Travel back into the world of
Middle Earth with this game, which takes place between the end of The
Hobbit and the beginning of The Lord Of The Rings.
In Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor, you play the role of Talion, a
Gondorian Ranger, whose family is killed by Sauron's army of orcs and
goblins on the night they return to take over Mordor.
Talion should have died with his wife and son when he was slain, but
instead finds himself alive and somehow fused with the spirit of an elf
lord. Together, they seek vengeance against a common enemy responsible
for their undying plight.
As Talion, you have an arsenal of special attacks and moves at your
disposal. Some of these come from your training as a ranger, others
from the elf lord's spirit residing in you.
At first, you can do only simple things, such as dodge, attack and block. However, as you progress, you will unlock more skills.
For instance, when you learn the Execution skill, you can
immediately kill an enemy after you have achieved a continuous hit
combination of eight attacks. Wraith Blast lets you stun all enemies
around you, so you can make a quick escape or follow up with a flurry
of strikes.
Trying to defeat the powerful bosses early in the game is almost
impossible, as Talion has yet to acquire the skills needed to compete
at a higher level. Getting those skill points, however, takes time, so
I found myself deliberately seeking out side missions and quests to
level up my character and buff his power.
As you slay orcs and goblins, as well as complete missions and
quests, you gain Experience Points (XP), which lets you unlock
additional skills. However, the skills are divided into tiers and you
need Power Points to unlock higher level tiers before you can use your
XP to gain the new skills of that tier.
Melee combat is hugely satisfying and feels like the Batman games.
You need to dodge and block attacks, while dishing out damage to your
opponents. You can throw enemies, knock them over a bridge, instantly
kill enemies you have knocked to the ground, stun them and execute
various combinations, which will make you feel like a superhero as you
take out enemies by the dozen.
You can also sneak up on your enemies to make instant kills, but
eventually, you must engage in hand-to-hand combat in most fights. Your
wraith powers make you an expert scout, as it will reveal to you the
silhouettes of your enemies, even those hidden from normal sight.
You also have the power to slow down time when you draw back your
bowstring to aim. However, you cannot take too long to get a good shot,
as you will then drain your Focus meter.
Where the game truly excels is in its orc and goblin enemy
generation engine, which creates new orcs and goblin captains as you
slay the old ones. I always thought all orcs and goblins looked the
same, but the face-creation engine generates unique looks for these
minions of evil, which give each a unique look.
Your character is cursed and cannot die, but every time you are
defeated by an enemy, that enemy gets promoted and will be harder to
fight the next time you meet it.
Defeat, therefore, makes the game harder to complete. So, mindlessly
charging into the fray is not a good idea. Often, you have to learn
about the strengths and weaknesses of a captain before engaging him to
help stack the odds of victory in your favour.
Some captains can be killed by stealth attacks, while others fear
the mounted beasts called Caragors, which you can ride into battle. To
acquire intel, you can interrogate certain marked orcs or look for
clues among barrels and carts.
After one too many battles, the combat sequence can become a little
repetitive. Apart from this, Shadow Of Mordor is a fabulous game, which
is a must-play for fans of JRR Tolkein and Middle Earth.
Rating: 8.5/10
- $76.90 (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, version tested); $64.90 (PC)
- Action adventure
