Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins

"A worthy prequel to Tenchu that manages to be good on its own -as long as it is put in context"

Tenchu 2, despite its name, is chronologically the first game in the series. It introduces us to three young ninjas about to complete their training. In the game, their main task is stopping the warriors that call themselves “The Burning Dawn” and threaten to take over feudal Japan. Since this whole story takes place several years before Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, no previous knowledge about the series is required to play this prequel. Gamers familiar with the Tenchu characters, however, will be able to recognize many of the characters and sceneries and be able to tell how they link with the future story –so overall, and should the alternative be available, it would be better to play through the games in the order they were made to truly understand everything.

The nature and concept of Tenchu 2 are exactly the same as the other two games: the character you choose (Ayame, the agile but weak female ninja; Rikimaru, the strong but slow man, or a third bonus character) starts the level the middle of a fairly big area. Each level has one or more objectives to fulfill in order to advance to the next; these objectives range from challenging somebody to a fight to stealing documents or assassinating all the enemies of the area. While the objectives are thoroughly explained in the loading screen of each level, the means to achieve them are left entirely up to the player.

That and the fact that all the levels are quite big –for the time and console it was released, at least- might give the impression that you are given a whole lot of freedom, but it's not so. Your objective, regardless what it is, always will involve you getting from point A to point B. You can choose how to get there and whether or not to murder the enemies you find on your path, depending on what kind of game you feel like playing; for a silent and less dangerous journey you might want to take the longest but less patrolled path, whereas you might as well follow a straight line and simply disembowel anything that opposes you if you're having a bad day.

But since the whole game's core is stealth, fighting everyone is not really an option -the fighting system just isn't as developed or efficient as backstabbing. So in the end we find that the only reasonable choices of the player are the path to follow, which enemies to kill and which to avoid. It's freedom anyway, yes, and I remember it struck me as quite a lot of freedom when compared to the average game back when it was released, but in this day and age there certainly doesn't seem to be that much of a difference between Tenchu 2 and games with linear levels.

As said above killing enemies stealthily is the core of the gameplay. The basic way of dealing with it is approaching an unsuspecting enemy, and pressing a button. Depending on the direction character and enemy are facing, the player will be regaled with one of the half a dozen grisly murder animations available for each character. These animations vary in complexity and cruelty but there's always going to be gallons of blood flying around. Additionally, you might use an item to kill an enemy without actually having to walk up to them. There are myriads of different items (found in-game or achieved via obtaining a good rank after finishing a level) and many are actually useful. Killing an enemy with a poisoned dart is the best way of distance killing, while mines and poisoned food are risky but effective alternatives.

The behaviour of the enemies is also a factor in your gaming experience, since they are gifted with some sort of primitive AI. Their rudimentary intelligence will make them turn around and look if they hear noises, run towards a dead companion and dispassionately try to find out who killed him, and obviously try to kill you if you're spotted.

This stealthy approach to the gameplay is what makes Tenchu 2: Birth of Stealth Assassins special when compared to other games; when compared to Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven –previous and next game, respectively- it is the plot what helps define this game.

Because Tenchu 2 is the only one to have a consistent storyline. The other two offered conflicting storylines depending on who you were playing with; one boss might die at the hands of Ayame one day or be killed by Rikimaru the next. This time each character (even the third, bonus one) have an individual storyline of their own, with their own levels and bosses. It might look like a shallow change at the beginning but the result is that, once the game is finished, you have experienced one solid story that developed and unfolded as you progressed through the game, as opposed to the series of unrelated cutscenes you get in the other games.

So, overall, Tenchu 2 is a fairly good job at making a stealthy ninja game. It offers better graphics than the first and a better story than the third, and the fact that it tells the first part of the saga's story it's a great way of getting to know the franchise. The limited AI and the lacking graphics –already limited and lacking when the game was released, by the way- are obstacles in enjoying the game, but the characteristic gameplay and the intense storyline are enough to make Tenchu 2 worth playing... And don't forget –if everything else fails, there's always the surprisingly deep level editor where you can create your own missions.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05