Tenchu: Senran / Tenchu Z (X360) (2006)
Developer: K2

Review by Faididi and Co.

Rikimaru will make you his bitch

Story: Average

Once a rookie ninja himself, Rikimaru has become the leader of the Azuma clan, which continues to serve the honorable Lord Gohda with its main tactic of literally stabbing bad guys in the back. The Player-created heroes under Rikimaru's command are the central stars of the show this time, but don't expect to find a spectacular story. Your own character never speaks a line of dialogue, and the generic plot about Gohda fighting a power-hungry warlord is meant mostly to accommodate the game's new demands.

Gameplay: Above Average

K2's Tenchu: Senran (Tenchu Z) is a special, X360-exclusive installment in the stealth action series. Not the typical cut-and-paste sequel, it breaks away from its predecessors by implementing long-overdue improvements, including smarter controls and a proper lighting-based visibility system that determines the likelihood of your character being seen by enemies. More importantly, it contains a host of features not found in other stealth games, giving serious fans of the genre a reason to try out this particular entry, if not the rest of the series.

One major attraction is the heroes' open-ended development, which is tied to the deeply reworked inventory system. Your character can be customized with a wide array of cosmetic choices and over two dozen different special abilities, from wall-running and healing to even smoke-warping and ceiling-crawling. Your character gains extra attribute points after passing certain missions, and the stats (for stamina, attack power, and running speed) can be freely reallocated whenever you wish. More skills, items, and decorative accessories gradually become available for purchase, providing a real incentive to replay the missions and to go out of the way to slay enemies, unlike in the past installments. Besides the fun of messing around with the 30 different types of gadgets, this focus on upgrades also lends a stronger feeling of adventure to Senran, in allowing your character to do things not previously possible when revisiting earlier missions.

The good news continues with Senran being the first stealth game to offer cooperative 4-Player support, via either LAN or Xbox Live. (Too bad there is no splitscreen option.) This multiplayer mode merely lets your team earn some extra gold together and has no bearing on your character's progress in the single-Player mode, but playing with friends can be a blast when you're trying to show off your baddest-ass, wackiest, or perhaps most gross-out-looking ninja. Senran is more flexible than its predecessors in rewarding the heroes for their performance, so plenty of thrills can be found, whether your characters patiently pull off stealth kills or sweep forth on a hectic rampage. (Apparently, Rikimaru is one extremely lenient employer.)

Smaller yet still-significant improvements polish up the rest of the game. Crawl spaces and alleys are much more abundant, greatly expanding the avenues of approach and escape. With two exceptions, the bosses marking the ends of the standard assassination missions can now be defeated via stealth kills, thus consistently preserving the emphasis on staying hidden (as opposed to the previous installments' forced frontal encounters). At the same time, Senran deals with the rarely covered aspect of scent. Accidentally plunging into a cesspit or becoming drenched in a guardsman's blood after a sloppy slaying is a fast way to give later enemies a heads-up when sneaking close behind them. Tiny details such as these help cement this installment as the high mark of its series.

Controls: Excellent

Although your character's face and voice can't be changed after the initial creation stage, the controls here are the most intuitive among the Tenchu games to date. Both of the analog sticks are finally used to wield full control over the camera and your character's movements, and the button assignments can be customized. Senran utilizes controller vibration in the best fashion, too, by having it warn your character of hidden floor traps or of entering the enemies' lines of sight. If you're playing the exported versions, you'll enjoy additional refinements as well, like the streamlined view-changing controls and the stronger warning vibrations.

Graphics: Above Average

Sure, the bad guys' running motions may look over-exaggerated, but the visuals are fine for the most part. Your character is nicely drawn (whether fashionably dressed or running about butt-nekkid). A lot of the scenery is rendered beautifully, be they the pleasant nighttime garden areas, the leaves gracefully raining down in the forest areas, or the gently wavering trees that outline the breathtaking skies, complete with clouds that realistically pass over and conceal the shining moon. In the cooperative mode, the color-coded dots that mark the teammates' positions make using the map as Player-friendly as possible.

Audio: Excellent

The sword-slashing, the water-splashing, and the rest of the sound effects are loud and crisp. The suspenseful, inspired music comes with a catchy new main theme. In another first for the series, the tunes now change accordingly to the alertness state of the bad guys (like in Acquire's Shinobido: Imashime). Better still, the voice acting in all versions of the game remains in Japanese, meaning that you're never stuck with any crappy dubbing.

Overall: Above Average

Despite its rough spots, Tenchu: Senran brings an invigorating change of pace to the ninja stealth action series. Its highly improved controls are far more intuitive and customizable. Its Player-friendly character development system encourages you to discover and choose from a large selection of awesome special abilities and cosmetic options. Its cooperative 4-Player support is fantastic for those seeking stealth action that can be enjoyed with friends. Rounding off the package are all the handy little touches, such as the gorgeously rendered environments and the controller vibration that actually serves a useful function. Stealth fans, even those who haven't bothered with this series before, will definitely want to check out Tenchu: Senran.