Tenchu: Stealth Assassins | Review

I really enjoy stealth games, Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourite game series of all time and Hitman: Blood Money is up there in my favourite games too. Unfortunately in the grand scheme of things, there aren't that many pure stealth games, and good ones are even harder to come by.

I've been looking for a new one sink my teeth into and came across a series called Tenchu. I already have some pre-existing knowledge of the Tenchu series having played Tenchu Z on the Xbox 360 and I remember it being relatively good although somewhat forgettable. But after sending Tenchu Z to the back of my mind, I decided to go back to where the series started on the PlayStation and see if the Tenchu series is something I've been missing out on, or if it's just another game to throw onto the mediocre pile.

For those that don't know anything about the Tenchu series, it's a third person stealth game set in feudal Japan. This is an era in which ninjas and samurai existed and you play the role of one of these ninjas. You're given tasks by a man called Lord Gohda who is the master of your clan.

The beginning cutscene is rather vague, but from what I can gather it's about a child (or children) whose parents are killed and are taken in by a ninja clan and trained in their ways. We then flash forward where we see an adult ninja, who has supposedly just passed the test to enable him/her to go on actual missions. This ninja is the player character and is called either Rikimaru or Ayame depending on if you choose to play as the male or female character respectively.

To be honest it's a little bit difficult to work out what's going on in this cutscene, but I suppose it's not particularly important.

After a few missions you eventually come across a mysterious ninja (named Onikage) who states he wants to kill Lord Gohda and challenges you to become stronger so you're a more worthy foe (typical nonsensical plot device 101). After a few more missions you learn of a special stone that has the power to alter bodies and control minds. A cult have started planning on using the stone to amass an army of zombie-like people and you are sent to steal back the stone before they can do so. This is where the game's main story comes in, it's quite a break from what you've been doing so far because until now you've just been fighting normal people. Although it's somewhat random that suddenly this supernatural stone exists, it makes a nice change of pace from killing normal human enemies. Upon defeating the boss holding the stone, Onikage (the mysterious ninja from earlier) appears and attacks you. Before killing him, he gets away implying that he was holding back during your fight.

After this, you repel some foreign pirates and learn of a powerful herb that can heal a princess who cannot be treated using conventional methods (you later learn that this princess is Lord Gohda's daughter). Unfortunately this herb is at the top of a mountain being guarded by demons. This is where I got the feeling the story was getting slightly off track. The pirates aren't ever really expanded on, only being in the game for one mission and this princess who is ill, isn't mentioned until now. Apparently demons also exist in this universe which is another thing that hasn't been mentioned at all until this point. I could accept the magic stone from earlier that turned people into zombies because that was the first supernatural aspect of the game and I figured it was going to be expanded on, but now it's getting to the point where things are being introduced randomly that have little to no context.

If Mario was a ninja I'm pretty sure his games would basically be Tenchu.

You come to the conclusion that Onikage (the mysterious ninja who you keep running into) is one of these demons that have recently been introduced into the game and may be behind all of the events that have taken place over the last few missions. You head to the demon's castle and fight him once again and this time finish the fight, he dies but his body vanishes before you can make sure he's actually dead.

Upon killing him you learn that while you were away from home the princess (who you healed earlier) has been kidnapped by the real boss of the demons (named Mei-Oh) and she has been taken to a huge fortress. You then set out to rescue her and once again come across Onikage. You fight him but this time kill him for good. You then continue into the fortress where the princess is being held and face Mei-Oh. Upon defeating him you rescue the princess and the cave you're in collapses around you. A bolder blocks your path and you sacrifice yourself to save the princess.

My main problem with the story is that it hardly expands on any plot details at all. The foreign pirates just randomly appear and are in one mission, the demons are randomly introduced with hardly any explanation and the last boss appears fairly randomly too. It's not exactly a bad story, it just could have been expanded on a lot more.

As well as human enemies, you'll find yourself pitted against animals too.

So that's the story but how is the gameplay? Well, before you start playing an actual mission you have the option of choosing whether to play as the male or female ninja. The male character has a katana while the female character has two small knives. The katana hits slower but does more damage while the knives hit fast and have a longer combo attack but don't hit quite as hard. As well as combat differences the enemy placements within levels and dialogue spoken in cutscenes is slightly different, adding a bit of replay value.

You then have the option of taking various items with you. These items range from simple health bottles to more advanced items like a fire breathing scroll used for combat. This lets you somewhat customise your experience and change your play style. If you think you're going to go into a mission with a more combat orientated style, you will want the health bottles and protection amulet (which temporarily boosts offense and defense), if you want to take out your enemies from afar you will want the Crimson Blades (throwing knives) and/or grenades, or if you want an extra challenge, you have the option of taking no items with you. You're stopped from taking too many items because you can only hold a certain amount, and once you've used those items (unless you pick them back up) they're gone. In order to restock your items you need to complete more missions. This makes you conserve your items and only use them when it's necessary. You can gain access to better items by getting the best rank in each level.

I'm glad that rather than just being the same game with both characters, certain aspects actually change depending on which character you are. They also both have their unique personalities which changes some dialogue (and changes a boss encounter) in the cutscenes.

After you've set up your character and items, a short cutscene will play, giving you details as to what your mission is and why you're doing it. After this brief bit of preparation, you are thrown into the game. It's a similar structure to that used in the Hitman games, you select your equipment, you're given a task and then you enter the level.

Levels are structured as small open areas, not being too big to be frustrating and too time consuming, but also not being too small to prevent you from giving you the freedom of how to approach the task. Speaking of freedom, the freedom in this game is unmatched by any other PlayStation game I've ever played. Because of the moves you can perform and the items you can use, you can easily adapt to different situations and choose to either play the game stealthily or run in for a more combat heavy experience, you can choose to fight when spotted or to run away and hide until the enemies are not alerted. It's very open ended and extremely impressive for a game on the PlayStation. The level of freedom surpasses even Metal Gear Solid, which I really didn't expect from a game I hadn't really ever had interest in until this point.

At the end of each level you're given a rank, this changes depending on how many times you've been spotted and what sort of kills you've done (stealth kills or combat kills). So even though you can be a more combat orientated player, there is always more of an emphasis on playing stealthily. This also gives the game more replay value because you're going to want to get the best rank in every mission if you're a completionist. There is a level select menu which displays your best rank, so this is easy to keep track of. As I mentioned before, getting the best rank in a level will also gain you access to more advanced items, so getting the top rank isn't just for bragging rights.

As a general rule you're going to want to take the health item with you just in case an enemy combos you and drastically takes down your health.

The way the stealth works in the game is actually very good. On the bottom left of the screen will be an indicator, this tells you how far away from an enemy you are, if the number is low, you're far away, but if it's high you're getting closer to them. This indicator also tells you when guards are suspicious or are looking for you, or have spotted you and your position has been compromised. This is good because it never feels like you've been spotted cheaply, you always know when there's an enemy nearby, so if you get caught it's your fault as the player.

One minor criticism I have of the game is that it isn't possible to quit out of a mission once you've started it. This means that if you're spotted while trying to go for a full stealth run, you have to die in order to start the mission again. There's also no checkpoints in any levels, so if you die, you're going back to the start. This is only frustrating in two missions which involve two boss fights, it gets irritating having to beat a boss and do an entire level before being able to attempt the second boss again. Plus the last boss in the game is actually quite difficult and dying repeatedly can be very annoying.

Where's the quit option dammit!?

Another thing that's slightly annoying is that you can't pick up and move dead bodies, this doesn't really get in the way much at all, but if a guard spots a dead body they will run over to it which can result in getting spotted if you aren't expecting it. On the other hand you can also set up a trap by leading a guard to a dead body, but this would be a lot more satisfying if you could move the bodies where you wanted.

There are quite a lot of bosses in the game, all of which are fairly easy apart from the last boss. Although each boss character looks different and uses a different weapon, the same techniques you use to defeat normal enemies will work on them making them all a bit anti climactic. The last boss however forces you to create a more complicated strategy, you need to keep dodging and distancing yourself from him making it quite a tense fight.

The game isn't very long at all, only featuring ten levels. You'll easily be able to complete it in one sitting if you choose to, but this isn't a bad thing as it does have a lot of replay value because of its multiple characters and ranking system. This is a game you're going to want to play multiple times anyway just because it's fun, so even if it had no ranking system and no multiple characters I still don't think I would mind it being short.

Tenchu's controls are very slightly reminiscent of Tomb Raider but with a lot of unique elements. You you can perform a 180 degree quick turn move by pressing R1 (or circle) and then pressing the cross button (a move which in Tomb Raider was simply the circle button), you can go into a free aim mode by pressing L1 (which is exactly the same as Tomb Raider) and as far as the similarities go that's about it. Tenchu definitely has a unique control scheme but it's a very good one too.

Also, like Tomb Raider, this game features bear death.

You move with the D-pad (as would be expected), jump with the cross button, attack with the square button (this button also performs stealth kills if you're undetected and in close proximity to an enemy), use items with triangle and enter a stealth mode with circle (R1 also enters stealth mode and I actually find this more comfortable than pressing circle). R2 and L2 switch between your items which happens instantly and there are icons at the bottoms of the screen so you know which button you need to press to get to which item.

Where the game gets slightly complicated is how it's controls change based on what combination of buttons you're pressing. I suppose in a way the combat works similarly to Super Smash Bros. (probably an odd comparison to make), by this I mean that if you press left and attack, you'll do a different move to if you press attack on it's own or if you press right and attack, just like how in Super Smash Bros. you'll do a different attack depending on which direction you are pressing when pressing the attack button.

While in combat you can hold down on the D-pad and it will block, tapping up on the D-pad will make you dash forward, and during this dash you can press the attack button to perform a stabbing attack. You'll find yourself using the quick turn move a lot differently in combat because while being stealthy you use it to check behind you or to turn and run in the opposite direction if you're about to be compromised, but in combat you can use it to roll behind your enemy and catch them off guard. It's little things like this that make the game feel so satisfying to play, because you can use all of your moves in different contexts and when it's pulled off you feel like you've developed your own way of fighting your enemies.

The combat in the game actually reminded me of Dark Souls sometimes, because of the way you learn enemy patterns and use that knowledge to attack when they are vulnerable. You also have to play quite defensively and only risk attacking when you aren't vulnerable.

One of the most important moves you'll be using is stealth mode, this makes you get down low so you're not as easily spotted, but it also changes some of the standard controls too. The attack button while in this mode will perform an uppercut attack that deals a lot of damage, but I have to say it is a little bit useless considering you probably won't enter stealth mode when in combat and if you're undetected you can do a standard stealth kill anyway (which is a one hit kill move), but it's nice that it's there I suppose. If you dash while in stealth mode (by double tapping any direction on the D-pad) you'll perform a roll, which enables you to move quickly while also being stealthy. Pressing R1 or circle near cover (like a wall or a tree) will make you press yourself against it, letting you look around corners and remain hard to detect (this is something people who have played Metal Gear Solid will be familiar with).

Plus it looks awesome to press yourself up against a wall and then flip out and stealth kill someone.

Although it probably all sounds quite complicated written down like this, once you get the hang of it you'll find the controls very easy to use and actually very responsive. For a game that has quite a different control scheme to most games you would probably expect it to feel a bit clunky, but it all feels natural and is implemented into the game really well. There are some moves I haven't touched on like wall flipping and jumping attacks but with some experimentation you can figure that out by playing it. My one minor criticism of the controls is that when you are sneaking, if you get too close to a wall you will automatically stand up and press yourself against it, which doesn't happen too much but it is very slightly annoying.

The camera is very good for the most part. It tends to stay behind your character and when you turn using the left and right buttons on the D-pad, the camera will follow you. There's also some degree of control of the camera through the use of the L1 button which enables you to freely look around while your character stand still. This is essential for scouting areas because you're going to want to keep your eye on patrol routes.

It is a slight shame that you can't fully control the camera 360 degrees around you, but the game was clearly developed with the original PlayStation controller in mind, which didn't have analogue sticks. There's nothing the developers could have done about this either because all of the buttons on the controller are used for something due to the complexity of the controls. Having said all of that, the camera is by no means bad, in fact I would say it's very very good, especially for a game that doesn't give you full control over it.

These things are weird. They sometimes walk around playing an air guitar. Creepy.

This was a fairly late era PlayStation game so as would be expected the graphics are quite good, especially for the time. The art style is going for a realistic look which means that the graphics have dated a lot more than a vibrant game like Crash Bandicoot, but it's still very playable and you can always tell what's happening on screen. The cutscenes are mostly rendered in game (very similar to Metal Gear Solid) so they look pixelly and the animation is quite primitive by today's standards, but it gets the job done and you can always tell what's going on. Plus because most of the cutscenes are rendered in-game there isn't a contrast between the cutscene graphics and the in game graphics which can be a little bit jarring in other games.

There's a good amount of variety in terms of level design from a visual point of view. You'll visit several areas, from small villages to forests to mountains, all of which look distinctly different. As well as the different areas there is sometimes different weather in these areas too, for example in the forth level you are in a snowy city. All these different themes stop the game from looking too repetitive and boring.

I love how the game is obviously inspired by Japanese martial arts films, you can dismember limbs, slit throats and just generally stab people which is all made more satisfying by the exaggerated blood sprays and pools of blood as the limbs fly off and the enemies collapse to the floor.

Why is slitting people's throats in games so satisfying? In this and Metal Gear Solid 3 it just feels good to pull off. Or do I just have problems?

My main criticism of the graphics, and the game as a whole actually, is the draw distance being so bad. What this means is that you can't see very far in front of you and this makes it somewhat difficult to navigate your way around without getting spotted, because often you can't see where an enemy is before you run into them. This is somewhat helped by the proximity indicator I talked about earlier, the enemies also being quite short sighted and the fact that you should be moving at quite a slow pace anyway with it having an emphasis on stealth, but being able to see into the distance would have made the game so much better, you would have been able to scout the areas properly and keep track of enemies much more efficiently. However, the reason for this issue is obviously because of hardware limitation so I can't complain too much (although I don't recall Spyro the Dragon or Tomb Raider having this issue and they also featured open areas in full 3D and were much longer games too).

The music in the game is really good, every level has it's own song and each one reflects the atmosphere of the environment and mission very well. I do feel some of the time that the boss music sometimes falls a bit flat in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, but there's not a bad song in the game.

All the music is appropriately oriental and fits with the theme of feudal Japan. It ranges from being quiet and tense, to more upbeat depending on the mission. There's no alert music which is slightly disappointing because a more upbeat version of the songs for when you're spotted would have not only made the combat more satisfying but also been more of an indicator for when you've been compromised.

The grappling hook is really fun to use and offers lots of tactical options to maneuver and attack from a height.

The sound effects in the game are good and are in-keeping of the Japanese martial arts vibe. The sword clashes and blood sound effects are all exaggerated but not overbearing and too over the top. Guards tend to yell “Hey!” when they think they've seen something which can get a little bit repetitive (they should have recorded more lines other than “Hey!”) but it's a good indication of when you're about to be spotted. Generally there's quite a minimal soundscape but that fits with the stealth aspect, you're trying to be quiet so it makes sense that your attention is focused on the important noises. Plus the music never lets the game feel empty or boring.

The worst thing about the sound design is the voice acting. You could make an argument that it's bad on purpose because it's supposed to be a dub of a martial arts film (which are notoriously bad), but personally I do find it a bit awkward and it takes you out of the experience slightly. The delivery of some lines in-particular is very strange, it's almost like they were reading the script word by word rather than as a full sentence. However, there isn't that much dialogue in the game so this is forgivable.

The best rank is 'Grand Master' which will unlock extra items for you to take into missions.

I have to say, I'm extremely impressed with Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, I wasn't at all expecting such a well constructed game when I first played it and now I'm hooked. I'm definitely going to check out some of the others in the series I've missed. I'm honestly surprised I had never played this game before, it's very very good and I would recommend it to anyone who likes stealth games.

Although the story is a bit random, the draw distance is quite bad and the voice acting is awkward, almost everything else about the game is great. The graphics, music and gameplay make this game a joy to play. In some ways it even does stealth better than Metal Gear Solid, which is definitely a feat. It's a shame it isn't generally more highly regarded, because I definitely hold it in high regard myself.

7/10

Pros

- Complicated but satisfying move set, you can rely on basic moves but learning and mastering the advanced techniques is not only helpful but looks awesome when you pull them off.

- You feel like a ninja, you can flip off walls, use a grappling hook to traverse rooftops, perform stealth kills and much more.

- Good mission variety, from simple assassination missions to delivery missions, rescue missions and more.

- Visual variety with level themes, from forests, to small villages and mountains.

- Replay value is high with the ranking system, variety of play styles and two playable characters.

- Stealth gameplay is satisfying, challenging and fun.

- Music is great and fits the theme of each level.

Cons

- Draw distance is bad and is easily the worst thing about the game.

- You can't quit or re-try a mission from the pause menu.

- No alert music and a little bit lacking for the boss music.

- Lack of checkpoints, which is especially a problem in the final level.
- Random plot elements introduced and not expanded on.

- You can't move dead bodies.