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Tenchu: Time of the Assassins
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Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is a game in the Tenchu series. In Japan, it is known as Tenchu: Shinobi Taizen (?? ???). It was released in Europe by Sega Europe on the 23rd of June 2006.
The game features many characters from previous Tenchu games, including some deceased from previous titles. Time of the Assassins includes a "buffed" up Mission Editor, first introduced in Tenchu Shinobi Gaisen.
story arcs in Time of the Assassins seem to skip around in the Tenchu time-line - different characters' plots take place before or after other games in the series.
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Encyclopedia
Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is a game in the Tenchu series. In Japan, it is known as Tenchu: Shinobi Taizen (?? ???). It was released in Europe by Sega Europe on the 23rd of June 2006.
The game features many characters from previous Tenchu games, including some deceased from previous titles. Time of the Assassins includes a "buffed" up Mission Editor, first introduced in Tenchu Shinobi Gaisen.
Plot
The story arcs in Time of the Assassins seem to skip around in the Tenchu time-line - different characters' plots take place before or after other games in the series. The opening cinematic shows Rikimaru, Ayame, Tesshu, and Rin slaying rival ninjas for unknown reasons. Ayame appears again when Tatsumaru appears and challenges Ayame. Onikage appears fighting Rikimaru and the two charge for each other, right before the game's title appears and gets engulfed in flames.
Each character has their own story, which like previous games, follows the basic story-line (defending Lord Gohda/rescuing Princess Kiku) but with new twists. Whereas with Tesshu, his story is a prequel of his Wrath of Heaven appearance, and you find out how he first got employed by Zenosuke. Rin has a similar story to Fatal Shadows, she finds a man fleeing from his burned down village, where he passes away, Rin promises to get revenge, a lot like what happened to her village. Players can play as Rikimaru, Ayame, Rin and Tesshu from the beginning, and Onikage's story can be unlocked upon the other four characters' story mode completion.
Unlike its predecessors, Time of the Assassins is not driven by a single linear plot, but is actually composed of short stories from the views of each of the characters (including Onikage). Each character has one video that plays as their story begins and one when their story ends. The characters each have their own reasons for embarking on the adventures depicted, yet they all eventually end up encountering Onikage.
Gameplay
The gameplay is like any other Tenchu title. Take control of a skilled ninja assassin and sneak your way through the levels, while eliminating any opposition along the way. The game has a similar control scheme to the last two Tenchu titles. The game is harder to play due to the player's field of vision being hampered by a black fog.
Playing multiplayer or custom missions now let you choose almost any character to play as from the entire Tenchu franchise thus far, but several people haven't been included for unknown reasons. Many characters who were killed off in past games still appear in this game (although some characters were undead or possessed anyway, or come back undead).
Mission Editor
The game revives the mission editor from Tenchu 2, now returning with even more features. Players can create their own Story Missions, or make custom multiplayer maps which the Versus and Co-op game modes can be played on. Players can save as many maps as they wanted provided they have enough memory stick space. Players can also share maps via memory stick or by uploading them to various fan sites.
One of the more prominent fansites named 'Tenchu Missions' hosts custom missions built for both the Japanese/Asian and European versions of the game. Anyone who has registered and logged in at the website can be able to either upload custom missions of their own to share with other members or download user created missions directly to their memory sticks.
As of December 2007 there are roughly 60 custom missions available for download.
Multiplayer
The game also features 2 player gameplay via Ad-hoc. Players can engage in versus and co-op modes, originally from Tenchu Wrath Of Heaven.
Multi-Player maps that have been created can be played, as well as some pre-made ones from K2 with various objectives.
Strangely enough, players can stealth kill and inflict damage on their own teammates in co-op mode.
However there is no online infrastructure play in the game.
Release Issues
The game has been out for some time in Japan and Europe, but the game has yet to be officially announced in North America. Upon release in the UK the shurikens were replaced with kunai knives and the spot in the opening cinematic where Rikimaru is blocking shurikens with his sword has been cut out due to laws against the description of throwing stars in said country, but ironically Tenchu: Dark Secret and Tenchu Z feature shurikens.
As of March 2008, there has been no news regarding the status of the game. On , the game is listed for "TBA", though nothing has been confirmed as of yet. The title can be considered as vaporware, or has possibly been canceled without any official statement on the matter.
Criticism
The game was often criticized by the media and fans because of its poor draw-distance. The draw distance was criticized because the player can only see small distances ahead of them, while the rest of the entire level is enshrouded in a black fog. This hinders players' ablility to plan out attacks. The voice acting was also criticized in the EU version of the game, as voices don't match the characters' mouth movements in cutscenes.
The game still went on to receive mostly average reviews by critics and good reviews by fans. It is unknown at this point whether or not if a North American version would fix such glitches.
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