Shadow of Mordor - The Steemit Review

Shadow of Mordor is an open world third person action game based on the Lord of the Rings franchise. The events take place after the Hobbit but before Fellowship, and the player controls Talion, a ranger of Gondor. Talion and his family are killed by Sauron's Orcs, but instead of dying, Talion joins with the spirit of an ancient Elf, gains magical powers, and swears revenge.

Story:

You play as Talion, a captain serving at the Black Gate of Mordor. Sauron's forces siege the garrison, kill your wife and son and finally end your life as well. Your body merges with a soul of an ancient elf and together you seek revenge. Yes. Yes, it is a revenge story and to be honest the story is pretty much none existent.

You are introduced to different characters as you progress in the story. You're introduced to exactly 3 characters. Yup. That's it. You'll meet a dwarf, a woman and an older woman. None of them get enough screen time and as a result you don't really care about any of them. Story is not the strong point of this game.
However that's not why the game is loved...

Gameplay:

Gameplay, while quite simple, is just so amazing.
You can parkour Assassin's Creed style through an open world map while brutally killing thousands and thousands of orcs. There are fast travel points (towers) to unlock just like in Far Cry 3&4, monsters to tame and ride, slaves to free, challenges to do, collectibles to..collect and did I mention you can also murder hundreds upon hundreds of orcs?

You have the freedom of choosing how you want to approach each situation. You can be a stealthy sniper and shoot 'em all down from distance with your bow. You can just jump right in and go berserk or you can use stealth and take them down one by one or take control of the orcs and make 'em kill each other.
It feels more like a stealth game at first since you get overrun by orcs easily but as you progress in the game and unlock new skills and weapon runes you become a killing machine.

Not only are there survival and hunting challenges in the game (picking flowers and killing innocent animals) but there are also 3 different weapon challenges scattered across the world: Dagger, sword and bow.
Each of these challenges make you use different skills from your skill tree and try out different approaches making the gameplay a bit less redundant because let's be honest, the game can get a bit repetitive. Especially those slave freeing missions.

The nemesis system makes this game stand out even if it borrows a lot from other games.The game does a good job at generating random captain and warlords with different physical features and attributes but after awhile it starts to get repetitive.The relationship you have with the orcs is shallow and they will just yell out something at you before the fight and that's it.Sometimes you will influence their attributes and physical appearance after a fight.An interesting aspect it's the fact that once a random orc kills you,he automatically becomes a captain which means you can take sweet revenge on him.

Captains have different ways of advancing through the ranks to become warlords by triggering events that you can be a part of.For example,a captain may challenge another captain to a duel.You can go there and kill them both,or help one win the duel.This system has enough content to keep you entertained for at least the duration of the main campaign,but after that it will start to feel repetitive and boring.

Combat:

The combat system is fantastic, and its very similar to the Batman Arkham series. You have normal sword attacks, counters, stuns and ground finishers, and when you get a hit streak you can perform an instant kill melee execution or a radial magic attack. You also have a bow that can instant kill with a head shot (it can be used effectively at close range because time slows down while you aim). The bow also allows you to teleport to the enemy's location instead of firing an arrow. The action is fast and fluid, and when you get into a good rhythm, chaining together all these moves feels badass. Its easily as good as, perhaps even better than, the Batman combat.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are very good especially if you get the HD texture DLC which is available for free from the Steam store. Don't mind the warning telling you to have 6gb of vram as it even ran buttery smooth on my (at the time) 2gb vram card. The setting itself is very interesting and full of gorgeous views and nice terrain. The map is not very big but again it's big enough for a game like this. There's 2 different maps one which you start in and later in the game there's a new much greener and better looking map in the later part of the game. Game's performance was also very nice even on my weak system i was getting 60 FPS on high settings.

Sound:

I think this game has one of the best voice acting in a game, ever. Voice acting was superb and music was very nice as well. Every time you get to fight a captain or Warchief the name chanting music of that enemy is also a pretty nice feature.

Stealth:

Stealth is another part of the game. Even if you dislike this, fret not. The ones that are essential to missions are rare and quite easy if you dont aim for the extra objectives. I found it to be a good way of dispatching Orcs in fortresses, but if you just prefer to go guns swords blazing, thats completely doable. The optional stealth missions can be a little challenging for people who arent used to sneaking around, but I find them to be fun and forgiving on the difficulty scale.

Expansions:

The game have some challenges (trials) and two expansions. The challenges are interesting but unfortunately they give a bonus if you are fast enough, and I hate fighting against the clock, so I didnt have much fun trying to hurry up and kill the captains and warchiefs as quickly as I could.

The Positives:

The graphics very realistic (mine are on the highest setting) and the atmosphere is perfect for the game
Dying isn't a big deal, but you will restart at the nearest tower, same with quitting missions
The gameplay and map is open, giving you freedom to play how you like
The upgrade system is good, giving you chance to upgrade what you want depending on your playing style. I highly recommend health at first.
Gaining intel (explained in the game) is very handy for learning about your enemies.
Poison is very handy at times, best of all your enemies blame each other!
You can use enemies as a shield, great if you are being attacked by multiple enemies.
The check points during the missions are very handy, if you fail a section then you can restart that section. If you leave the game you need to start from the beginning of the mission.
The story line is great with lots of detail. I have never read lord of the rings or watched the films so I don't know how the game ties in.
Fast travel is very handy.
The wraiths abilities are awesome and essential to the game.
You can customise the skins / appearance of the character, most are gained from dlcs
There are lots of missions, collectables and side quests to keep you busy. In addition all the dlc.

The Negatives:

The game is very stealth orientated, which is negative for me as it's not my natural playing style. I have learned pretty quickly as it's the only way to stay alive but it's not my preferred approach. This is a game similar to assassins creed, thief and the batman games.
Killing enemies, even chiefs etc doesn't make a difference to the game. There are always more and more to kill. The only ones which seem to make a difference are the war-chiefs.
Enemies are every spawning and like to mob you.
The upgrade system is good, giving you chance to upgrade what you want depending on your playing style. I highly recommend health at first.
Health is gained from herbs, there are lots of the map but you can't take them with you. If your health is low during a fight your only option is to run (if you don't have upgrades and ruins to give you health).
No game difficulty setting, some people find it too easy, others too hard. Others are lucky and find it just right.
Protection missions are extremely difficult as if your ally takes one hit he is dead and you have to restart.
There is only one choice of female skin / appearance. However, you still have the same male voice.
The mouth movements are really weird when your character is talking to someone.
The only character to appear in the cut scenes is the default character.

The Shadow of Mordor Video Trailer:

The Final Verdict

80/100

A very decent game. Basically a pimped up version of Assassin's Creed, LOTR-themed. The story is decent. The graphics hold up really well for a 3-year old game. It's a pretty dark-toned game, so if that's nothing for you don't buy it. The combat gets better as you progress but still it lacks depth in my opinion. Also more of an adventure game then an RPG. If you haven't played most of the AC games you'll like this better I think. The Epic Story is around 15hours, but I was satisfied with that it left you wanting more, not overstaying it's welcome like so many other titles. Buy it if you're a fan of this genre or franchise without a doubt!