Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

I've heard that the sequel to this is basically just an improvement on every aspect and that gets me really excited because I loved a lot of the foundation but not much of the execution.

This game is most famous for the patented nemesis system and like, yeah, that's the best part. Some top tier catharsis came from finally killing an orc I'd died to a bunch of times and accidentally leveled up a bunch.

I didn't like the combat at first but came to realise that its actually just difficult and requires you to use all the tools at your disposal. Just spamming attack and parry isn't really an option. Though, once I got the hang of the combat and stopped losing fights I wouldn't say it was incredibly fun combat. Also, I wish stealth was more viable.

Scaling walls was neat but trying to detach from them was a nightmare and the jumping and parkour controls were incredibly imprecise. Never knew where I was going to land.

The story was utterly forgettable and felt incredibly truncated. Just not compelling at all. The world felt pretty lifeless and small, I never really felt like I was a part of something bigger.

Ending boss fights were neat but I had no connection to the narrative so I was just happy for them to be done.

The game is fun for a while, then it turns redundant by the time you arrive in the second map (where there are luxuriant green landscapes... in Mordor?). There are too many boring side quests to accomplish, items to collect that don't teach much about the lore, or "slaves to save"/"lieutenants to kill" type-quests that pop up every now and then.

I think the nemesis system is not a bad system per se, but I find myself skipping the who-killed-who-and-who-replaced-who explanations after some hours ingame. I just don't care which Orc, that I'm going to slay anyway, got promoted! And for a strange reason, some lieutenants kept standing in my way, even though I was sure I killed them several times. Their boring long-winded speech made me eye-rolling. Shut up, I have heard this many times before!

Fortunately, the main quests are quite interesting: you meet several characters (most of them lack depth, and reveal to be as serviceable as the protagonist, but the villains are charismatic), you go hunt fantastic creatures of Middle-Earth, and you engage in epic battles, where you can exploit the skills and fighting techniques you learnt earlier.

Speaking of the fighting system, I appreciate the fluid interactions and the many possibilities you have to slay Orcs. Every combat is a pleasure, and the enemies grow harder and harder to beat. The stealth system is quite good too, even if climbing can be imprecise at times and irritating.

In summary, this is a satisfying game, for LOTR fans and action-adventure players, but there is a little something lacking. Oh, and the ending, sadly, fucking sucks... I mean, you become a war machine on your way to confront Sauron's right-hand man... only to beat him in a thirty-seconds QTE! Ok then...

Shadow of Mordor is a decent game that is ruined by one fatal flaw: It's too easy.

As advertised everywhere, a big part of the game is the "Nemesis System", where orcs that kill you become more powerful and rise in the ranks of Sauron's army. This works very well at the beginning of the game, forcing you to actually plan your encounters with your powerful enemies in order to defeat them. Unfortunately, over the course of the game you gain many new powers and abilities - but the orcs don't. At about the halfway point of the game, you've become a nearly invincible badass that can slaughter dozens of enemies in one go. This also means that there is no challenge left in the game and in turn it becomes rather dull. The boring environments and unengaging story don't help it either.

This title may seem sarcastic and very negative, but it isn't negative. Because despite of all of the cliches this game borrows from other games (especially some games by ubisoft and the arkham games) it somehow manages to make it all into a very fun concise game that although being very repetitive manages to stay fairly interesting all the way through.
Recommended especially for pc because you can get it very cheap these days.

The Xbox 360 version of this game is what finally convinced me that the Xbone and PS4 were necessary upgrades. Due to being an adult at the time, I was less focused on the "shiny new videogame box" part, and more on the "$400" part for the first time. This is the game that I look back at when I think about the Scarlet or the PS5. I may not think we need it now, but I'll change my tune when another game like this comes out.

This version is playable. When you're in the game itself, it plays exactly like how you'd expect it to. There's no stutter or anything.
However, the load times are ridiculous. I don't just mean the "load the level" times. Pausing and unpausing the game requires a load time. I've played the Xbone version, which does all this smoothly. But on 360, every time I wanted to upgrade my abilities or look at the map, I'd be treated to a loading screen. I've never seen anything like it before or since.

It may be a bit late to say this now, but do not play this on Xbox 360 if you have any other options.

In Shadows Of Mordor, you play as a Ranger called Talion. In the introduction, you see him and his family are killed in a ritual by “The Black Hand of Sauron”. However, Talion finds himself left in limbo and is guided by a Wraith spirit named Celebrimbor; the forger of the rings of power. Talion gains the Wraith's supernatural abilities and goes on a quest to avenge the death of his loved ones.

There's gonna be a lot of comparisons to Batman's Arkham series or Assassin's Creed since the game involves a lot of stealth and a lot of fighting. The fighting plays out the same as the Arkham games but the pace is slower/more realistic; sometimes Batman jerked about unrealistically, whereas in this game it is much smoother. Landing several hits without taking damage allows you to perform finishing moves. You have a punch move that stuns enemies, allowing you to quickly slash away at them to quickly increase your combo.

The Arkham series was like Assassin's Creed in some ways. So you have stealth with an Eagle Vision/Detective Mode vision that allows you to easily locate enemies and items, there's plenty of treasures on the map (Artefacts and healing plants), and climbing large towers unveils the map and objectives. You even get to take a unrealistic dive from them just like Assassin's Creed.

Talion is equipped with a sword, dagger and bow. You use your sword in combat, dagger for stealth kills, and bows for long range sniping. When he draws his bow, time slows down but drains your focus meter. This allows you pull off many head-shots in quick succession.

The “Nemesis” system is a much talked about feature of this game. There's a hierarchy of Uruk's which shows who is in control. You gain Power by defeating them which gives you access to new abilities. You can interrogate “Worms” just like the Riddler Informants in Batman Arkham City. This gives you info on the Uruks, stating their strengths and weaknesses, giving you hints in order to take them down. Some are immune/weak to long range, stealth or finisher attacks, whilst others are scared of the beast creatures or weak to explosive damage.

As you play the story missions, this Nemesis system is explained to you. At first, I was doing the side missions, so when I was killing these Uruks, they just seemed to respawn and I'd run into them again. You have 4 levels of Uruks, and the higher ranking Uruks can have body guards in the levels below. In order to take down the Chiefs, you need to learn who their body guards are, their weaknesses, and take them out. Later in the game, you have the ability to “Brand” them which means they fight for you. This gives you a much bigger advantage in taking down the Chiefs. When time passes, Uruks can be promoted, and new Uruks fill the space of the dead ones.

The Uruks (excluding Chiefs) can pop up unexpected. I was on a side mission where I just had to take out 10 archers with my bow, and 2 Uruks showed up. When fleeing, another joined in. This unpredictability creates some really intense scenarios but also some large difficulty spikes. You often need to take advantage of your surroundings, looking for opportunities to unleash caged beasts, cause explosions, or drop a Morgai fly (like bees) nest onto your enemies. This can damage them, or cause them to flee battle. You need to also consider when to flee too. Should you be defeated, the Uruk will get promoted and become stronger.

A tactic I liked doing is fleeing to higher ground. You have to be wary of archers or thrown axes, but once you reach higher ground, the Orcs lose sight of you very easy. This means you can rejoin the fight with a stealth kill (or more).

Initially, the game seemed easy as you can take down Orcs with ease. However, once you get other types such as Archers, Berserkers and Shielded Uruk-Hai, then the difficulty increases. It can start to get easier towards the end of the game when you unlock more finishing moves, as well as the Brand ability to gain a small following.

The game loves respawning Orcs. Even if you take 50 of them down, more will come flooding in. It's often a fight you can't really win. When completing missions, the game like to respawn them. I took down loads of Uruks in a mission, only to be surrounded again once the mission was completed, so had to partially fight my way back out. I understand there's loads of Orcs in Mordor, and they will call in reinforcements (a flame icon will be displayed over an Orc who runs towards the beacon). However, the level that it does it is just often unrealistic or unfair. This leads to frustration and also makes the the game feel repetitive.

Most of the game sees you navigate ruins, cliffs and ground. It's all brown and dull. I guess you are in Mordor. Later on you do see some colourful settings, but it is a similar aesthetic. There's only a small amount of supporting characters too, so you are often on your own. I liked the music in the game, and the chants that play when you meet an Uruk leader are really cool.

When you gain experience and level up, you get a skill point to unlock a new ability in the skill tree. The tree is split into two; Ranger and Wraith. Although it looks like you get to customise your character, each level of abilities is unlocked after you earn enough Power. You end up levelling at a pace where you end up unlocking most abilities on that tier before unlocking the next tier. This means that you don't get to customise your character as much as it appears.

When you defeat the Uruks, they drop a rune which can be assigned to your weapons which give you all kinds of perks like health recovery, focus recovery, defence or attack power. This gives you some extra customisation and some give scope for strategy.

Shadows Of Mordor has a few limitations, but it borrows elements from successful games and improves upon it (I prefer this over the average Assassin's Creed game). The combat is very satisfying, but there's a lot of it. The Nemesis system is a cool idea, but I think it would mean everyone's experience with the game is slightly different, and it is interesting how some people claim the game is too easy, while others found it very hard. I found it a mix of both, but I liked the unpredictability. The ending is really disappointing and doesn't involve much combat at all, when I expected a really epic battle.