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Rip Off!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: March 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Lets not sugar coat this. Right now this version is a greatest hit on PS2 selling for $19.99. How can you just change the name, add a few "extras", change the name and turn around and sell it for $49.99. Its a rip off, a con, or even a flim flam. This is the last time I buy a game based on the name alone. The gameplay is still slow. The graphics are not XBox quality. The sound effects are horrible. This is a huge waste of money. In closing, if I could give this game negative stars I would.

So here's the thing.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love the Tenchu games. I'll say now, I am biased in favor of these games, like, a lot. This one is my absolute favorite, for the PS2, and that's the thing; On the PS2, you can actually play this game. The control scheme for this game simply isn't friendly to the xbox controller, so the whole game feels clunky and awkward.

Completely out-classed by Ninja Gaiden

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 15
Date: April 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Average port of a PS2 game, this one was dead before it hit the shelf. Just like True Crime: Streets of LA came out at the same time as the vastly superior Grand Theft Auto made the jump to Xbox, Tenchu shows up practically the same day as Ninja Gaiden. NG has better controls, more addictive game-play, and graphics that make Tenchu look like a Playstation One game.

Tenchu's been out less than a month and already they're discounting the price, but don't waste your money. It's like kissing your sister. Spend the extra money and get one of the best games ever seen on Xbox - and this isn't it.

(No I don't work for Team Ninja!)

(...)out of $50 dollars!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: April 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

RETURN FROM DARKNESS on X-Box is nothing but a Playstation 2 version of WRATH OF HEAVEN. As far as I am concerned, Activision deceptively left out information about the game and changed the name to make Tenchu followers believe that it was something different. WRATH OF HEAVEN was cool, but you dont need to have a On-Line Multiplayer mode to enjoy the game. After I completed WRATH OF HEAVEN, I could'nt wait for the next Tenchu game. After being tricked into buying RETURN FROM DARKNESS, I dont care what comes out next, I will never buy another Tenchu game again.

Neat concepts, but could've been better..

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: March 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, why do you morons review something before it is out? What a disservice to have to read! This game should have borrowed heavily from splinter cell, I think any hardcore fan of stealth games would agree. I found the camera adjustments frustrating and some of the AI to be laughable. The only part that I liked was the stealth attacks. I have yet to find a game ported from ps2 to xbox that has been done well, with the exception of Grand Theft Auto.

Ten-chew on this. Hey, I made a funny!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: December 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ninja Gaiden changes things. Before I played it, Tenchu: Return from Darkness probably would've gotten four stars. But after I dipped into the pot of Ninja Gaiden-ness, and I returned to Tenchu and saw how limited the game was. Well, I didn't use those words exactly; I think I said, "Holy crap! This game sucks compared to Ninja Gaiden!"

But I'm here to talk about Tenchu, aren't I? Yeah, I guess so. Tenchu is a tale of two ninjas, namely a creepy looking ninja-dude, and a hot ninja-chick. There is also a dumpy bald guy, but that comes in later. As these ninjas you fight thru feudal Japan and gain spiffy weapons and crazy abilities. Rikimaru (the dude. Not the Big Lebowski dude though) and Ayame (I forget how to spell it) fight this old dude who is totally whack. Yeah, that makes sense.

What makes Tenchu suck is a lot of things. For starters it has bad graphics. I suppose that could be because it was originally a Playstation game (which I did play with an old buddy of mine who eventually went sort of insane), and after adding "new levels," the tech boys kind of forgot to make the mouths of the characters move when they spoke.

The multiplayer sucks. You can only play with one other person, and not against the machine itself. That really sucks for people like who have no friends (remember? He went insane). And the co-op thingies are stupid.

But, there are enough saving graces to make this game worthwhile. Heck, the "B-side" soundtrack on the Rikimaru storyline is worth the package. The storylines are varied in theme. The Rikimaru and dumpy guy stories play kind of samurai movies (Lone Wolf and Cub and Zatoichi movies, respectively). The Ayame one plays like a...ninja video game plot outline. It seemed a little less creative to me, and the B-side is not a funny as the other two.

The visual graphics are very nicely done. They are stark, high in contrast and somehow reminiscent of a comic book.

Without a doubt, however, the best feature in the game is the following procedure: after you've gained the "animal noise maker" use it with your ninja stars: 1) Toss ninja stars at enemies. They become alert and start searching for who threw that shuriken. 2) Blow the animal noise maker, which will sound like a random animal. (This is normally used when you make noise and alert guards, so as to fool them into thinking it was an animal that made the sound.) 3) Laugh your head off when said enemy reassures himself that it was "just an animal" that attacked him. Also works great when guards find decapitated bodies!

(If you liked that, get the bears to fall down the temple in the Buddhist temple level of the dumpy guy storyline. You'll figure it out.)

Tenchu gets a 3-star rating because it's an average game. It's not evil; it's just stupid at times. Not that that's a bad thing. So Tenchu lovers out there rejoice. I just can't comprehend why.

Great game, but should have been much better.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: March 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Tenchu on the PS1 is one of my all-time favorite games and influenced the mighty Splinter Cell in many ways. When I heard of an xbox version, I was positively thrilled by the possibilities. All they had to do was fix up the bad aspects of the first (I never played the second as I have no PS2): the useless aiming system, bad camera angles, clumsy swordplay, stupid enemies that relax their guard again and start yawning 10 seconds after getting hit in the face with a shuriken, you know what I'm talking about if you've ever played the series before. Unfortunately, none of these problems were addressed. That's not to say that you won't have fun; this is as good as authentic ninja-action gets. Too bad they just ported over the old PS2 version, problems intact, and just added a few more levels, this could have been much better than Splinter Cell. I love the stealth aspect and the items and weapons. Too bad about half of them are useless (colored rice to mark your path; what is this Hansel and Gretel? You have a map, bonehead!). The bows and spears taken from guards are an awesome idea, but are both so unwieldy that you're more likely to die trying to utilize them then if you just passed them by. I also wish for more main weapons then just what's given to you. Imagine choosing between a whole armamnet of ninja weapons like tonfa, chain weapons, spears, sai, sickles, etc. each with their own killing moves instead of just the same old swords every level. Speaking of killing moves, they are awesome, easily the high point of the game; the first time I executed a mid-air fatality with Ayame by landing with the guard's head between her knees and snapping his neck I actually shouted "YES!". Many of the new items are cool and some are even useful, but the best addition to this one is the ability to gain new move on each level by performing a certain number of stealth kills/fatalities/killing moves/whatever. You can cling to the ceiling, fake suicide and kill the guard when he comes to check if you're alive, camouflage against a wall by using a reflectory tarp, and all kinds of totally awesome and useful attacks and tricks. All in all, the new features help balance out the old mistakes and I recommend this game. Despite it's age-old flaws, Tenchu remains a must play series for wanna-be ninjas everywhere.

A good game but not a great port

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: March 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Tenchu is a great series, but they like to be confusing. Tenchu Return From Darkness on the XBox is really just a port of Tenchu 3 Wrath of Heaven on the PS2.

The game is very much like the PS2 Version - Wrath of Heaven with the addition of 2 new levels. You can play a male or female ninja. You go sneaking around levels doing your utmost to not be seen. If you are spotted, you have to kill your opponent quickly with one of your ninja weapons so they can't raise the alarm.

The graphics are reasonably nice, although not up to other XBox standards. The moths flickering around a torch, the falling petals from the well detailed trees, and the body movements are quite well done. But there are various clipping issues, causing bodies to merge with walls and ceilings. And again, as in the PS2 version, the water and floor/wall textures are pretty low quality.

Note for those who don't like blood - the game involves a guy with a ninja sword slashing at enemies. Blood does flow, and heads do go flying. Be warned.

I really would have expected something better from an XBox version. If they went through the trouble of giving it a new name and making it a new release, it should be a fresher game. But beyond those 2 new levels, it really shows its age now.

The background sound is inoffensive and Japanese-ey but the actual in-game sounds are again not up to Xbox standards. The bad guys all yell "NINJA!" and grunt occasionally. Other sounds are not very realistic.

If you've already got Tenchu 3, I wouldn't get this one unless you are a true Tenchu fan who absolutely must have each version of the series. If you haven't played Tenchu 3 yet, this is worth getting in the sense that Tenchu 3 was fun ninja swordplay. It's sort of like Splinter Cell in its stealthy aspect, just with poorer graphics and less smooth controls. The plot (saving young girls from forced prostitution, etc) does give you a sense that what you're doing is worthwhile.

Expect a fun game, but not a groundbreaking one as far as the XBox goes!

A Cult Classic Designed Only For Devoted Gamers

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am an old school gamer that uses the word "paddle" instead of "controller". So after reading reviews that lead only to console bashes between the Xbox and PS2, and comparisons to Ninja Gaiden without any mention of Onimusha and Shinobi, let's start with the fact that... NOBODY CARES! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME ONLY!
And as we are reviewing "Return From Darkness", you have to realize that the Tenchu franchise has been exclusive to Playstation since 1998, and I have played all of them. Like Metal Gear, Tenchu's originality defined the medievel stealth game.

The problem for Xbox is that even with the direct port of PS2's "Wrath of Heaven", a lot of the original PS1 drama is lost, and some Xbox gamers don't understand what is going on, and that really kills the game for anyone who is not familiar with the franchise. Suddenly, this game sucks.
But I don't blame Xbox gamers, I blame Microsoft for not including an introduction to get players involved into Tenchu's 6 years of videogame history, and get them hyped to play. They could have included a minigame with the extra levels, or at least a long cutscene when Rikimaru discovers Tatsu's "Return From Darkness".

For me, Tenchu embodies an almost pure devotion to loving the worst Japanese martial arts movies as if they were written by Akira Kirosawa. Like a Jackie Chan stunt cast and Sam Raimi studio, every stage is set for the bloodiest, goriest encounter. Just wait, then finish the bad guy off. Then imagine him as the guy that cut you off in traffic and you will really love this game.

Pretty good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off,If you already have tenchu wrath of heaven your not going to get that much here(DieHard fans wont care but i like the game either way).Tenchu Return From Darkness is kind of like an expansion pack but with the a few things different:First off,there's a couple of new characters to choose from.(mifuyu and ninja dog and another rikimaru-like dog).Also ther is the edition of Xbox live which is always fun to assasinate someone on the world (or is that just me??)Also 2 extra levels.But other than that few has changed with Tenchu RFD and by that i mean the graphics.While not completely horrible graphics,there just not up to Xbox standards,even if they are decent.But the heart of the game is stealth.Each time you sneak up to an enemy and hit the x button without getting spotted to a stealth kill (one of them is where you can get on top of them (Rikimaru's feet are on the guards shoulders) and then plunges the sword into the unfortunate guard's head) While this sounds very intense and grizzly its more stylish than grizzly (if you've seen the kills on previous tenchu games you'll know what i mean).Each time you get 9 beautiful stealth kills you get to learn a new ability for to keep after each level.Multiplayer is very fun as well when doing deathmatches/co-op,as each charachter has a cool/damaging attack and also there is a pretty big variety of characters to choose from.All in all if you like stealth games this one will satisfy you.this also is a pretty lengthy game since there are 3 characters to choose from.The AI is is another thing that this game slightly fails in as guards will only search for a couple of seconds after you're seen (the AI is mediocre)Buy this game if you like stealth games but beware:If you don't enjoy someone shoving a sword in someones back this may not be for you.

+this is a fun ninja stealth game

+Their is lots of powers you can learn lots of powers!

+Xbox live and regular multiplayer is very enjoyable

+Lots of authentic ninja weapons items and traps

+Sound is pretty good too

+Stealth kills! (So beautiful...)

-Some AI problems

-Graphics are really not up to Xbox standards

-not for impatient gamers who dont like stealth

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