80°

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Looks Cautiously Awesome

Lumilounge: "It's been a while since Return of the Kings graced theatres to round off the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, however countless titles in this world has released since then; yet, none quite as promising as this one."

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lumilounge.com
Simco8763728d ago

Looks interesting, still not seeing how you can do open world in Mordor. I mean do they not care that Talon just walks around? Or are you going to have to be Frodo/Sam and sneak around everywhere?

I like the nemesis system...STARS

Swiftfox3728d ago

After having a look at the gameplay video, this title borrows heavily from Assassin's Creed and the Batman: Arkham games.

The story of the main character has already been set up as cliché—I was someone then the bad-guys destroyed everything and now I'm out for revenge. For some reason he didn't die but he's a wraith now, which is right up there with the “should have died, but are now all powerful super hero,” motif. The hero is your typical long haired white male “like-Aragorn but not” affair--bit boring. The combat is a standard pack of keep countering peppered with quick time events. As for the aesthetic—if the narrator had said “A Witcher game”, I would have believed him.

The game is already incredibly average before the player even picks up the controller. Where's the life? The original thinking? The passion? All I'm seeing right now is Lord of the Rings + Assassin's Creed + Batman Arkham = Somebody will like it = $$$. Cynical? Yes. 'Bout time we should be.

jdktech20103728d ago

"All I'm seeing right now is Lord of the Rings + Assassin's Creed + Batman Arkham...."

Boy, that sounds horrible. Let's take elements from 3 of the favorite franchises in the gaming and movie world and combine them. The parkour of AC, the stellar (imo) combat of Arkham and the fantastic world and storytelling of LOTR. Oh, and I get a Witcher asthetic....that ain't half bad either.

The nemesis systems looks cool but we've yet to see how it works and if it's more predetermined then they're leading us to believe.

I'm cautiously optimistic on this one as well butI'm definitely interested. I respect your opinion here but I hope you can see why some of us might be excited for this.

Swiftfox3724d ago

I understand all the mechanics I've mentioned are favorable as they've all seen success in their respective areas. The issue I have is one of creation. As an artist I enjoy new takes on ideas and experimentation in practice. The selection of the mechanics, to me, is evidence of lack of effort on the developers part. Taking a well established franchise, like Lord of the Rings, and matching it with well established and successful mechanics screams executive decision rather than artistic. All I can see are the potential ideas looked over in favor of ones they know work. There's little to no risk, so I honestly can't see a large reward within the game.

There will be those who enjoy this game. Fair enough. I don't settle for the standards, however. I demand more thought and imagination. I do appreciate you being civil—most refreshing.

--bienio--3728d ago

This game is for me😃 day 1 !!

Scrivlar3728d ago

Looks like it could be fantastic, love anything LOTR really, graphics look like they could be better though.

260°

10 Open-World Games That Feel Empty After Just A Few Hours

Unfortunately, the open worlds in games like Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Halo Infinite, and the original Assassin's Creed do more harm than good.

MadLad290d ago

I legitimately loved Halo's switch to open world. They made traversal of the map entertaining, and everything involved just tied into the (what I consider) awesome gunplay.
The entire time I really felt the slow takeover of the map, and all the little steps forward felt satisfying.

I don't know what more people really want there, considering the setting and story. A handful of soldiers hunkered down on enemy territory; slowly trying to win the battle.

giovonni289d ago

I agree I liked the switch to the open world, it was large with beautiful land scapes. However, it did feel a bit empty, and wasn’t as action packed as I would have liked. A lot of the bases felt like fillers instead of something of wonder. Let’s see what 343 under new management does from here cause Halo needs some updating

archibold289d ago (Edited 289d ago )

I'm surprised they scrapped the Slipspace engine. I thought the graphics looked great, the sandbox physics were as good as ever, and the AI worked well. Clearly a lot of work went into it and it appears to have been optimized for the new generation of GPUs. The only issue I had with it was the lack of environments, would have been cool to have different biomes on the ring to explore. A bit more variety in missions would have been nice, maybe some timed events where you have to manuever a banshee through forerunner architecture or some mongoose speedruns would have spiced things up.

CrimsonWing69289d ago

I think R* are the only ones who have made compelling open worlds. I can’t stomach most open world games and how boring they are with busy world. It’s like a flex to make this massive environment, but it’s extremely boring to traverse and play in. GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 blew me away with how incredible their worlds were. Elden Ring was the only other game to give me that sense of awe.

giovonni289d ago

GTA V and unfortunately, Saints Row the original have had some of the most aggressive open world features where the world doesn’t feel so bland. To me what makes GTA V so special is the way the characters react to the world around them vs how the world reacts to them. For example, in GTA when you switch to Franklin and he walked past an attractive female he responded “ damn you fine” or in Saints row you can run up in the pawn shop flash a gun and watch them respond by raising their hands in the air, or they press the silent alarm making you have to run away from the cops. Halo infinite doesn’t have those kind of moments that make you feel apart of the world it just feels like it’s there.

bloop288d ago

Trevor talking to random vegan npc: "You suck c*ck, but you don't eat meat.... It don't make sense to me "

Classic. Such a shame we won't get that humour again now that R* have gone all in on virtue.

Abear21289d ago

AC Odyssey with the next gen patch is pretty incredible, especially if you like a sea shantie. Lol.

Abear21289d ago

I’m back on an open world kick after Horizon. I don’t know what clicked in me but exploring the map and seeing the detail work has me loving open worlds again. Playing AC Odyssey on hard and really enjoying it and the map. Reinstalling RDR2 tonight because damn, that map is just incredible for sightseeing.

Sonic1881289d ago

Halo Infinite felt off. It's like the developers didn't know what they really wanted to do

Demetrius289d ago

Depends on which open world titles u play, most of em are shitty AF, but I honestly admire open world genre, sometimes to just take a break from fighting and missions you explore n see details you haven't noticed before cause you were too busy body at first, then boom finding some dope equipment or things to sale

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130°

10 Mediocre Bosses in Great Games

GF365: "Most games are not perfect and that may be because of a character or an enemy. Here are 10 mediocre bosses in great games."

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gamefreaks365.com
Chriswheeler22437d ago

The Pursuer from Dark Spuls 2 was great, I think the author just sucks at games.

philm87436d ago

The Godskin Duo is a great fight

80°

Best Games Based on Movies

GF365: "These are the best games based on movies. Every entry on this list will be a great video game adaptation of popular movies."

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gamefreaks365.com
HeliosHex464d ago

Best game based on two movies that were never made goes to robocop vs terminator.

Owlbert464d ago

Did you play RoboCop Vs terminator... pretty sure it was on the mega drive) genisis.

HeliosHex464d ago

Yes played it on genesis for the blood. Snes had a version but I think the blood was censored not sure. I just remember genesis being the go to system for games with blood.

Owlbert464d ago

Alien isolation...ftw,it is definitely one of my top games,I played it again a few months ago ✌️