Here's a game that requires no introduction for those familiar with the PS1. The tenchu series has since fallen into near obscurity in today's gaming world, but back in 1998, it made a pretty big splash. A modern stealth ninja game that had stealth gameplay elements, but released prior to Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid was the standard bearer for the modern stealth genre, but Tenchu was a nice appetizer to the main course.
In Tenchu, you take control of either Rikimaru, or Ayame, a female ninja, and you traverse openly designed levels, trying to avoid detection while killing enemies silently. Attack an enemy without being seen and you are rewarded with an instant stealth kill. However, upon detection, disposing of your opponents becomes quite a bit more difficult, especially with the quirky and sometimes frustrating fighting system in place that takes quite a bit of learning to get the hang of. Until you learn the fighting system, there will be a lot of frustrating deaths. The levels leave the players open to explore, some even having hidden paths to find. The designs leave it open to choose how the player wants to play. If you don't want to be stealthy, there is no punishment for running in with blatant disregard for stealth. Well, aside from your life being drained from the tough in-game combat against multiple foes.
The coolest gameplay mechanic has to be the grappling hook. Players aim the grappling hook at any roof or high structure and watch as their chosen character zooms away to the spot they aimed at. This allows players to stalk an enemy, unseen from the rooftops, drop down for a stealth kill, and then zoom back to the safety of those rooftops. The grappling hook isn't without it's quirks, you have to line it up just right or your character won't grab the edge of the roof or structure you are aiming for, but that's part of what makes the use of the grappeling hook so exhilarating. Dropping down to stealth kill an enemy, knowing another enemy is close by, and having a few second window to zoom away before you are seen by the other enemy in the area really gets your blood pumping. Among the cool stealth kills, tough swordfighting, and other cool items you gain and use along the way, the grappling hook is still the most fun an distinguishing feature of Tenchu's Gameplay.
Every level you play gets graded by your performance. Once you beat a level, that level is opened up, and you can go back and play it again at any time to get the best ranking. I have no doubt that many people spent hours upon hours replaying the levels in tenchu to get the grandmaster rank in each level, which requires absolute stealth.
In 1999, Japanese gamers got an upgraded version of Tenchu that had the levels that were added for the American release that weren't in the original Japanese release. The upgraded version also had a level editor in it. This version was never made available in North America, so we never had the opportunity to design our own levels in the original Tenchu, that is unless you had the import version of the game. I know it seems like a small complaint because of the level editor in Tenchu 2, but it would have been a very nice touch to have it in the original Tenchu, which is, generally, favored over Tenchu 2 by fans. There is, however, a debug mode cheat that players can play around with that allows you to set items and enemies in a level, and I have heard of people losing hours to playing around with it, making sort of modified versions of each level.
Graphically, the environments have a respectable amount of detail by PS1 standards, they get the job done, but certainly aren't top tier, even for their time. The game is plagued by a poor draw distance making visibility poor, which sometimes gets you discovered by enemies that pop into view, seemingly out of nowhere. Luckily, this is combated with the quick look feature allowing you to look around and take notice of your environments on the fly. If you're cautious, you can see the guards pop in before they see you.
The controls take some getting used to as well, the basic movement controls, are the Tomb Raider, “Tank” controls, though, faster turning. The combat has quite a few maneuvers you can pull off outside of the basic combo giving it quite a bit more depth than at first glance. There is no analog support, so those not familiar with early 3D d-Pad tank controls will have a tougher time learning the movement and combat controls. The music is also a spectacular highlight of the game, but the voice acting is so-so. It's definitely got a level of PS1 era cheese to it. “Do you like cheese people?”
Tenchu is one of the more fondly remembered PS1 games. It's design and feel is uniquely Playstation One, that's the best way to describe the overall feel. I can't really describe it, but there are games that just have a uniquely PS1 feel about them, usually it's a generic sci-fi game with electronic music and explosive special effects, while other times it's games like Tenchu. There are just games that have the PS1 feel, and I don't really have the words to describe what that means. If you know, you know.
The Tenchu series is one of those series that had it's height of mainstream popularity on the PS1, but it's popularity didn't carry it too far into the next generation. Wrath of Heaven and Fatal Shadows were released in a generation of gaming where popular tastes had shifted to games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden meaning that the series never hit the same heights of popularity as it did on the PS1. The series would continue to get new games up till 2009 with Tenchu: Shadow Assassin's being released on the PSP and Wii, but has since fallen into the dustbin of gaming memories. That being said, in today's gaming world where everything old is new, give it a week and there will probably be a remaster or remake announced soon.
1998 was the year of the stealth game with Tenchu, Thief, and Metal Gear Solid. Tenchu is still beloved among PS1 gamers to this day. If you can get past the early 3D tank controls and get a handle on the, at first, janky feeling combat, you might come to appreciate this PS1 era gem as much as it's fans have since it was first released in 1998. It's definitely a game that anyone looking for the authentic PS1 experience needs at least play. Tenchu 2 is also a solid choice to play. Fans didn't like it as much as the original, but it did add an addictive level editor to the fray. I don't think I've ever played all the way through Tenchu 2, unlike the original, but it's still another great PS1 experience that's worth looking into.
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