Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (PS2)

The first thing I noticed was the change in graphics. Both character modals and level layouts appear to be in places more bland or rushed than the predecessor.
What is good is that the characters are faster both in terms of running, jumping and fighting. On the whole, it feels far more fluid.
Many levels are based in woods, hill tops and other locations far away from civilization, the game has so many trees, bushes and hills that on certain levels a player will become completely confused as to where they are going and what is happening around them. Sometimes I was running directly into death pits, off of cliffs or into enemies without even noticing until it was too late. This became frustrating, and it was only after playing levels the whole way through a few times and memorizing the majority of a level that this would stop happening. However, some of the graphics on these levels make them some of the most atmospheric and beautiful to look at to date.

There has been a change to the layout too. Each level has always had 3 different layouts of enemies and items. But in ‘Shadows’ there is something more. Each location has 3 hardness levels, easy, medium and hard, (which tweaks that there are more or less enemies with harder fighting skills).
What this means is that there are potentially 9 different gaming modes for each level. Further more, because there are 2 characters to play as, for all those who are pure-crazy perfectionists like myself about completing the game with Grand master on each level is going to have to do so on 18 different layouts per-level! This is just plain ridiculous.

A few innovative extras on some of the levels have been added to make the game a little more diverse. Some levels require you not to be spotted once or game over, some requiring you to explore levels for specific objects before pursuing forward and so on. Some of this was attempted on Tenchu 2, however they are far better executed this time round.

There are two characters to play as on this instalment, Ayumi who has been the second main character of every instalment so far, and a new character named Rin. Rikimaru remains absent because of events in other games. But the break away from the stories of the last games makes this more approachable to newcomers.
Rin is the star of 'Shadows'. A younger ninja to Ayumi and decidedly less experienced, the story revolves around a revenge plot against a ninja group known as the 'Kuroya', who destroyed the rest of her 'Beniya' clan. Whilst there are no points for originality, I will say this. The enemies in 'Shadows' are far more interesting than any of the other games. My most favourite is 'Ranzou', a stone-cold killer with a very cool attitude and a vampire like face. In fact I would go far as to say the story in 'Shadows' is the best in the series so far.

A few other extras have been added. After stealth killing enemies, scrolls can be picked up. With enough of these more moves (some new, some old but all very enjoyable and interesting including a temporary invisible move!) and extras can be activated (such as new costumes etc).

‘Fatale Shadows’ doesn’t look or feel as polished as ‘Wrath of Heaven’, however, if you’re not expecting more than another part in the series, ‘Fatale Shadows’ is still an enjoyable experience. Many of the levels are just as large and colourful as ever and the gameplay, after some adjusting to speed, is even more enjoyable.