Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

[Ttaskmaster]

On the other hand all the arkham games are essentially the same and are fun as hell.

I'll be watching for sales too.
However, I've only played (and hated) a little bit of Arkham City. I'm not a massive fan of Batman anyway and IIRC the controls were a bit awkward/weird.
It sounds like I may enjoy this, though...

http://www.cjs-cdkeys.com/products/M...For-Steam.html

I've had problems with them.
They're the ones that sent me a Titanfall key that turned out to be in Russian.
They later sent hacking instructions, but was told every time TF updated I was expected to re-hack it and there was a high chance it would fail.

[herulach]

Pulled the trigger, at 35 gigs it wants to have some epic textures.

[Hoonigan]

Is this worth going for then?

Does anyone predict any problems playing this on my system?

[herulach]

Is this worth going for then?

Does anyone predict any problems playing this on my system?

Its surprisingly decent. Obvious batman clone is obvious, but they've thrown enough stuff ripped off AC (climb put towers to reveal the map? Orly?) to make it a bit different, just had an hour or so of hack and slash fun.

[stevie lee]

anyone tried it with the HD content DLC? http://store.steampowered.com/app/311670/

that supposedly adds the extra nice looking stuff in it, the requirements being a 6GB GPU for starters.

[Ferral]

I tried the extra HD textures and it crippled my system, granted my machine is 3 years old now but normally hammers through stuff still. Even in 720p with HD pack I was only getting around 17 FPS. HD though looks absolutely stunning if you can run them, I have seen people on the Steam forums saying they are managing to do HD with a few other bits turned down to medium & high on newer cards with 4Gb VRAM.

[Hoonigan]

anyone tried it with the HD content DLC? http://store.steampowered.com/app/311670/

that supposedly adds the extra nice looking stuff in it, the requirements being a 6GB GPU for starters.

You only need 8MB of RAM though

[kalniel]

anyone tried it with the HD content DLC? http://store.steampowered.com/app/311670/

that supposedly adds the extra nice looking stuff in it, the requirements being a 6GB GPU for starters.

Not to mention a beefy CPU:

Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz

Still, reviewers are saying they're massively cautious requirements.

[HalloweenJack]

I tried the extra HD textures and it crippled my system, granted my machine is 3 years old now but normally hammers through stuff still. Even in 720p with HD pack I was only getting around 17 FPS. HD though looks absolutely stunning if you can run them, I have seen people on the Steam forums saying they are managing to do HD with a few other bits turned down to medium & high on newer cards with 4Gb VRAM.

if you`ve still got that GTX 570 then its understandable why it gets crippled

[Ferral]

Yeah, I have been running it 1080p with the medium prefix for detail, I did turn off motion blur though as I have always hated that effect regardless of whatever game I am playing.

Medium detail just tones down the landscape detail, not any of the character models as when I was running it in high (slow downs when a lot of Orcs onscreen and combat but medium runs smooth as silk) the texture detail on armour etc looks exactly the same as medium setting.

I need to get something like an R9 280 with 3Gb VRAM or Nvidia equivalent with 3Gb onboard just to give my system a bit of a refresh

[Rens11]

Great game exceeded my expectations finally a decent game based on LOTR

[SeriousSam]

My thoughts so far;

1. Visual - I'm running on optimised HD settings and it looks great, especially the second area. Yes the Orc models are reused but there's enough variety and it's not a bad thing in combat as it helps you to spot threats more easily

2. Sound - Well used to enhance the experience as often games use too much music which either distracts or disrupts your focus. The voice acting is on par with the best story games, with each feeling as though it belongs to the character on screen. Even the Orc grunts feel fleshed out in this respect as they go about their "business". I'll often lurk about listening to them bicker and grumble, not least as by this point in the game most are scared witless of me. (The joys of being able to make heads explode)

3. Movement - Using a Assassins Creed parkour system works well and enhances the open world feeling. It can be a tad quirky at times when "speed buffed" but with effort you get used to it. Being able to "get out of dodge" with some well timed leaps and bounds is a godsend when you bite off more than you can chew. (Easily done if not paying attention in strongholds). Ultimately it's not perfect as you can get "hung up" on scenery trying to do one thing when the game will only let you do another, e.g. sides of ramps. However, this is few and far between and you learn the quirks. It can get irritating if involved in group combat, though to be honest getting yourself boxed into such areas in the first place is a bad idea.

4. Combat - Again borrowing from another game, i.e. Batman, is a good thing. You do feel like your character is a "heroic" type but not to the point where you can just waltz through anything. Dealing with large groups is very much about being aware of your surroundings and using them to your advantage. There's also enough variety in the moves, especially as you progress, to prevent things from becoming repetitive. Only gripe would be it's habit of assuming that you want to leap over bosses, especially big fat shield types, rather than the dude next to him. Finally being able to use a mixture of stealth, melee and ranged allows you to approach each situation in a unique way depending on your own personal style.

5. Gameplay - Nice mixture of story, side and collection "missions" to help growing your character feel engaging rather than a chore. The weapon challenges especially are a good way to hone your skills and are worth doing alongside the main story if not before. I also like that each artifact collected has it's own story, enhanced by the voice acting. All of which added to points 1-4 adds up to making a good game. However, that isn't the end of it by any means...

6. Nemesis system - This is where the game comes into its own. Being able to actively interact with "Orc society" to further your own ends by manipulation* adds a completely different perspective to the gameplay. Elite Orcs remember you and behave accordingly. Whether that being with taunts because they killed / forced you to run away, or adapting to how you attacked them previously. You also get to learn their strengths / weaknesses so you can use that to your advantage, and yes making them mad can be a good thing as you get better rewards. There is more to it than this but to be honest I'm still learning all its ins and outs.

* Orc Captains are continually fighting amongst themselves so you can "assist" those you want to grow in power, especially later in the game once you learn to bend them to your will. "Turning" a war-chiefs bodyguards on him is rather comedy

So overall one of the best games I've played this year and worth 9/10... the key thing will be how they enhance further re-playability (there's lots of fun to be had anyway messing about with the Orc Captains) with future DLC.

Note - I've not discussed the "war games" feature as have not played that yet, but am sure the score / ranking system will appeal to some players

[D-T]

anyone tried it with the HD content DLC? http://store.steampowered.com/app/311670/

that supposedly adds the extra nice looking stuff in it, the requirements being a 6GB GPU for starters.

Been running perfectly well - haven't noticed it drop below 70FPS - on my 4GB GTX 970 with the HD textures and max settings at 1080p. That's with FXAA & 2.25x DSR forced through the NVIDIA Control Panel too; I realise I'd probably be better with one vs. the other of those, but I forgot I had DSR enabled globally when I went to force FXAA (no AA option in the game settings) and the game's been running fine and looking great with both so I'm happy leaving as-is for now. Been too busy enjoying the game to experiment more with looks : performance of once versus the other!

[MrNinja]

Out of curiosity has anyone managed to get this to run on ultra without 6gb of VRAM? seems a bit excessive in the specs

[chuckskull]

I've really enjoyed this so far, although I'm not that far in. Love the Nemesis system for the bosses, killing a couple of them has been properly gratifying after having my head bounced off a wall a few times by them. Spent most of my time so far playing with that. Wiped them all out a couple of times now.

Agree with some of the other comments too, very well balanced. So often lacking these days, tends to get chucked out the door as soon as it's working.

For those with performance issues, GPU ram is the big one and the details in the options menu are good(nice to see it done that way too), they aren't perfect. Watch your GPU RAM with with your GPU tuner of choice, once it's full your frame rate will drop like it hit a brick wall. No matter how good the rest of the system. Found that out when I tried the Ultra textures, although I did get high going just fine with 2GB.

Works really well with a 360 controller btw.

[woodi]

I can't stand this game personally and this video will explain why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AV9W2ZdmjU