Tenchu 2 Review

Tenchu 2 is a game where I want to play more out of to unlock more of the story and appreciate the fact that the developers took time to make a game with multiple characters and the story isn't one of them in a jail cell while the actual story with the character you play as does all the work but at the same time, the game has so many problems that prevents me from at least doing a 2nd run. I start playing think it's not too bad then play more and the just start to really get aggrevated while playing.

Alright, I'll start with the good, the stealth kills are back and they are great and even more brutal than before but due to issues I will mention later, it's hard to fully appreciate this. The story, voice acting and presentation are much improved from the first game and is an aspect that actually is a true step up over the first game. The story has an actual overarching plot this time around and it's generally interesting enough where I want to know more about the different perspective of the characters. The presentation of the cutscenes is much improved too, and it's incredible how the characters' mouths actually move in a PS1 game. The cutscenes have better cinematography and many of them are in engine too, and it's quite fascinating what the devs pulled off, only the first Metal Gear Solid game really rivals this game in terms of in engine cutscene production values. The level design is generally solid if it reuses some levels here and there, and it keeps that feel of the first Tenchu of it being a linear game but you have a wide array of angled to approach from with enemies to stealth kill to prevent it from being a run to the finish line. The levels are more varied compared to Tenchu Stealth Assassins as well. The last level in particular is quite good where every mechanic is like long jumping, swimming, and grappling hook all get used and it's a nice way to cap off the game even with the issues I will mention later on.

Now what are the issues that ruin the game for me? The grappling hook and collison detection is awful, so many times where it felt like I was able to reach a ledge and it either ends in me fall like an oaf, it won't register the grab, or I miss but the falling animation doesn't happen. So every time there is a grappling hook heavy mission, it's a complete chore. Sheathing your weapon has to be one of the most pointless additions to the game. Your weapon will always be drawn when you do a stealth kill even when your weapon is holstered so every time you stealth kill an enemy, you have to tap the circle button twice, every...single...time. Underwater stealth doesn't much to the overall gameplay since the water is basically a glorified bush and getting out of the water is a game of hoping you are quiet and not raise a sound that alerts an enemy when you get out. And the camera when using the bamboo tube isn't good and sometimes doesn't give you the angle you need. The stealth kills are super buggy, they will activate and the camera will bug out and won't show the kill or I press the stealth kill button and it doesn't do the kill and instead unholsters the weapon. The body dragging feature is also both useless and hard to pull off since I would press crouch next to a body and the character will either register the grab or he won't and it feels out of place in a game like this since guards have short attention spans and will resume patrols after a minute or two, there is no long term reprecussions for moving bodies like there is in Splinter Cell. The lack of music really saps out of getting into the power fantasy of killing enemies, and just makes gameplay a rather dry affair compared to the first game's soundtrack. Combat still sucks and the unsheathing means enemies can get free hits on you and the 3 hit combo your character can do is now contextual. That and the pop during day time levels just looks weird and lacks the proper context to justify the existence of it being there.

I really wish this game got a remake because while I am anti remake, this game is sub par and ambitious enough but didn't reach it's potential. I am convinced while Wrath of Heaven has it's problems, it's better than this game. Give me the same story but with WoH gameplay and polish and I would already enjoy this game more.