Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

[Allen]

Today is the release date and no posts about it yet?

I have been watching this game with great interest, but after being bitten by the hype bug so many times, I am refusing to pre-purchase any more games! Instead I am waiting to hear real user reviews, not "journalists" who are (most likely) "paid" to give good reviews, despite how bad the game might be.

I put this in general gaming because it's on all platforms, but I will be looking to play it on the PC. So, is it any good? Is it yet another poor console port? Does it actually live up to the hype?

For anyone who has been living under a rock, here's one of the best videos I have seen so far explaining the game:

[Ttaskmaster]

Waiting until more user reviews come along and possibly for the price to go down.
Also kinda busy with Elite Dangerous...!!

[Jasp]

Its 3rd of Oct for the release, hence no posts lol well thats when amazon say anyway, steam seems to think otherwise

[sidsapcewalker]

Hey there, you might want to watch Totalbiscuit's take on the game. The video is about 50 minutes but he goes through all PC options and gameplay and what not.

Here's a link: http://youtu.be/VBPmkfu_zs8

[Muninn]

I can't say I've actually heard too much about the game but that preview makes it look very interesting! I was particularly impressed with how well the speech animations were done and synched with the audio, in a lot of the games I've played there is always an odd disconnect when characters talk.

[Allen]

Its 3rd of Oct for the release, hence no posts lol well thats when amazon say anyway, steam seems to think otherwise

I can guarantee you it's out now, on the PC anyway.

After reading favourable reviews on Metacritic, reasonably good posts on the Steam forums and watching TB's "WTF is" video, I decided to go for it. I only had time to go through the settings, run the benchmark and go through the intro but I will give it a more thorough session tonight.

It runs reasonably well on my trusty old 560Ti, although it's the first game it has been unable to run on high settings at 1080p. I will have more of a fiddle with the settings later, but it still looks good even on medium. As TB said the controls are a little awkward on KB&M, no idea why game makers insist on using the same key for multiple actions when we have over 102 of them on each keyboard. That's so far the only downside I have seen.

I'll try with the Xbox controller see if it's any better, but so far I am not regretting the purchase.

[D-T]

Haven't had chance to play too much yet but had good fun testing the combat system last night, trying out stealth kills and getting into a few big scraps. Seems like good fun! Runes sound interesting too, although I haven't unlocked many of the abilities they tie into yet to use them to any great effect.

The game looks great (running at 144Hz 1080p with DSR & FXAA enabled through the NVCP) - although I was a bit surprised there doesn't seem to be any native AA - and has been running seamlessly so far on my new 970. So far so good, other than not having had enough time to play it! Will let you know how I get on.

M&KB controls did seem a bit weird at first but did a bit of re-binding and they've been fine so far, although I may hook up my PS controller and see if it feels any more fluid; think the camera would probably be nicer to control via analogue stick, if nothing else - although I could probably just do with turning up the mouse sensitivity.

[Allen]

Further impressions after playing for a few hours last night:

FLIPPIN HECK!

This is by far the best game I have played all year, possibly for a few years. Some people are finding little things here and there to moan about, but honestly I think that overall it's an amazingly well polished game. The KB&M controls were a little awkward at first, and I have a slight issue with difficulty early on when multiple captains show up whilst you're already fighting one (this could be a bug though, many people claiming it is), but I can set those aside.

Graphics wise, I can't really comment due to my paltry 560Ti. It does look lovely, but I would like to be able to push things up a little further to see what it really looks like on a high powered system, but sadly I won't be able to afford that for a long time.

The UI is a pleasure to use, that's normally the sign of a good port. PC gamers definitely had an input on it's design and functionality, unlike Skyrim and many others!

Combat is fun, dynamic and sometimes very challenging. The stealth aspect works really well, normal combat is very fluid, although sometimes rather manic if there's 20-30 Orcs attacking you, and ranged is not too overpowered that you just rely on it all the time (mainly due to limits with focus - slowing down time whilst aiming - and elf shots - ammo). I had a little run around on a Caragor (a fast, powerful, cat-like beast) after I unlocked the skill, it was very strong but at the same time, if you run into a group of Orcs, expect it to die very quickly, so again not overpowered. All in all, everything seems very well balanced, although I have an awful lot of skills to unlock still.

The Nemesis system is a great idea and implemented very well. A player death in game has an actual drawback, or benefit if you are trying to play the system. I have made a couple of enemies already who taunt me when they see me, it does add a nice difference to other games where you just respawn and carry on with your business.

Overall I am really enjoying it. If you're a fan of the Tolkien series and like hack and slash style games with a bit of AC/Batman like stealth/combat thrown in, I would strongly suggest getting your hands on a copy.

[Ferral]

It is absolutely fantastic, I managed to gain Intel on a War Chief a little while ago and one of his weaknesses was fear of Caragors, so I let one loose from a cage and he done a runner. I pursued him across the map to another Fortress and it was one were there are Caragors everywhere and meat hanging. I then shot the meat so it fell on the ground near where he was and 3 Caragors came onto the scene to eat the meat, a few seconds later they turned their attention to the War Chief and ripped him to pieces in seconds due to his fear.

I just sat on top of a ruined building watching the carnage unfold.

Not forgetting the Vendetta system. Alan has a pic on Steam of the map saying avenge my death (Ferral) so he can go and take out the Orc that killed me, I had the same thing this morning and killed Latbag Pain-Lover who had leveled up to level 20 and had become an Elite Captain, found him and managed to take him out to avenge Alan's death.

[D-T]

Played a bit more, mostly just roaming around and doing side missions (got a bit of a tendency to leave the main stuff 'til last) - only just opened up the proper "power struggles" after about 10 hours - and I've been loving it so far.

Really enjoying the fluidity of the combat system. I did one of the missions for the legendary sword recently and, after failing miserably the first time, managed to rack up a 225-hit combo which was pretty satisfying; now that I've unlocked a few more combat abilities and am coming up against some more interesting enemies it's really coming into its own – not to mention the open world where it's easy to tie in stealth, ranged combat, beasts and the environment to spice it up even more.

Still finding more and more to do but it's keeping me entertained. Story & quests have been great from what I've seen of them so far, might try and push on a bit more with those next. Just a heads-up for anyone who's considering buying it, I managed to get the game and the season pass through the /r/steamgameswap subreddit in exchange for 16 TF2 keys, which works out at about £22.50 – much cheaper than the Steam store price for the UK.

[george1979]

Read the RPS review of this and it was singing it's praises. Given you guys' positive comments as well I think I'll buy this for the PS4.

[shaithis]

Is it action or RPG? Closer to Tomb Raider or Skyrim?

[Ferral]

In all honesty it is more like Batman Arkham City & Origins with a bit or Assassins Creed thrown in for good measure with a Middle Earth setting

[shaithis]

Hmm, that makes me want to get it now....

[herulach]

I'm in 2 minds about this, mostly because it looks to be an arkham clone and all of the coverage seems to confirm that. On the other hand all the arkham games are essentially the same and are fun as hell. Will probably pick it up on sale, can't bring myself to pay full price for anything tbh

[shaithis]

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

Seems fairly cheap @£19 and instant delivery with their autokey system.