Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

"The First Ever Stealth Game. Good Too!"

Tenchu is the first game ever to have the stealth format, well before Metal Gear Solid time. Did you know that? Well, it is. But is it any good? Well isn't every Tenchu?
Does ''walking along the rooftop until the guard turns his back, and then slowly you drop down and slit his throat?''
sound good to you? Sure does to me!

I'm just telling you before we start, that I got Tenchu before the original Tenchu so everything will be compared to the monster of the game which is called Tenchu 2.

Tenchu is a stealth / ninja game based in feudal Japan where two ninjas Rikimaru and Ayame are sure to die for their master Lord Godha. There isn't an ongoing storyline like Tenchu 2, there is a storyline for every mission you do from driving out a troublesome pirate, to curing a princesses eyesight.

This game is a kind of a sequel to Tenchu 2 which you might think is a bit stupid but it is. Tenchu 2 is set before Tenchu. Ayame is a lot older in this game, so is Rikimaru whilst Tatsumaru the former leader of the Azuma Clan is dead. Kiku who was a tiny baby in the second is now a teenager. Boy, has she grown!

Graphically the game isn't bad for the time it was released. When I first turned it on (three years after it was released) I thought Uurrggh! But my eyes have adjusted to playing it so I don't think they are as bad anymore. They definately aren't up to todays standards but they are pretty good.

The gameplay is fantastic, just the same as Tenchu 2. It is fun, as gory as hell, the only problem is that it's a litle bit short and both Rikimaru's and Ayame's mission are the same with a few twists. I thought that was a big dissapointment after playing two completely different scenarios on Tenchu 2. But the gameplay, I thought I possibly enjoyed more because it was short and very very sweet.

The music and SFX are brilliant. That soothing Japanese music captures the image delightfully, NOT! But I think that is brilliant, it's the one thing that is better than the second one. The music seems to fit even though it just dosen't. It's fab.

The voice acting is good, especially the guy on the training mission. I like the FMV sequences a lot. I also like the way Rikimaru salutes them when he has just killed them and Ayame mocks them.

I think this game is a another classic, but misses parts of the second, eg, the mission editor, three different scenarios, but apart from that the game is as good if not better.

Tenchu, in my opinion is one of the classic series of alltime and the first slash em'up proves this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/01, Updated 06/12/02