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Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review

Talion and Celebrimbor are back and this time they’re not alone

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was somewhat of a breakout hit for 2014, and at the time was heralded as the best Assassin’s Creed game to have been released to date. Taking Tolkien’s famous fantasy universe to tell an intriguing revenge tale and adding a dash of parkour with a pinch of brutal third-person combat turned out to be a recipe for an instant classic. So how does the sequel stack up against the legacy of its forebear? All things considered, Shadow of War is more of the same, but it has enough refinements and expansions to keep things fresh. It’s a successful continuation of Talion’s quest for revenge against the Dark Lord Sauron what done killed his family, and narrative-wise features some incredibly interesting twists and turns. Unfortunately, an overly grindy fourth act makes the greatest twist of all locked behind hours of busywork that is likely to deter even the strongest of hearts.

Please allow me to murder you in front of this picturesque sunset

Taking up directly where Shadow of Mordor left off, Shadow of War’s story is nestled between the bosom of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We again take the role of Talion, who, with the help of master craftsmen and undead elven bro Celebrimbor, forges another Ring of Power that ought to be capable of dethroning Sauron. Both Talion and Celebrimbor have a bone to pick with Sauron, the former having had his family slaughtered by his forces and the latter being deceived into crafting the rings that would end up giving Sauron the power he wields. In Shadow of War you must incite civil war in Mordor, in a hope to halt Sauron’s quest for dominion over Middle Earth. Talion and Celebrimbor must grow their power and enslave the orc forces to fight for them if they hope to get the upper hand on the big cheese, but you know what they say about power and corruption…

Shadow of War’s story is quite satisfying and features some great moments. The interplay between the good-hearted Talion and the slightly cold-hearted and arrogant Celebrimbor is again excellent and sets up some very interesting story notes. It’s a pity that the ultimate ending of this tale is locked behind a fairly tedious grind as it brings a great sense of finality to the proceedings, but for those invested enough in the gameplay the grind ought to be bearable enough to make the slog.

In terms of gameplay, Shadow of War plays much like its predecessor, with a few new bells and whistles. Still channelling the flowing style of third-person combat first seen in the modern Batman games, the action is as brutal as ever. With fairly simple melee combat and counters coupled with ranged attacks courtesy of Celebrimbor, the duo is able to eviscerate scores of orcs in the blink of an eye. As you gain experience from completing tasks and missions, you gain access to new abilities which will make you an absolute force of nature. Things like the ability to Shadow Strike foes across vast distances, execute enemies in ruthless fashion and chain together stealth kills will be fairly familiar from the original, but it’s just as fun here. As someone who isn’t exactly the greatest fan of Tolkien’s penchant for plodding pacing in his works, I enjoy that this game eschews the endless walks through the forest and hundred-page elven songs for a more action-focused experience. There’s still enough story meat to keep the Tolkien enthusiasts content (and more than enough fodder to argue against its canonicity), but killing swathes of orcs is the order of the day, and it just… works.

Shadow of War is much expanded compared to its predecessor, with more activities to indulge in, more loot to find, more regions to discover and more things to hunt down in general. For the first twenty or so hours it feels quite fresh, as it always feels like you’re doing something different and worthwhile. Completing missions and optional tasks like tracking down the missing lyrics from some ancient elven jams will always give you sweet loot, experience, skill points and access to exclusive abilities. But when I hit a certain level I realised I didn’t really have a thirst for any more abilities, and the point of completing the seemingly endless list of tasks across the five regions began to lose its allure. That’s not to say it isn’t entertaining in general, but there’s only so long you can chase the carrot on the stick before it starts shrivelling up and starts to smell bad.

Bad moon risin’

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A beautiful day to die

As someone who isn’t exactly the greatest fan of Tolkien’s penchant for plodding pacing in his works, I enjoy that this game eschews the endless walks through the forest and hundred-page elven songs for a more action-focused experience

It’s clear that the developers were keen on crafting a world where you wouldn’t want to leave for a long stretch, and one of the ways they’ve chosen to do this is through an expansion of the Nemesis system. In Shadow of War you’ll gain the ability to dominate stronger Uruks (called Captains) and add them to your army, where you can give them orders to fight other Uruks and raise their level. You can then take your rag-tag orc army to the region’s fortress and dethrone its reigning Warchiefs and Overlord to claim dominion. You then install your own Warchiefs and Overlord, fortify your defences and defend the fortress from those looking to take the power back. It’s a cool wrinkle to the gameplay, but I found it a bit clunky and arduous in its execution. Your army is specific to the region, meaning you have to raise an army in each region and give them separate orders while you’re there. I would have much rathered a central UI where you can view and manage all your armies and give them orders from a single screen. You can also go online and raid others’ fortresses, however this won’t actually impact their game (or yours if they attack your fortresses), but doing so will help raise your level and the level of orcs within your army.

Indeed the whole fortress capturing and bolstering aspect is the heart of the endgame, and it’s here that things get a little dodgy. After the main quests of the first three acts are complete (which gives you the soft ending), the final act has you undertaking ten sieges on powerful enemy fortresses. This will require you to have orcs with a certain level and set of abilities, however their level can’t outstrip your own, meaning if you want a highly skilled army capable of taking down these fortresses, you also have to level up Talion himself first. This is done by grinding through some fairly repetitive tasks, however given this is a modern AAA game, microtransactions are here to help. Using real money you are able to buy XP boosters, as well as War Chests that contain powerful orcs to slot into your army, which can skip much of the whole rigmarole of recruiting them yourself. It also cheapens the online side of things, as unless there is a strong player pool taking part in the Online Conquests, there’s a chance you’ll be mismatched against players who have much better fortresses than your own because they decided to drop some coin on a sweet orc army. It’s a worrying trend in AAA games, and not one I choose to participate in.

The old gank and shank

That fortress in the distance can be yours if you’ve the time to invest

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Final Thoughts

Shadow of War successfully builds on its forerunner by giving the player a lot of the same sorts of things that made the original so compelling, while simultaneously giving you a much larger world to explore and many more things to do in it. Personally I felt that after multiple hours the sheen does wear off somewhat and it starts to feel a bit like busywork, however there’s no denying that Monolith has crafted the most complete and extensive orc murdering simulator to date. It’s a pity about the shady implementation of microtransactions which will no doubt sit poorly with many gamers, but Shadow of War is another strong entry in a franchise that will likely be around for many years to come.

Reviewed on PS4

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review
Shadow Warriors
While its gameplay stylings are going to mostly feel familiar, Shadow of War is an impressive package and far more expansive than the original, but when is a lot of a good thing too much?
The Good
Engaging tale of revenge, power and corruption
Combat is again brutal, varied and satisfying
Wealth of things to do and kill
The Bad
Managing your armies is fun, but unintuitive
Starts to feel like busywork after a certain amount of hours invested
Last act is overly grindy
Microtransactions. Stahp
8
Get Around It
  • Monolith Productions
  • Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
  • PS4 / Xbox One / PC
  • September 27, 2017

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review
Shadow Warriors
While its gameplay stylings are going to mostly feel familiar, Shadow of War is an impressive package and far more expansive than the original, but when is a lot of a good thing too much?
The Good
Engaging tale of revenge, power and corruption
Combat is again brutal, varied and satisfying
Wealth of things to do and kill
The Bad
Managing your armies is fun, but unintuitive
Starts to feel like busywork after a certain amount of hours invested
Last act is overly grindy
Microtransactions. Stahp
8
Get Around It
Written By Kieran Stockton

Kieran is a consummate troll and outspoken detractor of the Uncharted series. He once fought a bear in the Alaskan wilderness while on a spirit quest and has a PhD in organic synthetic chemistry XBL: Shadow0fTheDog PSN: H8_Kill_Destroy

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