Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
Decent, but a shadow of the original
Tags: Tenchu 4 Categories: Reviews, Wii Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on May 5th, 2009
While ninja games are a dime a dozen, the Tenchu series has long stood out from other games featuring the iconic sword-swinging, mask and pajama-wearing, star-throwing types by highlighting what they are best known for – stealth. Along with Metal Gear Solid and Thief: The Dark Project, the original Tenchu on the Playstation helped to kick-start the idea of stealth as a genre and central game concept, something that has attracted many imitators (for better or worse). It is fitting then that the return of the game’s original creators, Acquire, marks a return to an emphasis of stealth.
For the series’ first Wii outing, much of the familiar scenery of the Tenchu games has returned – players once again take on the role of the white-haired Rikimaru and femme fatale Ayame in feudal Japan as they embark on missions for their master, Lord Ghoda (missions generally involving the bloody death of his enemies). However, as one might expect for a Wii game, the controls and game design have been changed to befit the platform, which actually works better than you might think, but probably not as well as you’d hope.
At its core, the game is still about moving from cover to cover, snuffing out lights and hiding in shadows until you can get close enough to make a kill. However, almost all of the excess has been cut out. Now, if you’re discovered, you’re kicked back to the beginning of the level, or occasionally given the opportunity to engage in a nifty Wii remote swordfight. However, by and large you won’t be doing much fighting – you’re either scoring one-hit kills, or you’re getting discovered and getting penalized for getting spotted by making you run all the way through the level again. Annoying? You have no idea.
However, the place where the game really fails starts with the removal of an item that has kinda’ become a crux of the series – the grappling hook. While this nifty item has been in the series since the beginning, its absence here means that much of the maneuverability players have had is now gone, and with it is much of the freedom of choice players have in how to approach the games’ obstacles. On occasion you’ll have a fork in the path, but by and large the only real way to take on the obstacles in your way is the way the game’s developers have decided for you. Because of this, Tenchu: Shadow Assassins often feels more like an obstacle course than the game.
The sad thing is that the core mechanics of the game, while not perfect (movement is a bit clunky) work pretty well on the Wii. Sword fighting is almost what everyone hoped for when people first learned about the Wii remote, and the motions the game has you doing to execute stealth kills do a good job of pulling you into the experience… until the artificial linearity of the game design sucks you right out again. As a result, Tenchu: Shadow Assassins is probably best thought of as a good test run for a real Tenchu game on the Wii than an actual game in and of itself.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + Wii controls work pretty well | 6.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Level design far too linear and restrictive - Trial and error gameplay gets old really quickly |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Tenchu: Shadow Assassins is just too restrictive and repetitive to make for a fun game. | |
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Tags: Tenchu 4
Posted by Jake McNeill on May 5th, 2009 and is filed under Reviews, Wii Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
