Good, but only if your a fan.
Tenchu Z starts off like all the rest of the Tenchu games in the franchise, showing a fairly catchy opening cut-scene,from there plummetting down into a more clumsy everything.You begin with a character creation screen that is deep enough and then pick attributes and a partner.Your partner, however, really does nothing.He/She just appears in cut-scenes and dissappears.This is the first dissappointment in store, as you would start to think a partner could aid you in stealth kills and battles.
After the character creation you get thrown into a tutorial which actually does an o.k job of showing you the controls.Kill a few baddies, jump over a few ledges, and then comes the first level.You pop out of a trap door in the ground with a greeting and rating from Rikimaru.Whom acts soley as a teacher this time around.
Once you get into the first level you'll realize that this is the best looking tenchu ever, but that's not saying much considering it looks almost like the Xbox version Return From Darkness.Still though it isn't too ugly.It also has 50 levels, but there are really only about twelve that just repeat over and over with different looking enemies.The bosses are even most of the time in the same place the last one was on these levels.Repetitve much.
This is where the gameplay could've saved grace, but once again dissapointment looms right around the corner.Stealth kills are still awesome, there just isn't enough variety in them.You really would've thought it would have at least as many as a years old PS2 game.The combat is also clunky and though you get to buy new skills and moves after every few missions they aren't really that different from eachother and some of the strongest ones don't even do much damage.It also does'nt help that the enemy A.I is'nt even as smart as past games, which was terrible to begin with.They can lose track of you in seconds and will see dead bodies only to forget about them within seconds as well.
Xbox live is where those who do get this game will be.It gets you out of the horror of the astoundingly dumb enemy A.I and lets you play with buddies.Sneaking up on enemies with a friend or two is extremely satisfying.I just wish that when one was spotted it didn't keep all players from executing stealth kills.Imagine how much better it would have been to have a buddy get spotted and then drop down on his assailant running your katana through him.Too bad if they are seen so are you even if your a mile away in a bush.
Tenchu Z was full of promise and although it does some welcome things with the franchise, it really needs an overhaul.Ragdoll physics, better story,complex combat,better A.I,and a full list of others.That said if you are a fan of tenchu, this is the best one yet.These players will get the most fun out of this game.Just don't expect a new experience.