First, I will get the bad out of the way in this section. The cutscenes are not very pretty compared to that beautiful opening CG cinema before the title screen. With that out of the way, I must tell you there is not too much more to worry about other than some slowdown, as the cutscenes are few and far between.

Textures on some surfaces aren't extremely detailed a lot of the time, but they are really smooth and are almost never unpleasant to the eye. The buildings and small houses that populate the old Japanese villages are beautifully done with careful detail to create a certain old-school Asian atmosphere. Decorated oil lamps, lighted candles, and other things typical of that era hang (at least in movies) from the roof edges and pop up in other atmospheric locations. The roofs themselves are often the old-style triangular kind with eaves over the edge and give that feeling you want in this game. Little details like this throughout the game really do a lot for the atmosphere and seem to put you there. Weather effects are done nicely. There's rain and snow and fog or mist. The rain doesn't quite look as realistic as in, say MGS 2 and the fog isn't as much of a living entity as it is in SH2, but in spite of the blandness in graphical quality it still adds to the ambience. There is also lightning to be seen in the background.

Indoors is as detailed as the outside and you can see all kinds of ornamental statues and other typical household things or castle decorations in all the rooms. There are little cooking fires going in the middle of a room sometimes, torches, and candles all creating neat moody lighting. You can even burn yourself or enemies on some of these things. Like I said, there are little details that make all the difference. Dungeons or temples are dark and moody inside. The graphics have largely to do with this and it makes you feel even more drawn in.

The frame rate seems to be pretty good and most of the time it seems to keep this up. Every once and a while, and this is probably the most frustrating graphical problem, there is some slowdown when fighting several enemies on screen at once. The framerate seems to go down a bit in these instances. Ideally, you are to try and avoid situations like this with stealth, but it will get harder and harder as the missions progress. Luckily, new items and new abilities make it easier to deal with as they are unlocked so it balances out. The reason I did not mention the slowdown in the gameplay section is because I feel it does little to harm the gameplay as I have never been killed because of it.

Other than that, the game moves very fast graphically. Things spin around fast with the camera, your character moves fast, everything is fast while the beautiful fully rendered environment rotates around you. However, despite of this quickness, you will not be confused. Occasionally, there are loading times between certain areas of a level, but they are not too long and do not detract from anything.

The 2 main characters, Rikimaru and Ayame, and a 3rd semi-main character, Tesshu, are modeled beautifully. Thousands of polygons and wonderfully artistic character design make them a marvel to look at. Ayame is especially pleasing to look at, as she was drawn and created quite beautifully by the game's artists. She's definitely one deadly cutiepie! Rikimaru just plain looks cool. The white hair is a great effect. As you play the game, you might actually be tempted to swing the camera around the character just to look at how cool they look for extended periods of time. Don't be too vain, however, enemies can spot you when you're not paying attention. Enemy models use a surprisingly large amount of polygons and are almost as detailed as your character. This is evident when you zoom in on them from a distance with your ninja vision (an unlockable special ability.) There are also several enemy types, ranging in difficulty and costume.

All in all, despite some slowdown every once in a great while when fighting a small army and somewhat ugly cutscenes, this game is wonderful graphically.

Wow! The music in this game is an experience you will just have to hear for yourself. The opening theme isn't the only song that had so much attention put into it, which is evident throughout the game. On top of this, each level has its own music and it's not recycled (except for 2 player modes). The style consists of both ancient far eastern musical aspects and not quite so old musical aspects from around the 16th century, all mixed and arranged with some modern and contemporary influences. There is stuff ranging from what sounds like east Asian folk music with guitars and other interesting stringed instruments, to what sounds like full orchestral arrangements perhaps of European influence of that time, to modernized synthesized and electronically produced sound effects. All kinds of effects like echoes and choruses are added for dimension. You really need to experience this in stereo or even better yet, surround sound. The only problem is the music doesn't wax and wane as tension mounts or subsides like in other games these days.

The sound effects are done nicely. All blade slashing and clinking of metal, footsteps and other little sound details, like whirring through the air and others are done well. They sound a little synthetic at times, but nothing you can't handle. Besides that, along with the dying yelps of enemies, taunting and trash talk of other ninjas while fighting, all make this sound just like a martial arts movie. When spotted by a dark ninja dressed in black when he says, "I see you!" in a low, sinister tone can be quite unnerving. Speech and ninja yells and cries while fighting is done very well.

Unfortunately, the voice acting isn't as good in the cutscenes. Both Rikimaru's voice and Ayame's sound very cool, but the dialogue is rather simplistic. Sometimes the obvious is stated, which is somewhat annoying. Enemies are made to sound stupid often, especially in earlier levels. This detracts from the fear they could have otherwise induced. Luckily there is some amusing humor here and there to be heard. Fortunately, the voice acting regarding the narrator is very well done and sets the mood for each mission nicely. He sounds very serious and stresses dangerous sounding things in an important way.

Most action games with a 1-player story mode tend to only do mediocre here. The developers of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven have obviously gone to great lengths to make this not the case here. This is why it has to be given such a high mark. There are plenty of things to unlock for your enjoyment and it is not a tedious job to unlock these things, as most will find the very process of doing so enjoyable.

The biggest innovation here was to include what are called different "Layouts" for each mission. What this means is once you complete the first layout for a mission, the next one becomes available. The difference is that the enemies are located in different spots throughout the environment and in some cases there are more of them. This solves two different common problems with replay value in a big way. The first problem is biggest with stealth games in particular. It happens when playing them after beating them the first time because once you've done this, you already know where all the enemies are going to be ahead of time, and quite a bit of suspense is taken out along with the element of surprise. The suspense involved in having to move in stealth even when it is not required and to be careful in one's actions is reduced this way. The developers of Tenchu had this in mind. The second problem this multiple Layout feature solves is it makes each mission more challenging the second and third time through. More enemies guard certain areas and even though it is a little bit hard for me to tell, I believe they actually become tougher, as well. All too often, games become a breeze for gamers after mastering it once and there is less reason to keep playing, as there is nothing left to master. Tenchu keeps you at it longer!

Each mission has 3 different layouts to unlock which are all different enough that they will keep you interested for all of them. I must confess, I haven't unlocked all three in every mission yet, but I can tell you I have every intention of doing so. It is possible that not so hardcore gamers will not want to, but it is my belief that even those who are not sure they want to will at least pick the game up again after putting it down for a while and complete these extra challenges.

There are almost countless different ninja items for you to unlock and stock up on to aid you in each mission. One reason for going back to past missions, which are all available for selection once completed with the layouts and everything, is to unlock new items you may not have done well enough to unlock the first time as well as stock up on old items which you actually use up and don't have a replenished supply of for your next mission. This may be tedious for some gamers, but personally I enjoyed every minute of it as I was not in a hurry to zip through the story, which one can't anyways without enough items to aid you. All of these apply to your special ninja abilities that you must earn by completing at least 9 stealth kills per level, as well. They are necessary for getting through the game as well and if you weren't able to earn one for a particular level it is wise to go back and do so. You will want to anyways, as they are really cool and add to the fun of the game. This is also a huge plus for replay, as well.

You will be dying a lot and having to start over from the beginning of the mission, which can be quite frustrating, especially in later ones, and many gamers will become discouraged. I however enjoyed the challenge, and the fact that it causes you to take longer to beat the game can be a good thing. If you don't count each time you have to try again or the different mission layouts and the length they add, the story mode of the game will take about 10-12 hours to beat with one character, but you will be compelled to use both Ayame and Rikimaru to get the full story as well as enjoy using both, as it feels slightly different and fun in different ways to use each. The third unlockable character, is fun in his own way to use as well.

I can't count the hours I have spent on this game as there are many. What I can tell you is that I enjoyed all of them.