Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was release last Tuesday, September 30. Have fans of the series finally received The Lord of the Rings game that they have been wanting for years?
Luckily, that answer is yes. Shadow of Mordor combines many well liked aspects and gameplay dynamics from other popular games and tweaks them to their own advantage. Combine that with an interesting and intelligent enemy A.I. system, and a beautifully crafted game is created.
Players take on the role as Talion, a ranger guarding The Black Gate of Mordor who is killed in a vicious sacrificial ceremony but then resurrected by a mysterious elf ghost who guides him along the rest of his journey. The story progresses as Talion and his ghost counterpart fight through hundreds of orcs and other enemies to seek revenge against the evil that lies within Mordor.
After the opening gameplay sequence, the entire world is opened up to the players disposal and the real interesting gameplay components come into play. Players can upgrade Talion to have better use of his weapons, better stealth techniques, faster speed, additional health, and so much more. Players roam around the world freely to complete main missions, side quests, and random events that can occur at any time and keep the gameplay experience fun and exciting.
Unlike most games, death in Shadow of Mordor does not penalize the player at all. Instead, Monolith studios intricate “Nemesis System” is a brand new element that gamers have never seen in a videogame before. Enemies within Mordor have a ranking system and ranks can obviously change when, say, a captain of a horde of orcs is slain by the player. The game will then update the enemy ranks and promote or demote enemy captains, veteran captains, and war chiefs accordingly. Additionally, when Talion is killed by any Orc, whether it be a random grunt found in the wild or a high ranking officer, that Orc is automatically promoted, given a name, and now commands his own small force of enemies.
Players can go on many missions that involve hunting and tracking down these enemy leaders that can take up many hours of gameplay. Combine this with over twenty story missions and side quests and Shadow of Mordor can certainly take a long time to complete.
While “The Lions Roar” does not specially think this is a bad thing, many players and reviews are upset at the fact that the game does not have any multiplayer. However, with solely single player games becoming more rare as time goes by, it is nice to finally get a game that commits itself to it’s awesome an awe-inspiring open world, single player experience.
Shadow of Mordor is a game that is fun and easy to play. It is a must have for any die-hard Lord of the Rings fans out there and even if you aren’t a fan of the movies or books, the game is a great stand alone experience even if one has no prior knowledge of the stories universe.
9.5/10
