Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins Review | Grapple Hook Tweaks, Ninja Soap Opera, Movement Disagreement

We’re living by honour and killing by stealth… again. For only the second time ever (although it will be happening a lot more throughout this season), we are returning to a series. We’re going back to 2000 to look at a third-person stealth-action game. We’re talking Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins.

On this episode of Stealth Boom Boom, we chat a little bit about Rich spending his 18th birthday making levels in the mission editor, Josh’s fondness for Tekken 3 (oh that volleyball was classic, wasn’t it?), and bent coppers. We also get an apology for the lack of a PS2 version, word of 21 new stealth techniques, and a note on regional differences

Here are some of the things you’re gonna hear us chat about in our review: trying to judge how far away enemies are with the Ki meter without seeing them; differing opinions on the brilliance of guards’ eyes and ears; a very sneaky and very slow crouch; movement that some people love and other people don’t like one bit; a redundant right stick; movable corpses that have new items (none of which is mentioned in the game); manuals; (inverted) throwing poisoned rice on the floor; a white sheet washed with Daz that turns you invisible; combat that could do with with a lock-on; zero checkpoints; chucking grenades bosses; the sound of blood pouring out of your enemies; a returning grappling hook that’s been tweaked and thus divides the crowd; a tutorial that grated for some; Silent Hill draw distance that stands out more in the new daytime levels; hiding in the water with a bamboo reed; an involved, interweaving three-campaign story; the lack of more lads like Genbu; the MGS connection; and an owl hooting instead of banging music for some reason.

After all that, we take you through what some of the critics were saying about the game around the time it came out, and then we give you our final verdicts on whether Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins is a Pass, a Play, or an Espionage Explosion.

For those who would like to play along at home, we'll be discussing, reviewing and dissecting Destroy All Humans on the next episode of Stealth Boom Boom.

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