Tenchu: Fatal Shadows

"Use the shadows to your advantage?"

Tenchu is a stealth-action game... like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, where you don't want to be spotted by the enemy. Unlike Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, the Tenchu franchise takes you back to feudal Japan, playing as a ninja. Not the Shinobi cool, running on wall ninja, but the silent and patient one...

Story: 5/10
This game takes place after Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and before Wrath of Heaven. The story is totally different and made up... like how usual sequels are. That made up storyline is cliche, heavily. Ayame is tempted...? to seek out a village that needs help. She finds that village and it's burned down and raided by ninjas. She goes to find the person behind it. However, when she does find the one behind it, another ninja finds the burned village and accuses Ayame of leading the raid.

Ayame spares the ninja attacker, Rin, and runs off. Rin wants revenge for her village, planning to kill whoever lead the attack.

I've seen this story many times. Onimusha 2 has this same story, wanting revenge for the village. So... how's Ayame involved? Accidentally. Ayame helps Rin secretly. If you want a reason, play Tenchu 2 for the PSX.

Appearances: 7/10
Not an "OMG" stunning visual look. It's not that bad either. It's decent. It's not bad or good. It's the typical look for a PS2 title. There is however, a different setting and the setting is totally different from the other Tenchu games.

Sound: 7/10
It's not bad. The voice acting is okay... not that great though. The enemies voices, there aren't much. Just a lot of grunting and small phrases. The soundtrack, some of its annoying while some of it matches the setting greatly. The sound for the slashing and blocking, some are taken from WoH and some are new. Nothing else to say.

Main Characters: 8/10
They're girls, girls! That's it. Apparently there are no male ninjas available to play. Rin acts just like Ayame back in Tenchu 2, bratty and annoying. Ayame still acts the same as in WoH. Non bratty and smart.

Enemies: 8/10
Some of them are just plain stupid. Some are just way too smart. Some are just way too lucky. For example, the AI. It is realistic, seriously, on hard mode. Too realistic, kind of like superhuman. Apparently, when you engage fighting them, they always seem to block your attack... unless they attack and you attack while they're attacking. They also seem to block off your throw which makes throwing totally useless. When they gang up on you, you're kind of dead without any items.

Items: 9/10
Some new useless items, some old items, some limited items. There are certain items only for Ayame and certain items only for Rin. They are in different clans so that makes sense. The items they added are somewhat useless like claws. They allow you to climb walls. Ninjas don't need to climb walls! It's called a grappling hook. There are some icons that don't seem to match the item. One time I picked up an item and it only has an icon. I was like "WTF is this?"

Missions: 8/10
It's interesting that they added 2 different missions depending on what you do. But sometimes, whatever you do doesn't seem likely that would be the effect. For example, after the first mission, you have two other missions. You can only get one or the other or you can play the old map again to unlock the other one you didn't unlock. Confusing?

Before each mission, you are granted to a theatre type of cutscene. It basically narrates to you why the hell you are on the mission. This is better than WoH, where it was just a still background with text scrolling up. However, the cutscenes are the same thing OVER and OVER. They show the same screens for every single cutscene.

At the end of a mission, you are given a kind of a preview of what the next mission is about. This shows what mission you are doing next so it depends on what you do.

Gameplay: 8/10
Finally, gameplay. There are multiple ways to actually play each map, but only one route. Ninjas can kill instantly in one press of a button, which sounds cheap but it isn't. Ayame and Rin have different "stealth" kills from a lot of angles, like jumping, behind, slanted, front, left, and right. In order to perform these stealth kills. The enemy, whether the victim you're getting or not, mustn't spot you. If you do, you'll go into combat and cannot kill in one hit.

Fighting, as in without actually stealth killing, is VERY difficult. All the controls feel clunky when trying to fight bosses. The controls make sense but are in the wrong spot. Block is O, meaning you have to let go of the R2 and X button to block. Block should be in another position.

Skills are very useful and some are very complicated. For example, there's a skill for Rin that is very strong but very complicated. "First execute the Death Drop then rotate the left analog stick, after the enemy spins twice press the O button." Very complicated and that phrase was made up. The complicated strong moves are like that. Very complicated so I just skip that lame skill. It's even LONGER than what I said.

Tips: 2/10
Most of the tips are just plain dumb. "Use the shadows to your advantage." There
are NO shadows around to hide in and even there are, the enemy still spotted you. A useful one is "Look to the heavens when lost." Totally helpful. Tips are displayed when the missions are being loaded. Most of them are DUMB. Trust me.
There are a few exceptions however.

Bonus/Unlockables: 4/10
Not a lot to unlock. Just a bunch of movies, artwork, 3 costumes for Ayame and an alternate one for Rin. That's it. Not a lot.

Replayability: 3/10
Only if you want to beat your old score or unlock new stuff, not much to replay for.

Overall score:
7/10

Rent/Buy?: Rent if you're new, buy if you're a tenchu fan.

What should be in the next Tenchu game:
A cool "male" ninja this time, Rikimaru and Tatsumaru was cool back then.
Better unlockables, WoH got Tesshu and a hidden mission!
Better voice acting, some of them just plain suck.
Improve the combat system, if they're going to be boss fights.
Better story, people are tired of "revenge" and "betrayal" stories.
A better improvement, Fatal Shadows wasn't a big jump from WoH, just a small tiny step.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/16/05