Tell me, whom among you has not atleast once thought about being a stealthy ninja, trained in the arts of assassination?
Who hasn?ft dreamed of being able to kill without being seen, without being heard, without being known? Everyone has. And it has always been the Tenchu series that has brought that ability out among us. Activision has once more brought out the ninja in all of us in this lovely little game.
GAMEPLAY
The game is easy to get into, but difficult to truly master. Beginners will spend the first few levels trying to get a stealth kill and suddenly feeling so much better when they do. That is how I felt. You have most of the abilities of a true ninja, including the ever useful grappling hook, the crouching tip-toe along and even the grand slide along the wall ability. So much stealth packed into one game, who needs Metal Gear Solid? When your abilities as a an unseen see all ninja fail, you can resort to less subtle measures like the bow (complete with possible flaming, exploding arrows), the shuriken, the grenade, and the poisoned rice. This game has it all when it comes to gameplay. The only true glaring flaw I found, and its not that bad at all, is the straightforward fighting is a bit slow. If you mess up, you can get hurt real bad. But that is minor and can easily be ignored or overstepped with some skill.
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game aren?ft astonishing, they aren?ft badass and they aren?ft groundbreaking. But, when you figure into the equation the large levels, the 3 different ways to play each level, the 3 different story modes, the multiplayer mode, its all easy to understand. It is a large game. You can?ft expect truly magnificent graphics in a game that has so much. But still, the graphics are not horrible. They are good for the size of the game and you won?ft experience any slowdown unless you have the slow-mo stealth kills turned on. Then it?fs expected, of course. The graphics are not astonishing, but they get the job done well. You won?ft be disappointed.
SOUND
The sound in this game is good. When I say good, I mean like you would expect things to sound. Water splashes when you walk through it, you can baredly hear your stealthy footfalls as you sneak up behind your next victim and you hear the conversation going between two of the soon to be dead enemy ninja?fs. It makes you get into the game more. You find yourself listening as you play, trying to figure out if that is merely the wind or someone walking along the other side of the wall. You will find yourself wincing as you stride across the rooftops, hoping that you are the only one that sounds loud to. Congratulations Activision, this game sounds great.
REPLAY
Replay? It has its share of it, from the 3 ways to go through each level, the 3 story modes, the versus mode, the score system (You just have to get the highest score possible! Grand Master, anyone?), the unlockable people in versus, and the co-op mode in multiplayer, this game has plenty of stuff to keep you busy. As you progress through the game, you unlock more characters and levels in multiplayer. At the start out, you have Rikamaru and Ayame. As you progress, you unlock many people. Like the creepy chibot! Who doesn?ft love a tiny little grenade-spewing robot? Not me, for one?c. but that is beside the point. Let me just say this game will keep you busy.
OVERALL
Overall? This is a great game and I am glad I played it. I will never truly get over being the closet ninja, and that may just make me buy this game. If you are a gaming guru, it?fs a twice rental. If you are a slower gamer, then go all out and buy it. Nothing is more fun than killing your friends ninja-style?c except killing them grenade-spewing robot style?c (shudder). Of course, when you are lacking friends, just going from level to level and killing everyone without being seen does have its amusing perks too.
President & CEO
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