This DS port from a fine game series blows spit-wads, not poison darts!!!
On purchasing the game one immediately finds the game to be all about the title screen and no action or substance behind it. Quite literally, the action is about as solid as the old LCD games I played as a child, where once you learned the enemy's pattern of movement, there is nothing left to do but repeatedly press the buttons until you get bored.
The shopping/tool making interface is clunky, and the save feature needs a corresponding load feature. During game play, enemies are too difficult to kill with some weapons, too easy with others, and there are really only about 8 maps which the game relies on to spin it's thin plot. The gameplay becomes VERY repetitive very quickly; the title has no 'cute factor' and not enough Thenchu fan appeal to fall back on.
Oh...one point of opinion...If this game were supposed to happen in the southern parts of the US the dialog would be spot-on, but in feudal Japan, neither Samurai nor peasant would be caught dead speaking these lines...they are is worse than old Godzilla dubs!
I loved the original Tenchu but I think this release will do more to hurt future Tenchu games then it did helping them. I bought it on the release day...Sad to me, and sad to the others who did the same. Please save your money because this game does not have enough play value to consider buying it with intent to trade it in later...As it stands, I will be in my local store game store dumping Tenchu: Dark Secret before you have finished reading my review.
Cheers,
Ra-Qin