This game left me very mixed. On one hand, the soundtrack was great (even downloaded some tracks), i liked the story (i would rank this lower than Tenchu 2's story though, this game's ending was very sudden) and game looks good too. On the other hand, no grappling hook, you can carry up to 3 items, combat (if you can call it that, its just a Simon Says game). Movement doesn't feel great with the over the shoulder camera, and i heavily dislike that raft jumping is now context sensitive. But at the same time if you can get past its bad quirks, you might enjoy yourself, i actually enjoyed the shadow/light system, it's got some cool stealth kills here and there. All in all, an all-over-the-place game.

Disclaimer: I never ended up beating the game but played far enough to want to share my thoughts on this game. This was another exciting "mature" release for the Wii at the time.
As a stealth game, Tenchu SA ends up being average since it's fairly linear and slow in nature with a rinse and repeat approach of slowly progressing through levels via cover and shadows and killing enemies along the way. Unfortunately, controls can be cumbersome at times and frustrating since you crave for precise controls and game performance in these types of games. Levels can be very challenging, especially if you are trying to achieve a high ranking but this challenge provides a satisfying feeling when completing a level. The graphics were very good for being a Wii game and art direction was appropriate for the time and setting of feudal Japan.