Shadows Of Mordor. Someone tell me will it Suck?

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor; heck yeah a new Lord of the Rings game? 2009 brought us Lord of the Rings conquest, a game I honestly thoroughly enjoyed, and the more recent War in the North gave a few hours of unbridled, Lord of the Rings skinned, violence. So when a next gen Lord of the Rings title was announced, I was falling out of my seat. But delving deeper, I realized perhaps, this new game isn’t exactly what I want in a new Tolkien lore game.

Let’s start out with what I see in the game that I appreciate. Beautiful textures and facial capture (which is expected of course) and new gameplay mechanics that would add immensely to make a brilliant play through. The new nemesis system, to me at least, is the evolution on RPG’s. Uruk (actually orc; will be discussed later) chieftains will build personal relationships with you as you encounter them; every play through is different this way; how you injure or cripple a certain chieftain will directly affect your next encounters with him; brilliant.

Gameplay is recycled, which isn’t always a bad thing, which may be the case with Shadows of Mordor. The devs even admitted they took the combat from Rocksteady’s and WB’s Arkham series. Utterly obvious Assassins Creed elements are painfully apparent. Some of the surfaces for climbing seem to share textures and animations directly from AC; who knows; it could play totally different… but still; its questionable of how original the gameplay will be.

Now; onto the good stuff- or bad stuff I guess. The devs, from what I’ve seen and heard have no damn regard for the canonical lore of Lord of the Rings. The trailer sports a scene of Suaron wrecking the rangers shit; ummm. As far as I know, Sauron was bodiless, from his first fall to his second. What’s the deal? I thought that was a well-known fact? Please, it would be much more correct, and honestly believable if he got stabbed by the Witch King by a Morgul blade. If Sauron had a body, he would be much more active in the years between the Hobbit and LOTR. Now, what the hell is a wraith? When this question arose, I turned to my official Tolkien Lore Bestiary, and found nothing of a Wraith, aside from the Nazgul. AND if in fact this protagonist was possessed by a Ring-Wraith (Nazgul), he would have no conscious decision or agency, just as Frodo was losing his when he was attacked by a Nazgul. Now if Monolith has created this new foe, the Wraith, they better make it fit into the lore.

I’m sorry, not much more; but it’s time for the biggest joke. First, Rangers of the western Eriador had no business guarding a citadel of evil so far to the east, over the Misty Mountains. Men of Gondor; that’s the logical answer to who would defend the black gates. Second, why the hell would you keep your family in Mordor? Contrary to popular belief THE NAZGUL CAMPED IN MORDOR during Sauron’s regeneration. In the hobbit, Gandalf and Radagast visit a tomb of 9, that truly doesn’t exist. Peter Jackson seemed to have forgot the Nazgul are neither living or dead. All nine went dormant in Minas Morgul during Sauron’s absence; so why would you have a family live in such an awkward setting? The protagonist’s family died ‘because they lived in goddam Mordor’; it seems like a tacked on event to increase the characters drive and motivation for revenge; but its done wrong.

I’m sorry if I sound utterly ignorant, but this is how I feel. It’s flawed, and doesn’t feel like the Lord of the Rings I know and love.

It sounds to me like you're too big a Tolkien head. I can't(and I don't mean to) fault you for that- I'm just as big a Tower head.

The only thing I can say is to just pretend it's a game based around a generic high fantasy world. Or just take it as fan fiction, which is always full of plot holes and inconsistencies.

I for one plan to have it preordered and picked up day 1. Originality is great and everything, but I'm the kind of guy who finds comfort in the familiar. And I love both Batman Arkham and Assassin's Creed, so there's nothing that doesn't excite me about the two comparisons.

@El_Zo1212o: Totally understandable. I was just hoping for a service to the fans, which ehhhhhhh isn't really what this is seeming to be. Thinking on it, I have no doubt that the game play will be dry. Like I said it may be copied, but that can be a good thing. And yes, I am a huge Tolkien Purist and I'm sorry you had to endure my stubbornness haha

the game looks good though.. it looks like Assassins Creed and Batman Arkham

Has there been any gameplay footage released of the game yet? I need to see what it plays like and not to be reminded of familiarity through words. :P

@Metamania: Yeah, there has been an eight minute demo. It's actually covered by gamespot I believe.

@Metamania: There's a thread- I'm not sure if it's on GGD or SW- called something like '8 minutes of Shadow of Mordor gameplay.' It was more of a dev diary than a hands on or a trailer, and it focussed mainly on the Nemesis system, but you get to see a fair bit of combat.

@SEANMCAD: Why is innovation so important?

Well, I did a quick search for the game on Youtube and found a 8:23 video of the game and how it focused on the Nemesis aspect of the game and showed off some gameplay. I was thinking "Holy shit, this is a game that is heavily inspired by Arkham and Creed!"

Will it be available for both current and next-gen? Or is it solely next-gen?

@Metamania:

I believe next gen, and at the beginning of the demo it only shows the XBOX ONE logo which is odd. It might not be released on PS4

@SEANMCAD: Okay, why is it so important ... to you?

@Metamania: current and next according to the stamps across the bottom of the screen at the end of the video. I expect the effect the Nemesis system has on the gameplay will be muted on PS360.