'Tenchu' prequel offers great features, too many glitches

Finally, the long awaited follow-up to 1998's highly acclaimed release Tenchu is here. But in this prequel, lead characters Rikimaru and Ayame are a little younger.\nThe story is told from the point of view of whichever character you choose to play: Rikimaru or Ayame. And the two characters' storylines are linked, which makes the action that much more compelling. This time, the action takes place during the "Warring States" period in feudal Japan, four years prior to the story of the original Tenchu. Master Azuma Shiunsai, the leader of Lord Gohda's Azuma Ninja, has taken in three orphaned children and trained them in the ways of the ninja throughout their childhood. These three ninjas then go on to become stealth assassins, and that is where this excellent release takes off.\nSony had the rights to the first Tenchu, but Activision has done a much better job with Birth of the Stealth Assassins.\nGameplay has been improved dramatically with new items and weapons such as a blowgun, invisibility, a wall-of-fire spell, sleeping powder and blindness dust. Players can also search bodies of dead enemies for items and can drag the corpses out of sight to hide them from ensuing guards.\nProbably the game's coolest new feature is the Mission Editor. This lets you create an infinite number of your own missions. It also lets you play 15 modifiable, pre-built missions. Players can select the kind of mission, choose from 12 different environments and even set the time limit.\nUnfortunately, the game suffers in the graphics department. Although the graphics are not at all bad cosmetically, there are many glitches where you can see guards through walls. Granted, this is usually an advantage, but sometimes they can see you through walls, which doesn\'t help out the stealthiness of your mission.\nThis game is an ideal investment for anyone who liked the first Tenchu and definitely for anyone who is into sneaking up behind people and bludgeoning them with a sword.