Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor E3 Previews
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We've rounded up a number of hands-on Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor previews that came out of this year's E3, starting with this Escapist piece:
But lets not talk about the controls. They're good and everything, but they're not what make Shadow of Mordor interesting. Monotlith's Nemesis system does that.
Nemesis is a procedurally generated mission system in which players attempt to overthrow a handful of warlords using a combination of social engineering and violence. If you've ever watched House of Cards, you're already familiar with the idea.
In Shadow of Mordor, killing a warlord isn't enough, because he's just going to be replaced by another warlord. If you want to win, you'll need to turn your enemies against one another, and work the system until one of your own orcs is installed into power. But the orcan political system is constantly in flux, which means that your orc's head could easily end up on the floor.
Watching my plans fall to pieces while I attempted to control the reins was depressingly common, but I never wanted to yank the plug out of the wall. I just wanted to find more clever ways to outsmart the baddies.
As you fight through the region of Nirn, which is quite big, and only one map from the game's main campaign, you'll seek and overcome the five generals, their dozen-plus captains, and all of the many minions. A mix of stealth or balls to the wall action, it's up to you. There are a bunch of side missions, collections, and other secrets scattered across the globe. All told, there's a ton to do in Nirn, and it's just one part of the game.
Combat in SoM felt so smooth and easy to use, so I'm concerned it might need a difficulty tuning. But the feeling of bouncing between mobs, blocking, and pulling off special abilities is just as addictive as it sounds. The orc General I faced was menacing, but not exactly hard to defeat. I played on the PS4 edition, and for a game with several months left, it felt incredibly polished. Using your Wraith powers to command orcs, blow up their heads, and your sword to decapitate your foes has you feeling just like Aragorn (which is clearly the intent). There are levels, XP, gear to get and skill trees to progress down. But for all of that, we'll be talking to Monolith more at a later date.
Shadow of Mordor contains quite a bit of procedural generation, which has gotten quite popular as of late. What makes this game so unique with procedural generation is how it grossly affects the player's missions. With the mission presentation we had, Talion was tasked with dominating orc chiefs and bending them to his will to form his own little orc army. Once the mission is set, one menu will show which orc chiefs are available for this quest. While playing the game, the player will learn all about each NPC, including strengths and weaknesses that the player should avoid and exploit. Instead of your typical weaknesses such as weak against fire, one of the orc chiefs from our presentation was afraid of betrayal. So to dominate him, Talion branded one of the orc chief's bodyguards to Talion's cause and bent his will to make him challenge the chief in front of everyone. Once that happened, the chief fled, giving Talion an opportunity to face him alone, wear him down in combat, and then brand him as well.
Finally, Polygon and GameTrailers have video impressions.
