Publisher: Activision
Ages:
Mature
Parental
Advisory:
Brutal and bloody violence
An addicting game of stealth, Activision's Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven calls on gamers to step into the shadows and become a ninja. When compared against games such as Eidos' Hitman 2 and Ubi Soft's Splinter Cell, Tenchu is not the strongest stealth game around. But it offers a tense, compelling and entertaining activity for mature audiences. Players get to participate in theft, espionage and assassinations without making a sound. It's just another day in the life of a ninja.
The game lets players take on the role of Rikimaru, a young male ninja; or Ayame, a quick and acrobatic female ninja; and use some 20 authentic ninja weapons and tools. Set in the late 1570s, one year after the events of the original Tenchu game, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven finds Rikimaru and Ayame on a quest to save feudal Japan from the clutches of an evil sorcerer and his six lords of darkness. Finish the ten missions as both Rikimaru and Ayame, and players can unlock a third character who fights with his bare hands-dislocating joints and hitting pressure points.
Players control the characters from a third-person perspective. As you would expect, ninjas move silently and mostly rely on stealth to sneak up to targets and quickly take them out. Interestingly, the ninjas don't hide in shadows, but only behind other objects and around corners. The game's camera is fairly responsive for most situations, but sometimes, particularly during fights, it's often hard to line up the camera to get a good battle perspective.
The game offers fun ninja gadgets that include a grappling hook to climb walls, shiriken throwing stars, bombs, and more. It also features new stealth and combo attacks and an enhanced fighting engine. Sneak-up and perform enough "stealth kills" on unsuspecting guards, and players earn new ninja skills.
Beyond the title's story mode, the game offers five multi-player levels with fun cooperative and head-to-head activities. The graphics are exceptional and the main characters move in realistic ways. As you would expect, Tenchu is extremely violent and not only lets the blood flow, but makes it spray and spurt.
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven is a great game. It's not quite up to par with the best in the genre that includes Hitman 2 and Splinter Cell, but it's a solid entry with satisfying play. And it's for mature audiences only.
4/17/03 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
