Shadow of Mordor seems to try to distance itself from the relatively warm and safe world of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth. We are introduced to the protagonist and his family just in time to see them have their throats brutally slit on a thunderous night in Mordor. The world of pipe-smoking, song-singing, adventure-seeking hobbits is very far away. It feels like a totally different world. It feels like Lord of the Rings for grown-ups. That probably sounds harsh, but the LOTR trilogy always flirted with colourful interludes to dampen the bleakness of certain parts. Shadow of Mordor does not attempt to pull any punches in any way. This leads to a truly satisfying atmosphere, and although the storyline fades as the game goes on, the player knows that they are in an unforgiving and three dimensional land that they will get hours of enjoyment from.
You play as Talion, a ranger that is stationed at the Black Gate. After the opening death sequence you become trapped in between worlds and joined with the wraith Elf Lord Celebrimbor. This allows you to essentially switch to Batman’s detective mode, meaning you can see heat maps of enemies, etc. Together you seek vengeance on Sauron, who not only ordered the death of Talion’s family, but also killed Celebrimbor’s family. But Shadow of Mordor is much more than an addition to the LOTR lore. It is a game that has taken parts of Assassin’s Creed and Batman and more than made the best out of them.
Combat is very much modelled on the Batman Arkham games. You can be surrounded my dozens of enemies, but through attacking and countering you can end a fight having cleared out all of them. Shadow of Mordor makes you feel insanely powerful especially as you unlock your skill tree. What makes the combat more fun than in the Arkham games is the amount of options you have. Like in Batman you can stealth kill or melee, but unlike Batman you have the option to reign chaos down on your battles. You can shoot arrows at fire to create an explosion, cut down meat to attract wild animals and, in general, create a mood of wild panic among the orcs, which sometimes leads to them fleeing away from the battle. Shadow of Mordor makes you feel like a master of punishment.
The Assassin’s Creed (but more fun) movement and Batmanesque combat are perfectly framed by the nemesis system that the game introduces. Essentially you are provided with a detailed hierarchy of Sauron’s foot soldiers. You can then explore the world, picking out which of them you would like to go after, but first of all you should interrogate orcs to get intel on higher ups. Once you have done that you will know what their strengths and weaknesses are and you can set up your murdering. Once you have killed one of the orcs in the hierarchy, the nemesis system rearranges and a new orc is promoted to fill the dead one’s place. What makes the nemesis system so interesting is the detail Monolith has put in to bring the enemies to life. Each time you come up against one of these characters there will be a mini cut scene where the orc will jive talk you a little bit. If he has already killed you, there will be the added flourish of goading that makes your blood boil. Monolith have managed to make you care much more than usual and this creates a fairly an environment wherein you become addicted to vengeance. You seek revenge, and not only that, you can avenge orcs that have killed players on your friends list. The whole system makes the game tremendously dynamic and turns a very good game in to a great game.
It is hard to explain the nemesis system in such a short review. I can just tell you that it is very good and complements the game really well. I also think it will be something that is very important in the next couple of years of video games. Of course a game cannot stand with just a dynamic enemy system, but Shadow of Mordor also looks great, controls fantastically, makes you feel in total command and finally satisfies the demand for a great game set in the LOTR world.
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