And now I introduce to you the seven following categories that I will rate from 1-to-10, a 1 representing the lowest bowels of hell and 10 representing the most divine light of the heavens. These categories range as follows:
Gameplay
Storyline
Graphics
Sound
Value
Multiplayer (if applicable)
Bonus (in case I feel it incorporates something that just doesn't fit in with the above categories)
So, with that out of the way, I feel it best for us to move on and discover what I found in the cruel underworld of assassins and greedy merchants in the depths of feudal-era Japan. Don't let me hold you up, though -- we've got some ninja'ing to discuss!
My small stab at fiction sums up the game pretty well. To start off, you have the tutorial. Fair enough. You follow it through and learn how to roll, shoot your grappling hook, how to survive melee combat, and, most importantly, how to perform silent kills, or "SKs" for short, possibly your most important skill in the entire game. The silent kill requires you to sneak up behind an enemy (there are many possibilities -- behind, crouched behind, either side, from the front [if you're lucky enough], whilst hanging from a ledge, death from above [a personal favorite of mine], and many more) and execute your attack without alerting your enemy. Sometimes this is harder than it really sounds and sometimes it's a lot easier. Most of the time, it's just the luck of the draw.
After the tutorial, you are then brought to a main village where you have two buildings to choose from between every mission you embark on -- one building houses your fellow ninja whom you talk to in order to start on your next mission, the other a safehouse for you to equip and purchase skills, abilities, items, and clothing with the gold you earn from successfully completing missions. The more gold you earn, the more you can buy. But, in order to earn gold the most efficiently, you need to play on a harder difficulty and, most definitely, earn a "Ninja 5" ranking. A "Ninja 5" ranking is the highest ranking in a series of 5 that you can receive depending on how many guards you've stealthily killed, how many alerts you've set off, and, in total, your points from that mission.
There are over 50 missions to choose from, but most of them seem monotonous once you actually get into playing the game as a whole. Many textures are used over and over again, making the environment seem so abysmally bland ... but I'll discuss more of that in the graphics section of this review. Each of these missions, in turn, have a certain type of objective -- assassinate the boss, capture all the bombs, eliminate all enemies, speak to the informant, et cetera. Since most of the maps are used repeatedly with only minor guard-path variations, it seems more like a repeat of a previous type than anything innovative.
The artificial intelligence is the only thing that had me writhing on the ground with a heart attack while dually laughing at its stupidity. Sometimes you get a mixed bag with that AI -- their vision can be so limited that you're clearly sticking out of the bushes just in front of them, yet they still can't locate you. Set off an alarm? No problem! Run around the side of the building and, three-quarters of the time, the guard won't even think to look there! 'Think you're safe hiding atop that tall wall? Not so fast! Some of the guards have such enhanced perceptions that they can spot you even, you guessed it, way up there!
In theory, everything sounds well and good, but it's just not varied enough. Sure, there are 50 missions to play through, but the storyline, graphics, and all-around gameplay are too weak to actually make any of the 50 missions useful. If you can wrap your head around the concept of being a ninja, I'm sure you can have a lot of fun with this (as I did,) but there doesn't seem to be enough variation for the moderately-entranced gamers to mess around with. Because of it's great design but flawed execution, I'll have to give the gameplay portion of Tenchu Z a 7 out of 10.
The basic storyline is that you're a ninja trying to defend your region from these smugglers threatening to destroy it. Not such a bad storyline, actually. Nothing drastic, but acceptable. The only issue is that there are no twists, no anything -- just 50 missions-worth of "kill this, collect that, and restore order to your region." For actually having a storyline this game gets some merit, but it's not tied together well enough to actually qualify as one that is worthy enough to note. Problem is, you can play Tenchu without even knowing the storyline. This makes it quite accessible, but is also its own potential downfall. Tenchu Z receives another 7 out of 10 in the storyline department.
Animations are okay, but clipping is far too bad. Did you flip a body near a building as you were performing your SK? Oh, his leg's halfway through the wall, you say?
And that's not all. In addition to the poly count, all around this game has the graphics-intensity of a late-generation original XBOX game. The only reason I even stopped to ask whether this was for the XBOX 360 or not was its pre-rendered cutscenes, not in-engine ones. How can you tell, you say? Well, if it isn't obvious enough already, the pre-rendered ones are beautiful; the in-engine ones are not. Period. In the visuals department, I give Tenchu Z a 5 out of 10. Hey, at least it tried.
... oh, the screaming! That reminds me! Did I fail to mention as of yet that no part of the game is in English? The entire game is in Japanese with English subtitles. That's right -- haven't seen one of those in awhile, have you? This didn't really bother me much, since I'm such the cultural fanatic that I'm usually watching / playing something in another language that requires subtitles to begin with. In my opinion? It's no big deal. If anything, it adds to the authentic fedual-era Japanese environment. In the sound department, I've gotta give Tenchu Z its well-deserved 9 out of 10. Bravo, bravo!!
1) Does he have such a bad connection that he lags not only himself, but you as well?
2) Does he steal your kills?
3) Is your partner never around to help you until you've had to deal with the problem yourself?
4) Does he not know the value of SKs? Does he prefer straight-up action instead?
Don't get my wrong, because multiplayer's pretty fun. You've just got to get a good partner is all. In the multiplayer department, I give Tenchu an 8 out of 10.
Do you know what this game has?
Do you?
Pirates.
That's right. You're a ninja. That gets to kill freakin' pirates!
How wicked is that, right?
On that alone, I'm giving it a 10 out of 10. =P
And that's all I have for now!
I'll see ya out there, you ninjas, you!
... swish-swish, sucka!
--Reaper