Rikimaru lives! And he must return from darkness to destroy the evil Tenrai.
Gameplay: You play two characters: Rikimaru, a leader of the Azuma Ninja Clan and Ayame, a female ninja, she grew up with Rikimaru. We have also new character: Tesshu, he is a doctor by day and a real dadly ninja by night. He's weapon is needle. Gameplay is a little redefined because we can drag dead bodies like in Tenchu 2. In Wrath of Heaven we cannot drag dead bodies. Tenchu RFD offers more ninja weapons and tools, but the most important and best thing about the game is this, that we have two new missions, great missions. "Stop Tadakoros rebellion" and "Kill all who follow you". In "Stop Tadakoros rebellion" we need to kill the army of Tadakoro in his village and in "Kill all who follow you" we need to kill all ninjas who follow us. Those missions have great music and design. Cut scenes are good, the storyline is also good, but the first mission "Punish The Evil Merchant" is very familiar to the first mission in Tenchu 1. The music is also familiar. This is funny! The same mission? Activision hadn't got any new ideas. Anyway, Rikimaru came back to Lord Gohda, but everyone thought that he's dead. They were wrong. He's alive and he's more dangerous. Rikimaru can do combos using his legs and sword. We can fight with the enemy like in Soul Calibur! We learn those technics. Of course Ayame and Tesshu also got their own attacks. The final boss in Return from Darkness is Tenrai, really bad guy. The Wrath of Heaven technic is very good on him. Of course, where is Rikimaru there is Onikage. He's also in the game and we meet our brother Tatsumaru, but he... you will find out by yourself. Twelve missions, but this is not the same feeling like it was in Tenchu 1. Tenchu Wrath of Heaven and Return from Darkness havn't got the same perfect atmosphere.
Graphics: Graphics in RFD are a little better than in Wrath of Heaven. Textures are clearlier and character models have more polygons. Lighting effects are looking good and shadows are also a little better. Graphics are on a good level, but only good. Activision could make graphics on a great or superb level, unfortunately they didn't do it.
Sound: Perfect and one of the best. Feudal Japan has really fantastic music. The Soundtracks in Tenchu Return from Darkness are very cool. Especially in "Kill all who follow you" mission. Rain, snow, voice-over, everything is wonderful.
Overall: Tenchu Return from Darkness for xbox is a great game. Rikimaru is a fantastic hero. If you buy this game you will surely spend a great time.