The Tenchu series has been going on for nearly a decade now, providing gamers the only true ninja-based stealth experience on the market. It’s odd that more companies have not or do not attempt to compete with the series, especially when considering just how weak it has become. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was a great What If title: whenever someone read about or played Metal Gear Solid, they inevitably wondered how cool it would be if Snake was wielding a sword and hopping around rooftops. It certainly delivered. However, 1998 was a long time ago, and the series has evolved very little since.

Regardless of whether or not you own a 360, you have played Tenchu Z. Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven on the PS2 and Tenchu: Return from Darkness on the Xbox, an enhanced re-release of the PS2 title, vary little from their immediate predecessors and successors so much so that they all tend to meld into one long release, and Tenchu Z is no different. The graphics are slightly better this time around, though not nearly what one would expect from the 360, and online play more robust, but in all it simply continues the series’ tradition of slightly tweaking a system that was in need of an overhaul a long time ago.

One area in which Tenchu Z excels in is character customization. I’m a big fan of customization in any game, and it’s gussied up with that undeniably appealing ninja aesthetic that can make damn near anything cool. Aside from choosing between sex, there are also options for the face, legs, arms, chest, neck, and even for accessories – my character looks beyond dangerous with the in-style Rice Ration belt accessory. The partner’s sex and appearance can also be altered. Your character can be further tweaked by purchasing additional clothing items that become unlocked with money earned through missions. While the costume doesn’t play a part in being detected or not – ignore this animal skin mask, patrolman – it’s a fun aspect that adds to the character of the game. It’s a bit unfortunate, and a strange oversight, that you cannot see the items before you purchase them though.

The purchasing of items takes place in a tiny village that consists of two open huts. The second hut is where missions are chosen. Hey! It’s Rikimaru! The former assassin is now bosshog, and he will be the person that doles out the missions. The missions come in chunks and can be played out in any order, though to get the full story it’s best to play through all of them. Not that the story is particularly interesting, since it’s a basic plot of powerful figures trying to usurp control by dealing in slaves and building up arms, but it serves its purpose in giving you a reason to go peaking around corners in someone's house.

The first mission isn’t particularly difficult, but if you find yourself unable to cope, you can head back to the hut that sells clothes before your next attempt to pick up some additional items, such as smoke bombs and throwing stars. If your character just didn't sit right with you, you can also redistribute your abilities so that your ninja matches your style, whether that be a preference for life, speed, or power. The additional means to customize your ninja is actually more refined here with the abilities working on a grid using a give-and-take system, allowing for more precision.

I didn’t need any additional items to complete the first mission, nor did I find anything beyond the vanilla ability set necessary, and I doubt most out there will have any problems either. In fact, as I made my way throughout the game’s 50 missions, I really didn’t need any of the items, not even those dropped by fallen enemies. Those going for a higher ranking per mission might find the items necessary, or just cool, but I found them to be interesting options at best. Additional help isn’t what’s wanting: better artificial intelligent is what’s wanting.

The payoff of Tenchu Z isn’t so much the combat but the thrill of the hunt. Despite its aging graphics, stiff controls, and a fussy camera that needs to be babied – can someone please get on that? – the set-up is still fantastic. There are various objectives for the missions, but all, save recon, involve killing one or several characters, and it’s getting to the point of assassination where the game really shines. Scaling up a town wall, grappling up to a roof, then crouching behind peaks to leer over the ledge to see if it's save to flip down and stab unsuspecting guard in the back of the neck is still satisfying. All of the spying and sneaking about is great, but these simply dot an experience that is otherwise filled by sub par, repetitive combat and lackluster enemies.

One-on-one combat isn’t the series forte though, because, much like the Thief series, the game is about using stealth over direct confrontation to dispatch foes. The problem with that is that the game forces you to directly confront enemies, whether they are extremely fey foreign sailors or ambiguous assassins. The game’s clunky manually assigned combo-based combat system – buying moves and having to put them into combinations – features combos, secret arts, and skills that can often be strung together within the system. The problem with this system is that, aside from not being terribly intuitive, is that it encourages combat in a game where fighting isn’t preferred and the artificial intelligence not up to the task. There is a block, though rarely needed, but no system to parry or use weapons for advantages, like a sword’s handle to climb up to higher structures, which makes combat feel loose and erratic – it’s a limited feature that was expanded without offering anything unique or truly worthwhile.

The enemies are also notably absent-minded, completely forgetting about a gutted comrade within a matter of seconds. I know some concessions need to be made in a stealth game to keep it from being too difficult, but having a guard run over to a bloody body, smell around for a second, peak to the left and right, then mosey on back to duty as if nothing had happened is a bit much. Then again, your super secret ninja also takes a few vanity seconds after a stealth kill to flash their sword in plain sight like a musketeer, so I guess no one in this world is particularly good at their job. Having to fight the camera on certain angles, or watching as a great hiding spot isn’t so because it simply isn’t designated as such, also hinders things. Not that any of that is too big of a problem, because anytime you’re caught you can just run under a house or over a wall and you’re home free. Your Ki Meter displays both an enemy’s reaction to you and their alertness, and even with sense, sight, sound, smell, (alert and alarm being more for you) to worry about, there is still little reason to do so.

Online play is back – first featured in the last release for the Xbox – allowing for up to four people to play over Live or system link. Just about any online game co-op is enjoyable on some level, and holds true for Tenchu Z as well. The faults of the series are apparent, but sneaking around with a friend, double jumping from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding smells or taking out your sword too soon, one tossing objects to distract a curious patrolman while the other approaches from behind for the perfect kill, it’s good stuff. There is more of a payoff here, with direct combat taking a back seat to friends working together to drag bodies away and knock out overly curious or frightened townsfolk. In this way, it’s set-up to set-up throughout, is where it really comes together.

Overall: 5/10

It’s surprising that a series nearly a decade old still has fundamental problems with the control and camera. Neither the series nor the developer are new to the industry, so why simple things haven’t been ironed out by this point is beyond me. Tenchu Z still manages to capture the enjoyment of the hunt enough to maintain interest, it's just a shame that it all breaks down whenever you're caught, have to fight, or when the computer is involved in pretty much any capacity other than being stabbed in the back.