Tenchu: Time of the Assassins Review

By Ellie Gibson Published 5 July, 2006

Time for the bin, more like.

Version tested: PSP

Oh GOOD, another game set in feudal Japan. Why do developers persist with this? As everyone knows, history is boring and rubbish. Hence you don't see many copies of Grand Theft Auto: Constantinople on the shelves, or Project Gotham Penny Farthing Racing, and you're probably not looking forward to Halo 3000 B.C.

But it seems they just can't resist setting game after game in feudal Japan, confident that the simple addition of a stupid pinball mechanic or giant crab will keep us enthralled. So here comes Tenchu: Time of the Assassins, which doesn't feature pinball or crabs, actually - but does feature ninjas.

To be specific, it features five Tenchu favourites: Rikimaru, Tesshu, Rin and Ayame. A fifth character can be unlocked later, if you can stay awake that long. Each fighter has their own storyline, and each storyline is a load of old cobblers involving disquieting auras, corrupt politicians, filthy spies and the like. Plus, of course, ninjas.

At the start of every mission, you have to select which items to take with you, which is a bit tedious. But not as tedious as the missions themselves, thanks to dull environments, a shoddy camera and uninspiring objectives.

As with the previous Tenchu titles, the main aim of the game is to creep around without alerting the attention of your enemies, pausing to stab them where necessary. There's a little icon on the bottom left of the screen which shows how wary any nearby opponents are - if it shows a bit of fire and two exclamation marks, you're about to have a fight.

And chances are, it'll be rather a frustrating one - not because your enemies are particularly skillful, but because the camera is particularly rubbish. It displays no logic in following the action, so if your enemy disappears off the screen for a moment there's no way of knowing what he's up to or which side he's about to attack you from next. You can control the camera by holding down both the shoulder buttons and using the analog nubbin to move it around ve-ry-slowww-lyyy, but as you might imagine this isn't always easy to do when you're in the middle of a battle.

Hammer time

'Tenchu: Time of the Assassins' Screenshot 1

Say hello to Rikimaru - no relation to Rikimartin.

The control system is pretty simple - you press one button to defend and another to attack, and you hammer the attack button to pull off combos. You can lock onto a specific enemy by holding down the left shoulder button, but for some inexplicable and completely stupid reason, you can't jump while you're doing this.

So chances are, you'll want to avoid fights wherever possible, using your stealth skills to creep around undetected. But unfortunately, the stealth system doesn't work well enough either. True, you can attempt to get through levels by skipping across rooftops, aided by your grappling hook, which is quite cool. But eventually you'll have to do a bit on foot, which is where the problems set in.

Let's say you're creeping around (again, ve-ry-slowww-lyyy) and the icon alerts you to the fact that an enemy is nearby. So, you back up against a wall - only to find that the camera is now focused entirely on your character, and you can't see who's approaching or from which direction. Far too more often than not, by the time you've pressed both the shoulder buttons and started hauling the camera around it's too late - the enemy is upon you and you've got a chest full of steel to prove it.

So you'll probably find it saves time and blood to simply run about a bit until you spot the enemy, which sort of defeats the point of the whole stealth thing. It also means you'll get a lower rating at the end of the level - which will arrive quickly in most cases, since they're very short.

They're even shorter if you use the map, which displays the full layout plus, often, the location of the end point. There are rarely any tricky obstacles in your path - it's just a case from getting to A to B. For example, one of the missions can be completed in minutes just by wandering around a bit, defeating three enemies, and killing a cat (it might have been a wolf, actually. But if so it was a rubbish one).

Environmental issues

'Tenchu: Time of the Assassins' Screenshot 2

Not all the levels are grey. As you can see, some of them are a sort of greenish-grey.

You can choose not to use the map, of course - but then you'll find yourself wandering aimlessly through some of the dullest environments ever. They're generally sparse, poorly lit and grey. Grey, grey, grey. If this game is based on historical fact, it would appear that feudal Japan bore a striking resemblance to Croydon, only with shorter buildings and less vomit on the pavements. And possibly even less ninjas.

When environments aren't busy being grey, they're hard at work being black. Bizarrely, you can usually only see a few steps in front of you at any time - beyond that, there's just a black void behind which lurks who knows what terrors and dangers. The experience is much akin to standing at the door of the Blue Orchid in Croydon, in fact. Again, this makes it very difficult to see what lies ahead and prepare yourself accordingly.

If the environments don't bore you, the endless on-screen text conversations certainly will. Some of them seem to take as long as the actual missions themselves, and although the translation isn't too bad, you'll rarely receive any interesting or useful information.

There are some animated cutscenes, but not a lot, which is probably a good thing - since although they do feature decent enough graphics, the script and American voiceovers are terrible. It's hard to feel like you're actually playing a game set in feudal Japan when characters are inclined to spout things like, "Sheesh, I'm just gonna take a piss, okay?".

Environmental issues

'Tenchu: Time of the Assassins' Screenshot 3

Quite.

When you inevitably get bored of the single player game, you could give the multiplayer mode a try - we couldn't, since they only sent us one copy. Then there's the mission editor, which features options aplenty. You can create a normal, versus or co-op mode, lay out the terrain, select which enemies appear, choose from a variety of objectives and even write the introductory text.

Which is probably great if you like that sort of thing; not so much if you think that being presented with a mission editor in a rubbish game is a bit like going to a restaurant, getting served a plate of dog eggs and being proudly informed that you can eat them in whatever order you wish.

The point is, Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is very much a plate of dog eggs. Big crusty old white ones. Neither the stealth nor the combat systems work properly, and the missions are uninspiring and over too quickly. The presentation leaves far too much to be desired, what with dull, sparse environments where you can only see a few feet in front of you, tiresome text conversations and a dreadful camera. There's not even an in-game tutorial, for goodness' sake - just 31 whole pages of text to scroll through.

Good points? Well, the music is all right. In a sort of Japanese Riverdance as performed by Tracy Chapman kind of way. And enemies' abdomens spurt open nicely when you slice them up. Frankly, that's about it. The Tenchu series has been around for far too long - perhaps since Japan was all feudal, or at least it feels that way - and now it's time to say goodbye. Not even a giant crab could save this one.

3 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Schiraman #1 6 years ago

    Great review :)

  • Azazel #2 6 years ago

    Hmmm, I see what you're saying, but....

    The part about their being no giant crabs... that's a joke right?

  • pauleyc #3 6 years ago

    This has to be one of the best screenshots I've ever seen. Madness.

  • Hicksy #4 6 years ago

    Oh dear...

    :)

  • smelly #5 6 years ago

    @pauleyc

    haha!! looks like it's been drawn by me!

  • itamae #6 6 years ago

    yadda yadda yadda ninjas!


    /bought

    Actually, I have bought this already and have to agree that it isn't very good (okay, it's pretty shite). Oh well.

  • repairmanjack #7 6 years ago

    It's THAT good?! Shite.

  • mingster #8 6 years ago

    Buy Syphon Filter instead

  • HyperShadow #9 6 years ago

    Hmm, you know what would have made this game +5pts?

    Improved draw distance. Thats the only thing that lets it down in reality.

    The short missions aren't a problem because its a handheld game and the short missions lends itself to the time of the average journey to work.

    Shame about the draw distance though.

  • Razzajazz #10 6 years ago

    Someone hasn't been to Croydon for a while..... Sadly, the Blue Orchid is no more!! :)

  • El_MUERkO #11 6 years ago

    played the japanese version donkeys ago, the draw distance is cacker than the camera

    oh how the mighty have fallen since tenchu 2 :(

  • Steroyd #12 6 years ago

    teh giant crab MASSIVE DAMAGE!! :)

    The feudal Japan scene has been more overkilled more or less the same as WWII games.

    Tenchu 3 was there with Tenchu 1 and 2 even if it didn't add anything more than a graphics update.

    The Tenchu's after that though are complete and utter shite quite basically.

  • SeesThroughAll #13 6 years ago

    Ubers**t

  • kangarootoo #14 6 years ago

    Christ, what is with it Tenchu these days. Way back in the PS1 days it was great old fun.

    Now everything it touches turns to sand. And not good sand, like some wind and sand powered desert ninja. But sharp brown sand for making driveways and cement, that a dog has pooed in. No fun at all, not a bit.

  • lambtron #15 6 years ago

    The problem with Tenchu is it hasn't progressed. The controls are horribly horribly broken. This kind of shit was forgiveable on the PS1 and I really liked the first two games. But things have moved on. In comparison to Ninja Gaiden you feel like some kind of sub-standard crap Ninja who can only change direction by rotating on the spot and THEN moving. Combat feels clunky as hell too which is kind of not the point of being a Ninja...

    I do not have the slightest problem with the setting of the game. Being a Ninja should be cool (see Ninja Gaiden). I always liked the stealth aspect of Tenchu, far more than say Splinter Cell. They just need to actually, you know, bring it into the 21st century...

  • Vin #16 6 years ago

    History rocks.

  • AOFanboi #17 6 years ago

    EG in "3D game ruined by terrible camera" shocker.

    Which only goes to show: A lot of games would be far better rendered in 2D. Imagine Exit on the PSP in 3D? Would have been a frustrating battle with the camera too.

    (Developers, please realize that the PSP has ONE analogue stick, so you cannot use one for movement and another one for camera like you can on the PS2.)

  • Kami #18 6 years ago

    "As everyone knows, history is boring and rubbish"

    Umm...

    "Hence you don't see many copies of Grand Theft Auto: Constantinople on the shelves, or Project Gotham Penny Farthing Racing, and you're probably not looking forward to Halo 3000 B.C."

    This is where I stopped reading the review. Game is crap, alright, we expected that.

  • Zero Beat #19 6 years ago

    "Uhhh, Genji 2 is an action game which is based on Japanese history. Uhhm, being based on history, the stages of the game will also be based on famous battles which actually took place in ancient Japan."

    "So here's this giant enemy CRAB."

  • parablax #20 6 years ago

    ....As everyone knows, history is boring and rubbish. Hence you don't see many copies of Grand Theft Auto: Constantinople on the shelves,....

    Hmmm, so youre not excited about Assassins Creed then?

  • heyyo #21 6 years ago

    LOLOLLOLOLOL TIME FOR THE FUCKING BIN INDEED!

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #22 6 years ago

    @ Kami and parablax.

    He was making a JOKE.

  • space_ace #23 6 years ago

    first paragraph not convincing

  • GuiltySpark #24 6 years ago

    Not convincing of what?

    Alls its doing is introducing the game..

    You should be used to alarmingly long and strange intros by now y'know...

  • patchbox360 #25 6 years ago



    'As everyone knows, history is boring and rubbish.'

    can't wait for the Assassins Creed review

  • Azazel #26 6 years ago

    As a member of the John Walker Appreciation Society (kind of like Scientology), I demand alarmingly long and strange intros!

  • some1 #27 6 years ago

    Ellie the intro of your review was bloody shite tripe. You dont like feudal Japan games then you shouldnt be reviewing them. Not to say this game is any good cos it seems shit but fuck sake like, talk about bias anyway.

    besides history and fantasy really arent the same, im sure ninjas werent girls dressed in what looks like a potato sack

  • The-Bodybuilder #28 6 years ago

    I'm dissapointed EG didn't mention teh REAL TIME weapon change for MAXIMUM DAMMAGE.

  • NegativeZero #29 6 years ago

    "you're probably not looking forward to Halo 3000 B.C."

    A game where you play as a Spartan in 3000 BC... God of War? I must say I *am* actually looking forward to that.

  • Fido128 #30 6 years ago

    Nice review, and the intro made me smile.

  • Artemis_Matsas #31 6 years ago

    History is boring????


    Hmmm... Neeeext!!!!

  • a8a #32 6 years ago

    Yeah, really. It may be pure irony (the stuff about history and japanese feudal games), but since it's not funny, its kind of hard to tell. Really, it just comes across like Ellie didn't want to review the game from the start and approached it with the attitude that it was going to be rubbish, no matter what.

    I am in no way trying to defend the game, but Tenchu has been great in the past, and I would hope that they can make it great again. To simply 'say goodbye' to the series would be a great loss, to my mind.

    The score may be correct (I haven't played it so can't comment) but the review is poor.

  • Vinicity #33 6 years ago

    What exactly is a dog egg?

  • reality_cheque #34 6 years ago

    A turd.

  • jlaakso #35 6 years ago

    Always amuses me to read a thrashing like this and then take note of the ads on the page.

    Shame, really. I don't have a PSP, but I've been waiting for Tenchu to put its act together. I really liked Tenchu 2. (Or was it the first one... not sure anymore, on the PS, anyway.)

  • space_ace #36 6 years ago

    Not convincing of what?

    take your pick:

    a/ irony
    b/ humor
    c/ fact

  • zErOb_cOOl #37 6 years ago

    Why hasn't Tenchu moved on from its debut on the PS1. Its a good concept, was executed fairly well on the PS1, but has never been bettered.....and the sad thing is (for everybody) I think it could easily be bettered.

  • Xephon70 #38 6 years ago

    Buy Shinobido: Imashime instead. Awesome Ninja game. By the people who did the original Tenchu, but know their stuff.

    No crabs either.

  • bubble #39 6 years ago

    Dear EG, please employ reviewers who have finished their GCSEs. kaythnx.

  • Pac #40 6 years ago

    "Dear EG, please employ reviewers who have finished their GCSEs. kaythnx."

    Your joking, right?

    Surely the reviewer is just trying to make a dull game interesting with some wit and humour.

    It's hardly an entry for the Booker prize.

  • HyperShadow #41 6 years ago

    Rated at 3/10, cue adverts plastered all over the site. Rofl.

  • SlackMaster #42 6 years ago

    History is cool... fact!!! According to some pipe smoking, cord patch jacket wearing, bearded type. :s

    But yeah realistic games set in feudal Japan would be ace... can never get enough of samurai or ninja games.

  • GuiltySpark #43 6 years ago

    "take your pick:

    a/ irony
    b/ humor
    c/ fact "

    So all reviews have to be ironic??

    And the humour is basically down to the person reading...You and I didnt find it funny...Mr.X might of done..

    And if by "fact" you mean about history being boring...then thats just her opinion..

    I dont find history particularly exciting either to be honest.

    The review did its job..I now know that the game is wank..So why bitch about one paragraph?

  • Drakron #44 6 years ago

    I wish the PSP did not had so many Killer Apps like this one since I might actually get one.

  • animal_mother #45 6 years ago

    History is boring? Eurogamer reviewers truly are chavs.

  • animal_mother #46 6 years ago

    "I dont find history particularly exciting either to be honest. "

    Which history are you referring to exactly? There's only several thousand years of it.

    BTW it's "might've" or "might have", never "might of". So your English sucks as much as your history.

  • GuiltySpark #47 6 years ago

    Wow you really are picky aren't you?

    I said one word wrong...So what?

    You said BTW...omigawd you must be a total retard!

    I dont find studying history exciting...That's all..

    But come on..obviously you know more about what I like than I do!

    And how do you know my "history" sucks? Did i say anything that will lead you to believe that?

    Fact is that the reviewer doesn't like history..

    Lets burn her alive!

  • Drakron #48 6 years ago

    Maybe in the USA were such barbarian tactics are still in effect, this is eurogamer ... not northamericangamer.

  • TheJanitor #49 6 years ago

    TERRIBLE review. the first paragraph alone is enough to make you wanna choke the writer.

  • Magnos #50 6 years ago

    This review is crap. From the text it is clear that the reviewer never really played the previous Tenchu games, does not like stealth games and moreover thinks that history is "boring". Then why on Earth is she the person who reviewed this game? It is like giving a racing game for review to a person who hates racing games...pointless.

    Just an example that shows she never played with Tenchu games before: she complains about that when you back against the wall, the camera focuses on the character. She does not realise that this is on purpose! The developers assumed that when you back up against a wall then in most cases you want to peek out at the edges of the wall. It is quite stupid strategy to back up against a wall when you notice someone is coming (as the reviewer did) as he/she can come from any direction ...backing up against a wall does not make you invisible...

  • mungolikebeans #51 6 years ago

    I think this review is clearly written by someone who's a bit stupid.

    'history is boring and rubbish'

    I rest my case.

  • miiiguel #52 6 years ago

    I think the reviewer reviewers (aka previous posters) are arsh on their comments as they love the series.
    My two cents on this is that the game may make sense to hardcore fans of the series (give me an X-Men Legends III, and I'll kill any reviewer that's talk shit of the game, even if they're right, if you get my point...).

  • Magnos #53 6 years ago

    You may be right on that Miiiguel but on the other hand the reviewer of the game clearly hates this genre (stealth games) but then she shouldn't review it! If you love or hate something then you cannot be objective about it...

  • drnurse #54 4 years ago

    i hate the words used in the review... and it looks like the reviewer was really messed up playing the game

    actually if YOU're really a gamer u can master the controls in a bit of hours (or days)
    finished the game with all Grand Master rank and without being seen, no items used =)