Tenchu: Return From Darkness : Web Wombat : Games

If, like me and a couple of friends of mine, you spent many an evening years ago drinking tequila while trying and retrying to beat the tougher levels of Tenchu, you may experience a jolt of nostalgic excitement when loading this disc into your Xbox videogame system.

Unfortunately, this burst of adrenaline, while temporarily sustained, soon fades as a sense of monotonously-going-through-the-motions sets in. But more on that later.

In playing Tenchu:Return from Darkness (RFD) you have the option of playing as one of two characters: the head of the Azuma ninja clan and ninja extraordinaire Rikimaru; or bold, smartarse, ninja-since-birth Ayame.

There may also be a third playable character, who has his back to the player at the character select screen, but this gamer has not yet had the patience and endurance to unlock him.

Each ninja has unique characteristics and styles. Rikimaru is stronger, does more damage in combat and is über-efficient in his slaying of lackeys while Ayame is quick, has longer combos and is more flamboyant.

Each character has their own story and levels, though they do share some of the same levels, only with different enemy layouts. Further, each level has three alternate layouts for each character, accessible after completion of the first attempt.

Tenchu RFD, similar to its predecessors, is a game of stealth. Getting to a mission objective invariably entails finding one's way around a convoluted and multi-leveled environment in which a baddy ninja or soldier or oni (demon) lurks around every other corner. The in-game map feature helps you to find your way around.

Rikimaru and Ayame have retained all the familiar moves and items from the previous games. You swan about on rooftops and cliffs using your trusty grappling hook, lure enemies into unconsciousness with poison rice and sling projectiles such as crimson blades and grenades.

Rikimaru's work was a real 'drag'...

Added are a number of new things like a shoulder thrust combo, a 360-degree attack combo and Scorpion-style "C'mere!" grappling hook moves as well as a number of new items.

Maximum points and most efficient paths through levels are achieved by silently killing enemies before they even know you are there. To further enhance this aspect, when the player successfully performs such stealth kills they are rewarded with an elaborate and violent kill move.

These moves have a random camera angle and vary, depending primarily on position of the player in relation to the victim.

Further, each stealth kill gains an amount of Kuji. When the Kuji meter fills, the player gains a new special move appropriate to the character and level.

While initially these are a bit lame, they do get better, with moves like 'cling to ceiling' (self explanatory), which allows the aerial stealth kill and 'fake death', which involves impaling oneself on one's own sword then attacking enemies who come to investigate.

The result of this emphasis on stealth is that you spend a lot of time waiting and watching enemy guards to determine their patrol routines and patterns. The drawback of this is that patrol behaviours do not vary and are usually pretty dull.

In fact the Enemy AI leaves a bit to be desired. In addition to their unimaginative patrols, they are pretty ineffective in pursuing and finding you after you have been spotted and run away. After about ten seconds they usually give up and turn their back on where you vanished, allowing the easy stealth kill.

Failing to be appropriately stealthy and getting yourself spotted is bad though. This is because a) you lose points and b) toe-to-toe combat is difficult, especially against multiple opponents.

Granted, combat should be difficult when the emphasis is on stealth, but something that I found frustrating is that despite being an alleged ninja virtuoso, Rikimaru is slower than his enemies. For example, they can squeeze a blow in during your combo, while the opposite is not true.

Ayame, a.k.a Spider-Woman,
has never liked pot heads

Rather than timing or moves, combat often comes down to hiding until they give up looking, trapping enemies in environmental hazards (e.g. between a brazier and a wall) or tricking them into walking into a pitfall.

At the end of levels your performance is rated according to the stealthiness and efficiency of your actions.

Grand Master is the ultimate rating, gaining you a plethora of items to use in future missions as well as super-items like flash-bombs and ninja-rebirth (resurrect you when you die) items.

This encourages you to aspire to perfection in your killing of hordes of baddies, but retrying missions repeatedly becomes tiresome due to inordinately long loading times, accompanied by an unnecessary map screen showing an uninspired red arrow progressing from one location to the next.

Graphically the game could have been better. While at first its likeness to the original games is charming, it doesn't take long to start wondering why the hell Activision didn't update textures and details to the kick-arse status we know the Xbox is capable of.

Also, for a game that relies as heavily as Tenchu does on scanning enemies from various nooks and crannies while looking around walls, the camera is notoriously frustrating to control. While there is a free-look mode, which helps somewhat, it is often unavailable while performing stealth manoeuvres, leaving you stuck with shitty angles and views.

Extra features exclusive to the Xbox, such as the two player co-op mode and Xbox Live deathmatch, add longevity and appeal to proceedings, and the sound is good too, with tense and sometimes eerie music accentuating the stealthy game play. [Ed's note: ninja fans should check out RealUltimatePower.net.]

Ultimately, Tenchu: RFD ends up feeling like a minimally tweaked port of the old Playstation classic. What was a great game back then with a few minor issues could be forgiven, as it was pushing boundaries at the time. When those flaws are still present in a release years later and on a far superior machine, it is frustrating and tedious.

While still worth playing and enjoying for some of its old addictiveness, Tenchu: Return From Darkness leaves this gamer with a feeling of unfulfilled potential in its XBox incarnation.

Game: Tenchu: Return From Darkness
System: Xbox
Players: 1-2 (co-op)
Online: Yes
Developer: K2
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 65%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Tenchu: Return From Darkness is on the shelves now.

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