Tenchu Z on XBox 360, a warning
Don’t get Tenchu Z on the Xbox 360. It’s a disaster. Graphics can do so much better, fight scenes are less than inspiring. Just like bad food, actually. I downloaded the demo on my XBOX 360 last night to check out it and it sucks - everything is a shortcoming. Even though it boasts of new action and ninja stealth for gamers, it falls short of expectations.
Read a review, written by my partner who played the demo last night too, from IGN:
June 7, 2007 - I really enjoyed the original Tenchu game on the PSX. It was dark, had a high level of difficulty, and the whole style of the game was just cool. It was what you expected out of a ninja-crazy stealth game.
Tenchu Z on the other hand suffers from very poor graphics (XBOX graphics anyone?), an extremely shallow combat system where you have maybe 2-3 different animations for your hits that all feel the same and where the lack of possible combinations makes you feel you’re playing an incomplete game. The stealth system seems to be lacking as well, as you seem to be very limited in what you can do. You can’t do anything but walk or crouch in the dark or on a roof..you can’t sneak up around corners, you can’t distract the enemies with noises/throwing stuff/etc, you can’t seem to be able to do much at all really, just walk around.
And when you do get caught, oh boy the combat will be fun! Just tap the X button a few times and you’ll kill the enemies so easily while enjoying the same 3-hit “combo” over and over again while the guards act like ignorant recruits. Did I mention the combat is very shallow and seems to be extremely easy and boring? Throwing a ninja star feels so weak and uninteresting, the same goes for all the other accessories you get in the demo. Did you try throwing the “grenade” and watch it explode in a… minuscule little poof of smoke? It’s just not very satisfying at all, especially with the poor graphics.
Overall, the demo was extremely disappointing and felt like a half-finished game. Sure, it’s a demo, but it seems to be fundamentally flawed, unless the final game is TOTALLY different in terms of combat/stealth/graphics/feel of the game. It would surprise me it would change so much in the next few days.
MMHMM…
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June 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Yeah the graphics aren’t good. They remind me of Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. However, this isn’t release version so things can change. I don’t see that happening but it’s possible. The colors were really washed out. I might rent it just because I like stealth ninja killing action but that’s only as far as this will amuse anyone.
I also agree there aren’t enough stealth actions. It’s not quite the Splinter Cell of ninja action that it should be. I want there to be an ability where I can just pounce a guy with some silent death action. You can’t hide behind curtains or in bushes either really.
June 10th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Yea.. i really doubt that it’s going to be better in the release version though. I hope you have fun anyway playing it. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that it’ll be a better release ;)