I have played all the Tenchu games for PS and PS2. I'm obviously a really big fan of the Tenchu series. None of the Tenchu games have been as good as the first, but I love the sneaking around, story lines (most of them) and different kill moves in all the games. I always look forward to the next Tenchu game. When I saw that there was a Tenchu game for the Wii I was ecspecially excited. I briefly played the James Bond game on Wii and the little time I had with it gave me great expectations for Tenchu, thinking that the movability would be so much better than in the past. However I have been terribly dissapointed with the game. The movability is actually worse!
Cons:
~The controls are very clumsy. It is difficult to look around while moving. Impossible to turn on the spot (which you need since you are frequently on narrow beams over an enemy). While trying to turn to the side you also move forward or backward and therefore you will fall off the narrow ceiling beams.
~When you move in to kill an enemy you have to do a specific move chosen by the game (lack of freedom to choose your kill). You have to use the Wii remote to perform this specific move and there are animated instructions at the bottom of the screen for every kill. One particular move shows you pushing the remote forward as if you were stabbing the guy in the stomache, however if you try to move the remote the way the animation shows you to you will fail in your kill and be instantly sent back to the beggining. With this particular move I have found that snapping your wrist up and down works best.
~The animations are at the bottom of the screen for everything you need to do, it gets very annoying, I feel like the whole game is one big tutorial.
~Fighting with swords is impossibly hard. Again you have the animation at the bottom of the screen, however here you are not told what to do until it is almost too late.
This Tenchu has left out a lot of the good things from the original series.
~Mostly I miss my grapling hook, which was a staple through all the other Tenchus. Your grappling hook pulled you up to roofs and other high places. I am still stunned that they took it away.
~I also miss the jumping from roof to roof, not much of that in this game.
~Though Ayame is in this game, she does not seem the same person at all and therefore I miss her as well (My fav charachter through all Tenchus).
~Rolling was a great way to stealthily move through levels in previous Tenchus, there is no way to roll in this game.
~Lastly you are very limited on the number of items you can carry and even the number you can store for using on other levels. Items are always a big part of the whole Tenchu experience. I always loved luring a stupid guard with some poison rice... no poison rice in this game :(
Pros:
~Night Vision. This is awesome. With your night vision the areas you can hide in are a smokey blue color and the people in the game stand out in bright red. Not only do the people stand out but their line of sight as well. With this you are able to tell if the person around the corner is looking in your direction.
~Straffing. A quick movement from one bush to another. This is a good idea and pretty cool when it works right, however half the time you don't straff at all, instead you take one step and the other half the time you straff in the opposite direction. So not really a pro but could be if done right. Again you have to bee precise with your movement, I guess.
In closing I do not reccomend this game to anyone who has played any other Tenchu, you will be let down. The game doesn't even feel like it was made by the same creators. Actually I do not recommend it to anyone.
Buy Tenchu: Shadow Assassins!
Posts
