Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review - Steps over its own shadow

Calculated in the year that Ubisoft succumbed to Assassin's Creed Unity brought Warner Bros. and Monolith a title on the market that proved better than his inspiration: Shadow of Mordor. Logical that it does not stay with that one game, but Monolith does not rest on his laurels. With Shadow of War it's time to get out of the shadow of the competition.

New Ring, New Issues

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War goes on where Shadow of Mordor stopped. Sauron has been pushed back by Talion and Celebrimbor but of course not yet defeated. Celebrimbor forge on Mt. Doom therefore a new Ring, which hopes to free the immortal duo Mordor from Sauron's tyranny. However, it does not take long before all kinds of other messes are lurking on this power and, for you know, again, Mordor is in the ban of the Ring.

Monolith Productions did not turn the rudder out radically, and it was not necessary - Shadow of Mordor was by no means the 2014 sleeperhit. As soon as we set foot in Minas Ithil to defend the last city of the Gondorians against an attack by Saurons orcs , therefore, Shadow of War feels extremely familiar. With Talion's sword and Celebrimbors bow heels and we hurry through the hordes orcs. Because the last Batman game dates back to two years, we've just forgotten how wonderful this fighting system is. Fortunately, we are not ridding out, countering and dying.

Nevertheless, Shadow of War is not simply 'more of the same'. Monolith has managed to do much more with existing gameplay mechanisms. Especially the Nemesis system has been well taken care of and now feels much more sensible. No matter how nice it is to swallow and collide with the orcs, in the long run, in Shadow of Mordor, it's not easy to endless orcs.

Orcémon Namely,

in the titular shadow of the war, Talion and Celebrimbor set up their own army to battle Sauron. By dominating orcs, you can recruit them immediately for your army. Then you can do anything with them. You can name an orc to bodyguard, which you can turn on at any time, but you can also send them on enemy orcs, or infiltrate the enemy's army. Suddenly all the strengths and weaknesses of all orcs make much more.

For example, imagine attacking the fortress of the enemy, but one of the defensive Captains is an immensely strong orc with four bodyguards. What if some of those bodyguards are actually spies of you? And what if the captain in question is vulnerable to attacks of arrow and bow and one of your spies is arguably armed with a crossbow? Does that Captain look even ugly on his nose when he is shot in the back. Even uglier than normal, we mean.

Orcs are unreliable, and so it happens that they betray you. Sometimes also in the hottest battle. In addition, during a Siege mission, you may suddenly become poisoned with poison. Thick bad luck if your carefully chosen spies can just be badly poisoned. Because all orcs are randomly generated, there is also no perfect pre-planned strategy: you have to completely decipher yourself. That makes the Nemesis system fun and challenging and makes it more useful for deepening your army. As a sort of ugly, green, kidding Pokémon you can recruit them or even eliminate the weakest links. After all, there is always a bigger orc. Who's really sinister, the useless orcs level up so you get stronger weapons when you kill them.

Everything is for sale

During the first three games of the game - just say the narrative part of Shadow of War - Monolith forgets to guide you in maintaining your army. After you play the story, the game is a kind of endgame content, which contains another Siege charge. However, because you set up a separate army in each region, the first legends you made at the beginning of the game have been underestimated in terms of levels and upgrades. Endless gates to get it is the most obvious way to get your army in order. Those who do not feel like it can also grab the Loot Chests that are available for microtransactions, or decide, with a bit of a rare aftertaste, that Shadow of War is already over.

Because the endgame is not introduced as endgame is usually introduced. There are no credits indicating that the story is really closed, but you are not really accompanied by other characters in other movies. It should therefore be clear that there is a clear boundary between deed three and four, but Monolith cuts itself into the fingers by not making it visible. Act Four should be for fans who want to get started with their Orcémon, with a significantly higher level of difficulty. Now, Monolith makes many players unaware and consciously or unconsciously creates the impression that players want to hunt for the microtransactions.

Big step forward

It's a shame that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is now being overshadowed by this blunder at the end of the game, as it is hardly forgotten what enormous steps have been taken over the previous part. For example, the environments are infinitely much more beautiful and caring. The beloved city of Minas Ithil exudes a whole different atmosphere than the rich wooded Nurnen, while an area like Gorgoroth again offers exactly that with lava flooded locations that you expect from Mordor. In addition, the game ridiculous offers a lot of content beyond the Nemesis system. The various environments are littered with collectables and there are several clients each with their own storyline to follow. Where the previous game sometimes feels a tad bald and short, you can not say that of Shadow of War.

In these newly explored waters, Shadow of War leaves one more chance. Like, for example, Assassin's Creed, Shadow of War has difficulty doing something beyond the standard range. A fight with a Balrog might be the epic peak in a Middle-Earth game, but through the control of the Drake that flies you, it is jumbled and limited.

The voting is also very variable. Especially the dialogues of the other Gondorian soldiers are occasionally almost laughing. Rare because Talion and Celebrimbor (Troy Baker and Alastair Duncan) are great to listen to and the different orcs are surprisingly well-spoken - if the randomly generated Bagga Shaman kills you for the second time and blames you in your face, you want to just one more thing. Finally, his skull is feeling more satisfying than defeating many carefully written end bosses in another game. It is pretty that Monolith imparts so much personality to auto-generated orcs that they can indeed become your Nemesis.

The small smiles of Shadow of War are easily forgiven when you can explore a new area, turn a strong orc, or see during a big battle how your spies turn the battle at the right moment. With Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Monolith wanted to surpass his previous success, and also with flag and pennant. Until the latter, at least, take notice.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has been available for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 since October 10.

Conclusion

The first three acts of Shadow of War are simply to be enjoyed. Shadow of War does everything that its predecessor is doing so well, but significantly better. With the seemingly simple combat system, the practiced player can reassure tens of hit streaks and even beat many stronger enemies. There is more story in Shadow of War and especially the places visited are a lot more interesting. The cherry on the cake is the much better-developed Nemesis system, which is now deeper in the game. Unfortunately, developer Monolith cuts himself mercilessly with the awkwardly introduced fourth act, which, after shuffling of Shadow of War, asks you a bit of what you need to do.

➕ Delightfully smooth fighting system
➕ Nemesis system performed very well
➕ Automatically generated orcs do not feel generic

➖ Fourth deed is missing the board
➖ Not all the mechanisms worked out as well
➖ Variable quality voters

Thanks for reading.

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