Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

"Stabbing and Slicing and Cutting"

Ninja games are everywhere. They appear on just about every system since the days of the original Nintendo and even further back depending on where you’re looking. Having started my ninja-killing career with Ninja Gaiden on the Nintendo Entertainment System, I’ve seen them come and go ranging from your standard hack and slash games to first-person shooters where you kill other ninjas with machine guns. However, when I get to Tenchu, I find myself standing a crossroad where some of the best things about ninjas has been put together like a good sandwich; all of the ingredients are layered correctly for a mouth-watering experience.

Wrath of Heaven starts off where the previous Tenchu left off. A time of peace in the feudal lands, a year after the defeat of Lord Mei-Oh and the passing of a brave ninjitsu warrior, Rikimaru. Lord Gohda enjoying the peace and tranquility of these peaceful seasons sends out his bravest minions in the form of the Azuma ninjas. Sent as messengers to distant lands, and enforcers of Gohda’s rule, these tales are of two of Gohda’s most feared and trusted ninjas; Rikimaru and Ayame. Skilled in the art of assassination and of concealment, you must take these two warriors into battle and uphold the rule of Lord Gohda, wherever it may lie.

Tenchu is not your standard game by any means and you’ll find that to be true the minute you start playing. Where the conversions of different games come to life is in the way that you play through the game and the way that you undertake your missions. As a ninja, it is your duty to uphold the various missions that are given to you by Lord Gohda and it is imperative that you do it under the cover of night. Sneaking through the various locations is only one part of your mission where the other is to kill those that get in your way without being detected. Numerous ninja skills and items are at your disposal and the better you become at going undetected, the greater your skills will become.

Throughout the different stages, you’ll have a certain number of goals that you have to complete in order to move onto the next area. You’ll find that there are guards, dogs and other various objects that are constantly in your path to prevent you from attaining your goal. With a little bit of thought and plenty of subversion, your main mission is to go without being detected, killing what you must and disappearing into the shadows without being discovered. Various killing moves can be found by approaching your opponent from several different directions and you can take out your enemies from afar with a wide variety of implements from blowguns to throwing stars.

The computer difficulty is about as hard as you make it, with only a map on your side to really tell you where to go. You’ll be forced to watch your step, as discovery by the enemy happens often if you’re not quiet about your movements and you may have to go into a hand-to-hand battle. For those of you who do manage to sneak up on your enemies, there are a variety of ways that you can kill your opponent, by either stabbing them through the back, or jamming your sword down through their head. You’ll find that the game differs in the way that you can dispatch your enemies depending on who you play, so it is important to play through with both in order to get the full effect of the story.

As you’re sneaking through the stages, you’ll be faced with a meter in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This meter tells you how close you are to a potential enemy and how close they are to you in turn. From time to time, you’ll find that there are different marks in the little gauge, which gives you an indication as to how hot on the trail your enemy is. If you manage to kill your enemy without him seeing you, then you’ll be granted a kanji symbol, which will build up into a special skill that you can use throughout the rest of the stage. When the stages are all said and done, there is a point tally of what you’ve accomplished in either stealth kills or not being seen by the enemy.

Control isn’t as tight as it should be in my own opinion as there are times where you might be sneaking along and hit the wrong direction on the analog button which gives way to a discovery. Battling isn’t all that difficult, with most of the attacks being a simple continuous pressing of the buttons and a directional press of the analog stick. Managing the items can be a bit of a chore and there might be times where you hit the wrong button on accident. I found that some of the sneaking capabilities that the ninjas had were decently controlled, but the speed at which they moved seemed like too much. On par of overall control as compared to other games like it, it’s above average, though the touchy analog could have been address a little more.

Visually appealing, Tenchu is dark and moody with plenty of cover for you to hide in. There are places in some of the locations that require you to use your first person view in order to get a really good drop on whatever might be ahead, above, below or behind you. The camera angles are slick, with change coming slowly when you’re sneaking around a wall to peer down and see what’s around the next corner. My only complaint here is that some of the areas were a little cramped and it was hard to see just where you could move and where you couldn’t, door that opened up without warning to enemies on the other side and the like.

The designs of the stages retain a feudal Japanese feel to them in all aspects with huge compounds and guards that slowly stalk along pre-determined patrol paths. You might find that some of the guards move stiffly and that when you get up close, the images break up just a little bit as if the model itself is blending together. These types of problems come up rarely and are hardly noticeable until later in the game when the enemy seems to fall apart. Death scenes are done with a certain amount of flare to them, really showing off the brutality of what it is that you’re doing. One problem that I had with this was that there wasn’t nearly enough blood, especially with some of the move vicious kills.

The sound is pleasing to the ear, but really stays off in the background for the most part to give you little to listen to in the way of music. You’ll find that there is plenty of sound effects though and it is important to keep your ears open when you’re sneaking around in the dark. Guards can be found quite easily by the way that they talk and the background noises that come through the speakers really immerse you in a dark and secretive world when your only friend is your hearing. Voice effects tell some of the story and give it a little depth, but these instances are few and far between to really make an impact other than to tell you when something is about to happen or when you’re starting a new stage.

Wrath of Heaven isn’t a bad game and if you’re looking for something that will consume you in hours of game play and sneaking around, then this is the ticket for you. For those who like the games that require you to think around corners instead of rush headlong into the fray with swords swinging, you’ll really enjoy this title for the strategy that it has. Gamers who are looking for something that is simple button mashing and killing need not apply here, because the only way to be successful, is to be quiet about what you’re doing and to disappear into the shadows without a trace.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/03, Updated 03/17/03