For the next two weeks I'll be writing my impressions of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. This week I'll be discussing the game-play and how it compares to the Assassin's Creed series.
I played the Assassin's Creed series
from the first game through Assassin's Creed III. I enjoyed
Assassin's Creed I, II, and Brotherhood, but Revelations and III were
uninspiring at best. Somewhere it lost its way. The quality
probably decreased because Ubisoft released a new game every year,
instead of spending three years.
Shadow of Mordor takes most of the
classic elements of the Assassin's
Creed series; stealth, sword fighting, open-world, assassination,
collectibles, and wall climbing, and places them into the
world of the Lord
of the Rings.
Trapped in Mordor and surrounded on all
sides by hordes of orcs and Uruks, the main game-play element is
stealth. There are three ways to avoid detection; hiding in bushes,
crouching in plain sight, or standing on a raised platform. There is
no lighting or shadows to worry about (which is ironic considering
the name), and torches won't give away your position if you are
crouching. From a stealth position Talion (the character you play),
can assassinate any hapless orc that wanders by. But the orcs that
fall into your “stealth” attacks are so loud in their death
throes, it's amazing that a whole camp of orcs don't jump you
immediately. You can be knifing an orc, and three feet away his
buddy (with back turned), doesn't respond to his deafening scream.
Orcs only notice movement in front of them, or running. That's
unfair to say. They barely notice anything in front. It seems as if
their sight angle is as narrow as a flashlight beam. This isn't game
breaking. Its easy to put this failure down to orcs being orcs. Yet
it makes the stealth too easy. Orcs also fail to pursue. I haven't
played an Assassin's Creed game in a while, but I feel that soldiers
in AC doggedly chased you for miles, but the orcs give up after a few
yards.
When discovered, if you chose not to
flee, the combat begins. Its reminiscent of AC and the Batman:
Arkham system. A horde of orcs converge, and you fight them
off with a series of attacks, counter attacks, and abilities. Each
successful block and attack adds to the combo meter, while each
failure resets it to zero. Reaching certain numbers allows for the
use of powerful abilities. It is similar to AC and Batman, yet it
felt both easier and longer. Though there are different types of
orcs (sword, shield, archer, spear) they never feel distinct like
they do in Batman, or as deadly as I remember AC to be. Yet it
seemed difficult to kill the enemy until you unlock stronger
abilities. The most efficient way to win a battle was to use archer
mode which slows the enemy down, and eliminate the orcs all with one
kill head-shots before they can even touch you.
The major variation between AC and
Mordor is the addition of free-roaming bosses. The game places
twenty special Uruks upon the map. They have power levels (a number
between 1 – 20 that indicates their relative strength), and special
abilities. Interrogating orcs will unlock knowledge of their
strengths and weaknesses which can be used to your advantage.
Unfortunately, I never found these Uruks all that dangerous. If you
ran into three at once, it might be time to leave, but if you're
cautious it's possible to snipe their followers with arrows, and then
stealthily assassinate them one at a time. The only deadly ones are
those with the ability 'No Chance'. Normally when you are about to
die, the game provides a last chance mini-game to stay alive. This
mini-game is too easy. But an Uruk chief with 'No Chance' prevents
this and kills you outright. In spite of the Uruks being too easy,
they are amazingly diverse. There are over one hundred Uruk names,
and another hundred Uruk titles, and each time you fight an Uruk they
greet you will a voiced line which includes their name, title, and a
little bit about themselves. The variety of models for the Uruks is
also impressive. This makes each of the Uruks feel unique. I can
say that I've killed about twenty to forty and I felt they were
always aesthetically different. Unfortunately, I feel that there are
only about three to five different types in terms of game play.
Mordor uses an open-world map where
Talion can wander across two fairly large areas. They are not the
largest in video game history, but they are sufficient. Like most
other open-world games fast travel can be unlocked by visiting
different regions. In Mordor you climb ancient Elven towers and then
can immediately travel to them at any time. It's also possible to
domestic the local wolf-like creatures to ride them around. The map
has a good variety of fields and cities, that allow for different
opportunities when completing missions.
The game uses a variety of different
missions, some mandatory and others optional. In the first region
the mandatory missions drive the story, but are very railroaded. You
need to eliminate five Uruk Warchiefs. The first assassination is
completed through a series of prescripted missions. After that
you're free to go about the other four however you like. And yet,
you must complete a boss battle that has a series of incredibly
annoying rules. Normally, going after a Warchief is a careful game
of preparation where you take out his followers from the shadows with
arrows, blow up explosives, and release monsters into the area. When
it trouble you retreat to the tops of buildings to recuperate. But
against the boss of the first region: in a cut-scene Talion walks
right up to the boss and declares himself. Worse than this, during
the battle you are not allowed to leave the ground. If you climb up
one level the game gives you six seconds to return to earth or you
have to restart.
In the second region Talion unlocks an
power that sets the game apart from AC and Batman. Branding give you
the ability to convert orcs and Uruks to your side. This can be done
either from a stealth position, or by grappling a weakened Uruk. The
orc blends in with his fellows, until you command him and then he
will fight other orcs. This ability allows you assemble a host of
orcs and Uruks that fight for you. It is also used to move the story
along in region two, but that will be discussed next week.
There are other aspects; RPG elements,
collectibles/mini-missions, and wall climbing are well done. We will
take a closer look at them next week as well.
In terms of game-play I would say that
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor has some interesting ideas that
differentiate it from AC and Batman, but the Uruks (the most unique
aspect), fail to set themselves apart from each other by being too
similar and easy to defeat.
Note: Yes, I know that the Shadow in
the Title has nothing to do with hiding, but with another type of
shadow. Next week.
Shadow of Mordor Series:
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