Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Throughout my 20-odd hours of playing Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, there was one word that kept popping up in my mind; Ease.

I had ease with getting to grips with the combat and accompanying“Nemesis” system. I had ease with understanding (and somewhat dismissing) the narrative. I had ease with winning almost every fight I was thrust into throughout the game, and I feel that's what my criticisms (positive and negative) are focussing on.

Shadow of Mordor’s story revolves around that of Talion, a Ranger of Gondor. After a considerably well-done tutorial which involves “teaching” your son how to swing a sword (i.e: the game teaching you how swordplay works) and sneaking up on your wife to deliver a kiss (see: sneaking up on an Orc to deliver a brutal throat-slice), Talion is subject to a ritualistic death involving his family, resulting in the fusion of body and soul to the ghost/wraith of the Elven smith Celebrimbor. Tolkien lore aside, the set-up for the game’s story was heartfelt and motivating to continue on the fight to exact revenge on those responsible for his cruel fate.

Throughout the game you are subjected to somewhat interesting (if not shoehorned) characters. Some unique to the game and some returning primarily through their silver-screen portrayal. The game’s story, which is namely executed in brief pre-mission cinematics, never feels like it’s becoming a chore to see through, considering beating the story alone would take ~8 or so hours. However, without spoiling anything, those expecting a satisfying ending gameplay-wise will be better looking elsewhere.

Shadows of Mordor‘s core gameplay revolves around the well-touted and aforementioned “Nemesis” system. The procedurally (see: randomly) generated Captains and War-chiefs found in the game are connected through their own personal ties to each other. One Orc might be the personal bodyguard to a War-chief, whilst being in a rivalry with another Orc who seeks to join under the power of the protected War-chief. However, despite intriguing me at first, none of this really seemed to matter to my gameplay experience when the only interactions I had with the Captains and War-Chiefs was either killing one, killing two or killing three.

Shadows of Mordor knows what it wants to achieve. It knows that it wants the players to feel powerful. It knows that it wants the player to tell their friends about the epic encounter they had with their first nemesis in the game. It wants players to form emergent gameplay within the (intentionally) stark world that Monolith Productions has put together. I tend to stay away from press/reviews surrounding a game until I’ve personally completed it, and it clearly seems that what Monolith have aimed to achieve has been successful. People are talking about their neck-to-neck fights with the Orc Captains that invaded their story mission, with captivating and exciting demeanour.

But I wonder why I can’t entirely relate to that.

The crux of Shadow of Mordor’s combat is clearly reliant on the tried-and-true Arkham series’ hand-to-hand combat. This makes sense considering WB Games (Shadow of Mordor’s publisher) have also published the latest Arkham game. However, I feel like the sentiment of Batman’s dark street punishment isn’t translated 1:1 with Talion, considering fairly early on in the game, you unlock the ability to perform brutal finishing moves. Watching him swing a sword through an Orc’s neck to send its head flying in the air to the horror of its brethren never gets old.

But that’s the funny thing about this game. While the finishing moves and fluid action doesn’t seem to get old, the game rarely feels like it’s challenging. Press A, mash X, press Y when prompted. That was the pattern for the majority of fights I encountered. Coming into contact with Orc Captains was, at first, an intense and cinematic moment. But that magic quickly fades away when you realise you can rinse and repeat a stun and attack until their health bar reduces to nothing. I didn’t memorise the names of any of the Captains because they were all so forgettable, when you’re more interested in getting experience points than forging a potential rivalry with the enemy’s Captain, why should I? When there are people saying that in order to make the game harder and more “enjoyable”, they should introduce handicaps to themselves, I feel that’s where the game designers have failed in delivering a memorable and intriguing video game that I can come back to time and time again, but when I look at my nemesis screen with every Captain and War-chief with that blue branding sign on their heads, and with every achievement unlocked, I see a product of chores rather than a challenge.

I enjoyed Shadow of Mordor, it felt like a guilty pleasure I haven't had the luxury to in a while. Perhaps adding a new game+ mode or a heightened difficulty option would’ve added another 20 or so hours to my playing, but for now I think I’m happy to put this game behind me and know that despite its ease in difficulty, hacking orcs to bits while playing a wraith-infused Ranger of Gondor was as satisfying in its 24th hour as it was in its 1st.