Generally the rule with video games based on movies, is that
they WILL be rubbish, some exceptions creep through, Aladdin, Goldeneye, and
Spiderman 2 are the first that spring to mind, but more often than not, they’re
tripe, it’s only when a developer has free reign with a license that we tend to
see good ideas and something special appearing.
2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from Monolith
Productions & Warner Bros took many by surprise, praised for its great
story, distinctive characters and innovative Nemesis system, an open world
action-adventure set in-between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the
Rings where you play as Gondorian Ranger, Talion, who is unfortunate enough to
get murdered by Sauron’s army in the opening sequence.
As luck would have it though he finds himself revived by a
wraith named Celebrimbor, a former elven master smith and forger of the
original rings of power, together they work as one, traipsing across Mordor kicking
ass and taking possession of Sauron’s armies, Talion with his sword, strength,
and actual corporeal form, and Celebrimbor providing the supernatural side of
things, teleporting to enemy locations, stunning and blinding enemies, and messing
with the minds of the many orcs inhabiting the map.
Using the wraith’s skills allows you to interrogate some weaker
orcs, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of their captains, over time this
ability can be upgraded to dominate orcs, twisting their minds and forcing them
to fight on your side, essential when you’re outnumbered in the midst of a
particularly large brawl, however should you not be able to turn the tide in
your favour and find yourself struck down, your killer will get themselves promoted,
gain strength and rise up in the ranks.
This is the game’s unique “Nemesis System” at work, break an
enemy to your will and send him to infiltrate a captain’s squad of bodyguards, now
you’ll have an inside man ready to turn against his boss when the time arrives,
it all works together to give the game a believable world and hierarchy for the
antagonists, whilst adding seemingly endless personality to each of the procedurally
generated creatures that cross your path, enemies actually remember their
encounters with you, if you let them live that is.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War follows directly on from its
predecessor, Talion and Celebrimbor are busy forging a new ring of power when spider-queen
Shelob shows up, forces them to give her the ring and sends our duo to recover a
valuable Palantir from the last Gondorian stronghold of Minas Ithil in exchange
for its return, acquisition of the Palantir by Sauron would spell disaster for
Middle-earth, so off they trot.
Starting out you work your way into the city, tracking an
orc captain and aiding the Gondorian squads in their defense, this eases you
back into the games mechanics as you help fend off the growing assaults, climbing
the Haedir Towers to scope out activity locations and fast travel points, it
starts to become more Assassin’s Creed-like again as you seek out Gondorian
artifacts, hidden Ithildin words, and Shelob memories to collect for extra
skill points and currency, all this whilst fighting literally anything else
that isn’t human.
Hacking and slashing your way through Mordor is as easy as
ever with the combat system which remains largely unchanged, countering and
dodging attacks as you build up your combo meter and pull off executions and
dominate your attackers with nary a scratch on you, this time however there is
much more of an RPG element to your weapons and armour, enemies will drop items
with varying attributes often augmenting Talion’s abilities, elemental damage,
health and focus recovery, and such, with this there are also runes that can be
collected and upgraded to further enhance whatever item of gear they’re
equipped to.
The variety in armour and weapons is not just limited to our
hero, within the regions of SoW are different tribes of Uruks, each with differing
skills and traits, Feral tribes charging at you to pin you down, utilising
beasts to aid them in battle, Machine tribes armed with advanced weapons,
laying traps around you, or the Mystic tribes, users of dark arts, raising the
dead and teleporting out of the way of any attacks, each with their own
distinct markings and armour adding an extra layer of variety to the often cut
and paste base-level orcs.
With the addition of more flavours of enemy,
there are now five regions to explore over the previous game’s two, the lush
jungle of Nurnen, the volcanic cavernous passages of Gorgoroth, or the
snow-capped mountaintops of Seregost, each home to countless foes, though
despite the change of scenery, these areas all boil down to the same thing,
several slightly different outposts to capture, collectibles to find, and
fortresses to takeover, tribe locations are random and it’s generally just the
enemy strength that alters from region to region.
Where SoW primarily sets itself apart from its predecessor,
is that in each of these five regions there are large heavily-defended Fortresses
controlled by a single Uruk overlord and his Warchiefs, you pick your assault
leaders from captains you have control over, choosing any available army
upgrades, such as explosive Sappers, War Graugs, or Mounted Archers to raise
your assault force level past that of the defending side, then lead the charge
by taking each Victory Point inside the fortress until you reach the throne
room to face the overlord.
Capturing a region’s fortress doesn’t serve a great amount
of purpose personally, between the post-campaign Shadow Wars mode, conquering
all four for the story and the Online Conquests, it’s just more of the same
busywork, and this is where my main problem with Shadow of War really lies,
nine times out of ten I play a game for the single-player campaign, I’d rather
get engrossed in an interactive story than doing the same thing over and over,
especially if the reward only really has use in the story-mode, which I’ve, by
then, already finished.
The shear amount of clutter was so frustrating at time,
there were moments where I’d get lost trying to move to the next story mission
with no idea where it was or what I was even meant to do to find it, often
stumbling upon the mission by accident, I’d look through the quests menu, I’d
look over the region maps, eventually just choosing a mission that I liked the
sound of, which conveniently ended up being the mandatory prerequisite to move
things forward.
Previously in Shadow of Mordor, the story was the driving
factor, this time however that gets drowned amidst collectibles, loot crates
and busywork, in an attempt to improve on what came before, Shadow of War has
lost its identity, the Nemesis System still remains the most enjoyable part but
ends up buried under everything else, Mafia 3 is another title unfortunately
cursed with too much bulk and not enough brains, when will developers start to
learn that less is more?
Though the addition of new environments is not unwanted, the
massive frozen lake of Seregost, the cliffside fortress of Cirith Ungol, and
the eerie desolation of Minas Morgul late into the campaign each bring a
welcome individuality to the areas, missing from the previous game, though almost
overwhelming at first until you unlock more fast travel points or find yourself
a Caragor to ride to your next objective, blustering your way through enemy
camps, passed large outcrops, across a great many rooftops and along numerous
ramparts.
These areas are full of some great details, the orcs and
beasts you’ll encounter occasionally having scars or unique armour or features,
setting them apart from someone or something you’ll have met before, even materials
found in character’s clothes have a handmade look, scavenged goods adorning the
captains and warchiefs alike, helmets and shields decorated with paint, or
skulls, or both, and dare I mention the occasional nauseating maggot-infested
uruks that sometimes appear, couple this with great facial animations granting
further life to this warring world of man and beast.
Backing up the crisp visuals is a soundtrack akin to that of
the films, frantic orchestral pieces compliment the on-screen action and
multiple battles you enter, booming symphonic performances lending themselves
to the often dark and ominous areas you’ll navigate, character performances are
well acted, the huge amount of cockney accented orcs and uruks you’ll meet who always
have something different to say, the fantastic Brûz and his blood brothers, and
the gruff Elvish that Celebrimbor utters all over the place is excellent, though
the voice of Carnán drove me up the wall, almost to the point of spoiling one
of the best bits of the game.
Discounting how the game looks, sounds and the huge amount
of things you can do, it does have a few minor issues, the run and climb button
being the same, often causing random jumps off of buildings and walls resulting
in failure of stealth challenges, a’ la Assassin’s Creed, unfair groups of
enemies or AoE attacks whilst facing larger foes or bosses, and once again the
repetition in some of the missions, there are a few new variations but not
nearly enough.
Now I’m not saying Shadow of War isn’t a good game, it might
be missing some of the charm of the original, hampered by a dull story and
overabundance of filler, but I’ve enjoyed playing it and dare say I’ll probably
give the online fights a bit of a bash, mostly because I have a couple of friends
playing who I need to lord it over, but personally if you’ve not played the
original, get that, and if you have, and are yet to try this sequel, it’s worth
a look but is essentially more of the same with added bloat, a bit like The
Hobbit trilogy really.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One