Having recently purchased a PS4, my initial batch of games were all FPS (great ones, esp. rendered via the PS4) but Shadows of Mordor came yesterday and damn, what a cool game.
In the early trailers & interviews I jumped to the obvious conclusion that it was a re-skinned Assassin's Creed in Middle Earth. This wasn't particularly a problem for me as it appeared to combine two incredible elements: the Middle Earth setting and the great gameplay of AC2 and had the added bonus of no Animus/modern-day gunk to suffer through. The video highlighting the Nemesis system showed that leaving the comparison their was premature.
Having played about 4 hours of the game, while there is certainly AC-style elements with Talion's ability to climb, Shadow of Mordor's true inspiration (and I'm now seeing interviews confirming this) is Arkham Asylum/City.
The environment is much more reminiscent of Arkham City, where just about everyone is hostile to you vs. AC's ability to hide/blend in plain sight. The gameplay is very good and I do find the combat more reminiscent of Arkham games than Assassin's Creed, which although both are good - I prefer Arkham's combat flow to AC's, so this is definitely a good thing.
The voice acting is top-notch, the lore is rich, again more like Arkham-lore in presentation & tone, IMO and there I love the open-world come-at-it-as-you-choose approach to things.
Hands down, however, the standout here are the villains and the Nemesis system. The orcs are intriguing, varied, and disgusting. I find myself listening to conversations just for the enjoyment of it, sometimes forgetting to plan my next move. I can't express the surprise and glee of seeing orcs that just killed me promoted and gain new weapons/armor as they "leveled".
Thoroughly impressed thus far!
Yeah, the nemesis system is just plain awesome. I didn't really know what to expect when I was first playing (i.e that it would be Arkham like), so I just took off in a random direction. I almost immediately got overwhelmed and killed. The uruk that killed me got promoted. I decided I couldn't have that so I went right back to him, but now he had followers, too, and I died again. He's now well out of my power range for a bit, being a power level 10, with a host of followers for killing me....
Great stuff.
Hmm, not much of an AC fan to tell the truth (but then I only played the first one, thought they used some language to gratuitously for no gain for me...and didn't really have much of a strong direction for me to follow).
Arkham City felt very different from the AC series to me though (stronger plot line to follow, more defined in actions, but then maybe that was just me).
However, I'm not sure how that dynamic would work in ME. Is it just one city, or all of Mordor? How does it work?
I am somewhat interested in the game, but wanting to know what it's like. Does it have RPG elements to it? Are these elements stronger or weaker than the Arkham games?
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So, let me say it like this.
This is a Middle Earth game, wrapped in an Assassin's creed shoved into Batman: Arkham City...ON MIDDLE EARTH
The combat is amazing. Story is very good, Nemesis system is kickass and it looks beautiful.
I can't run it on High, let alone Ultra, but hey. I'm loving it thus far.
Hmm, not much of an AC fan to tell the truth (but then I only played the first one, thought they used some language to gratuitously for no gain for me...and didn't really have much of a strong direction for me to follow).
Arkham City felt very different from the AC series to me though (stronger plot line to follow, more defined in actions, but then maybe that was just me).
However, I'm not sure how that dynamic would work in ME. Is it just one city, or all of Mordor? How does it work?
I am somewhat interested in the game, but wanting to know what it's like. Does it have RPG elements to it? Are these elements stronger or weaker than the Arkham games?
Well, it is (to my mind) much more like Arkham than it is like Assassin's Creed, although Hama is right and there are certainly elements of that in it.
As to questionable language, I haven't noticed any yet that you might find concerning, but as it isn't a issue for me, I might have missed it, but I don't think so. (No judgment there meant on you in any way, but it stands out less to folks that aren't as concerned).
As to roleplaying elements, it certainly isn't a "roleplaying game" with dialogues you control, etc. If you consider the sort of system, like the batman systems, where you choose abilities to upgrade based on your preferred play style sort of roleplaying, it definitely has that. In fact, it has even more options than the Arkham games have in that regard.
I hope that helps you.
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So the first Uruk in the game that killed me is named Thakok the Brother. In my life, I have seldom ever hated a video game NPC quite like I hate Thakok. That guy is a total jerk. I want to kill him SOOO badly. I think this is a sign this is a good game.
So Thakok killed me right after the game started. I couldn't have that, so I went back to fight him again. His ability he gained for making captain was to have a group of followers. They swarmed me and he killed me again. He got promoted for it.
His new freaking power was that he could sense fights going on nearby, and respond to them. He has since showed up 3-4 times while I have been battling other enemies, and helped them drive me off. He's even killed me once more. He, obviously, keeps getting promoted because he is so darn good at killing me, or at least stopping me. But I'm getting more powerful.... Last time I injured him pretty badly before I had to retreat...
So I've now gained some intel on him, and I've actually spent down time today at work coming up with a plan to assassinate him.
I'm coming for you Thakok.....
I think the only real criticism of this game that I can come up with is that the skill set you need to develop to master the game's combat is very similar to the Arkham series, which means that if you put in a lot of hours in the Arkham games you will spend most of the game straight up wiping the floor with uruk-hai.
Also, for those who are mid-way through the game's progression trees, Brutalize is a fantastic way to start off a combat encounter with a charged combo counter.
Thanks Scott, I'll use that advice. I'm not far in.
Being good at another game helping you be good at this one should be criticised?
Only in the sense that if you enjoy the process of learning a new mechanical system (like the game's combat system) that learning process won't really be there. There's a sort of satisfaction that comes with taking on that kind of challenge and coming out on top, but a small portion of the game's player base is coming into the game with that mastery already in place.
Spoiler for those who have gotten to the ending.
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It's a bit harder than Arkham games to be honest. Although, yes, I wiped the floor with 100+ uruks without losing more than 50% of my health on my first try, but then I used to get 100% completion on I am the night difficulty in Arkham games.
I also love that they showed Sauron how he looked before he got ugly.
EDIT:
How the hell do I kill something that is invulnerable to all my attacks?
I also love that they showed Sauron how he looked before he got ugly.
Sauron is a shapechanger. That wasn't his true form.
Yea, Antanar the Fair/Lord of Gifts was just how he schmoozed up to the elves.
In regards to your Nemesis, I think if you lure them close to what they are afraid of they become vulnerable.
More accurately, Sauron was a Maia. He could originally take on many forms, but it's not quite accurate to imply that he had a true form.
After the destruction of his body in the downfall of Numenor, he could no longer take on a fair seeming form.I assume Annatar was seen in a flashback?
Yes, multiple times. All take place after the forging of the Rings of Power, which could explain why he's able to change shape.
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I did almost everything in the first chapter. I did all the weapon-skill trials and all of the slave missions. I skipped collecting some of the artifacts and most of the herb collections.
I think I might have broken the game recently. I picked up a couple runes that heal me for 41% of my health whenever I perform a certain finisher. I can perform said finisher every 1.66 hits. I'm nigh invulnerable right now.
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Just finished. My final time clocked in at just over 23 hours but I'm confident I could have done it in under 20 if I hadn't spent so much time avenging my friends. I didn't finish all the collection quests but there's little point to it other than completionism as I was max level when I still had 5-6 story quests to go.