Lord of the Rings Shadow of Mordor Review

Verdict

Pros

• Solid open up-globe gameplay
• Challenging, counter-heavy combat
• The brilliant nemesis system
• Skilful use of the license

Cons

• Mordor isn't known for scenic beauty
• Getting overwhelmed can be frustrating

Fundamental Specifications

• Review Cost: £xl.99

Available on Xbox One (reviewed), PS4, PC. Also coming soon on PS3 and Xbox 360.
Shadow of Mordor is the all-time Lord of the Rings game for about a decade, though considering the competition, that isn't really proverb much. More chiefly, information technology'due south a whole lot amend than you might wait. It'south inappreciably the earth's most original game, only that doesn't mean its short on thrills, drama or innovation. While descriptions of the game equally Assassin's Creed goes to Middle Earth aren't entirely wide of the mark, they also don't do the game justice.

In fact, information technology has as much in common with another Warner Bros. holding: the Batman: Akham Asylum/City/Origins serial. It'south another complimentary-roaming, open-earth chance with the focus on combat and stealth, and while there are elements of Assassin's Creed in its stealth kills and free-running acrobatics, it's much less focused on urban spaces or vertical exploration. Meanwhile the hard-hit, counter-heavy melee combat is closer to the Batman fashion, down to the tiresome-mo finishers when you put down the concluding enemy in a gang. And Shadow of Mordor does bring something new to the political party, and while this feature sounds similar a gimmick, it turns out to be surprisingly profound.

Nor, to its credit, does it wear its license lightly. The design of scenery and characters is 99% WETA and Peter Jackson, only the plot stretches deep into Tolkien'south backstory, so that the tale of a ranger of Gondor, bought back from expiry to avenge his murdered family, has richer implications than you start expect. Key characters from the lore are bought into play and not used cheaply, and while those who've studied the Simarillion will doubtless take a dozen or more complaints, those who love The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit and the movie adaptations will find that Shadow of Mordor feels like a natural extension.

Hither your protagonist is Talion, a ranger charged with defending the walls surrounding Mordor just as Sauron returns to the scene. Bad timing. His fort over-run by orcs and his married woman and son slain by a mysterious figure known but as the Blackness Hand of Sauron, Talion himself is slaughtered. Nevertheless, decease turns out not to be the end. Instead, he finds himself trapped in a kind of limbo, live simply jump to the wraith of a long expressionless elf-lord, and doomed to continue coming dorsum to life until he can avenge his kin; a bit like the fantasy equivalent of Pecker Murray in Groundhog Day. Sadly, Talion doesn't get to relive the same twenty-four hour period in smalltown USA; he gets to wander around Mordor slaying orcs.

Our hero's simply hope of finding peace is to kill the Black Hand, but how does he get to this fiendish wizard? The answer turns out to be murdering his way up the ranks of Uruk-Hai, slaughtering the captains, their commanders and the warchiefs at the top. To practise this he needs to place his targets, and there are only ways to do it. One is to interrogate those directly below, taking him up the concatenation of command, while the other is to use the services of a delightfully Machiavellian, albeit hapless warchief wannabe; the virtually lovable Ratbag the Coward.

Cue multiple assassinations, infiltrations, straight upward fights and the occasional boss battle, all of which test Talion'southward interesting and varied skillset. Like the stars of Assassin's Creed he can sneak behind orcs and stab them from behind, or climb to a vantage point and spring them from to a higher place. He can also dangle from a ledge and stab them from beneath, or use the wraith'southward unearthly bow to slay them from a distance. This is where the game is at its near Creed-esque, to the extent that it does the aforementioned automatic parkour tricks when you concord a button.

When all else fails, he tin have the orcs on face to face. Unfortunately for him, the odds aren't exactly piled in his favour. As in the Batman games, y'all'll often find yourself surrounded by multiple enemies, using quick, well-timed counters to ward off incoming blows, and then fighting dorsum with quick slashes and – if yous tin downwardly your foes – a finishing motility.

At first the combat is a struggle. You'll discover yourself under assault from as well many orcs and spending too much time countering to land a decent blow. What's more, the finishing moves seem to have ages, leaving you vulnerable to an incoming set on unless you break to counter, at which point your would-be victim jumps up for another go. In Centre Globe, it seems, simply the 1 stab to the throat is no discouragement. Throw in some awful camera angles and the fighting tin be infuriating.

Persevere, nevertheless, and things slot into place. You get smart, learning to isolate targets or cutting downwardly the numbers with stealth or bow attacks. Y'all likewise grow more than powerful, using XP and the local currency to buy additional skills, which allow you to dish out disquisitional hits, follow a magic stun attack with a flurry of blows or scatter enemies with a round blast. Add in ecology options, similar insect hives that misfile orcs or exploding barrels to sparse down the numbers, and the action eventually gets a whole lot easier.

Meanwhile, each decease actually plays its own office in the gameplay. Shadow of Mordor uses a thing called the 'nemesis system', where the ranks of orcs you're slaughtering aren't static, merely change as specific orc captains grow more or less powerful, or die at your hands or at the hands of rivals. Defeat an orc captain and he might come dorsum from the brink of expiry with vengeance on his mind. Exist defeated, and that helm might rise in rank, and even ordinary orcs can be promoted if they happen to take you lot out. Every bit the orcs move upwardly the ladder they grow more powerful and, unfortunately, more than difficult to kill. On the plus side, a dead captain volition often driblet a rune, which you can add together to your sword or dagger. The more powerful the captain, the more powerful this rune will be, making it advantageous to accept out the senior orcs.

Any orcs who take encountered you lot before recall you, and this and their distinctive – if vile personalities – make for a game that feels weirdly alive. Nothing makes you lot desire to slay an orc more a sneering comment once they've dealt yous a fatal blow. You're not only fighting another faceless bunch of thugs, only trying to take out the bastard orc that killed you last time, or the one that you know is after your head. More than a gimmick, the nemesis organisation turns out to be a not bad thought. Exist sure that other games will pinch it.

The arrangement also feeds into the wider action. Each orc captain has his own strengths and weaknesses, and you can discover these by interrogating any officers who report to them. Some, y'all'll notice, might exist invulnerable to stealth or ranged attacks, while others get weaker if you can assault them when mounted on a savage, snarling Caragor (the closest thing you get to a faithful steed in Mordor).

Beyond slaying, you can get your teeth into other activities. Finding, climbing and 'reforging' ghostly wraith towers will give you more respawn/fast-travel points and open up up new missions in the area. Completing combat challenges volition earn you cash you can use to buy new skills or weapon ugrade slots. Herbs and artefacts can be discovered, the onetime healing, the latter unlocking background lore. Meanwhile, two completely different strings of story missions see you tracking a familiar face up to discover the identity and history of your new wraith marry, or working with a gang of escaped man slaves and outcasts to fight a guerrilla war confronting the orcs.

Many of the few faults at that place are will be familiar to fans of open globe games. Like the Assassin'due south Creed games, Shadow of Mordor can feel too heavily driven past its systems; there's always a lot to exercise, just some of it grows repetitive with time. Getting swamped past seemingly countless waves of orcs tin can grow boring when you're merely trying to impale one helm, and the onus is on you to make sure that you lot don't get into situations y'all tin can't handle. Riding Caragor should be 1 of the highpoints of the game, only your snarling, orc-chomping mounts are hard to handle. Meanwhile, Mordor – as yous might look – isn't exactly the most scenic spot to explore.

While the graphics are impressively detailed and packed with next-gen goodness, we're talking near a land of cleaved greyness rock, craggy grey mountains, weather-beaten grey ruins and ugly orc fortresses. Information technology'south all very atmospheric, but besides unrelentingly grim.

Luckily if the landscape isn't so vibrant, then your orc foes make up for it. Their linguistic communication is certainly colourful at times, and they've got a nice line in vulgar songs, mean-spirited rhymes and whining. Information technology almost – well-nigh – seems a shame to kill them. With enemies like this, who needs a view?

Verdict
It sounds like an unholy Heart Earth brew-up of Arkham Metropolis and Assassin's Creed, but the Nemesis organization helps turn Shadow of Mordor into something far more entertaining. With good, demanding combat, splendid stealth and enemies worth slaying it'south more compulsive than you lot might expect, and it treats the license with some respect equally well. This yr's surprise sleeper hit? Don't bet against information technology.

Next, read our round-up of the best games to play in 2014

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