| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 7.40 |
| Overall | 7.40 |
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Imagine you acquire the rights to one of the biggest movie properties and decide to make a game based on it. Rather than using the best aspects of the licence you instead place the game in the most unappealing location with none of the characters people know or any of the music from the films. That is the case for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, the good news is the game is rather good as it borrows from two great franchises, the Arkham games and the Assassin’s Creed games. In Mordor you play as fake Aragorn as you avenge the death of your family with the help of an elf ghost on a quest to murder everything in Mordor. It is super violent, bloody and dark in tone, just like the movies…. wait no it’s not. It never feels like this game takes place within the LOTR universe created in the films. I respect that they want to tell an original story but they failed to connect the game to the movie license in any way. Not once did I have the feeling of “wow I feel like I am in this world I love” instead feels like random goblin killing. Shadow of Mordor borrows heavily from the Arkham games for combat and Assassin’s Creed for all other elements. The combat is nearly identical to the Arkham games with the same controls and the same combo system with specials. At higher levels you unlock moves that allow for multiple instant kills making the second half of the game’s combat far easier than the first, which is not what you want for any action game. It is missing the combo scoring of batman which was used mostly in the extra mode but still added a whole layer to the combat that is missing from Mordor. This game does have an extra mode but it is locked with DLC. The rest of the game is structured like Assassin’s Creed, there is a large map to explore with towers to climb that reveal a piece of the map and give you missions. Enemies wander the map, often times in forts which you may climb AC style. All the stealth options we are used to are here like hiding in bushes to kill (did that really happen? In the 1500s were there a bunch of people killed by guys hiding in bushes?), using noise to create distractions and ways to stealth kill from below or above. At higher levels you get some cool stealth kill abilities like the teleporting arrow kill, just aim point and teleport kill. One gameplay aspect not used in AC is the bow which is extremely powerful and great for many situations. The bow has a focus meter that slows down time allowing for quick headshots. It also has the aforementioned teleport skill is straight up badass. The bow can be used to distract enemies or blow up fires. The bow is the most unique aspect from a combat perspective and it fits into the established combat systems very well. Most of the time you will be battling random enemies in the game world, mainly because most missions are very generic and simple. They all begin to repeat quickly as there are only a few types. The world has the usual random collectables to find. The story missions feel like glorifyed side missions only with scripted moments. Boss battles are few and no where near the level of depth and variety as the Arkham games. There is nothing to do outside the combat and stealth mechanics, no mini games, no puzzles, nothing. What I did love about the open world is how many of the orc captains are wandering around and can be assassinated by any means. It feels like the first AC game where freedom was a major aspect of the assassinations. If you get seen by any of the uruks all hell breaks loose which leads into the combat system which is way better than any AC game. Shadow of Mordor has a surprisingly deep upgrade system with meaningful gameplay upgrades. The abilities you gain make a major difference and do a great job of making you feel like a badass uruk killing machine but makes the game too easy. On top of skills that can be learned there are relics that can be attached to your weapons which buff certain attacks like gain health for headshots or gain spirit energy for flurry kills. It is possible to get a mix of relics that continuously feeds you health as long as you play well. The nemesis system is the main hook for Shadow of Mordor. It is a system where each enemy has a name and remembers your actions. The real star of the game is actually the hierarchy system where you can influence how enemies get promoted. There is a grid showing all the named Uruks and where they rank and their relationships to each other. From there you may target a captain that is a bodyguard to a warchief for instance, weakening that warchief for the eventual battle with him. In the second half of the game you gain the ability to control enemies. This can be used in a basic level during combat, enemies start to attack each other. Where it really comes into play is how you can control ranked enemies and use them as either a spy or a trojan horse. Say you take control of a captain, you can wait till the captain is near his warchief then activate him to turn on the warchief. There are randomly generated missions tied to this system where certain captains are challenging each other or trying to rank up. The dynamic nature of the hierarchy system is what makes the game tick, it excuses the main missions since messing around with enemies is so much fun. The personality side of the nemesis system is mostly pointless. Named enemies talk to you through small cutscenes and quickly begin repeat obvious general things that happen. It never adds much to the game but it does make the world feel more lively. It is no where near the gameplay revolution some advertisements would lead you to believe.. If you don’t die often you will never see much of this.What is pretty cool is how each of these enemies have a whole list of strengths and weaknesses, like invulnerable to ranged attacks or being afraid of wargs, though you will see that these traits repeat way too often. Graphically Mordor the game (not the location) looks nice and runs what feels like a smooth 60 FPS. The music is a major sour point for me because it sounds like generic bad music that is trying to sound like the movies, for some strange reason there is not one second of Howard Shores amazing score. The voice acting is generally great as the current king of voice actors, Troy Baker, is the main character. Shadow of Mordor is a safe game. It takes most of its gameplay systems from other popular games, blends them together and adds a neat hook. It is fun to play and never frustrating but never reaches the highs of either game it is copying. It fails to use the Lord of the Rings license in a meaningful way, if the game were called Goblin Killer I wouldn’t have known any difference. It is one of those games you play, you enjoy your time with it and never really think about again. |
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Posted by Dvader Sun, 26 Oct 2014 23:37:28
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travo (6m)
You're "lazy" review is probably about all I would bother to write if I did more reviews. I'm glad you do them as I like to read them, but to me its too time consuming to bother. I like to say what I have to say about a game in a few quick paragraphs and be done with it.
Your reviews remind me of the Greg Kasavin 3 page novels he would write around 2002.
Edge I wrote this crap in 30 minutes while watching football.
And gaming journalists overrating everything for years are the ones to blame for us thinking this way.