DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

REVIEW: MIDDLE-EARTH - SHADOW OF WAR (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)

17/10/2017

27 Comments

 
Picture
I've written before about how dull I find Lord of the Rings. Having tried as a teenager to read the books, and given up, until the films came out everything I knew about Middle Earth was taken from the ZX Spectrum adventure The Hobbit. What I knew was this: Thorin likes singing about gold, and something about a tunnel-like hall.

It was only upon seeing the first Lord of the Rings movie that I even realised I was steeped in more of the mythos than I realised; all those Dungeons & Dragons campaigns that I played as a kid were essentially LOTR games in all but name. Though, at least the way we played it, with more abundant availability of magical rings.

From there I realised that Tolkein - and I deliberately misspell his name here to irritate Lord of the Rings fans - had pretty much invented the fantasy genre (even if he borrowed liberally from myth and folklore). While this led me to have a greater degree of respect for the books he wrote, it irritated me how derivative the genre was.  

I mean, this is why I can't bring myself to watch Game of Thrones, which I gather is essentially Lord of the Rings with boobs and gore and that, so people can kid themselves they're watching something grown-up and sophisticated.

And yet, weirdly perhaps, I really, really loved Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, the predecessor to Shadow of War. ​Although if you want to tell me how the story progresses in this sequel... forget it. I skipped most of the cutscenes, with their tedious portentous dialogue. Indeed, at least the previous game had something akin to an emotional grounding for your character, who was freshly dead and brought back to life by becoming a half-ghost thing. 

Here you're straight into the achingly self-important cut-scenes about stuff that I found it impossible to care about. It was as much fun as scrunching up some cardboard and rubbing it into my eyes and ears. Fortunately, the game all that bollocks is shackled to is every bit as enjoyable as Shadow of Mordor.
Picture
WHATCHU TALKIN 'BOUT, WILLIS?
Different strokes for different folks; Shadow of Mordor was the anti-Dark Souls.

Though set in worlds that, visually at least, have a lot in common - let's face it, like all fantasy fiction Dark Souls, for all its nightmarish visions, owes a debt that can be traced back to Lord of the Rings. One was punishingly difficult, a game which seemed to revel in making the player feel powerless in any given situation, while the other - Mordor - was pure power fantasy wish fulfilment.

Indeed, so powerful was your character so early on in Mordor that the only challenge was your tolerance level for mashing your way through wave after wave of cannon-fodder orc. Suffice to say, I far preferred this over the Dark Souls and Bloodbornes of this world, which felt more like learning to ride a unicycle than anything akin to an enjoyable experience for me. 

Give me a pair of training wheels any day. I have no desire to be known as the cool unicycle guy. I just want to climb buildings, and swing a sword around, and run around at superhuman speed, without having to learn how to balance first.

Nicely, Shadow of War offers more of the same - only making a few concessions to increased difficulty, mainly by throwing tougher monsters into the mix, and populating the world of Middle-Earth with even more cannon fodder than before. Frankly, it's easy to find yourself overwhelmed - though retreat is a more common outcome of a battle than death - especially given the speed with which your character levels up, and acquires new weapons and skills.

Everything in Shadow of War seems designed to make you feel invincible - it has more in common with, say, the Crackdown or Saints Row series' than other, more grounded, open world games.
Picture
NEMESIS THE WARLOCK
As with the previous game, Shadow of War offers the Nemesis system - a way to give every player their own unique path through the game, by turning various opponents into sworn enemies, who you can hunt down, send death threats to, and generally dick around with.

It creates bespoke side-missions, as you cut a swathe through them. It has been beefed up significantly - as has the role that allies play, whether they're orcs that you brainwash into joining your side, or human chums and other random types who pop up, and save you at the point of death.

You can create your own army, use it to attack fortresses, and then take them over. It's a nice touch, and adds some much-needed depth.

Also given a leg-up this time is the world itself; the locations are more diverse, and far, far bigger. It's just as well that traversing Middle-Earth is enjoyable in itself, as you'll be doing a lot of it.

​Also, there's a greater variety of mission types - although they do, mostly, fall into the usual map-mopper template. There are a handful of flashback and puzzle-type mini games scattered throughout, however, and the way in which you scout the surrounding landscape atop the ubiquitous waypoint towers is a nice touch.

Ultimately, Shadow of War's worst feature is the thing which keeps me sticking with it; the invincibility of your character, and the sheer repetition of cutting down wave after wave of enemy - even if there's greater variety this time around (the Dementors from Harry Potter even appear as bosses at points). Your tolerance of this might be different from mine - you might be able to overlook it because of what it adds to the Middle-Earth mythos, or you might find it a chore. At least it's a playable chore.

It's a confusing game for me in many respects, because so much about it is things I shouldn't like; wandering through all-too-familiar fantasy landscapes, tiresome cut-scenes, Tolkein (again, misspelled on purpose) lore, a main character who looks like every other fantasy game character, and an overused map-mopping style of play. And yet... the power fantasy, the slick controls, save it. 

One final thing: there has been a bit of a brouhaha about in-game transactions using real money. Ignore them. If you don't, you're an idiot, because they don't need to be there. Storm in a teacup.

SCORE: I dunno. Work it out for yourself.
27 Comments
Jareth Smith
17/10/2017 10:26:04 am

Looks like one of the better generic fantasy-fests, but I'll skip on this as I now simply can't stand putting up with the atrocious cut-scenes that curse so many modern AAA games. Plus, this has landed at a point when the new Mario, Doom, and Xenoblade Chronicles are on the way, so I think I'll save my money for the 10/10 Edge Magazine handed to Mario. Good times!

Reply
Jareth's teacher
17/10/2017 11:55:25 am

You'd have loved it anyway, follower

Reply
Biscuits
17/10/2017 12:15:49 pm

They also gave a 10 to Skyward Sword, and Halo 3... Edge 10s used to mean something dagnabit.

Reply
Jareth Smith
17/10/2017 12:28:33 pm

Biscuits - I've not played Halo 3, but Skyward Sword was, and still is, incredible. I had a look at Halo 3's reviews as well and it received near perfect scores in many publications.

Biscuits
17/10/2017 12:51:38 pm

Skyward Sword was fine, but definitely one of the weaker entries in the canon imo. Parts of it didn't work, parts of it were boring, the world felt small, the map screen was awful...it had a lot that didn't work. I think the music is some of the best in the series though. I easily rate Wind Waker over it and they gave that a 9 IIRC.

IMO Halo 3 is truly just not a good game...certainly not bad, but nothing special, the worst of the original trilogy. I'm sure loads of other reviews also gave it good grades, which doesn't help accusations levied against Edge...there's many other discrepancies, such as GTA 4 getting a 10 and especially LA Noire getting an eyebrow-raising 9... I seem to remember 'insiders' having a few words to say about those ratings (eg. "Those scores were originally a 9 and a 7 respectively").

I also didn't like their retroactive "These games have become hugely influential and are now very much loved by everyone so we decided we always meant to gave them a 10, whoops" issue.

BUT I like them for including Demons Souls in their all time top 20, and still finding space for both Bloodborne and Dark Souls in their top 5; this aligns with my views, but I also think it's quite ballsy and gives Bloodborne it's due as a title separate from the Souls universe. despite sharing similar mechanics

Jol
17/10/2017 10:58:38 am

I found the previous one rather dull and repetitive - the combat especially seemed to just involve timed presses of the parry button and little else. Once I'd figured that out it didn't seem to matter how big a crowd of orcs there was. I've nothing against a power fantasy but I prefer game combat to involve me leading the dance rather than just waiting for button prompts.

The Nemesis thing is well cool though, and I'm surprised nobody has bothered stealing it yet. Seems like something that would work in all sorts of open world games.

Oh the thing about paying for loot boxes might be optional but it's still bad. Micro transactions have been around for a while and have been morphing from optional extras to part of the core experience, and the Mordor stuff seems to be another step towards Pay To Win. I look forward to the likes of Real Madrid and PSG being stuck behind paywalls in FIFA 2020 and requiring either 200 hours of grinding or simply spending extra dosh to unlock each team.

Reply
Jim
17/10/2017 11:04:25 am

Quick question for you, how come you don't review more on indie games? Cheers, jimothy trousers x

Reply
RichardM
17/10/2017 11:14:16 am

It is real weird that Tolkien created the fantasy genre in one stroke. What would a fantasy novel be without elves or dwarves or orcs or duckhenrys? Imagine if all science fiction novels had to have Jedi and HAL-9000s in them.

I read a bit of this before a short drive, and tried to imagine a fantasy novel without that stuff in. I couldn’t, although am sure someone will be able to point me in the direction of one.

Reply
Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
17/10/2017 05:48:50 pm

Well, sci-fi needs to have:
-a race of giant cats
-an alien called “the Arbiter”
-another called “the Broker”
-an ancient, extinct/thought to be extinct race of highly advanced beings called The Precursors/Guardians
-space elves
-space amazons
-“the Empire” and “the (con)Federation”
-a dashing but dull Prince Adam-type (complete with the hair) called “Galen”
-a sand planet
-an ice planet
-rickety space freighters
-a dangerous new form of faster-than-light drive
-weird space plague
-space insects/plants that infest their host
-a race of giant lizards
-a race of very pale, dead-looking humans who were black cloaks and are accomplished assassins
-unobtainium which is essential for energy generation
-a “Space Patrol” that ends up producing mercenaries, bounty hunters, and other scarred/unshaven men who’ve seen too much shit
-rogue AI

Reply
PeskyFletch
19/10/2017 06:09:21 pm

The expanse says hi. And that is just on TV, yo!

Chris
17/10/2017 09:56:53 pm

There are fantasy novels set in other universes without those things in them. Nothing wrong with that, but disorientating initially if you're not expecting it.

Reply
RoboJamie
18/10/2017 09:46:12 am

Game of Thrones (or rather the ASOIAF books) is exactly that, fantasy with all of the orcs and elves, good guys and bad guys taken out.

Of course there has to be some fantastical elements or it's not fantasy (just like there has to be some 'science' element to science fiction), but it's not prevalent in the society depicted, and not part of people's day to day lives. Other fantastical creatures mentioned are thought to be myths and rumours, and for all other purposes it's a collection of medieval fiefdoms.

Reply
PeskyFletch
19/10/2017 06:10:35 pm

Some of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, IIRC, are fantasy novels with no fantastcal elements in them

Biscuits hated it
17/10/2017 12:07:41 pm

Bought this on Friday, played for about 4 hours, took it back on Saturday.

I didn't get into the army building and I only used the nemesis system once, but I presume none of that matters when the core gameplay is so paper thin as to be completely inconsequential. It's no exaggeration to say the entirety of the combat is literally hammering a single button with no sense of order or rhythm. I honestly don't know what keeps an adult with full motor control playing this game. What's in it for them?

Immersion? Your targets are lined up like toy soldiers before each life, and loot shows up like pick-ups in a platformer. This is a game about mindlessly ticking boxes and enjoying the little 'task completed' rush, like in map-moppers. Hey, I'm into this - I really am! That rush is palpable and undeniable. But when the challenge and gameplay are such damp squibs, the rush is weakened to the point of mockery : the game is daring me to feel accomplishment for carrying out so meager a task, and it ends up feeling insulting.

It also looks and sounds cheap, and the aesthetic surrounding it is aggressively ugly and sophomoric. I love the ideas (levels are fight-packed strongholds you take down, the nemesis system, loads of customization etc.), and despise everything about the toothless, tepid execution. Garbage, filler.

4/10 if I'm trying to be objective, 2/10 personally for how insipid, ugly and tasteless the whole venture is. I hated it to bits!

Reply
Waynan The Barbarian
17/10/2017 12:51:44 pm

Did you play the first one?

Reply
Biscuits
17/10/2017 01:01:49 pm

I didn't...

Waynan The Barbarian
17/10/2017 01:07:56 pm

Hmm you probably should've picked that up first before jumping in with both feet and paying full price for the sequel. You can pick it up for about a fiver now. Hindsight though eh

Reply
Biscuits
17/10/2017 01:30:13 pm

'Everything about the sequel is expanded' says everyone, so I didn't want to get the first one and feel like I didn't like it because I was missing out on the sequel (besides which I took it back and got my money back...hopefully I'll be able to ebay the day one DLC slip I took out of the case too, and make a couple of quid into the bargain).

So my winter RPG is going to be...Skyrim special edition?? Is that it?? Man how I wish I had a PC capable of the new Divinity

Jol
17/10/2017 02:03:03 pm

Hey there's always old Divinity or Wasteland 2 or Pillars of Eternity or that one that's a sort of sequel to Planescape: Torment or the new South Park one or Nioh.

Biscuits
17/10/2017 03:43:53 pm

I've played through and loved the old Divinity, I got bored of Wasteland 2 on PC, I couldn't put up with the load times for Pillars on PC and I think they are even worse on PS4. I still haven't played the original Torment, the new South Park one features my least favourite aspects of the show and Ni-Oh is...well, maybe I'll get that, thanks.

Speaking of SP I saw Book of Mormon last night, it is very funny

Klone link
17/10/2017 12:52:38 pm

I'm looking forward to this. I'd accumulated probably a couple of hundred hours into SoM before HDDDeath stole my save, and was maybe 70% tops in the campaign; just learnt to ride the massive things, name escapes me. Just pissing about is so much fun.

I'm glad you mentioned the myths and fables bit because some folk seem to think he literally invented elves, dwarves and goblins, not to mention the idea of orcs dates back to the 16th century.

The books are alright, too much waffle about the shape of leaves or the texture of grass and such, I thought.

Thanks as always for your thoughts, Sir.

Reply
Nocturne
17/10/2017 02:29:26 pm

I loved the first one even if it felt more like a well polished Dynasty Warriors at times than an adventure game with a story (I love DW though).
Every single time an Orc boss would appear and the chanting of his name started I was hooked. The only thing that would have made it better was if it as actually the generic orc enemies around you that were doing the chanting.

Reply
FatDave
17/10/2017 06:01:00 pm

Game of thrones actually contains very little in the way of magic and elves for a very long time and is written as things would likely have happened where being nice, honorable and just simply gets you killed. There's far more to it than tits and dragons.

Reply
Old Iron Guts
18/10/2017 10:14:02 am

I enjoy the show but.... Ed Sheeran singing about the contrast between a woman's warm hands and the coldness of gold is a bit hard to stomach. But I got through it because I'm Old Iron Guts!

Reply
Tom
17/10/2017 10:00:46 pm

This looks dull as all hell. Really, persevere with Bloodborn. Still the most gorgeous fantasy slasher and it actually means something when you get somewhere. Adrenaline like no other.

Reply
PS1Snake
18/10/2017 12:19:22 am

I can't stand the aesthetics of Western fantasy. I haven't seen a single episode of Game of Thrones. I can't get into the Souls series. I suppose it's because I grew up on futuristic films and videogames (Terminator 2, MGS, Halo, etc).

Reply
DEAN
18/10/2017 10:23:30 am

I tried reading the LOTR books as a teenager and I too abandoned it. I think I was about 1/2 way through the thing and then there was this war stuff going on...

I watched all three films (not seen the Hobbit ones) and yeah.... when I was very young I did like the cartoon. It just looked unlike anything else I'd ever seen and that made it magical... dreamy and nightmare-like. And the music was cool.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Picture
This site Copyright Paul Rose 2016 - All images Copyright respective copyright holders
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ