| Well Done, Rickymartin! Despite some dullard graphics and some elements of repetition, Tenchu 4 proves to be a very satisfying and very addictive game. It also marks one of the rare events where a third party Wii title is very satisfying, is one of the few mature games on the Wii, at least until the release of Mad World, and hits an aspect of PC gaming that Nintendo consoles (Doom and Quake aside) typically fail to achieve. Ubisoft has come out in force, and I certainly await the tide of new Wii games to follow suit for what's shaping up to be the first truly versatile Nintendo platform in a long time.
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| Graphics
- Sound - Gameplay - Depth
- Multiplayer | Reviewed
by John Del Percio |
GRAPHICS
79 % |
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I've mixed feelings on the graphics. The textures aren't as deep as they could have been, and the effects are at times lacking. On the other hand it's one of the few games to attempt a natural color palette on the Wii, and shoot for realistic graphics. Lighting had to play a large part in a stealth game, which is no doubt difficult on the Wii. Being 480i is a big of an oddity though. There is an odd use of the wii palette in which black is truly gray providing a very washed out look to many of the textures. This effect is not visible here due to color correction applied by our image processing software.
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SOUND
80 % |
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The sound is excellent overall, the music is great, however long periods of being stuck in the same areas can yield hearing the short clips a bit too often. This is especially true for the "suspense" music when guards are searching or you. Voiceovers are pretty poor for the generic enemies, but excellent for main characters.
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GAMEPLAY
96 % |
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This is where the game shines. Plain, simple, addicting. Trying your hand at the next mission always seems desirable, no matter how long you've been playing. Even when elements get boring, the feel of completing the mission is always rewarding.
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DEPTH
84 % |
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The story is tired and old, but still engaging enough to fill its purpose. Gameplay lacks depth in terms of items and viable tactics, though this isn't truly a negative, and in many ways is much of the charm.
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MULTIPLAYER
0 % |
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N/A
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Sometimes, less is more. Sometimes simpler is far more fun. In the age of "next generation" "How much can we cram into one game to make it as complex as possible" gaming, a lot of the elements that made many of us into gamers years ago have been utterly stripped away. Games like this remind me that it's not me who's losing my interest in gaming: It's gaming that's lost it's interest in me. I'm glad to see there are some designers out there who remember what it takes to make something simple and fun at the same time.
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