Shadow of Mordor went through a turbulent journey en route to its September 30, 2014 release. When it was first announced and Monolith shared off some gameplay action, many gamers and industry luminaries chided it for being an Assassin’s Creed ripoff, or as just another licensed movie game (visuals and characters reflect Jackson’s films) that would ultimately disappoint its pop culture fan base. Considering that the concept of the game was to create a whole new story revolving around a character that Tolkien never envisioned, it wasn’t out of the norm for gamers to be hesitant about the merits of Shadow of Mordor. Many thought it would be another cash grab for the Tolkien license holders, while others wrote it off as an unoriginal clone of a baby between Assassin’s Creed and the Batman Arkham games. While comparing its gameplay and mechanics to those franchises is a legit critique, Shadow of Mordor is far from being another cheap ploy to prey on the wallets of Tolkien super fans thanks to its high-level of polish, interesting world and characters, and unique gameplay mechanics.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Halo Infinite felt off. It's like the developers didn't know what they really wanted to do
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
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."
The Pursuer from Dark Spuls 2 was great, I think the author just sucks at games.
GF365: "These are the best games based on movies. Every entry on this list will be a great video game adaptation of popular movies."
If it weren't for the need to cover yet another new release in Alien: Isolation I'd easily play this to 100% completion. Just pure fun overall.
Gotta love the variety of Uruks
This is one I definitely want to try out
Best game of the year so far in my opinion.
Man these reviews have finally got me thinking about this game. Is it that good?