There is just one question you need to ask yourself if you want to pick up this game:
Are you fond of sneaking around, staying hidden, observing enemy patterns, then striking out of nowhere at the most opportune time?
If you answer yes, then Tenchu Z is a possible candidate for purchase, especially at bargain price, because for at least a dozen hours you guide your ninja through various (and eventually rehashed) locales chock full of bad guys and bigger bad guys like corrupt statesmen, other ninja etc etc. For the majority of the game you are sneaking around and killing enemies undetected (or sometimes detected, which isn't a good thing). Once done with the mission, you have a brief reprieve before dropping back into another mission and do exactly the same thing. I'll give the game some credit; its stealth/assassination concept is mostly solid and is a good foundation for the game. Everything else, however, is a major question mark.
Tenchu Z differentiates itself from other releases of the franchise in that you have more customizations at your disposal. Rather than playing the main Tenchu standouts (Rikimaru, Ayame), you first create a ninja from scratch and edit his or her looks and outfits. As soon as your ninja is created you are thrown into a training exercise, where you will be versed with the main gameplay elements. You are essentially taught to stay quiet, stay out of sight, and when the enemy is looking the other way you sneak up behind him or her and gut 'em. Beyond that the tutorial also teaches you of other moves at your disposal like crouching and rolling to move around without a sound, but also some nifty moves like a grappling hook to have access to some advantageous sites or a variation of a stealth kill that will allow the player to kill a group of foes in close proximity. However, there is also the really redundant parts of stealth killing (like killing while hanging on a ledge) or leaning towards a wall that you don't really need to know.
I then started my first mission, tried to apply what I've learnt, but to no avail. Eventually I realized, "Hey! Who the hell cares about the esoteric methods the tutorial taught me? " So the game turned into "Roll around, roll around, press x to grab and kill, roll to safety" mode, the game begins to pick up steam. But once the game picks up momentum, and I began to really get the feel as to how the game works... it never really gets any better. In the 50 or so missions I've participated in, I never felt like I had to change anything in my approach, hence making any new additions or items pretty obsolete. It's still roll roll roll, x button, x button... you get the picture.
Not to say that the sneaking around loses too much of its novelty, but there's no sense of the killing getting more sophisticated. To be fair, there are avenues to make the killing more complex. First, you can customize your ninja's health, attack and speed. Second of all, there are items like potions to restore health or little doggies to distract opponents, but because I was successful in killing everybody I never had the urge to buy any of those items. To say that this is a lost opportunity is an understatement. I could also see the game lose the attention of the gamer once the five hour mark rolls around, since the combat remains unchanged and maps are beginning to be rehashed. The lack of mission objectives, which range from collecting certain items, killing dude X, and reach checkpoint Y, fuels the monotony.
That's not to say that the gameplay is flawless. For one thing, non-stealth killing is incredibly boring. You just press the X button to fail away at your opponent and press down on the joystick to pull off a combat move (like the sweeping kick); there's no strategy involved whatsoever and there's a certain clunky element to it. What's worse, the game sometimes force you into these types of situations, especially in very closed environments where enemies densely populate the area. In my time with the game there is very little wiggle room and I always get caught by a watchman after killing 2 or 3 dudes. Not wanting to start from scratch or alert any more guards on my way out, I get my ninja to draw his sword to pacify the situation (as unbearable as it is).
Good for you if you can stomach assassinating countless samurais, ninjas and other figures, because there really is nothing to take your mind off that routine. For starters, the game looks really dated. Environments have very blocky textures, and character models also look incredibly undetailed for the XBox 360, coupled with a soundtrack that is absolutely unforgettable. There is a multiplayer mode where you and some online buddies can tackle missions together, but of course this is assuming that you can find enough players to form a team. The team experience is not terrible, provided that the group is still willing to commit to stealth rather than the gung-ho, hack and slash attitude that could appear in these types of situations.
The bottom line is this: If you can enjoy stealth killing for give or take 15 hours, then this is a game that might fit the bill. Otherwise, stay away. Compared to its contemporaries, Tenchu Z is not the best stealth game out there, but it is not by any means a terrible one either.
Pros:
- Solid stealth and stealth killing concepts
- double digit hours of gameplay (assuming that you like the premise).
- multiplayer mode
Cons:
- game doesn't grow any better after tutorial
- not the best controls
- dated presentation
Final Verdict: 3 Stars. It doesn't match some stealth games today, but you can certainly do A LOT worse than Tenchu Z.
*Hope you enjoyed this review. If you have time, feel free to visit my review blog, Chronicles of Ciahlo, which will have the same materials that I've posted on Giantbomb.com (at least the more recent stuff, not an act of plagiarism). Next week, I'll post a review about a more traditional game from the Tenchu franchise: Tenchu-Shadow Assassins.