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Tenchu Z

Written by DM on Thursday, June 28 2007

This “next” generation of gaming has been a rollercoaster ride, for sure. In my 20-some-odd years in and out of the industry, I cannot remember a time when the ups and downs came so often one after another. A lot of this is based on the fact that in the early days of this new generation of gaming, many titles that we see are sequels or older franchises that have been dusted off for a quick buck. Tenchu Z falls into the latter category. This is not to say that sequels and old franchises do not make for good next-gen games, but the chances are less likely that those games will have revolutionary features that really stick out as next-gen. Be all of that as it may, Tenchu Z is here on the Xbox360, and we got the chance to break it down.

If you are a fan of the Tenchu series you will certainly be right at home with this title. Assassination missions, use of the grappling hook, perimeter scaling, avoiding patrolmen’s rounds, and hiding in the shadows – the old staples are all here, and to be honest, they are mostly unchanged from the last incarnation of Tenchu on the Playstation 2. The game’s missions are just what you would expect from at Tenchu game. Some are assassinations, others are fact finding missions, and yet others are sabotage plots. The occasional escort mission is thrown in for variety, and you will get to use your ninjitsu abilities to help keep your ward safe or obtain information from confidential sources without detection.

One of the differences that you will notice though is that the long time protagonist of the series, Rikimaru, is not the ninja du jour this time around. In fact, Rikimaru is now your mentor, and he doles out the assignments and missions that you will take on throughout the game. In fact, when you begin your Tenchu Z adventure, you will be able to create your own main character. You can chose from male or female, along with a decent number of face types and styles. You can even chose the clothes setup you want to use while playing. Unless it was lost upon me though, the character model choice you make does not impact the game play at all.

What is the reason for all of this? Well, it seems that the clans are at war yet again, those rascally clans. Your job is to work behind the scenes in order to prevent an all-out civil war. Unfortunately, the game does little to provide you with any back-story as to why you care if the clans are at war besides some flimsy lines of text and some curt cut scenes. The game is basically there for you to finish the missions more than discover what the end of the story holds in store.

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