Lasting Appeal: Well, 50 missions, lots to unlock, a very in-depth customisation mode that just makes it fun to constantly alter the appearance and skills of a character, and an online co-op for up to 4 players that uses 36 of the game’s missions to play (although I haven’t experienced that myself) gives this game plenty to do. But really, it’s more the simple question of enjoyment that affects ultimately how much anybody will play this game. There is plenty to do for those who do enjoy it.Fun Factor: There’s not much more to add. It’s a fun game, but only if you let yourself have fun with it. It’s one of those games that where the fun you’re having is really more dependent on you than the game. The game offers the tools and a playground, but the fun to be had is not immediately apparent to everybody. You will either enjoy what this game has to offer, or find it very repetitive and derivative. I won’t try to sugarcoat that fact, just because I enjoyed the game myself. The story is not particularly interesting, but then it doesn’t really need to be.
Developer: FROM softwarePublisher: MicrosoftFormat: Xbox 360Release: July 2007This review is kinda late but since as no one else has stepped up to do it, I thought, why not? Tenchu Z was a game I very much bought on a whim since whenever I’m in a games shop with enough money to spare to buy a game, I rarely leave with that money. This game has got hit quite hard in the press, but the lure of creating my very own Kunoichi (who doesn’t love those?) was just too much. And now I’m quite glad I bought it, and I shall explain why. Graphics: Now, one thing I do not understand about the reactions to this game, and that is the claims made that it looks like a PS2 game. I have to ask, are you blind? Or have you completely forgotten what a PS2 game actually looks like? It has to be either or, since whilst by no means is this game going to make Gears of War worry, this game looks like a 360 game. There’s a fair amount of detail on the textures, the models are pretty good. They could look better, certainly, but part of the issue with that is this game seems to be built on a customisation engine, the same one you use to create your own character. Using an engine like this invariably will lower the overall quality of the character models, since it means they have not all been given individual attention. However, the advantage to using such a system is consistency. In a lot of games where you create your own character, the model you use looks inherently worse than the in game models; this is a particular problem in wrestling games. But Tenchu Z does not have this problem, and in some ways this is definitely better than the alternative.
The level designs are quite interesting and varied. There are villages, mansions, caves, forests, shrines and castles, all of course based on 17th century Japanese architecture. The general simplicity of such architecture helps the game not look so bad. Only the foliage in levels I think look bad, but on the whole this is a decent looking game, and the criticisms of its appearance have been wildly exaggerated Gameplay: Now, I will make no bones about this, Tenchu Z is, like most of it’s predecessors, not exactly overflowing in decent AI or inspired gameplay, but at the same time, if your of the right mindset, you can nonetheless enjoy this game. Part of the necessary mindset is enjoyment of the concept. And lets face it, who doesn’t want to be a ninja? Well probably those people who want to be pirates, but they got their own games to play. Anyway, the basics of the game is, you create a ninja. You complete missions. There are 50 in all, which is a very good number. Although, not all of them are really unique. There are a few here or there that really are pretty much the same map and mission, with just some slight variations. This only happens with a few missions, so the actual number of unique missions is around 40, which is still not bad at all. As you complete missions, you earn gold to unlock skills, items and clothes. It’s a good system, because all of that is very much worth buying, so it is good incentive to play through all those missions, as new things become available as you progress. Very simple, but a system that always works.Now, the AI is generally horrible. That doesn’t mean the computer won’t spot you, because it will, it’s a real bitch to fight in melee in this game so you really need to avoid it, and generally, even though the AI is so dumb, you yourself can’t be dumb, because it’s very easy to make stupid mistakes, not because of the gameplay or anything, simply the tension of trying not to be seen. This is healthy, as although the game isn’t that hard, it’s far from a total cakewalk. Now, most of the missions you could complete simply by running past everything to the goal, but that is not the way the game was intended to be played, and as it is rank based, it’s not how you go about getting a decent rank. This game does not actually force you to play like a ninja, but your cheating yourself of most of the game’s fun if you don’t.
The last issues that should be covered are the camera and controls. This game lacks a camera auto centre, and whilst the camera itself is responsive to your direction, and rarely gets caught anywhere, you have to direct it yourself, and this can take some getting used to. The camera is basically well designed; it’s just the lack of an auto centre that is the problem. The controls are actually very well done once you get used to them. I know that they have been the aim of some of the game’s criticism, but I don’t agree with that at all. The controls are tight, responsive, give you a lot of options and feel a lot more realistic than previous games in the series. The only issue is the auto-clamber over certain objects can lead to mistakes made by the player, but that would really be the player’s fault more than the game’s,Sound: Sound is one of Tenchu Z’s definite strengths. It uses authentic Japanese instruments and minimalist composition to create a sense of tension at all times. Admittedly, the entire series has, and this one is no different, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is and always has been extremely effective. The voice acting has also not been dubbed into English but instead has remained in Japanese. This helps add to the authentic Japanese aura of the game. Overall, the game has a definite atmosphere to it which suits it perfectly.
The 411:What I often hate in critical reviews of games is that once the reviewer has latched onto a game’s flaws, they forget any positives the game has and proceed to bury the game when in actuality, the game has appeal. Not to everybody, but when a game does some things right, that should be recognised. So basically, I’ve been as honest as I can about this game, if you like the sound of it, do not be deterred by what has been said about it. If you don’t think you’ll like it, then you are probably right and should just avoid it. It’s a game that requires the player to be going in with hopes of enjoying themselves. Without those hopes, then like many games, Tenchu Z has nothing going for it. But with them, it’s very possible you will be satisfied with the game.
Graphics
6.5
Workman like and built on a custom engine without any real polish, but pretty solid.
Gameplay
7.0
Some technical flaws, but good controls and fun stealth killing balances them out.
Sound
8.5
Very authentically traditional Japanese, just what you want from this kind of game
Lasting Appeal
8.0
A lot of missions, online co-op and a pretty indepth customisation mode.
Fun Factor
7.0
Fun if you let it, but focus too much on it's issues and you won't see what it has to offer. Unfortunately it's harder to find than is ideal.
Overall
7.5 [ Good ]
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