Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

"I was a ninja for Halloween once..."

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins plays out exactly as the name suggests. It is one of the first stealth-based games I've played for the PSX, and maybe even the first one created for it. I've always wanted to be a ninja and this game recreates in my mind the most realistic ninja adventure I've played (excluding Tenchu 2, but that's another story).

Gameplay - 9/10

Before the game begins, you must select one of two characters. Rikimaru, a male ninja trained in the art of Azuma Shinobi-ryu ninja tactics, or Ayame the young, daring female ninja. The two have starkly differing fighting styles, which adds to the games replay-ability I might add.

The basic premise of this game is to sneak around each stage without being detected and locate the boss character and defeat. Pretty simple, right? No way. Each stage is littered with enemies that you must sneak around, or execute silently, which is really cool to do. You can also eliminate your enemies from afar by striking them with a shuriken, or ninja throwing star. There are also many other items in the game, but none as important as your initial item, the grappling hook, a must-have for any ninja.

Creeping around in each stage can be rather difficult as your progress through the game as the amount of enemies per stage increases. The controls and camera positioning in this game are pretty good, so performing all the necessary commands and watching them unfold is rather fluent.

Story - 9/10

Rikimaru and Ayame are both ninjas serving Lord Matsunoshin Gohda and they must assist him as he searches to destroy a ninja that has been bringing trouble to his people. The story is pretty good, but I don't want to reveal too much as the plot doesn't really begin to progress until several levels into the game.

Graphics/Visual Effects - 8/10

The characters you control look fairly good as do the enemies that you face. The backgrounds are all well-done, but they aren't as well-done as they could be. The cut-scenes, however, when you perform a one-hit execution on an enemy are very cool. Each character has three or four of their own unique one-hit death sequences when they sneak up on an unsuspecting foe and they all look really good.

Audio - 8/10

The opening music is pretty cool and the game music is also halfway decent. The sounds when you cut an enemy or when two swords collide are well-done. The noise of the shuriken when it hits its target is also a cool noise. Overall, the sound effects in the game are nicely done.

Replay Value - 7/10

The only reason that I replayed this game was to see how much different Ayame's fighting style was from Rikimaru's. After you beat the game with the two different characters, there really is no need to play the game again, unless you want to watch the one-hit death sequences again.

To Be or Not to Be?

I would definitely suggest picking this one up if your any kind of fan of ninja games. This game is a very realistic ninja simulation. It can almost definitely be found used on the Internet.

Overall - 8/10

Tench: Stealth Assassins is a revolutionary stealth game that is really cool to play. Ninja fans will definitely get a kick out of this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/02, Updated 06/03/02