Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

PureInvasion · 10-05-2014, 12:38 AM

This one really came out of nowhere for me. I remember watching early gameplay clips and thinking it was nothing more than a shameless Assassin's Creed ripoff...boy was I wrong...

It takes the traversal elements of the AssCreed franchise (although its nearly flawless unlike the usual clumsy climbing we're used to) and the combat elements of the Batman Arkham franchise. Combines open-world elements from both games as well.

The best feature it has going for it is the "Nemesis" system:

A unique feature of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the Nemesis system. Every enemy players' face is a unique individual, differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. These enemies are shaped by their encounters with the player to create personal arch-enemies who are unique to every gameplay session. Players must out think each distinctively different enemy they encounter to infiltrate the ranks and dominate within the dynamic world that remembers and adapts to their actions and choices.

Every enemy in the game has their own name, rank, and memory. These enemies will continue to do their own jobs and tasks even when they're off screen; the game progresses in real time even if you do not interfere, and as such an enemy you meet in one gameplay session may suddenly have achieved a higher rank the next time you meet him.

If the player does not kill an enemy in an encounter, this enemy will remember the player and change their tactics and conversations based on the encounter. The enemy will also grow more powerful and learn new immunities. Killing them will also net the player more experience points.

If you've read the majority of Tolkien's books as well, you'll also love the Artifact collection in the game. So many nods to his lesser known reads (Simarillion, Hurin, etc.)

Sure its fairly repetitious...sure the story is fairly mediocre...but, its really damn fun and it looks great. Give it a shot if you're craving some Orc/Uruk killing

MrYac · 10-05-2014, 12:44 AM

love this game, have easily put in 30 hours already. so much darn fun chopping off Orc heads

DynamicMenace · 10-07-2014, 09:56 PM

this game does look to be a lot of fun.

Demona · 10-10-2014, 10:00 AM

Nice to hear some fun reviews. I'm getting it for Mike for Christmas.

PureInvasion · 10-15-2014, 03:48 AM

just cleared the main campaign earlier today. The final 2 boss fights were pathetic but at least I had a relatively enjoyable time getting there.

I ended up at just over 80% completion so I'll likely be trading it in towards something else in November as there isn't much else to do with it once you've had your fill of collecting items.