Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
Developer(s) K2 LLC
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Mitsuo Kodama
Designer(s) Masanori Kuwasashi
Tomoyuki Hosokawa
Susumu Nakamoto
Programmer(s) Shinichi Shimizu
Tadao Tada
Artist(s) Koichi Iwasaki
Composer(s) Noriyuki Asakura
Series Tenchu
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)

PlayStation 2

  • NA March 3, 2003
  • EU March 7, 2003
  • JP April 24, 2003

Xbox

  • NA March 10, 2004
  • EU March 19, 2004
  • JP May 27, 2004

PlayStation Portable

Genre(s) Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (known in Japan as Tenchu 3) is an action-adventure stealth game developed by Capcom subsidiary development studio K2 LLC and published by Activision worldwide and From Software in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. It was later ported to the Xbox in 2004 under the title Tenchu: Return From Darkness and to the PlayStation Portable in 2009.

Plot

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 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.

Characters

Player characters:

Other characters:

Development and release

Tenchu: Return From Darkness

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:

Manga

A two-part prequel manga by Seishi Kishimoto was published in the April and May 2003 issues of Monthly Shōnen Gangan. The two chapters were titled Tenchu San, Zenpen (天誅 参(後編), "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, Part One") and Tenchu San, Kōhen (天誅 参 (後編), "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, Part Two") respectively; the first chapter also included a color poster. The manga was never collected in tankōbon format, and thus is quite rare.[2]

PSP version

In 2009, From Software ported Tenchu 3 to the PlayStation Portable, including those featured from the Xbox version Tenchu: Return From Darkness, although the multiplayer has been removed.[3]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
PS2Xbox
Edge6/10[4]N/A
EGM7.17/10[5]6.67/10[6]
Eurogamer8/10[7]6/10[8]
Game Informer9/10[9]7.25/10[10]
GamePro[11][12]
Game RevolutionB-[13]N/A
GameSpot8.3/10[14]7.3/10[15]
GameSpy[16][17]
GameZone8.6/10[18]8.1/10[19]
IGN8.5/10[20]7/10[21]
OPM (US)[22]N/A
OXMN/A7.3/10[23]
Maxim10/10[24]N/A
Aggregate score
Metacritic79/100[25]70/100[26]

Wrath of Heaven received "favorable" reviews, while Return from Darkness received "average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[25][26]

Ryan Boyce of Maxim gave Wrath of Heaven a perfect ten score, stating that, "If you're the kind of guy who likes to chop his prey into Sizzlean before he gets a whiff of your bad man musk, then the ninjas of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven are right up your dojo."[24] A 2015 retrospective by Eurogamer described Wrath of Heaven as the apex of the series, featuring "a tangible sense of purpose and poetry".[27]

References

  1. Spencer (July 27, 2009). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Portable "Enhanced" With Bears". Siliconera.com. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  2. "「天誅 参」がコミック化! 少年ガンガンで掲載". ITmedia. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  3. QJ.net QJ.net Article
  4. Edge staff (April 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". Edge (122).
  5. EGM staff (April 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". Electronic Gaming Monthly (165): 118.
  6. EGM staff (May 2004). "Tenchu: Return From Darkness". Electronic Gaming Monthly (178): 97.
  7. Bramwell, Tom (March 17, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  8. Bramwell, Tom (April 6, 2004). "Tenchu: Return From Darkness Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  9. Leeper, Justin (April 2003). "Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven". Game Informer (120): 80. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  10. "Tenchu: Return from Darkness". Game Informer (132): 105. April 2004. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  11. Pong Sifu (March 4, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Review for PlayStation 2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on January 13, 2005. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  12. Funky Zealot (March 22, 2004). "Tenchu: Return From Darkness Review for Xbox on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on December 16, 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  13. Sanders, Shawn (March 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath Of Heaven Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  14. Kasavin, Greg (March 4, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Review". GameSpot. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  15. Kasavin, Greg (March 11, 2004). "Tenchu: Return From Darkness Review". GameSpot. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  16. Turner, Benjamin (March 4, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  17. Leeper, Justin (March 26, 2004). "Tenchu: Return from Darkness". GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 2, 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  18. Bedigian, Louis (March 16, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  19. Lafferty, Michael (March 8, 2004). "Tenchu: Return from Darkness - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  20. Perry, Douglass C. (March 4, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". IGN. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  21. Hwang, Kaiser (March 9, 2004). "Tenchu: Return from Darkness". IGN. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  22. "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 92. April 2003. Archived from the original on April 6, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  23. "Review: Tenchu: Return From Darkness". Official Xbox Magazine: 83. May 2004.
  24. 1 2 Boyce, Ryan (March 5, 2003). "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven". Maxim. Archived from the original on April 13, 2003. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  25. 1 2 "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  26. 1 2 "Tenchu: Return From Darkness for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  27. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-24-tenchu-wrath-of-heaven-was-the-apex-of-a-lost-ninja-franchise

External links

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