Mason sneaky ninja1/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Of course, on occasions, a face-to-face battle is inevitable and these skirmishes are no less graphic: we just feel sorry for whoever had to clean all the mess up. Despite her relative lack of stature, Ayame’s death-dealing is no less bloody thanks to her lethal twin swords. Rikimaru has a simple throat-cutting attack and a rather more complex move that involves a couple of broken bones for the victim before the terminal sword through the chest. MASON SNEAKY NINJA FULLYep, there’s blood - a veritable slaughterhouse full of it in Tenchu, the main reason it sports that small red round circle with the number eighteen on the cover and with each characters’ different kill, powerful gushes of crimson are a prime feature. Take time to watch the guards, their movement pattern and check out if they have any colleagues in the vicinity before springing out from the shadows. Other than this, the best advice we can give is to have patience: never has the old adage “fools rush in” rung truer than in Tenchu. The most practical of these are the armour (for obvious reasons) and an extremely helpful horn that imitates a random member of the local wildlife, thus dissuading any suspicious guards. As you progress through the missions, unlockable items will become available. ![]() Best TipĪt the start of the game, Rikimaru and Ayame can choose from a limited selection of equipment to help them. MASON SNEAKY NINJA PLUSThese, plus many other moves, coupled with the ninja’s ability to hug walls and hang off roofs all help in his or her main objective: to remain undetected! Naturally, should the ninja have to resort to combat, there’s a range of vicious sword attacks at Rikimaru and Ayame’s disposal too. Pressing a movement button twice in quick succession performs a quick skip in the relevant direction when crouching down, the ninja can spin around on the spot and also roll in any direction. ![]() Both can nimbly leap in any direction, and this can be accentuated into a power jump, with the ninja performing an impressive barrel-roll in mid-flight. Leaving aside the “kill” moves that we’ve already mentioned, the two Azuma clan ninjas are as highly manoeuvrable as their status would suggest. It may appear difficult to get to grips with initially, but Tenchu rewards perseverance…and patience. The floating camera can be controlled by the player which is especially useful for looking around corners and thanks to the understated music, the game has an impressive atmosphere and authentic feel to it. It’s ten levels are subtly varied, from the assassination missions to the invasion of Rikimaru and Ayame’s own castle and the fortified home of chief bad guy, Lord Mei-oh. Stealth gaming was just taking a grip in the late nineties, but Tenchu was one of the few games that totally embraced it: a “Grand Master” score was only possible if the player completed a level without being spotted once. As well as all the trappings you would expect from a game set in 16th Century Japan, Tenchu also incorporates various mythological elements, giving it a classy and compelling supernatural sheen. A bitter power struggle ensues between the feudal lords which takes in several later levels, but don’t panic: there’s still plenty of assassinating to be done in the meantime, although ultimately Rikimaru and Ayame must rescue the kidnapped Princess (aka Lord Gohda’s daughter, Kiku). Starting off with some routine kill-the-main-bad-guy levels, Tenchu slowly develops into an intriguing story involving the ninjas’ boss, Lord Gohda, and his rival Lord Mei-oh. It also has a colour-coded alert indicator: blue means you are undetected and can go about your deadly business freely yellow means you’d better hide quickly whilst red means you’ve been spotted: run away or prepare to fight! This useful device tells the ninja how close his enemies are and whether he has been spotted or not – the higher the number, the closer the enemy. ![]() Know it well grasshopper, for it will be your loyal friend. She and Rikimaru both have a grappling hook for those occasions when the roof becomes very appealing. Packing three different kill moves to Rikimaru thanks to her twin short swords (or wakizashi), Ayame moves quicker, although the trade-off is her inability to finish a conversation. Sylph-like and graceful, don’t let this fool you into not taking Ayame seriously. The silver-haired Rikimaru is the stronger of the two ninjas. He sports a nifty power jump, some quick-footed shifting and a narrow rectangular sword (or ninjaken) that offers three different “kill” moves - these vary according to how he is facing his victim at the moment of attack. Rikimaru is an agile fellow - as you might expect for a ninja. ![]()
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