Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - PC Game Review
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is an open world game based on Middle Earth stories.
You are a ranger that got melded with an elf wraith through a blood sacrifice, and now you have powers that will help you kill a whole lot of orcs.
The last game I played was Far Cry 3, and it feels really, really similar in many ways. Besides the main missions, you go around attacking places - not bases, though, mostly small interventions where you kill captains in interesting ways. The most interesting part about captains is that you can interrogate other orcs to get information on them - and it is immensely helpful.
For example, a mission that I gave up was killing a particularly warchief, as I couldn't figure out how to kill him and his escort. Then on a second time I just managed to sneak up on him, and as he was vulnerable to stealth attacks, I killed him in seconds.
There are also plenty of abilities and upgrades you can buy - either with Experience or cash. Really fun stuff, including nasty ones such as being able to shoot unlimited fire arrows for 15 seconds. These can really take out captains that are vulnerable to ranged attacks.
One thing that is sometimes disappointing is the camera controls. When in close quarters or near a wall, it can very hard to see what is going on. Since the fight system depends on you reacting to attacks with specific buttons, it is pretty bad. Fights use a sword for close attacks, bow and arrow and daggers for ranged (which some neat extras - fire arrows after charging, and an ability to teleport to kill or attack), and the dagger for stealth attacks. Overall, fights can be really satisfying, and if you are careful you can take on whole crowds of orcs.
Also nice is the small environmental touches - such as exploding barrels, fires, bug nests, etc that you can shoot to kill or affect orcs.
Graphics are pretty great, too.
One cool ability that is unlocked later is that you can simply "brand" enemies and they will fight for you, which is a huge game changer.
Overall, I really like the game. I also like that unlike Far Cry 3, many of the small missions are always new available, and you can spend as much time as you want on them to get extra XP.
You are a ranger that got melded with an elf wraith through a blood sacrifice, and now you have powers that will help you kill a whole lot of orcs.
The last game I played was Far Cry 3, and it feels really, really similar in many ways. Besides the main missions, you go around attacking places - not bases, though, mostly small interventions where you kill captains in interesting ways. The most interesting part about captains is that you can interrogate other orcs to get information on them - and it is immensely helpful.
For example, a mission that I gave up was killing a particularly warchief, as I couldn't figure out how to kill him and his escort. Then on a second time I just managed to sneak up on him, and as he was vulnerable to stealth attacks, I killed him in seconds.
There are also plenty of abilities and upgrades you can buy - either with Experience or cash. Really fun stuff, including nasty ones such as being able to shoot unlimited fire arrows for 15 seconds. These can really take out captains that are vulnerable to ranged attacks.
One thing that is sometimes disappointing is the camera controls. When in close quarters or near a wall, it can very hard to see what is going on. Since the fight system depends on you reacting to attacks with specific buttons, it is pretty bad. Fights use a sword for close attacks, bow and arrow and daggers for ranged (which some neat extras - fire arrows after charging, and an ability to teleport to kill or attack), and the dagger for stealth attacks. Overall, fights can be really satisfying, and if you are careful you can take on whole crowds of orcs.
Also nice is the small environmental touches - such as exploding barrels, fires, bug nests, etc that you can shoot to kill or affect orcs.
Graphics are pretty great, too.
One cool ability that is unlocked later is that you can simply "brand" enemies and they will fight for you, which is a huge game changer.
Overall, I really like the game. I also like that unlike Far Cry 3, many of the small missions are always new available, and you can spend as much time as you want on them to get extra XP.
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