Tenchu 2 Birth Of The Stealth Assassins

Developed by Acquire and published by Activision outside of japan Tenchu 2 is the second in the feudal ninja series known as Tenchu. Released in 2000 for the PS1 Tenchu 2 is a prequel and takes place several years before the events of the first game (Tenchu Stealth Assassins).

Tenchu 2 sees the return of Rikimaru and Ayame from the first game as well as adding to the cast of minor supporting characters. Much like the first game the premise of the story is simple enough(if you read the review for the first game you can skip this paragraph), you as a ninja does what you're boss tells you which generally involves you making you're way through a stage avoiding guards until you get to the end of the level and fight a boss. As far as the story goes that is where the similarities end with the first game in the series.

To start with the story takes more prevalence in this game then in the first, it seems to be the driving force rather than just a short detour to set up the missions. Another big change is that the story tries harder to convey the characters attitudes and what made them the way they are. The story has definitely been given more thought and focus then the first game however in it's place comes new problems, the main one being that the overall style of the characters has changed. While it's understandable that the characters are different when compared to the original game the general tone is that of much less dark and serious set characters.

The presentation has also suffered due to the new style, while the overall graphical standard has improved becoming more clear and crisp and the character models are less blocky the characters have lost a certain degree personality. The levels are large enough and are quite varied. The gore which comes with "stealth kills" remains leading to another 18 age rating from the BBFC however this can also have problems as at time the animation is totally skipped due to poor programming.

The gameplay in Tenchu 2 is very similar to the first game with the "ki meter" returning. Used to indicate the mental state of the nearest guard such as of you have been detected the "ki meter" is very useful and is essential to success in the game. Face to face combat is a chore and should be avoided whenever possible, instead the best course of action is to get close to your targets and press the attack button to initiate a "stealth kill" animation (incidentally there are more in this game including a jumping one) which will eliminate you're enemies quickly. There are several new actions for the game, swimming which at first seems a great addition until you realise that entering the water alerts any guards in the immediate area (... not thought through...) as well as the ability to sheathe and unsheathe you're sword allowing you to drag bodies out of sight to avoid detection and also the ability to search the bodies of dead guards to find new items. The grappling hook has been severely neutered in this game (awww...) now only allowing you to hook onto ledges rather than anything that is at the right height and distance like in the original. An important new feature is the mission editor which lets you create you're own missions and maps which you can save on a memory card and share with a friend. There's in incentive to keep playing after completing the game in the form of improving high scores and also expanding the story by playing as an other character.

Audio is the biggest disappointment to Tenchu 2, what was a fitting and original soundtrack in the first game has been replaced by nothing. The game retains it's sound effects but for whatever reason the developers thought that the game would be better suited to having no stage music. The voice acting has no improvements over Tenchu 1 and in some instances may actually be worse.

Tenchu 2 is a something of a paradox, if you liked the first game you you're sure to find it enjoyable however your experience of the first game is also likely to leave you feeling disappointed that Tenchu 2 fails to really improve in any way over the original save replay value thanks to the mission editor. It's still worth a buy as it's very cheap on the net and is an enjoyable experience, it just fails to deliver on it's potential.

At A Glance.
Gameplay ~ 7/10
Story ~ 6/10
Graphics ~ 5/10
Sound ~ 4/10
Replay Value ~ 10/10