Do Not Go Quietly into that Dark Land: Middle-earth: Shadow of War Review
- Ben Stembridge
- Oct 23, 2017
- 6 min read
Middle-earth: Shadow of War may be one of the most exciting games of the season, if not the entire year. Sequel to the outstanding Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, this game from Monolith studios exemplifies a fun, hack n’ slash adventure set it everyone’s favorite fantasy world. Boasting an incredible enemy/ally AI system called Nemesis, the title allows players to become an Orc-killing machine that ceases to go down without swinging. I had originally thought that a sequel to Shadow of Mordor would be more of the same but bigger. However, after playing this marvelous game, it is much, much more. Let’s begin.
Thanks for your patience while I got this review squared away. There is just so much to talk about (both praise and critique), that this might be one of the most comment-provoking games I’ve played in a while. Middle-earth: Shadow of War is set in the monumental work of literature that is J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium, in which The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit take place. The game’s story follows the tragedy of Talion, a Ranger from the realm of Gondor who was killed with his family at the infamous Black Gate leading into the land of Mordor. Possessed and strengthened by a mysterious Wraith, Talion goes on to avenge his family, wreaking havoc on the borders of Mordor and the outside world. The game ends with Talion setting his sights on a bigger target, the target to be exact: the Great Deceiver, the Necromancer, The Shadow, the one and only Dark Lord Sauron. Ohhhh it’s gonna be fun on the bun.
Shadow of War picks up with the Wraith creating Talion a wonderful new toy: a new One Ring. The Wraith is truly Celebrimbor, an Elven King who was tricked into creating the Rings of Power for Sauron in the first place. While Celebrimbor is a significant character from the Legendarium, it’s safe to say that the game has some artistic freedom over some aspects of his character and background, but to be honest I never stopped to criticize it. Players are then introduced to Shelob the Spider, and ancient evil spirit, who in this game takes the form of a beautiful woman (odd, I know, but that’s actually more believable than you’d think). Shelob creates tensions and plot explorations that will treat the player to fascinating progressions throughout the game. Anyway, enough about the story for now - let’s get onto the meat of the game: slaying Orcs!
For those of you who played Shadow of Mordor, consider Shadow of War’s gameplay mechanics to be exactly the same. The third-person melee combat follows the style of the Batman Arkham series - one button for general combat strikes, and another for counters. It is a beautifully simple recipe that can become thrillingly challenging for those uncoordinated enough to be swarmed by 15-20 Orcs at a time. Stealth is also identical to the first game, and it is still woefully unrealistic in the most enjoyable ways. A simple swift movement of a crouched Talion can lead him to “discreetly” dagger his way to an Orc Captain. While unrealistic, it’s not something myself or anyone else has ever found too distracting. Honestly, stealth kills being easy is quite fun, considering that once stealth is lost it’s considerably difficult to get it back in the same scenario.
Carrying on the discussion of gameplay, our ghostly Ranger does have some new abilities. Take the Glaive for instance, which is a spirit-like spear that can blast away multiple enemies with one swing - very helpful in a pinch, but it does consume might. Speaking of, might is a consumable in-game energy/currency that powers many of Talion’s powers. This, like the Glaive, the slam execution, and a number of other power coordination systems, is new to the game. Like might, players have focus, which powers Talion’s slow motion ghost bow which can instantly kill grunt Orcs, or even pin them to the ground. Focus also fuels a speed boost while sprinting and other perks, all of which are more detailed and interesting than the last.
Shadow of War sheds some its predecessor’s system attributes, replacing them or amending them with more in-depth ones. Weapons and Armor are now customizable and various, lending players’ better melee points, defense, or perks. On the subject of systems, Shadow of War returns with the incredible Nemesis System. Nemesis is an enemy AI system that powers the incredible relationship between player and the endless horde of Orcs that roam Mordor. Steering Talion into an enemy fortress, I encountered a powerful enemy Captain. In my attempt to slay him, he escaped, only to ambush me at random a few hours later, more powerful and mindful of our previous encounter. He kicked my ass, and was promptly promoted. Nemesis then offered a special quest called a Vendetta - kill my murderer, and I get a higher level piece of gear, and bragging rights.
The functionality of Captain’s are increasingly complex, building off of the first game’s systems. I was often ambushed by captains that I had discovered by didn’t target, creating unique instances of intense battles that genuinely surprised me. I once targeted a captain who was easily weakened by fire, but enraged by vaulting over them. Captains could become enraged and go berserk in the previous game, but nothing like this - this captain became enraged when I dodged him with a jump, and then proceeded to absolutely bludgeon me with strikes. Players need to really weigh a captain’s caveats before flinging an arrow at him.
While Captain’s make for thrilling fights, their real commodity lays in their controllability. One of the Wraith Celebrimbor’s many powers is dominations - Talion can mark Orcs to abandon their master and come to your side. Building an army of enslaved Orc followers then allows you to attack and conquer fortresses. These are high intensity battles that allow players to pit their dominated Orcs against the holders of any given fortress, providing immense challenges for Talion and his army.
We’ve discussed a lot of Shadow of War’s main features, but I’ve yet to distill any opinions or analysis on its successes or shortcomings. The long and short of it is that this game does not exemplify the soaring success of its predecessor. While it builds upon the systems and blocks of Shadow of Mordor, there is a significant disjoint felt between amount of content and quality. The story plays fast and loose with the Legendarium, as I’ve mentioned, but it also provides players with a literal ton of things to do. Normally, this would be great, however, the quality of this overwhelming content leaves a bit too much to be desired. This is not a failure to build a fun game by any stretch of the imagination, but looking at the world map with little motivation of what to do is an issue we can’t ignore.
Swing back around to the narrative, Shadow of War disappoints a bit in regards to the story. The original tragedy of Celebrimbor in the first game was compelling regardless of one being a fan of The Lord of The Rings or not. Shadow of War, on the other hand, abandons some of its more thoughtful plot styles for belligerent Orc-slaying. The game knows what it is, which I can respect, but I can’t help but feel that the story could’ve handled the source material a little better. On the positive side, belligerent Orc-slaying comes with some laughs and some genuinely interesting developments.
To wrap this one up nice and pretty, Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a fun sequel worthy of some praise. While it fails to live up to its predecessor, I had a lot of fun building an army of Orc slaves worthy of remembrance. The narrative is dull at times, but being an Elven King, Gondorian Ranger, and Ghostly Super Soldier is fun enough. Players who enjoy hack and slash games as well as complicated AI will thoroughly enjoy this game. Give it a go.
Ben Stembridge, Editor-in-Chief
Ben leads the reviews and news coverage for Game Chop. He also offers opinions on games and the industry, covering a wide range of genres and platforms. Ben especially enjoys discussions on game narratives, design styles, and independent titles.
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