Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (ps2: 2005): Reviews

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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.

Tenchu: Fatal Shadows


7.4

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
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GAMES:

Cheat Code Central

(Also known as "Tenchu Kurenai" or "Tenchu Crimson") Set in historical Japan, Tenchu: Fatal Shadows features two playable ninja warriors - returning heroine Ayame and newcomer Rin. This installment of the fan-favorite franchise offers a tight balance of melee combat and shadow stalking, and its levels are structured to avoid the frustrating trial-and-error patterns that are all too familiar in the stealth genre. The title is fast paced, tense, and balanced for both stealth veterans and novices, offering multiple difficulty modes. Significant visual upgrades have been made from prior installments, and a slew of new move sets are on hand to deliver more realistic ninja experience, including the ability to hide bodies and breathe underwater while sneaking. [Sega]

PUBLISHER:	From Software / Sega
DEVELOPER:	K2
GENRE(S):	Third-Person Action
PLAYERS:	1
ESRB RATING:	M (Mature)
RELEASE DATE:	February 15, 2005

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Next Level Gaming

If you’ve never played a Tenchu game before, this is definitely not the one to start with.

Siliconera

One thing that fans of the Tenchu series will enjoy is the enemies have increased AI. You can't just hide in a bunch of bushes and be "invisible" to enemies anymore. [JPN Import]

PSM Magazine

By far the most useful addition though is the ability to pick up bodies so you can hide them. It's a simple little skill that should have been available all along... and now it is. [March 2005, p.80]

BonusStage

All you really need to know is that Fatal Shadows is the best game in the series to date, and although there are a few considerable drawbacks, playing this game is a sneaky good time.

Weekly Famitsu

9 / 7 / 8 / 7 - 31 silver [Vol 815; 30 July 2004]

GamePro

She's a good old dog but hard pressed to learn new tricks.

Game Informer

I'm a little disappointed that Tenchu isn't pushing the genre forward like "Splinter Cell" and "Metal Gear Solid" have. [March 2005, p.132]

IGN

Not only fails to enhance the genre as a whole, but also fails to offer any serious improvements over its predecessor.

Game Chronicles

But this latest version of the game suffers from the same problems pretty much since the beginning. What was once tolerable due to technology constraints simply doesn't cut it in the era of "Snake Eater" and "Chaos Theory."

GameSpot

This game might make a few halfhearted attempts to try to rope new players into the Tenchu fold, between its original story and its tutorial mode, but the gameplay itself is cumbersome, and the presentation isn't going to be good enough to hold most players' interest when the gameplay fails to.

GameZone

What happened? The previous games in the Tenchu series were really good, but the developers of this game really dropped the ball.

My Gamer

When the rose petals fly across the screen after such a bloody intro, you know Tenchu: Fatal Shadows will be an extreme, if somewhat flawed, mixture of beauty and death.

Pelit (Finland)

Sneaky ninjas do not even have to sneak. Someone has been lazy when making this sub-standard game. [July 05]

3DAvenue

This game itself would be fine if this was 1998 but considering Tenchu: Fatal Shadows sits between games with a similar mission and a more up to date feel I would say leave it on the shelf.

Thunderbolt

Until K2 pull their finger out and bring the game engine into the 21st Century, Tenchu will be remembered as a Playstation classic with a load of all too similar sequels.

Gaming Nexus

If you’ve played any of the previous Tenchu outings you have already seen most of what is in this game.

GameSpy

It might as well have been published by AT&T, because this is the most phoned-in sequel this side of a football game.

Edge Magazine

Few games can capture the sense of being in the hunt so well, and by degrees few games can disappoint so much when this sense is lost to wrangling with the camera or gawkish, unpredictable controls shackling your weightlessness. [Oct 2004, p.108]

1UP

Besides the higher-resolution visuals, you'd be hard-pressed to tell this apart from the PlayStation game that kicked off the series nearly seven years ago.

PSX Nation

Sega should have known better than to pick after Activision’s pile of rejects.

GamerFeed

It's not that Fatal Shadows is a horrible game, it's just that we've seen it before- it fails to distinguish itself from "Wrath of Heaven" and even keeps some of its most crucial flaws.

Yahoo! Games

About the only thing Fatal Shadows does well is the rooftop sneaking, and that's nowhere near enough to carry the game on its own.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

A number of flaws kill the game's flow, namely a particularly atrocious camera, a weak lock-on system, a frustrating lack of checkpoints, and poor enemy A.I. [March 2005, p.124]

Cheat Code Central

There's nothing about Tenchu: Fatal Shadows that hasn't been explored in previous versions.

PALGN

Fatal Shadows isn’t awful, but it’s simply too primitive for anyone else but Tenchu fans to bother with in this era.

GameBiz

Just an average game really. Nothing really grabs you to keep playing.

EuroGamer

With the dreadful lack of effort in the PS1-like visuals, and ghastly AI, even those with especially designed tattoos should consider their old friend exactly that: old.

Sydney Morning Herald

Fans will enjoy creeping around and using the wonderful grappling hook, but in a post Splinter Cell-era it is disappointing that light and darkness still have little bearing on the ninja's visibility to foes.

G4 TV

Constantly fighting the camera to get the view you’re looking for, sword duels with all the grace of a rusty robot, and unpolished graphics and presentation make Fatal Shadows feel like a much older title that hasn’t aged well.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Suffers from one of the most useless cameras since the advent of 3D gaming. [March 2005, p.101]

Game Revolution

Continues on the path of cool ninja stealth action, but is thwarted by a plethora of traps like poor control and retarded AI.

Detroit Free Press

This series has not evolved a bit. Other stealth titles are more tense; this does nothing to get the adrenaline pumping. Fifty bucks is way too much for this halfhearted effort.

Gaming Age

Fatal Shadows took a big step backwards by not making any improvements over "Wrath of Heaven." Stay away. You’ve been warned.

The average user rating for this game is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mayco S. gave it an8:
A great game that is to the same level of his precesors...Im a big fan of Tenchu Games and this give me lots of fun.

Patrick gave it a10:
This game rocks!!!! Best Tenchu yet!!!!

Mattijs S. gave it an8:
Great game if you have the hang of it because sneaking is hard when you just started.

Legion gave it a9:
Why bother putting zero as a rating? clearly this isnt Elyse S's genre of game, in which case the opinion is hugely biased and should be discounted. The only balanced opinion i can see is that of RegnR8 E - bang on the money - it doesnt improve the genre, but then it wasnt really trying to, it feels and plays more like a refinement of wrath of heaven than anything else,if you look at fatal shadows as an expansion to wrath of heaven then suddenly it all makes sense and you realise that in this context, the game is successful. As for the game being to easy...for me, the difficulty has never been the point of playing ANY of the tenchu games - it has been the lurking, putting you in the shadows, waiting with baited breath as a patrolling guard begins to inch towards your hiding place, and trying to organise a method of attack to proceed as quickly and quietly as possible through the areas. (personally, i do find it hugely entertaining to kill every last opponent regardless of wether i need to or not) The only thing missing from this series now, is the ability to stealth-kill an opponent as they come around a corner without having to perform some cunning control pad acrobatics to postion yourself - a simple stab-blade into the throat/heart as they come alongside would be sufficient..never even know what hit 'em - EXACTLY as it should be. Legion out.

Nick gave it a10:
F... people who say the camera is sh...y. Its fine for me! Oh, and the dude who says there's not enough checkpoints.waah wahh...does the BABY need a checkpoint because he keeps dying? Hey remember mario brothers? you get 3 lives to beat the game...thats it. No checkpoint, no f...ing save points. Idiot. Don't listen to anyone who says this game sucks, cause it totally does NOT! One thing that everyone is saying that is kinda true though is that its just like wrath of heaven. But who the f..k cares?! NOT ME! Tenchu rocks, and more levels equals more boners from ME!

RegnR8 E gave it an8:
Having played every Tenchu game to date, I can say without a doubt, this is the best one so far. All previous Tenchu games have had camera problems, along with nearly every other 3rd person game to date, so one learns to compensate. The AI is still stupid at times, but they are far more difficult to get rid of and will chase you forever and not give up unless you are hidden really well. This game is far more difficult than previus Tenchu games and I think it desreves a better overall rating than most people have given it. You really must be extra quiet and stealthy througt the entire game. Sure, it doesn't advance the stealth genere any but, Tenchu stays true to it's roots while offering up better level design, improved AI, more difficult boss battles and, praise the designers, terrific maps for once!

Elyse S. gave it a0:
I really, really, really, exceedingly, hated this stupid game!!! I don't want to play this game because its so simple unlike any other games, the graphics are great but it sucks!! I was jwasting my money for buying this game!!!!!