Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven - PS2 Review

April 11, 2003

Imagine, if you will, that you are a ninja. You hide in the shadows, leap and swing from rooftop to rooftop, you utilize all the tricks of your trade to get close to your target. You hide in the shadows and wait for the perfect time to strike. You kill your unsuspecting victim with much violence which causes him to spurt much blood and then you disapear back into the shadows. Sounds good, doesn't it? Sounds fun? Well just keep that thought in your head and don't bother to play Tenchu 3.

This is my fourth attempt at trying to review this damn game. A game that takes a fantastic premise (you're a ninja, kill people in cool ways and don't get caught) and rather than run with it, trips, stmbles and impales itself on its own sword. A game that advises you that enemies will become alarmed if they come across the dead bodies of their compatriots but gives you no way of hiding the bodies even though you could in the last game. A game where an enemy will notice a dead body, become alarmed, turn around, forget about body, turn around again and become alarmed again. A game that's the third in a series that has always been known for lacklustre play control yet controls the same as the first in the series. A game where is's commonplace for your ninja to suddenly just stop sneaking along the wall, because the camera moved. Killing people with STEALTH is cool, has always been cool and will always been cool. When this game comes together, when you manage to overcome all the inadequacies and deal out the silent, bloody deaths, it is fantastic. But that happens all too rarely. I should not have to fight the game more than I fight the enemies in the game. That's just wrong. There is so much wrong with this game. With this series of games. Problems that have been around since the begining. This is a series in dire need of an overhaul.

- Tyler