming number of retries to clear the stage, as I would just step off the cliff or dash forward instead of jumping. Switching to control type C helped IMMENSELY; it maps jump to the C button on the nunchuck, but it was still far more difficult than it should have been. However, this was only one path to the area goal, so in the end I simply went down another route to clear it. Sword fighting has gotten easier, mainly due to the boss fight in level three. After that I was even able to take on three enemies in a row with no problems, although you really do have to get the Wiimote turned PERFECTLY or it will not register as a parry, but a block that takes damage off your sword's break meter. (If it does break, you lose.) The enemies have gotten more difficult. In the beginning of the game, a typical guard isn't going to look for you for very long if you get spotted and run or make a noise. They are fairly dumb and won't check the ceilings either. But the later enemies will do all of this. There are even armored samurai who can hear every sound you make, see you peaking around corners, or catch you hugging a wall in a shadowed area. You have to remain perfectly still in the right spot and jump out to kill them a split second before they find you, or blind them with a smoke bomb if you happen to have one. Other enemies encountered include sentries in watchtowers (with guns) and other ninjas, who will hide in bushes or up in trees and cannot be seen normally (only when you use ninja vision). Level 5 seems to be a repeat of an earlier stage, just backwards. Hopefully not all of her stages are going to be like this, that would be a big disappointment. But I am still enjoying the game quite a bit and that would not be enough to deter me from finishing it. I cannot think of any other stealth games where it has felt this satisfying to clear an area without being seen or take everyone out without being noticed."
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