Tenchu: Return from Darkness

The latest Tenchu game, also the first to be released on Xbox, is a rather stylized look into the world of Ninjas. Today's high demand for stealth action games means that Ninjas are certainly an "in" concept, and definitely one that can make for a whole load of fun, despite the fact that in this case there are numerous game mechanic flaws that mean Tenchu isn't as good as it should be.

When you put the game in for the first time you're presented with the option of playing as either Rikimaru or Ayame, both Ninjas who have their own unique styles of combat, movement and weapon usage. The character animations give both characters distinct personalities, and each character has some unique traits too Ц Rikimaru deals more damage but moves relatively slowly and feels heavier than Ayame. The latter, on the other hand, strikes with less power but far more finesse and speed. The variance is so much so that you'll likely have a character preference pretty quickly after trying both of the initial two available to you, though the game plays through differently depending on your character choice. The central story is the same for both, but you'll experience it through the unique perspectives of each character with different pieces of story and altered level designs.

Tenchu truly does have its own style, one that I find reminiscent of the first Kill Bill flick Ц for those who haven't seen it (and I admit I didn't like the movie the first time through having expected a more serious flick) it's ripe with homage to "classic" Kung Fu movies, filled with cheesy sound effects, ridiculous blood sprays and lots of cool, if rather unrealistic, fighting. The whole experience is rather surreal, and that's really what gives it its kick.

Unfortunately this rather enthralling visual experience can, at times, be rather hard to witness due to some uncannily bad camera movements. While you can use the white button to look around manually and the right joystick does rotate the camera around, you'll have issues looking where you want to when hugging walls, peeking around corners or looking down from the edge of a roof or cliff quite often. It does occasionally get in the way of gameplay and is certainly very annoying at times, but truth be told for the most part the camera issues are more of annoyance than anything, one that quite frankly really should have been tweaked significantly more prior to the game's release.

My only other true qualm with this game is the AI (or lack thereof). My first thought on this was how incredibly stupid all of the enemy characters appear to be Ц they almost never hear you unless you walk through water, some bushes or incur a loud landing, they often can't find you if you jump onto a roof top and they don't really work together in teams. The more you play through the game, however, the more you realize that this at least appears to be by design as it adds to the whole surreal environment of being a ninja. You really do start to feel like a stealthy assassin when you can jump from a two-story building, perform a stealth landing two feet behind an enemy and then silently take him (or her) out.

Having said all that, the AI truly is stupid Ц should you be spotted and then evade your enemies (generally done by running around enough corners, or simply altering your presence vertically by a distance higher than your enemies can jump, or lower than they can see) the AI will often have difficulties returning to its previous patrols (which all repeat) and will often get stuck running into a few walls in a corner somewhere, or occasionally even walk right off a cliff into a giant gaping hole. This part of the AI really takes away from the game more than anything, but then again if you're as good as the game makes you feel at times you won't be spotted anyways.

While you do have the option for all-out combat, stealth really is emphasized through the rather difficult combat. When you start the game (as either character), you have few special abilities aside from the obvious (a grappling hook, the ability to "double jump" and the occasional bounce off of a wall here and there). By completing 9 stealth kills per level, however, you'll earn a new ability (but only once every level). Each ability is assigned to a level (so getting 9 stealth kills in the second level but not the first gives you the second special ability on the list) and they range from the ability to acrobatically break out of an enemy's combo attack, to sticking to ceiling with your grappling hook for some very stylistic and fun death-from-above stealth kills. Without these abilities, however, your initial combat moves are both limited and not terribly effective, and early on once you get hit by the first one or two moves of an enemy's combo attack you won't be able to get out of it until he's finished it. Once you do manage to get some of the more combat-oriented abilities, however, you'll be able to fight much more effectively, which is good because the frequent boss battles are the one part of the game that you can't get through with sheer stealth and cunning.

There is a pretty wide arsenal of "Ninja Items" available to you throughout the game, including shurikens, poison darts, poison rice, smoke bombs, mines, grenades, invisibility potions and even animal traps. You won't necessarily ever need to use these, but they do enhance the experience to some degree and add some depth to the gameplay. Additionally, you can sometimes pick up the weapons of fallen enemies, such as a bow with arrows or a spear, which provide limited use at best but also endorse their own strengths and weaknesses as alternative methods of attack.

The story throughout the game is pretty much what you might expect from your classical Kung Fu flick, often making partial sense at best, but certainly provides good entertainment Ц the gist is that you're called upon to stop the evil forces of Lord Tenrai, which means killing lots of Ninjas, a Ronin Village and the like. In-engine cut scenes and voice-over text before each mission help to further this story, and it's pretty cool to play through the game as the different characters and experience it from the two different viewpoints.

Multiplayer offers Co-Op and Deathmatch options, and while the game really wasn't designed for Deathmatch scenarios (since the combat system is rather difficult to use) the Co-Op can be pretty fun, allowing you to execute cool two-person stealth kills (which don't actually do more than a single-person kill except look cooler) and you will often get a pretty decent sense of a movie-esque teamwork thanks to numerous areas where simultaneous take-downs of two different guards are necessary to avoid detection. There is truly only limited play here, but the Xbox Live option means you can do it even when your friends are out of town (though doing so may take away from the enjoyment factor).

The graphics are somewhat outdated, being pretty much a direct PS2 port, but the character design's decent and the load times aren't too bad at all, so all things considered the visuals do their job pretty well. The audio is both amusing and well done, with cheesy sound effects and music that fits the levels in a rather odd and unique way (for lack of a better descriptor). There's really nothing terribly astonishing in the graphics department, though the level design's pretty cool, often forcing you to make use of you grappling hook and the like since most areas have multiple vertical levels to them. I won't say it's a totally unique experience in that sense, but it's carried out a lot better than most games before it have tried, feeling almost more 3D somehow than so many other games.