March 23, 2009
Tenchu: Shadow Assassin
Abraxas speaks truth about the newest Tenchu game.
After last week's X Blades fiasco, I felt the need for a good game. And, I decided to be thematic while working with a new release. Since last week's review ended with a ninja video, I decided to continue that and review a ninja game - Tenchu: Shadow Assassins. 
In the interest of full disclosure, I should warn you- I am a ninja. I graduated from Ninja Tech, (Go-OOooo Shurikens!) the class of 1998. The graduation ceremony was held in secret, and what few witnesses we had were immediately put to death by the graduating class. I hold full honors for secret poisonings, and I finished in the top 5% of the class (the remaining 95% were killed during training). So, really I have to play a game about Ninja's.In that spirit, I must say the older Tenchu games: Stealth Assassins and Wrath of Heaven were some of my favorite video games. They were part of the pinnacle of the stealth games in the 90's and early 2000's. Both games provided an open board with mission objectives. There was a "best" route imagined by the developers, but you were free to pursue that objective in whatever fashion you desired. (Be it poisoned rice balls, rooftop assassinations, and even the more common ninja arsenal of weapons were at the player's disposal to finish your mission.)
This makes for a great stealth game. You know you're good when you can sneak through a map with no killings at all until you reach your target. Which seems the opposite of ninja work, but remember, we're sneaky first, maniacal killers ni, san, shi, and go. (Random Fact: ninja in English comes from nin sha in hanzi (Chinese) which was the translation for the character for shinobi no mono which in Japanese means person of stealth.)
I mean, it's just not practical to kill everyone. Who'd tell the tale and spread the fear?
True Story: Back in the day, the npc guards in Wrath of Heaven would spout of the occasional line of "realistic" dialogue like, "Sure is a nice night for a nap," "Master sure does love his rice." But, anytime you were seen by a guard they would immediately shout, "Ninja!" Even if this interrupted on-going dialogue. So, I would wait for key moments in their speech and jump out an inappropriate times, like "My wife sure likes it when I- Ninja!" or "Sure is a nice night for a - Ninja!"
Fun times. Fun times.
And Shadow Assassins? Not fun. Not fun at all. I have to admit I couldn't finish this game on the Wii at all. If the two main characters from the series, Rikimaru and Ayame were undergraduates at Ninja Tech, they would have been bumped off in the first year. They plod around like farmhands, and, well, they jump like suburban white kids. Which is more sad than bad, really. Too often there was only one route through the board, the one the developers forced you to take using their "defined shadows" system, or what their idea of what cover constitutes. Also, you had to take down the guards in a specific order. That sort of crap can really pisses me off. (I mean, if I chose to have Rikimaru hide in the rafters or run around madly flinging shuriken from the roof tops screaming "I'm a Ninja Master, Bitches!" that should be up to me, the player.)
What's the point of a stealth game when all you're really doing is running down the rail like a, ah, well, the simile breaks down with a stealth game and a train but you get the idea.
And the defined shadows? The shadows you hide in are literally these black smog clouds that have faint white borders to let you know there's a boundary to the shadows. No, really. The "hide in shadow" is really hiding in clearly marked low lying pollution in Edo period Japan.
Wow, I'm totally a ninja now. I can hide in pollution! Yay!
The graphics were no great shakes but the game is on the Wii, so there shouldn't be any high-end expectations. However, Shadow Assassin does take advantage of what graphics-chewing power the Wii does offer, and delivers a reasonably good looking game.
But, despite all that this game really drops the shuriken on the mechanics of gameplay.
Instead of using, you know the built in point and click properties of the Wiimote itself, the developers decided to use the analog stick on the companion hardware piece to the Wiimote, the nun-chuck. Whatever. In its finest moment, it is a clumsy and inaccurate system. Also, despite the fact this is a game about ninja's, the developers all but throw you into direct combat on just about every board. Just forget about sneaking across the rooftops and all that fun stuff. Nope, it's skulking along the walls like some common thug for you. Let go those ideas of being a nimble ninja leaping about. Jumping is a joke. Shadow Assassins functions more like an action game with stealth elements, than a stealth game with action elements. In fact, the control elements can be very frustrating. Sometimes one shake of the Wiimote will cause you to roll to the right, invariably away from the cover you wanted to the left, and other times it will send you rolling off the cliff or into the very guard you wanted to avoid. While jumping off a cliff is a good way to not be seen, it's not conductive to long ninja life.
Mostly I felt like a complete jackass waiving my arms around in my living room rather than being drawn into the game using the great strength of the Wii, motion capture to involve me in it. Although, there is one innovation I enjoyed. Using the Mind's Eye power natural to us ninja's, the player can detect the line of site for each of the guards. This is done by using the infrared laser beams that are naturally emitted by normal person's eyes. Using these lasers a ninja is able to determine where a guard is looking so we can time our movements so as not to be seen.
No, seriously, there are laser beams shooting out of the guards heads so you can tell which way they are looking at any moment. I'm not joking.
Anyway.
Oh, and there is a story. I know, you were worried about it. It's weak, but I really can't bring myself to tell you about it beyond some girl gets kidnapped and you have to save her. Which to me, search and rescue doesn't sound like something a ninja should be doing. Doing the kidnapping, sure. Killing someone, you bet. Search and rescue? Not so much.
While this entry into the Tenchu series is a let down in a lot of ways, there is one thing that is fun within the game- the shinobi cat. Once you find this item, you can take direct control of the cat and run around the board unheeded by any of the guards. You can even pick up other items and return it to your ninja master. Just don't ask where they keep the cat, since neither Rikimaru nor Ayame have pockets. 
The game has a few good things to offer, such as the cat, but in reality it doesn't do anything new or different. Too often the game fails to take advantage of the Wii's strengths in the form of motion capture, pushes you to take one route, isn't doing anything new or different, and plays like a game designed for systems two generations ago. Frankly, this game is skippable.