Tenchu: Return from Darkness review

Tenchu: Return from Darkness is the third Tenchu game and is more or less a straight port of the PS2 Wrath of Heaven. Improving on the visuals slightly and adding a multiplayer mode, the ability to drag bodies around and a couple of extra levels gives this one the right to have a new subtitle. Return from Darkness casts you as a male or female ninja on some sort of mission which is conveyed in vague, confusing and, ultimately unnecessary cut scenes. With an emphasis on stealth and silent killing this has a tough market to compete in with the likes of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. The game provides separate campaigns for each of the main characters, with a third character and campaign being available for completing either of the main campaigns.

Vague missions

The cut scenes convey a single player mission which has the ninjas on the trail of a variety of evildoers but this really only provides a back drop to some stealthy sneaking. The combat system places a very heavy emphasis on stealth, as an unseen attack will instantly kill an enemy. Once spotted you must engage in a more long winded and frustrating battle. The combat that takes place after you have been spotted leaves a lot to be desired. The moves available are extremely limited and the enemies spend the entire time blocking except for occasional lowering of their guard to strike with their weapons. This makes the battles tedious and without a variety of moves it becomes a simple button bashing affair with plenty of blocking. The frustration of these fights gives an added incentive to remain unseen. The downside here is that the instant kills of guards offered by stealthy tactics makes the levels very slow, lots of waiting and slow moving and essentially the game becomes a slow stroll around the level, taking in the sights and avoiding the light. The enemies become little more than obstacles to be avoided or dispatched during this stroll and, whilst the stealth itself provides a certain excitement, it doesn’t last all that long.

Claustrophobic

The levels are more linear than in previous Tenchu titles, pushing you along a specific path. This means that the levels need to be nice and open and let you feel that you are choosing your own direction. Tenchu achieves this with small windy confined maps with invisible walls at important points to funnel you through the game the way the developers want. The inside and outside areas are equally bad, with the user being forced through a labyrinth of corridors inside and a maze of buildings outside. Small tunnels are also used a lot, forcing the player to crawl around looking for possible openings when all other means of progressing through the area have been exhausted. The climbing rope is used to good effect though. This is a device that fires out a grappling hook, allowing you to reach high areas and quickly make your way around the map.

Dark and dank

The confined level design wouldn’t be so bad if it was presented nicely. Whilst the developers have made an admirable job of the graphics models, the lighting is poor. This results in much of the graphical effort being rendered invisible as the gamer squints their way around some of the levels. This presentation standard also manifests itself in the camera. This is at a fixed height and angle looking down from above and behind the player. The forward direction of the camera can be controlled with the right thumbstick, although the vertical angle cannot be altered. Also, and unlike the original PS2 version, you cannot alter the camera at all while crouched or hanging from an object. This seriously detracts from the gaming experience as the player is forced to move the character around, duck and use ranged weapons to get a good look at their surroundings.

I’ll take you all on

Return from Darkness does add a new multiplayer element to the series. There is a split screen mode which can be used for either co-operative play on a handful of new missions or competitive, versus, gaming. These features are extended through Xbox Live to allow competition online. The co-operative missions don’t form a part of the story, although this is no great loss. The missions do allow for good looking double team stealth kills, as you make your way through the objectives. The versus mode is less enjoyable as it lets you and your enemy choose from the playable characters, unlockable characters and boss characters. You then fight it out with a bunch of enemy grunts, which really highlights the deficiencies of the combat system.

A tough market to break

Tenchu: Return From Darkness is competing on the Xbox against the Splinter Cell franchise, which has won many fans. Tenchu makes a poor showing in many important categories for this type of game and as such it loses out. It feels very much like a first attempt, although this is in fact the third in the series. Since the franchise does have a fan base and this game doesn’t deviate too much from that this will probably please the existing fans. This is not enough to draw gamers away from the competition, although the core concepts of the stealth genre are present. The series really needs better level design and better lighting in levels and should really be showing us what stealth games on the Xbox are capable of.