Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third person action game
developed by Monolith Productions, a studio owned by publisher Warner
Brothers Interactive. In it you play a ranger named Talion who dies
alongside his family at the hands of orcs, and who, in a dark ritual, is
seemingly brought back to life bound to a shade. The shade imbues
Talion with a wide array of ghostly powers that he uses to extract his
revenge on Sauron's growing Uruk army. Even with the shade's strength
however, Talion is still only human, and one man versus an entire orcish
army is tricky business. Instead of trying to single-handedly cut his
way through their superior numbers, Talion wisely focuses on picking off
higher ranking Captains and War Chiefs in the hopes of luring out their
general, the Black Hand of Sauron, and destroying the army by severing
its head.
For you Lord of the Rings fans out there,
Shadow of Modor's
story could be considered pseudo-canon. Obviously, J.R.R. Tolkien
didn't write this stuff himself, but the team at Monolith Productions
did make the effort to collaborate with Middle-earth Productions, as
well as the director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, Peter
Jackson, to make sure that game's events aligned with the existing
Middle-earth time lines and lore. This should ensure that there's
nothing in the story or its developments that will enrage purist
fanboys, and since it's plot is ancillary to the events of the books and
films, the game is accessible to everybody even if you don't know what a
Frodo is. As far as story quality goes, the script has its moments, but
is ultimately pretty average in my opinion. This is a shame since head
writer Christian Cantamessa is also responsible for one of my favorite
video game tales of all time in
Red Dead Redemption. With overused tropes like revenge and amnesia, and a somewhat muddled introduction and walkthrough, it regrettably wasn't
Shadow of Mordor's story that hooked me. Instead, it was the game play.
It's very clear from the outset that
Shadow of Mordor takes its cues from other popular third person action-adventure games, especially the
Assassin's Creed series
and the Batman games that have come out of Rocksteady Studios these
last few years. Talion climbs watch towers and stalks his orc prey with
the stealthy surety of any white-hooded initiate, and with similar ease.
Combat is a bit more challenging. If they want to survive, players will
have to make use of their combo meters and finisher abilities in a
similar fashion as the takedown system from the
Arkham games.
Luckily the combat is just as fluid, and within a couple short play
sessions, you'll have Talion jumping over enemies' shields, dodging
arrows and spears, performing stealth finishers, and seamlessly
counterattacking. Even with all of these abilities at your disposal
however, it is easy to be overwhelmed by a crowd. Stealth is sometimes
the smarter option. Engaging even a single orc in open combat can
quickly spiral out of control if a nearby Captain comes to his aid, or a
passing patrol sees you and raises the alarm.
While Talion's fighting style may resemble the Dark Knight's, his ethos on the sanctity of life does not. In fact,
Shadow of Mordor
is arguably more violent than the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films.
Some of Talion's executions are especially gory, with decapitations
being common sights. Depending on your skills, one stealth execution
ability allows you assassinate an orc so thoroughly that it makes other
orcs flee the area. To put that into perspective,
orcs eat people! Considering that it's brutal enough to make monsters that eat people run away screaming, it should be no surprise that
Shadow of Mordor is intended for mature audiences, and certainly earns its M rating.
While an
Arkham/Creed mash-up
set in Mordor might seem derivative on its surface, Monolith studios
manages to transcend 'knock off' status by adding some cool mechanics of
their own. One is the ability to gain intel on Talion's targets before
facing them in battle. Shaking down a lower level orc to learn the
strengths and weaknesses of their Captain is not only fun, but integral
to the player's survival. Knowing ahead of time that your target is
invulnerable to stealth attacks, but susceptible to a single headshot
from a bow, will save you a lot of trial and error in the long run.
Don't
think you're the only one out hunting on this side of the Black Gate
either. Some Captains and their bodyguards will stalk Talion as he slays
his way across Mordor, and the Uruk Captains will even fight internal
power struggles amongst themselves. When a Captain falls, their position
isn't vacant long, as countless others are eager to step into their
place. Orcs that win duels amongst themselves, or that manage to kill
Talion or survive an encounter with him, will increase in power and
likely be promoted to Captain themselves. It's these types of dynamics,
coupled with the tight and fluid (if borrowed) combat and movement
mechanics, that make
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor a standout in
its own right. Throw in your usual open world meta objectives like
hunting critters and collecting artifacts, and there's plenty of content
to keep you busy aside from the main quest as well.
