If you work on it, or if you simply loved the formula of tenchu games, this title won't disapoint you
The Bad : Mission objectives are just a reason to kill some dudes and dudettes. Repetitive in its own right. Somewhat stiff animations.
Tenchu isn't a game that offers itself on a silver plate to you. You won't be able to enjoy it unless you know what you're getting into, and is ready to work for it. But if you played the first games and enjoyed the formula of forgiving AI and free styled kills, you'll definitly love this little gem.
Gameplay : Tenchu's gameplay is simple, but extremely deep. You have to stalk and kill. The AI is extremely forgiving, for if you are discovered, just hide for a couple of seconds to retry your goal. More realistic behavior are also part of the AI, where you can pop out of no-where and stealth kill a guy in his face during the second of surprise he'll take to realise you're attacking him. You can hack and slash your way in, but chances are you won't, for the sheer joy of being Ninja-esque. There is ton's of cool ways to your get to your objectives, tons of items from blinding powder to poisonous rice balls , shurikens and blowing darts, etc, etc. You have some pretty nifty skills, like hanging from the ceilling and lifting an unaware enemy up to you to stab him against it. Yeah, you heard right.
There's also too many items in this game. Too many items in this game might sound bad, but in a sense it is not. In the begining you'll find them quite useful, until you can get the ability hide yourself with a piece of chameleon cloth, or drag yourself to the ceilling. Then you'll be able to equip other items that will provide some other ways to sneak yourself in.
Graphics : Tenchu's graphics aren' t the best ones on the system, but to say they're old gen, it is meaning you don't have the eye for detail. The game deals with textures pretty well, the scenary of the level is great, you'll notice tons of details there and there, the faces looks convincing althought lips doesn't move in cutscenes , for its best they don't happen too often. Sound : The music fits the japanese era pretty well, everything is in japanese dubbed to english, wish gets a couple of hours to get used to , but once it's done, you'll be satisfied with it. There's a lot of cool '' woosh'' and '' cling '' sound effects.
Features : The game has ton of stuff in it. You'll unlock tons of gear parts, items, skills, combat moves and such during your progress. The harder the difficulty is, the faster you'll unlock stuff. Even after 15hours clocked in the game, you'll still have plenty of things to unlock to keep the game fresh.
Value : The game is extremely long, but also repetitive. Although if repetitiveness of this game doesn't tire you ( killing, killing and killing ) , you'll find here a good 15 hours of gameplay if you manage to beat all the missions on one difficulty level and around 30 to 40 if you decide to play them again with different guard layers ( when you crank up the difficulty, guards are placed differently and react faster ).