| Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | K2 LLC TKO Software (Mobile) |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mobile Phone, PlayStation Portable |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation 2
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| Genre(s) | Stealth |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer, Co-op |
| Rating(s) | |
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (known in Japan as Tenchu 3) is a stealth game developed by K2 LLC and published by Activision in North America and Europe and From Software in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2003.
It was later ported to Xbox in 2004 under the title Tenchu: Return From Darkness. It was also later ported for the Mobile Phone in 2005 and for the PlayStation Portable in 2009.
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After Mei-Oh was defeated in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Rikimaru was left in Mei-Oh's fortress carrying a giant boulder to provide an escape route for Ayame and Princess Kiku. He appears to be trapped and left for dead. Ayame stuck Rikimaru's sword, "Izayoi" (he is seen drawing this sword in the opening CG of Wrath of Heaven) in snow as a monument for her fellow ninja, now considered dead. A year later, Rikimaru reports to Lord Gohda that he has managed to survive this near-death experience; unbeknownst to them, the real Rikimaru is trapped in the 20th century trying to find a way back to their time.
The game's plot plays differently depending on the character chosen, but connects at certain points.
The game's story revolves mainly in Rikimaru's return and the struggle for the Three Jewels, which are said to give power to those who possess them. These are the Jewels of Heaven, Earth, and Virtue. Tenrai, an evil wizard who wants to get his hands on them, commands a band of his men to take the Jewels from whoever possesses them. However, upon encountering Rikimaru, he seems interested in his power and attempts convincing him to join his men. Rikimaru refuse, and he and Ayame face each one of them. One of the men in Tenrai's arsenal is Onikage, who only serves him to pursue his plan of reviving Mei-Oh (his former master) and Tatsumaru (the former leader of the Azuma ninja clan whom Tenrai revived). Rikimaru and Ayame follow Tenrai into his fortress to stop him from destroying the world using the power gained from two of the Jewels. If he can be defeated, peace will be returned to Gohda's land.
Rikimaru (力丸) is a physically strong and powerful ninja. Despite of being reported as "missing" following the events of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, he later reveals and surprised Lord Gohda with his return although technically he is only a shadow of the real Rikimaru who traveled without their notice. While the real Rikimaru is still trying to find a way to return to his time, he is trapped in the 20th century. He uses his one-hand sword as his weapon and uses it mainly in his stealth kills.
Ayame (彩女) is an agile young kunoichi. She is the remaining Azuma ninja in the care of Lord Gohda with Rikimaru's disappearance. She is tasked to search for Rikimaru's body following the events of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. She later paired up with the real Rikimaru when she encountered Onikage in the Amagai Castle. She uses a pair of short swords as her weapon and kills enemies with acrobatic stealth moves.
Tesshu Fujioka (鉄舟藤岡) is a new character introduced in Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. A village doctor by day and an assassin by night; however, he is not a ninja and is not serving under Lord Gohda but instead, he serves in an underground organization of assassins known as Muzen that murders only if it serves justice and is led by Zennosuke. Tesshu uses brute force, and pure strength in battle and uses his fists as his weapons. His attacks resemble brutal karate and jujutsu techniques, utilizing crippling strikes, headbutts, and vicious bone-breaking holds. He also wields acupuncture needles in many of his stealth kills. Although he possess acupuncture needles, he only uses them for killing enemies in stealth. Tesshu also has a brief moment of rivalry with Rikimaru, when they fight each other to a draw after Rikimaru "steals" Tesshu's kill (Nasu). In Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, Tesshu makes a brief cameo in a cutscene after Rin defeats Futaba and Hitoha. He is the only playable character in the series to have a known full-name. Tesshu's character design is heavily based upon the character Fujieda Baian played by Ken Watanabe in the Japanese TV samurai drama of the same name.
Tenrai is a powerful evil sorcerer who is the main antagonist of the game. He set-up fortress near Gohda's lands to make his plans easier to execute. He plans on gathering the Three Jewels with the aid of his "Lords of Darkness". Achieving two of the Jewels, he transforms into his stronger form while fighting Rikimaru or Ayame.
Tenrai possesses a set of candles representing each of the other boss enemies throughout the game: as his candles snuff themselves out, he is aware of the movements of Rikimaru and Ayame. His Lords of Darkness, consists of people he summoned and some he revived:
Other characters include:
Changes in the Xbox port included graphical improvements, two new multiplayer characters, two new single player missions, extra special moves, and the ability to go online with the versus and co-op multiplayer modes.
Three new characters were also added:
Some critics loved this game. Other critics hated it. Other critics thought it was okay.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | (PS2) 79.62%[2] (Xbox) 70.09%[3] |
| Metacritic | (PS2) 79[4] (Xbox) 70[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | (PS2) B+[6] (Xbox) B+[7] |
| Eurogamer | (PS2) 8/10[8] (Xbox) 6/10[9] |
| GamePro | (PS2) 3.5/5[10] (Xbox) 3.5/5[11] |
| GameSpot | (PS2) 8.3/10[12] (Xbox) 7.3/10[13] |
| GameSpy | (PS2) 4/5[14] (Xbox) 3/5[15] |
| IGN | (PS2) 8.5/10[16] (Xbox) 7/10[17] |
A mobile version of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven was released on April 2, 2005 featuring 2D graphics and MIDI sound. The game's story is broken into three episodes with this being the first (the latter are yet to be announced). Despite being a Wrath of Heaven game, only Ayame is available as a player character.
In 2009, From Software ported Tenchu 3 to the PlayStation Portable. While the original game is largely intact, there are new characters and missions, as well as some features absent from the original PS2 version (such as dragging bodies out of sight).[18]
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