# Shadow of Mordor



## tommers (Oct 1, 2014)

I'm thinking about getting this, sounds quite interesting.  Anybody else playing it at the minute?  Is it any good?

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/01/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-review-an-unexpected-triumph-4888565/


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 1, 2014)

Not sure about the tone; last I checked they wanted to go all HBO. It's Middle Earth for Frodo's sake! It's not Game of Thrones.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Oct 1, 2014)

resonable lets play


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## cypher79 (Oct 1, 2014)

This game is getting lots of high scoring reviews, looks like its a must get game then.


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## treelover (Oct 2, 2014)

I have 'Lord Of The Rings, The War In The North', I think these sort of games are very formulaic


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## Cid (Oct 2, 2014)

It's a different game by a different developer though...


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## tommers (Oct 2, 2014)

I've asked my brother to get it for my birthday so I'll be able to tell you all soon if it's the same as The Hobbit.


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## ruffneck23 (Oct 2, 2014)

ive got a eval copy was too busy trying to get elite working last night to try


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## Shippou-Sensei (Oct 2, 2014)

tommers said:


> I've asked my brother to get it for my birthday so I'll be able to tell you all soon if it's the same as The Hobbit.



You are in a room with 3 orks 
Hit ork with sword
An ork in now stunned
Kill ork
You do a most impressive sword move decapitating the ork and spraying the room with blood
You are in a room with 2 orks
Hit ork with sword
As you try to hit the ork another ork tries to hit you
Hit other ork with counter
You spin around and knock the other ork over.
Teabag ork
I do not understand "teabag"


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 2, 2014)

This is downloading. As soon as I realised it is an open world Orc society that you can control it was insta buy


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## Callum91 (Oct 2, 2014)

Shall be buying tomorrow all being well and good, not allowed myself to get sucked into the hype machine like I did with Destiny, so hopefully it will be a nice surprise and not a dog turd in the profiteroles...


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 2, 2014)

Well I played about an hour. It has a great LOTR feel to it. I like the voice acting. You can hack and slay lots of orcs. I kept on pressing Batman buttons. I have a feeling it is basically Arkham: Mordor which is fine with me...


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Nice review on Kotaku here:

http://kotaku.com/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-the-kotaku-review-1639361008

I'm quite excited.


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

The internet everybody.


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

oh, it's not even out on 360 till November.  Should have checked before getting all excited.


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## mwgdrwg (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> oh, it's not even out on 360 till November.  Should have checked before getting all excited.



The 360/PS3 is missing one of the main features (the Nemesis system?) according to this week's Giant Bomb podcast. They say it's what makes the game great, and last-gen doesn't have it.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

It looks poor. A clone of AC with added gore and a complete disregard for the setting. Likely another £60 that will be five minutes long.


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> The 360/PS3 is missing one of the main features (the Nemesis system?) according to this week's Giant Bomb podcast. They say it's what makes the game great, and last-gen doesn't have it.



Yeah.  I saw that too.  Without that bit it's just another open world action game.  Going to wait for the last gen reviews but looks like I need to update my hardware to have any hope of actually playing the proper game.

What a comedown.


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## ruffneck23 (Oct 3, 2014)

there is also an HD texture pack out for the PC version but you need a gpu with 6gb on it to use it fully


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> It looks poor. A clone of AC with added gore and a complete disregard for the setting. Likely another £60 that will be five minutes long.



Do you like any games?  I'm genuinely interested.


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## ruffneck23 (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Do you like any games?  I'm genuinely interested.


 

i am genuinely interested too


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Tell us!


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> It looks poor. A clone of AC with added gore and a complete disregard for the setting. Likely another £60 that will be five minutes long.



it has ORCS


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## Chilli.s (Oct 3, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> The 360/PS3 is missing one of the main features (the Nemesis system?) according to this week's Giant Bomb podcast. They say it's what makes the game great, and last-gen doesn't have it.


Thats it for me, no more new games will be bought for 360. I'm not paying top dolla for second rate products.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> it has ORCS


But that's more or less all it has


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## fucthest8 (Oct 3, 2014)

It has ORCS and KILLING and BATMAN style moves. That's win, right there. And it will look lovely on my (son's) gaming PC. Also:




			
				IGN said:
			
		

> Every enemy that players face is a unique individual, differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. Through the Nemesis System, enemy relationships and characteristics are shaped by player actions and decisions to create personal archenemies that remember and adapt to the player and are distinct to every gameplay session. Gamers are able to craft their own battles, enemies and rewards within the dynamic world that remembers and adapts to their choices, delivering a unique experience to every player.



So yeah, if that's not on the 360, it will be shit though 

Full PC review here


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## fucthest8 (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Tell us!



Yes. Seriously though Awesome Wells, what games have you liked?


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## fucthest8 (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> It looks poor. A clone of AC with added gore and a complete disregard for the setting. Likely another £60 that will be five minutes long.



£25 on the PC


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

The game is probablky fine for £25. For £50+ no chance. The gameplay is an exact duplicate of AC with Batman style combat. That's all well and good, but it's just the same old same old, and using the LotR license like this is really shit. Tolkien's work is not all curbstomping and stabbing! His anti heroes weren't dark brooding detective vision ghost people!

According to Destructoid the story is about 10 hours straight. NOt sure ho wmuch beyond that for the 'open world' of Mordor (not exactly known for it's spectacular views and luscious terrain).

If they priced these games more sensibly it might be different. I suppose you could wait till it turns up @ CEX - for another £10


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Do you like any games?  I'm genuinely interested.


Not recently. The Batman series was the last hurrah of decent game design I think. But Arkham Origins did a good job of shitting all over that. It's Christmas Eve in Gotham and there's NOONE THERE! PS, we managed to fuck up your awesome combat system - sorreee!

Apart from some bent cops waiting to be punched in the face.

I had high hopes for Injustice and the reboot of Mortal Kombat, but...le sigh.

Other than that the only thing worth a drop of piss was the Fallout games on 360. Saints Row 3 was fun, compared to the miserable controversy opera that was GTA5; a masterclass of hype and swearing.

Alien Isolation is out next week. Apparently it's scary, but again £50 for a game that once it's over, that's it.


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> But that's more or less all it has



Apart from that entirely new way of telling player stories and revolutionising the way that emergent plotlines can be used in games.

Every single review focuses on the Nemesis system and how great it is and how it makes each different player have a different experience.  No 2 games are the same, set tactics don't work and everything shifts and evolves in a genuinely intelligent way depending on the player's actions.

Or... it just has orcs in it.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Apart from that entirely new way of telling player stories and revolutionising the way that emergent plotlines can be used in games.
> 
> Every single review focuses on the Nemesis system and how great it is and how it makes each different player have a different experience.  No 2 games are the same, set tactics don't work and everything shifts and evolves in a genuinely intelligent way depending on the player's actions.
> 
> Or... it just has orcs in it.


I'm sure the Nemesis system is great, but it's just a way of randomising the enemy's weakpoints and having a notion of persistence.

It's not a bad idea by any means, but if that's the game's defining feature I stand by my comments. I'm sure the gameplay is soudn, it should be given what it's based on. But it's still derivative.

Again, if it was priced accordingly. I'm tired of hearing "this game cost a hundred squillion groats and we can't sell it cheaper because we had to pay for Bono to do the soundtrack and George Clooney to do the voice acting"


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Not recently. The Batman series was the last hurrah of decent game design I think. But Arkham Origins did a good job of shitting all over that. It's Christmas Eve in Gotham and there's NOONE THERE! PS, we managed to fuck up your awesome combat system - sorreee!
> 
> Apart from some bent cops waiting to be punched in the face.
> 
> ...




Fair enough.  I tried one of the Batman games, probably City and it was alright but I didn't really get it, looked like the typical mini map with side quests and stuff so I gave up on it.  People keep saying it's good so maybe I'll try it again sometime.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas were good, liked those.  GTA5 was alright for a GTA game, not my cup of tea really.  I didn't try the others.

What kind of thing do you want?  There must be something out there.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Fair enough.  I tried one of the Batman games, probably City and it was alright but I didn't really get it, looked like the typical mini map with side quests and stuff so I gave up on it.  People keep saying it's good so maybe I'll try it again sometime.
> 
> Fallout 3 and New Vegas were good, liked those.  GTA5 was alright for a GTA game, not my cup of tea really.  I didn't try the others.
> 
> What kind of thing do you want?  There must be something out there.


I wanted Streetfighter, when they rebooted it, but they decided to keep with a control system that is functionally unplayable on a console controller. Plus you can't really play those games online.

Mortal Kombat was a fucking joke. Unbalanced, utterly unplayable online, and Injustice made the baby jesus cry. How do you take the license for DC's superheroes and create a game that consists of spamming the same move repeatedly and call that fun? 

What I would want? A GTA game where you are a superhero, or a superhero FPS game. There's not enough superhero games. Whatever happened to Freedom Force?


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## ruffneck23 (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> ?
> 
> What I would want? A GTA game where you are a superhero, or a superhero FPS game. There's not enough superhero games. Whatever happened to Freedom Force?


 
infamous second son perhaps ?


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## fucthest8 (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> What I would want? A GTA game where you are a superhero, or a superhero FPS game.





Awesome Wells said:


> ... it's still derivative.





I really don't mean any disrespect by pointing this out, but as I said on the Destiny thread, the trouble now is that _everything_ is derivative,_ if that's how you want to look at it_. The fact that you reference a game from 12 years ago says it all.


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I'm sure the Nemesis system is great, but it's just a way of randomising the enemy's weakpoints and having a notion of persistence.



I've not played it but all the reviews talk about how it draws you in and makes the battles have a genuine emotional involvement.  Which sounds great.  Lots of "I have never wanted to kill anybody in a videogame as much as I wanted to kill him".  Yes the fighting is batman and the sneaking is Assassin's Creed but this has something that is totally new and that hasn't been done before.  In a world of AAA games which are just the same game with a new skin that's got to be good!


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## tommers (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> What I would want? A GTA game where you are a superhero, or a superhero FPS game. There's not enough superhero games. Whatever happened to Freedom Force?



Freedom Force was great, I loved those games.  

Have you seen this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans


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## alsoknownas (Oct 3, 2014)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> You are in a room with 3 orks
> Hit ork with sword
> An ork in now stunned
> Kill ork
> ...



Kill Gandalf...

Oh shit!


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

I liked CoH, even though i couldn't run the ultra graphics upgrade.

If i thought i could run this, and i can't, i might support it.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 3, 2014)

alsoknownas said:


> Kill Gandalf...
> 
> Oh shit!


/Teabag Balrog
/Teabag Balrog
/Teabag Balrog


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## yield (Oct 4, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> The 360/PS3 is missing one of the main features (the Nemesis system?) according to this week's Giant Bomb podcast. They say it's what makes the game great, and last-gen doesn't have it.


Oh no. Want a ps4. Can't afford one.  < first world problems thread that way >


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## Dandred (Oct 4, 2014)

I'm downloading this now, sounds like it will be really up my street. AC combat and Orks!


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 4, 2014)

I paid £29 for Mordor.

I guess if you don't like killing loads of orcs its not for you..


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 5, 2014)

I was killed by a lowly archer last night - who is now a Captain and who mocked me. He's off having been promoted to an unrevealed bit of the map so I have to fight my way there to track him down and exact my revenge...


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## Dandred (Oct 5, 2014)

Just started this, fuck it looks beautiful! The combat feels really fluid! 

I can't wait until Thursday now, five day weekend coming here and I know what I;m going to be doing!


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 6, 2014)

Well i have played it a bit more..

It is broken in parts but I can overlook that. You can engineer some very satisfying moments. I aggravated an entire stronghold of orcs whilst trying to take out a captain - and luckily spotted a fuel container which I shot and blew them all up leaving a few smouldering orcs and a the captain to finish off..

I have also been horribly killed more than once which restructures the mordor power politics. Which is awesome. One stupid Orc called 'Bolg' got a lucky hit in which killed me - resulting in his promotion and meteoric rise through the ranks due to the power vacuum I had by having spent the last hour or so merrily slaughtering any potential opposition..

I am not sure but I think Bolg was as surprised as me when he struck the killing blow.

Generally the mix of sneakiness and then crazy batman style brawls is very satisfying.

It still doesn't have the crunch and draw that playing Arkham City and the Jokers Funhouse over and over again on hard had. But that was one of my top gaming moments ever anyway..

The one thing that confuses me is that Mordor looks a bit to grassy and not horrible enough (at times) I think its because Sauron has only just taken over...

I will be very disappointed if there is no mount doom / lava level


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## Dandred (Oct 8, 2014)

I keep bringing up my bow because I tap right mouse too early! Are you playing with mouse and keyboard bouncer?


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## Cid (Oct 9, 2014)

I'm playing it, and can confirm that nothing has changed since Prince of Persia: the sands of time.


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## Cid (Oct 9, 2014)

No wait, Legend of Zelda: the ocarina of time.


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## Dandred (Oct 9, 2014)

I've just uninstalled this, was fun for about an hour, then the same thing again and again, looks great, feels great playing and killing but there is no point to it. There is no goal. It's like GTA but doing the same thing again and again.


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## Awesome Wells (Oct 10, 2014)

http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/10/shadow-of-mordor-shady-brand-deal/

Oooh! Controversy!


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 10, 2014)

Dandred said:


> I keep bringing up my bow because I tap right mouse too early! Are you playing with mouse and keyboard bouncer?



USB Xbox controller..

This games about killing Orcs in mordor FFS.. it's not Citizen kane!

That brand deal looks like a marketing company being heavy handed... which is totally unsurprising. If that's true then it looks like RPS comprehensively broke the agreement - which was the only review I read of it.


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 11, 2014)

tommers said:


> I'm thinking about getting this, sounds quite interesting.  Anybody else playing it at the minute?  Is it any good?
> 
> http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/01/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-review-an-unexpected-triumph-4888565/



Heard nothing but excellent things about this! I'm conflicted between it and the new Alien game though...


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## Cid (Oct 11, 2014)

Dandred said:


> I've just uninstalled this, was fun for about an hour, then the same thing again and again, looks great, feels great playing and killing but there is no point to it. There is no goal. It's like GTA but doing the same thing again and again.



It's a hell of a game to get into, that must be said... Once the nemesis system comes into play more it does get interesting though. Did you follow any of the main quests? It feels like you're just left to your own devices, but the  quests provide guidance, core abilities etc. I'd also recommend using a controller over keyboard+mouse.


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## Dandred (Oct 11, 2014)

I think i'll give it another go in the future. Just felt really lost, I killed all the captains on my last play but didn't feel rewarded, I think I opened too many towers and not having anywhere to move forward to made me feel like nothing was happening.


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## Sunray (Oct 16, 2014)

So far so good, its a cross between assassins creed and Batman.


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## Sunray (Oct 27, 2014)

I'm liking this game.  Its essentially Arkam : LotR edition but they have done a nice job on the reskin.   

Combat is increasingly chaos and you need to start getting those combos in.  Killing orcs in loads of different ways is entertaining.


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## Chz (Nov 3, 2014)

It's fun and all, but I have to agree that there's zero depth to it. I'm not at all saying it's a bad game (aside from a bit buggy in spots), but there's nothing revolutionary or ground breaking about it. It's _almost_ as much fun in open world mode as Just Cause 2. Almost. Though admittedly the combat is better, but it lacks crashing a jetliner into the person who annoyed you most. Come to think of it, JC2 with a nemesis system would be epic. The greatest turn-your-mind-off-and-slaughter-them-by-the-hundreds-nay-thousands stressbuster game ever.


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## Pickman's model (Nov 3, 2014)

tommers said:


> Nice review on Kotaku here:
> 
> http://kotaku.com/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-the-kotaku-review-1639361008
> 
> I'm quite excited.


and you just can't hide it


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## tommers (Nov 28, 2014)

I killed a LOT of Orcs yesterday.  It was good, I liked killing lots of orcs.  Bit soulless but I like the way it says "Here is a large open world, full of a living, breathing society.  Your job is just to kill everyone.  We don't care how.  Off you go."

Refreshingly honest.


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## Kid_Eternity (Nov 29, 2014)

The premium digital edition is 40 quid at the moment on the PS store. Just nabbed it last night and so enjoying the game, it's a little bit like Assasins Creed but in s good way!


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## Sunray (Nov 30, 2014)

I just finished the main story arc, but the best bit by far taking in hordes of Orcs and winning.


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## tommers (Nov 30, 2014)

That's what I've been doing tonight.  Just killed the 4 warchiefs.  It's noticeable that combat has been less button mashing recently.  Actually feels like there's skill involved.


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## tommers (Nov 30, 2014)

I've got this guy called Pragash Pit Fighter.  He's a legendary captain at the moment.  Invulnerable to ranged, stealth and "combat".

Like, any combat.   I'm avoiding him.


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 2, 2014)

Got the premium digital edition for 39 on the PSN store. Bloody good game so far!


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## tommers (Dec 19, 2014)

Just finished it.  It was decent but not as good as I thought it was going to be.  The Nemesis thing was cool but I killed the captains pretty easily so none of them ever really became a massive challenge.  One of them "Yuga the Ripper" or something, managed to kill me a few times in a row cos I was trying to do another quest but I defeated him as soon as I made that my main aim.  

I did really like it, the combat was cool and I had to think about how to approach everything. Some of the missions were decent as well.  So I would recommend it, it's definitely fun.

The ending was fucking whack though.  Got to be said.  I feel a bit cheated.  QTE central.


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 21, 2014)

Haven't played much since I got it (thank you Destiny) but Christmas holiday is here so plenty of quality gaming time!


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## Sunray (Dec 21, 2014)

I want a new Skyrim to pass the time.


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## treelover (Apr 4, 2015)

Dandred said:


> I've just uninstalled this, was fun for about an hour, then the same thing again and again, looks great, feels great playing and killing but there is no point to it. There is no goal. It's like GTA but doing the same thing again and again.




Why are so many of these new AAA games so repetitive, its 9.00 on Cd keys, but I am not sure, I reckon Witcher 3 will be the one, but CD Projekt will sadly go bankrupt if people don't stop buying it for a tenner on neuvem, etc,  with hacks, etc

how is the open world, worth exploring?


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## treelover (Apr 5, 2015)

well, I bought it, 9.00 and its pretty good, but a few questions, what should I do in the first hour, any particular enemy or should I kill lots of enemy to get points, etc and how do saves work?, tx


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## tommers (Apr 5, 2015)

treelover said:


> well, I bought it, 9.00 and its pretty good, but a few questions, what should I do in the first hour, any particular enemy or should I kill lots of enemy to get points, etc and how do saves work?, tx


From what I remember it saves as you go.   So you don't need to save especially. 

It's a sandbox.  Just go through picking missions you want to do.  There are plenty of options, the warchiefs are fun.  Lots of options open up as you progress. So the ability to control orcs only appears when you're quite far into the game.


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## treelover (Apr 9, 2015)

Its a great game, but(can't believe I am saying this as usually I get slaughtered in games) I am about 3 hours in and it seems too easy especially when you are on the creature, but I seem to be able to kill with impunity, then again I avoid the captains, so this may be why!


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## Mungy (Apr 12, 2015)

i'm so crap at this game. i have never been good at sneaking around type game, i should have known better. i getting spotted and end up having shitloads of orcs chasing me like benny hill but without the scantily clad ladies. i've ended up using a cheat so i don't get killed


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## Sunray (Apr 12, 2015)

What I enjoyed about this game is that you can take on a massive horde of Orcs and win.


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## treelover (Apr 12, 2015)

yes, but doesn't that mean the game is unbalanced?, I don't like very hard games but I do like some challenge.

Having said that, once you start using Orcs in missions, enemies seem to take a few more hits before dying, etc.


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## tommers (Apr 13, 2015)

treelover said:


> yes, but doesn't that mean the game is unbalanced?, I don't like very hard games but I do like some challenge.
> 
> Having said that, once you start using Orcs in missions, enemies seem to take a few more hits before dying, etc.



It does get harder.  Like Arkham, you start meeting some who can only be hit from behind or counter or whatever. 

I wouldn't say it ever gets really difficult but I did spend a lot of time doing hit and run.


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## Sunray (Apr 15, 2015)

There are times when you get 3-4 captains that can't easily be killed and you have to run to find out their weaknesses or you will be there for ages and ages or die.  I think I got engrossed in one of these style battles that lasted 10-20 minutes then realised I couldn't really win and legged it.


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## treelover (Apr 16, 2015)

Everything including all DLC for 20 quid on bundlestars.


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## Sunray (Apr 16, 2015)

treelover said:


> Its a great game, but(can't believe I am saying this as usually I get slaughtered in games) I am about 3 hours in and it seems too easy especially when you are on the creature, but I seem to be able to kill with impunity, then again I avoid the captains, so this may be why!



I think this is probably my biggest complaint and why I stopped playing once I completed it. Starting to be a chore near the end.  No interest in any DLC.  

I think it boils down to the totally open world nature of the game itself, its too open world. Get to a point where you are clearly going to die, easily leg it and hide up a building.  

I think it needed better level design, like dark souls.  DS is open world but the areas are quite linear to explore, web like from a central hub, and for the bosses, its win or die.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 28, 2017)

I see the sequal is out soon. I've been meaning to play this, but seeing as my rate of completing games is stupidly slow I've not got round to it. Mind you, so far I've picked Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. I could actually do with a game that's not quite as long next.

Anyway. Trailer for Shadow of War.


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