Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

*Note: This was originally written around its initial release. This a revised version.

At an initial look, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor looks like a straight-up AAA crossover between the Arkham and Assassin's Creed games. This is absolutely true; it replicates the free-flow combat established in Batman: Arkham Asylum and reiterates the interface and traversal mechanics found within the Assassin's Creed franchise. Add this with the open-world flora elements in recent Far Cry entries and the "last position" feature found in Splinter Cell: Conviction. It all makes up for one of the most derivative, albeit polished, AAA products in recent memory. How does it get away with all of it? Well, that would be with the incorporated Nemesis System, which is by far and large the most entertaining aspect of the game; but it absolutely does not make up for the unnecessary frustration that comes along with it.

Shadow of Mordor takes place between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but you would be mistaken to think this game serves any sort of additional lore. At its core, Shadow of Mordor is a basic revenge story with a few face-palm worthy ties to the licensed franchise. Not that there is anything coherently wrong with that, but the execution was seemingly lacking here throughout its entirety. The game follows the Ranger and protagonist Talion, who dies along with the rest of his family upon being attacked by several servants of Sauron. After his spirit is reignited with the help of a wraith, he sets off to exact revenge for the murders. Ultimately, Talion as a protagonist is fairly boring, as his character arc is never fully fleshed out beyond the initial premise. The voice-acting is all around sufficient, but becomes insignificant in light of the lackluster story and characters. These narrative attributes are not offensively bad by any proportion, but just appear disappointing in light of the creative license they had at their disposal.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's open-world elements are perfectly competent; in fact, I originally considered going for a 100% run upon may first play session. While there are no apparent problems with the actual mission designs or anything, every aspect about the world and its accompanying missions unfortunately grow dull rather quickly. Mordor itself is an intriguing world in the Lord of the Rings universe due to its rich back story and contrasting oppressive nature. There are definitely land masses and general areas in the novels and films that are interesting with their mere descriptions, but the intended bleak and demolished state of Mordor has never been interesting to the ideas presented in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. After a mere few hours of running around, you'll want to instantly fast travel just to avoid seeing the same rocks over and over. However, this is made more bearable by the game's sense of speed. The actual movement and traversal is not only fast, but flows great; without it, the open-world elements would collapse upon itself.

It seems the developers noticed that these elements would grow dull, which is why it seems the Nemesis System has such an emphasis in the game. This implemented AI system is not only dynamic, but effective. Its presence is immediately noticeable and utilized without the use of intrusive tutorials. In basic terms, the Nemesis System is simply one of an ever-changing army. Soldiers in that army are constantly promoted and killed off based on your interactions with them. For instance, if you are killed by one of them, not only will they rise in the ranks, but will gain a personal vendetta for you. The entire system in concept is nothing short of terrific, but it comes at a price: the implementation.

The actual usage of the Nemesis System is utilized in the right fashion; the army is not too large to lose track of, and hunting down individual members can be easily accomplished. Each NPC has their own personality, and upon interacting with them you'll get a brief squeal of intimidation; dialogue that I never heard repeated. However, all of this was incorporated wrong. All of these aspects were shoehorned into the main story missions, when they were noble as fun side-activities to admire. Shadow of Mordor's open-worldwas not designed around this system, it was designed around the Arkham combat and Assassin's Creed traversal. This AI feature was clearly implemented for the purpose of padding the otherwise insubstantial experience, proven with the aspect that the Nemesis System only affects NPCs with no environmental altering. That's fine, in fact commendable, as it was able to make the best out of the tools the developers had following the incorporation of the main mechanics. However, the system does not show its true colors until late in the game, one of the last in fact. (*Minor Spoilers Ahead*) One of the last missions has you "brand", or basically mind control to fight for you, all five warchiefs, the highest ranked soldiers. The game walks you through the first one as a regular main mission, but leaves you by yourself for the remaining five. In theory, this may not seem like an exhausting effort, perhaps quite contrary, but the process has several components to it that must be repeated from the start if you fail at any portion. When these highest ranked officials are not easily killed, or can kill subject with ease, it goes without saying that this portion can become frustrating and tedious quick.

The combat in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is certainly the most impressive "Arkham-Clone" ever duplicated, but its problems lie within the enemy placement. The actual free-flow movement between enemy to enemy is fine, but there are points where just too many are there at once. Sometimes, as little as three guys may be in a present area, but you can always expect countless more to randomly spawn in, causing some insignificant battles to last up to ten minutes. It is by no means too hard or challenging, but it makes this near-perfect combat system, implemented perfectly in the Arkham games, dull and tedious as well. This was highlighted well for me during my expeditions to "brand" the warchiefs. After finding my subject to control, I began his mission to increase his strength, which was simply killing some selected enemies. However, this small group of enemies grew increasingly large, and thus the battle waged on for more than ten minutes, as I specifically timed it. Due to the overwhelming length of the situation, my subject gradually died, despite the actual enemies not being too powerful. In the Arkham games, there was always a set number of foes in a given area, and it was clear when that given area was clean. This solution is ideal for this kind of game. While it may appear more "video game-y" than what's found in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, in a fantastical setting like that of Mordor, "video game-y" may have been just the feature necessary.

Graphically, Shadow of Mordor is sufficient. It may not stand out amongst the crowd, but the game's technical aesthetic i competent, particularly in the second half. Music tracks featured in the game are also merely competent, but nothing much more than that. There is a commendable OST here, but much of it is rather forgettable, especially when compared to The Lord of the Rings film sountrack.

On paper, Shadow of Mordor is an ideal game abundant with various implementations that would personally appeal to me. However, the game's execution with its elements proved unsatisfactory. I sincerely hope that developers do not lose sight on the potential presented with the Nemesis System. In concept, the AI system is tremendous, and I see a great future with later titles. While the system is initially joyful to experience, further progress in the game reveals its frustrating and tedious components. Ultimately, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor represents my most disappointing experience in video games for 2014. Opinions aside, the simple and disappointing truth with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is that it will never stand the test of time with its derivative elements, even for those who find enjoyment in this title. Perhaps a sequel to this critical success will resonate more, but for the rest of us, there's always Arkham Knight to look forward to.