While youre not wrong, I enjoyed the combat a lot more than Batman which people go on and on about for some reason that I never understood. Hit hit hit counter, hit hit hit counter.
Mordor felt better to me. The brutality helps sell it, he didnt charge across the whole screen to hit someone in an automated attack just because you pressed that direction randomly, and you could be stealthy whenever you wanted to be, not just in the areas where the game said, be stealthy here.
You do know games like this reward you for timed presses, if you've been button mashing through your batmans and your mordors you've been playing them wrong (the musical hits of WindWaker on GCN were a particular favourite of mine)
As for the viewpoint of the article itself, I agree, as a j.r.r tolkien fan I was gonna pass on this game completely. It took too much liberty with the lore and stuck in a lot of things to draw in the casual LOTR fans that might only be familiar with the movies.
However saying that, thanks to the wonderful feature of game sharing between ps4 consoles, I was able to enjoy this game fully without having to feel like I might have wasted money on it. My friend (who has set my console as his primary) picked it up and the gameplay mechanics alone made it an incredibly enjoyable game. I found myself skipping cutscenes and just carving my own story through the nemesis system.
Since the release of this game I've had so many watercooler moments with friends sharing tales of a memorable opponent who just wouldnt die or would show up to antagonize you at the worst possible moments. This game didn't need the LOTR license or a compelling storyline, the gameplay mechanics were solid enough to stand on their own two feet.
My advice to the author of this article is to forget its LOTR, forget it has anything to do with the works of JRR Tolkien, just pretend its any other fantasy themed game and enjoy it, and if you still don't, no harm no foul.
I would bet I am a bigger Tolkien fan than the writer and I still enjoyed the game immensely. You have to ask yourself, "Was this done in the spirit of Tolkien?"
While there were a few major canon changes in the game, Celebrimbor's altered story and the forging of the One Ring for starters, the games fits the spirit. If people knew how many changes were made to the movies they would be astonished but those changes fit the spirit of Tolkien. Many of them came from Tolkiens notes and unpublished manuscripts with more than a few others coming from his other works.
Middle Earth was violent. Although this is toned down in The Hobbit, it must be remembered that particular book was written for children whereas the other books were not. The Lord of the Rings is just one of his novels (One novel consisting of three books in six volumes), and a violent one at that.
Anyone that has bothered to work their way through The Silmarillion, the 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth, The Children of Hurin, and Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth will discover a treasure trove of Tolkien that is rife with bloody conflict and foul murder.
Yes the game has a great deal of grisly murder. It is one game, in one small chapter of one character's life in one of the most expansive worlds in literature. There is also a lot of lore in the title if one but looks.
it seems a bit mindblowing at start,alot to take in but once upgrades start coming you feel yourself getting stronger to the point at max u feel invincible. i really enjyed story too and im not into lord of rings stuff.
well i would say and its in my opinion that your "silly"and easily missing out on one of the best games of 2014 and what will prob go down as one of the best games of generation imo due to the nemesis system as i believe it will evolve many games to come.
that's why gaming is an outlet, not to be taken too seriously. the author is looking too deeply into it instead of just playing something for the fun of it.
*Tolkien fan here* Completely agree, it's been a long time since I've played a game that actually innovates, and I have a feeling Mordor will set the benchmark for upcoming sandbox action games. And it's completely full on LOTR lore, which is great for me.
It's like the game Assassin's Creed should have been.
Read my comment above, I was on the same boat as you for a full on year begging my friend even not to buy it so as not to encourage Warner Brothers to take liberties with the mythos even more so than they already were planning to with Mordor.
After playing it and skipping cutscenes/blocking them from my memory, i feel like an absolute arsebandit for my behaviour in the year leading up to its release, I even apologized to my friend in the end (who is the reason I even got to play it in the first place). I'm pretty sure you go back far enough in my comments on this site you'll find a few of me saying I'm boycotting it :P
I'm not trying to change your mind or anything, I am definitely a defensive fanboy when it comes to money men exploiting beloved franchises, but this was one of those cases where a solid game was delivered (as long as we just ignore all aspects of the horrible story)
Someone is obviously taking video games and Lord Of The Rings way too seriously. Coming out of that cave and getting some sunlight once in a while will help with that.
I hated on this game SO MUCH for writing new lore into the Tolkien universe. I mocked it nonstop all last year until it got released and started getting really good praise.
Going against my prejudice, I decided to get it and was really happy I gave it a shot. I'm not sure about the whole 'GOTY' thing (though the Nemesis system is great), but it is really really good.
It's hard to be more of a Tolkien-snob than I am, so even if you're highly suspicious - I'd encourage you to give it a try. Your fears aren't unreasonable, but when it comes to Shadows of Mordor, they're unfounded.
"Unless you hate open world action games, then feel free to give it a pass"
haha covering your ass with that one :P
sure you gotta do that around here on n4g, people don't understand how to read what was not written, they wouldn't know subtext if it hit em in the face or how to read between the lines. :P
You literally have to write out and spell everything in big bold words to them otherwise you're down a bubble.
In fact I'm probably gonna lose a bubble if I don't sign off by saying "If you do know how to pick up on subtext or if this does not apply to you, THEN IT DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU!"
I love open world action games but couldn't get into this. It was pretty much Assassins Creed with a LOTR skin and Batman combat. The nemesis systems is a pretty cool feature, but it got stale fast for me.
The funny thing, is the author doesn't even mention one single time about the changes/additions to the lore. I would understand that argument. Instead, he refuses to touch this game because its too violent.
He claims that LotR isn't supposed to be used for violence, but its supposed to focus more on things like the importance of home and friendship. He doesn't think violence should be used so gratuitously in a LotR game or setting. I'm all for keeping with the themes and everything, but he clearly doesn't know anything about the game.
The main character and his family are murdered in the beginning. The entire game is basically the main character trying to fulfill his quest so his soul can be freed to go home (the afterlife) and be with his family. Thats one of the very big LotR themes right there. Importance of home, and family.
If the author had taken the time to look past the violence, he would have seen that.
Also, the violence argument is a little crazy to me. I understand the novels didn't glorify the violence, but lets be real here, the entire LotR story is based around war and violence. A violent dictator with an army of monsters of all shapes and sizes moving into the lands to slaughter and seize control from the humans and elves. Whether its glorified or not in the books, war, especially in a medeivel or fantasy setting, is brutal.
So i'm not real sure I understand this guy's argument, because just like you can't have LotR without the central themes he mentioned, you also can't have LotR without violence. And like I said, when your talking about something in a medeivel setting, where people are fighting monsters with big swords, maces, and axes, its going to be brutal, no matter what.
Exactly, Tolkiens experiences with war are deeply ingrained in to LOTR, it's why it's such a different story to the childrens bed time book that was originally the hobbit. Sure he never glorifies the violence but it's present and it's there. Obviously with the modern world and its demand for hi-octane thrills, a LOTR game (based off the movie license, NOT THE BOOKS, that WB own) in the modern world is gonna be violent to appeal to what the uneducated (in tolkien lore) masses expect form the franchise and of video games.
@ctoretta Yup, was totally in the same boat as you. So glad I came around in the end, I wouldve missed out on a memorable gameplay experience. Just, lets not mention the cutscenes/storyline :)
I think all you need is a teensy bit of imagination and you should be able to have fun with it, Tolkien devotee or not. Anything about the mythos that urks you (semi-pun intended) just use your own sense of fictional-control to omitt it or alter it in your head as you play.
Thats what I did, my favourite character was Dole-Em, the sneaky junky chav on Dole benefits, constantly looking for that one sovereign ring he saw in Argos (this reference will be lost to anyone outside of the UK/Ireland I'm afraid).
*Disclaimer: I have nothing against people on benefits, just chav junkies that try and steal my phone every time I leave my apartment*
Basically rednecks. With a penchant for gold jewelery, leisure suits and burbery, it's popular among them to feign ignorance on anything that isn't fighting, drinking, driving and football, they go around bored and looking for fights, and most the times theyre not even from a rough background or a lower class, plenty of middle and upper class youths have donned the lifestyle because somehow, and I dont know why, its become fashionable. Maybe not so much these days but when I was in my teens in the late 90's early 00's they were everywhere, with their baseball caps at impossible angles, their matted stringy fringes and of course just shouting abuse at anyone that wasn't them. Fun people.
Does anyone really care? I mean people seem to generally really enjoy it so who cares if one guy doesn't want to play it? So much negativity lately. Jesus.
No one really cares if one individual does not really like a specific game.
It's a nobody thinking that their opinion is actually important when it isn't.
I guess it has a lot less to do with not liking the specific game and more along the lines of I deserve attention because my tastes in gaming are so much more refined than others.
You know the old saying if I ain't bitching check my pulse, there are whole lists of games that individual people don't want to play.
The key difference is we aren't going to write articles about it.
To the average gamer, the question is asked why is this even remotely relevant to me.
I'd be willing to bet I'm a bigger Tolkien fan and I loved Shadow of Mordor. Yeah it has nothing to do with any Middle-Earth related cannon with the exception of Celibrimbor but it was fantastic. If anything you should appreciate that someone still cares enough to make a fun, badass game as epic as the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Im a massive tolkein fan! As a tolkein fan I was dying to play it since it was revealed. As a tolkein fan I bought it, platinumed it and got other people to play it.
narrow minded purist....... annoying noisy fans that never enjoy life because something wasn't the way it was.
The games delivers a very believable game world set in Tolkein's Middle Earth and feels like you are there ..... backed by a good story that was never once sold to J.R.R. Tolkein fans as biblical lore.....
What's great is people don't have to be a fan of J.R.R. Tolkein's work to enjoy this game but the game is good enough that it can peek interest in a gamer who may never have read the original books on Middle Earth to read them and may even create more reading fans than repel.....
I say to any purist your lost our gain great video game..... perfect no..... but still a great game and tribute to Middle Earth
Gameplay was fun but the story was shitty (Urks? Caragors? Graug? Why the hell not call them orcs (or urakai) worgs, and trolls?). The game was a blast to play though, but I do agree with the article. LOTR was never really about the violence.
This game is a blast
Your loss.
well i would say and its in my opinion that your "silly"and easily missing out on one of the best games of 2014 and what will prob go down as one of the best games of generation imo due to the nemesis system as i believe it will evolve many games to come.
I'm never going to touch it either. But, you don't see me writing an article about it ^_^ I don't think anyone cares.
Someone is obviously taking video games and Lord Of The Rings way too seriously. Coming out of that cave and getting some sunlight once in a while will help with that.