Tenchu Z Demo Impressions

When you think about it, ninjas occupy a very select, elite position in the echelons of pop culture and fanboy geekdom. Much like how pirates have become all the rage in the last few years, there's an unconditional acceptance of ninjas and all things ninja-related. Ninjas, aside from the deadly nature of their business, can do no wrong. In games, the ninja has enjoyed a largely successful run of titles, most notably represented by the Ninja Gaiden series. Ninjas, in and of themselves, are simply cool and demand respect. I would go so far as to say it takes a special brand of incompetence to screw up the ninja mystique.

Well slap me silly and call me Marvin (??), because From Software has seemingly pulled off the impossible. Based on my short time with the Tenchu Z demo, I'd say they have thoroughly taken everything that is cool about ninjas and pissed it into the toilet.

Assassinate the jump link and I shall explain...

Graphics and overall presentation aside (both are average), the biggest flaw with the demo is in the gameplay. The stealth component needs a lot of work. The enemy AI is extremely inconsistent and is a pushover during head-on swordfights. While pulling off a surprise attack is quite satisfying, there doesn't seem to be much incentive to remain undetected for most of the level. Your ninja is a capable enough fighter but I did not derive any joy from clashing swords with the enemy. I must be missing something because I was limited to a single 3-slash combo, a block and a crouching underhand slash. In short, the fighting system is boring as well as cumbersome.

More problematic than the fighting, my ninja simply does not feel graceful. You can make small leaps and grab ahold of low ledges. While on a rooftop you may also peek over the edge to do some recon. And that's the extent of your ninja stealth abilities. There are no other moves in your arsenal that even approaches what Sam Fisher might do in your average game of Splinter Cell. You can't scale the sides of tall structures, grab and execute enemies from above or do anything that you might expect a ninja from the movies would do.

I had watched the trailer for this game a couple months ago and was thinking Tenchu Z might be a diamond in the rough among all the A-list blockbusters coming down the pipe. The trailers featured very compelling action sequences and multiplayer games involved cooperating squads of ninjas. Playing co-operative and competitive matches with other ninjas has tremendous potential.

I came away from the demo very disappointed. Unless something drastic happens to the game mechanics in the final version (unlikely), I will probably be steering clear of this game when it comes out this summer.