Borrowing heavily from the Batman: Arkham series, but set in Tolkein’s decidedly less gothic High Fantasy world, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor casts the player in the role of Talion, a Gondorian ranger posted at the Black Gate. Perhaps somewhat unusually, the game kills the player within only a few minutes: the Black Gate is stormed by Sauron’s lieutenants, who sacrifice Talion and his entire family in order to summon a wraith. Unfortunately for the baddies, the wraith has ideas of his own and binds himself to the technically dead Talion. Banished from death and paired with an elvish wraith suffering from amnesia Talion sets out for revenge.
On paper, this game should be easy to dismiss. The story is shallow, the graphics, whilst good, are nothing special, the large open-world is populated nearly exclusively with a few types of enemies, there is only a handful of fairly repetitious story missions (with the side missions consisting of ‘collect x’ and arena-style challenges), and a stealth mechanic which seems to explain the orcs’ ineffectiveness in battle by demonstrating that they can’t tell the difference between a theatrically crouched and ‘sneaking’ human in full view, and an armoured and armed orc from more than a few metres away. Enemies re-spawn when you’re only a few hundred feet away (a distance you can cover within a few seconds), and most of the atmosphere comes from hidden collectibles with recorded memories, rather than the environment (again repetitive – once you’ve seen one orc fortress you’ve pretty much seen them all). On paper, this should be easy to dismiss... on paper.
In reality, Shadow of Mordor is perhaps one of the most satisfying action games around. At heart this is an old-fashioned game, where game-play, not story, is king (those seeking a deep and rich story, you’ve been warned); and what it does well, it does extremely well. Whilst they’re justifiably proud of the much-touted ‘Nemesis system’, don’t be deceived by what the developers say, the true heart of this game is the combat. From the first fight, I was amazed by how engaging and visceral it felt, perfectly capturing the feel of the movies (if the sight of flying orc heads makes you squeemish, don’t play this game), with intuitive and easy to master controls. Add to this an array of wraith powers, including a bow which temporarily slows time for everyone else when drawn (allowing you to dispatch whole groups of Uruks before the first has even hit the ground), take control of enemies and turn them against each other, or warp to and instantly incapacitate or kill enemies over a hundred metres away, you have a simple yet tactically satisfying combat system which conveys the feeling of being a one-man army and genuine threat to Sauron. Whilst some have criticised the combat as being too easy, turning off the ‘block/dodge now’ combat prompts remedies this nicely, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing whenever Talion is killed (which will happen), it was because you made a tactical blunder. The Nemesis system neatly reinforces this and adds variety, giving Captains and Warchiefs individual strengths and weaknesses (with each getting stronger if they manage to kill Talion – for example, super-strong attacks or being invulnerable to everything but a stealth attack), a memory of past encounters, and traits ranging from cowardice, to communicating in rhyming couplets. Lastly, it should be noted that the animation of the Uruks in particular is outstanding: being able to lip-read an orc is a strange experience.
The only genuine criticism I can level at it is that the pacing seems a bit off. Each main story mission unlocks a core power/ability not purchasable through the standard upgrade menu. By the time game really starts to shine – the combat system is fully unlocked, you can send death threats to Captains, embed an assassin in a Warchief’s bodyguard, start a riot between two chiefs and even steer an Uruk from lowly foot-soldier to Warchief – the story ends, leaving you with a sandbox world to puddle around in, with only the side-missions you didn’t bother completing, or Steam achievements you feel like unlocking (something which I’ve never really felt compelled to do for any game). Fortunately, this really isn’t that much of a drawback as the combat system is enjoyable enough to make you keep coming back for another bash, and for those who want more story but with all powers at their disposal, The Bright Lord DLC fills in the back-story.
All in all, an enjoyable (and destructive) romp through Mordor. ■