Reviews of Tenchu 2

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In Tenchu 2 you use many Ninja style weapons some that were in the original game, others that are new like flaming arrows. You use stealth to sneak up on your enemy and kill him/her without them knowing what hit them! The game is really bloody for some this might be great for others it might not be all that good. Tenchu 2 comes with a new feature the mission editor, in the mission editor you can create your own levels and place enemies within the levels! It's a great feature that makes an already great game even better. All together the game has 29 levels, 3 playable characters (the two Ninja characters that were in the original game and a new Ninja character),22 weapons, a mission editor, and many hours of fun. For those of you who like games that are based on stealth this is a game you can't pass up!

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I played Tenchu 1 for the first time about 3 months ago.

That got me hooked and I recently bought Tenchu 3. More great stuff.

I didn't buy Tenchu 2 at first since I heard it was inferior to Tenchu 1; and Tenchu 2 appears to be only available used.

Nevertheless, in reality Tenchu 2 is quite a bit better than Tenchu 1. Some extras that make Tenchu 2 sweet:

Build your own game levels if you use the free psx emulator you can download and play levels that other people make.

Graphics are better in tenchu 2 than tenchu 1. Graphics are significantly better if you play it on the psx emulator since it takes advantage of the full resolution of your modern PC (I can play it at 1280x1024 on my laptop!!!).

Comes with a real tutorial unlike Tenchu 1 and 3. The tutorial is weaved into the game where you first practice as an apprentice Ninja on a number of obstacles, before being tested by your master.

Ability to swim and breath under water thru a pipe is cool.

Ability to drag dead bodies to avoid having them be discovered is cool.

These last 3 elements make the ninja sim more complete than the other 2 games.

Definitely worth gettingnew or used. Don't worry if you can't get the documentation on the used versionsthe controls are well documented on the web.

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Tenchu2 itself isn't an utterly terrible game--I know I've put in a good 10 hours or more on it, but what's frustrating is how there is so much promise and so much failure both in the same package. The feel of the game is that Activision rushed this one out the door, and throughout the game you'll find bugs, glitches and all sorts of annoying problems that would lead one to believe that the game wasn't even beta tested. Here's my list of gripes:

-The controls are worse than Tenchu 1: Of course, Tenchu 1 is clunky but they are even worse here. A lot of would-be perfect kills will get ruined because what should have landed you right on top of your enemy has you rolling out in front of them or some other stupid stunt.

-Ridiculous AI: Tenchu 1 did not have the best AI but it was far superior to this. I've walked in front of guards and had them not see me. On the other hand, some guards are capable of seeing me through the back of their head. Also, guards quickly forget your presence and seem completely uninterested in pursuing you once you are out of sight. Yup, you can be one foot away from them but under water, and neither can they see through the water nor are they patient enough to wait even a minute to see if you'll resurface (nor wonder why a bamboo air-pipe is suddenly sticking out of the water.) This is really a let down given that there were reports that the AI would be vastly improved, guards noting blood running along a stream or looking for fallen bodies (blood doesn't run down stream in the game anyway.) Other guards can see you without even being present. This is a neat trick when your KI meter is in the teens or lower and you can't see anyone but they can see you.

-Graphic interface or whatever you want to call it: Graphics are just plain sloppy--my ninja is often teleported up four feet instead of actually having to climb or jump over fences anymore . In the same manner, when dragging bodies I've been able to leave them hanging in mid air, as though supported by an invisible floor of glass.

-Graphics in general: Sometimes the backgrounds go through objects (IE you can see the sun and clouds THROUGH a wall of mountains. Also, sometimes you can see guards out of your perriphrial vision but not straight ahead.

-Inconsistancy with stealth kills: Again, not only can guards see you out of the back of their head, but some -cannotbe stealth killed. PERIOD. This wasn't evident until playing Tatsumaru's 'labor shortage' level where certain guards could not be knocked unconscious even with 20 tries or so. Incidentally, this level seems nearly unbeatable and I think gives even more evidence that this was a rushed job. With 20 tries on this level, I could not beat it, and I can't say I really want to anymore.

-Difficulty level: A good friend of mine nearly sold this within the first week until we dug up the cheat code. The game is nearly unplayable without the armor, but it is almost impossible to get a grand master, so you can't get the armor. This would be different if I could start looting guards for blow darts on level 1, but even then, those are useless against bosses, and between the combination of worsened controls, bad camera angles and 'two hits and your dead' boss damage, Activision has managed to take all the fun out of Tenchu and turned it into a tedious and frustrating derision of the first game.

-Voice assignment: This is thefunniest glitch. Sometimes the voices of the guards are the wrong gender, and probably the glitch that had me laughing the hardest was when the shark started talking. C'mon folks! The shark should not talk. Please test your game before releasing it.

-Mission editor is a joke: Ok, this isn't really a glitch, but really, I can't even make roofs in this thing. The saving grace would have been being able to make an island full of cats or something, but all you get are boring people (maybe you can make a bunch of godha's samurai and evil samurai line up like some insane football game?)

My overall take on this game is that while Activision certainly added a lot of new things to make Tenchu the 5/5 it should have been, they lost it where it really counted--the outstanding game play that made Tenchu 1. Sure, Tenchu 2 has a lot of improvements, but none of this makes up for the lack of AI, a soundtrack, good controls, and an environment that reacts in a realistic way instead of one that has so many bugs in it I never know how it will react.

I sincerely hope Tenchu 3 will be the game this should have been. There are a lot of great ideas here, but they just seem so poorly executed that it makes one long for the game this should have been. It's still somewhat enjoyable (especially with the cheat codes), and its glitchyness is sometimes amusing, but all and all it isn't worth the $40 price tag--maybe you should look around your local vendors...my used copy will be showing up soon :)

Honest reviews on Tenchu 2

This game has great looking graphics and the story is captivating; however, the controls for the characters are very twitchy. You can't adjust them either. This is one of those games where you are given a selection of configuration A, B, or C, so basically there is no way of fixing the controlls. The character cannot strafe and turn at the same time, which is very important if you want to keep you eyes on you opponent. Then there is this weird, wall clinging move that the character does. the problem with it is that sometimes he will not do it when you want him to and, of course, do it when you don't. When the character gets into a battle, he always manages to turn his back on his opponent. You can try your best to keep the "bad guy" in front of you, but these "expert" ninjas always turn their backs on their opponents as if they want to die(it's very aggravating). Even with all this aggravation, the most IRRITATING thing about this game is the way "bad guys" seem to drop from the sky. You can check an area out thoughly and know for certain that the area is clear, then suddenly a "bad guy" just appears. I'm not talking about walking up on you, that does happen, but that's normal. I'm talking about characters just vaporizing right beside you. Honestly, I wonder if they even tested this game before they released it. I could program a game better than this.

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I couldn't believe Tehchu 2 did come out a week early. So, I rushed to the store to get this baby. Well, if you like the first one, you don't want to miss this one. If you don't own the first one, buy that one first (it's cheaper) :).Tenchu 2 is pretty much the same as the first one. But now, you can drag your fallen enemies into the dark or search their bodies for goodies. And there are more stealth-kill moves. The whole area map is not given before-hand, so you will get lost for some time. And there is a story with cool FMV's! Other than that, it is still the good old Tenchu. So, get it and hide-and-kill. And "I WILL SEE YOU IN HELL!" (Onikage, Tenchu 1998)

Originality: 4 Graphics: 4 Sound: 5 Game Play: 5 Replay Value: 5 (Out of 5)