The Best and Worst Ninja Games for the DS: Day 2

Unfortunately, not all ninja games for the Nintendo DS are as good as monday’s Ninjatown. Like Tenchu: Dark Secret for example. Take everything you like about Tenchu. Got all that? Good. Now throw it all out the window. What’s left you ask? Tenchu: Dark Secret, perhaps one of the worst titles in the franchise’s history. For those unfamiliar with the series, the Tenchu franchise is all about the way of the ninja. Stealthily taking out your targets, by means of traps, shurikens, and your trusty sword, are all in the day’s order. While the other titles in the series have been very successful and have gained quite a following, it’s hard to see this game developing much of a fan-base. The game’s new bird’s eye view, a first for the series, doesn’t hide the fact that it looks awful with a truly ugly 3D engine. Adding salt to an already open wound, the game suffers from dull, repetitive gameplay with little distinguishing one mission from the next.

There really aren’t many reasons why I can see someone wanting to play this game, unless you’re really desperate to play a ninja game. Of course, there are plenty of better ninja games for the DS so you’re better off spending your time with one of those games. I’ve pondered long and hard the “dark secret” referred to in the title and upon much reflection, I can only guess it’s referring to why it was a Gamestop exclusive game. After playing this game I discovered that secret - no one else wanted to try and sell this bad game. Can you really blame them?