Tenchu: WoH is an older game for the PS2. It’s one of the classic stealth games in that it has many wonderful stealth elements broken up by horrendous boss fights that make no sense for a ninja at all. The story itself is more an excuse for a series of missions than a real plot, but it does it’s job alright, although if you don’t have any backstory from playing previous games then you won’t get half of the references.
Now, let’s talk gameplay. The controls are intuitive, if a bit easy to mess up on, but one you get the hang of it you’ll be maneuvering your ninja without terribly much trouble. The enemy AI is incompetent to a level that I’ve rarely seen in games from this generation, but that just makes you look more incredible, honestly enough. The items are limited, but this helps you be more creative if for no better reason than you might really need an item later and you’ve got to think, although some of them are utterly useless, like the dog bone. Some of the objectives are deceptively simple and others leave you with a bemused look on your face and a healthy helping of disappointment when you expected something more difficult. In fact the only level in the game that routinely provides challenge is the graveyard because the undead are simply tough opponents with better vision and less area for you to hide.
Also, the fact of the matter is that Ayame is the best character in the game. This is up to some debate and taste will always play a factor, but she is not only faster than the other two, her ultimate weapon poisons opponents, making her far better in boss fights. Still, a talented player can make all of the characters excellent choices.
The only huge complaint I have is the boss fights. It really begins to feel like after a designer had lovingly designed three layouts for a stealth mission with all these cunning ways to get through it his boss came up to him and said, “nice work, now put a badass action fight at the end of the thing so your players don’t get bored since we all know that stealth games suck.” Then the depressed designer put the most ridiculously pointless boss fight in an promptly hung himself by an NES controller. Some of the boss fights are so easy they are more like cutscene bookended fights with normal baddies, while others are monstrously difficult such as the fight against the giant and the witch. Getting tag-teamed by superpowered baddies is not nearly as fun as it sounds when you’re built entirely around being sneaky and cunning and your bloody invisibility doesn’t fucking work against them. *ahem* Sorry… where was I? Right, well I ask you this, does it make any sense for a ninja to walk up to a large group of enemies or his assassination target and announce his presence so that there can be an honorable duel. Hell no, he stabs, shoots, or in some other way kills the opponent without ever being seen. Boss fights in games about ninjas just don’t make sense, sorry.
Now, as for replay value, let me tell you about it. There are three layouts to every level for every character and getting grand master on all of them is not only challenging, it becomes one of those Megaman style “this shit will not beat me” addictions. But hey, getting the best score on every version of every level is too repetitive for some people, right? Well there’s also a multiplayer mode that is quite entertaining just for your ability to play not only as the characters, but also as a host of enemies. It comes in both versus and co-op modes, but the only real problem is that you actually have to have a friend within a few feet of the console that wants to play with you and this is just not always the case. Yes, the lack of modern online multiplayer does seem to be a huge drawback in hindsight, but seeing as this game was made back in the dark ages when games didn’t have fancy features, we’ll have to forgive it. The multiplayer is enjoyable provided two people who genuinely like stealth gameplay reside close enough to each other to play. One thing I should mention though is that the split-screen absolutely blows for ninjas because being aware of your surroundings is vital and the screen is simply too small to see clearly and having your opponent’s screen right next to you is both distracting and way too tempting to glance at, even if you don’t want to cheat.
So, do I recommend Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven to you? Well that depends on what you want from a game. The stealth gameplay is enjoyable, although you have to deal with the boss fights in the story mode. The layouts make for some decent replay value if you enjoy that sort of thing, but the multiplayer is only fun if you have the right kind of friends in close proximity. I like it, but it’s not for everyone.
Visual: 3/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Story: 2/5
Overall: 3/5
17 October 2009
08 October 2009
The First Review
Alright, I'll admit to not beating that many games for someone who is a hardcore gamer. I've played a great deal, but getting to the end of most games isn't that imperative to me. I could be said to be the antithesis of a completionist, but if I get in the right mood I can do what I did to TES4: Oblivion. (I have beaten every single quest like in the game, not counting the miscelaneous quests of which I'm missing maybe fifteen or so.) Still, I have played plenty of games and beaten at least the main quest of several so I'm going to take this chance to review them in no specific order. Some of them are going to be pretty old games, but think of those as a chance to enjoy a few of my old favorites as a pick them apart into tiny pieces of beaten muck.
Without further b/s...
Psychonauts
Psychonauts is the first game released by developer Double Fine and would most likely be considered an action-adventure game, but genres and whatnot don’t make a game so let’s get down to the facts. First off, Psychonauts is an incredibly imaginative game. You play Raz, a kid who has run away from his family circus to become a psychonaut, basically a psychic secret agent, and the game opens with him insinuating himself in the Whispering Rock Summer Camp for psychics. He has only two days to earn every merit badge, gain all his psychic training, and become a psychonaut. Along the way he runs into a few interesting situations which make him the game’s hero. I’m not going to the give out any of the kinds of spoilers that get popcorn thrown at me at movie theaters, but let’s just say that the game goes in some odd directions.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that psychonauts handles like sticking your controller and hands into a goldfish bowl full of piranhas. The camera can at times be the most difficult opponent in the game, but once you get it under control and learn the quirks you can pull off pretty much any trick the game can think up, which is good because towards the end of the game you’re going to need them.
Ah, yes, the difficulty curve. Psychonauts consists of two halves. The first is a series of little more than training missions where there is nearly no penalty for failure except to try again. Any player with a working limb should be able to take these levels without any problem. Then about half way through the game the difficulty jumps, acceptably. Really the middle levels are not terribly difficult and they are quite imaginative. It is only towards the very end of the game that all the little quirks you’ve had to pick up on slowly over the majority of the game become murderous obstacles. What was once simple can become truly frustrating and I’ll admit I had to put the game down and walk away a few times so that I didn’t start grinding my teeth. Still, if you’ve spent the game mastering the finicky little controls to an impressive point the final levels present an enjoyable challenge.
Yes, I would liken Psychonauts to the old Mega Man games on the NES. There are points where you want to scream at the game and tell it that you hate it and never want to be friends again, but you still come back for another beating when you’ve had a little time to think of that one other way you might try to take the next obstacle.
So really there’s little to say about Psychonauts. It’s a clever and fun game that has more than its share of gameplay issues, but is forgiven of all problems by the fact that you can make seagulls explode with your mind.
Visual: 3/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Story: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
Without further b/s...
Psychonauts
Psychonauts is the first game released by developer Double Fine and would most likely be considered an action-adventure game, but genres and whatnot don’t make a game so let’s get down to the facts. First off, Psychonauts is an incredibly imaginative game. You play Raz, a kid who has run away from his family circus to become a psychonaut, basically a psychic secret agent, and the game opens with him insinuating himself in the Whispering Rock Summer Camp for psychics. He has only two days to earn every merit badge, gain all his psychic training, and become a psychonaut. Along the way he runs into a few interesting situations which make him the game’s hero. I’m not going to the give out any of the kinds of spoilers that get popcorn thrown at me at movie theaters, but let’s just say that the game goes in some odd directions.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that psychonauts handles like sticking your controller and hands into a goldfish bowl full of piranhas. The camera can at times be the most difficult opponent in the game, but once you get it under control and learn the quirks you can pull off pretty much any trick the game can think up, which is good because towards the end of the game you’re going to need them.
Ah, yes, the difficulty curve. Psychonauts consists of two halves. The first is a series of little more than training missions where there is nearly no penalty for failure except to try again. Any player with a working limb should be able to take these levels without any problem. Then about half way through the game the difficulty jumps, acceptably. Really the middle levels are not terribly difficult and they are quite imaginative. It is only towards the very end of the game that all the little quirks you’ve had to pick up on slowly over the majority of the game become murderous obstacles. What was once simple can become truly frustrating and I’ll admit I had to put the game down and walk away a few times so that I didn’t start grinding my teeth. Still, if you’ve spent the game mastering the finicky little controls to an impressive point the final levels present an enjoyable challenge.
Yes, I would liken Psychonauts to the old Mega Man games on the NES. There are points where you want to scream at the game and tell it that you hate it and never want to be friends again, but you still come back for another beating when you’ve had a little time to think of that one other way you might try to take the next obstacle.
So really there’s little to say about Psychonauts. It’s a clever and fun game that has more than its share of gameplay issues, but is forgiven of all problems by the fact that you can make seagulls explode with your mind.
Visual: 3/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Story: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
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