Welcome back for another entry of my blog. This time I am talking about Middle Earth - Shadow of Mordor.
Now I've watched walkthroughs of this game on youtube and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The game appeared to look like it had aspects of Assassin's Creed that made up its basic combat and movement structure, but with a story set in the Middle Earth universe created from the films. And this is pretty much what it is now that I've played it.
The game is tough. In my first encounter with the Uruk captains of the game I got set upon by 3 of them that appeared from out of no where. But one in particular that delivered the killing blow to my character would soon become a bane for me to deal with: "something" the Destroyer.
Now the names of the Uruk in the game are all randomly generated and applied to a title. But I was fortunate to actually find a picture that is similar enough in appearance to the Uruk that killed my character.
As I continued to play this guy kept reappearing, and after my second defeat at his hands I started to hunt for info about him. Soon I knew about his weaknesses, which were very few.
To start he was immune to virtually all forms of damage. The only way I could hurt him was via stealth finishers or explosions. Explosions, like from shooting an arrow at a campfire would have been nice, but he never appeared in these areas. But now I had a way to best him.
Of course he would appear again after this. By this point in the game, (my third encounter) I've gained some xp and gotten a few runes. Here he happened to spawn around a very large group of Uruk's, whom all gave chase after me once I made my first attempt at him and failed. I had to run for a while to break their line of sight, but the Destroyer was more set on finding me so he hung out in the area after the others disbanded their search. I then managed to lead him to a tower where I successfully managed an aerial take down, finally besting my foe. His power level at this point was around 13.
This would have been it, except that he came back, appearing out of no-where without his helmet and just a metal eye patch. Well he got me again and then went on, over the course of several hours of me attempting to level up, to consolidate his power and get up to power level 20.
I soon felt myself to be at a point where I could best my foe and tracked him to the area he occupied and took him out after clearing the area around him of opponents. And here I figured it would be the end of him. But he came back yet again now with a bag over his head and his eye patch. But now I was wise to how to kill him efficiently and after clearing the area of opponents I ambushed him again and killed him. But I'm not sure if he kept his head this time since I did this from the bushes.
In the games nemesis system, if you kill an opponent and they keep their head there is a chance that they will return later to get even with you. This makes for an interesting thing and something you can exploit to make your opponent more powerful just so you can "harvest" them later. But it does get a bit annoying at points.
While the game plays well and is fun there are issues.
For one the games camera could be better. Your often left blind as you fight as walls get in the way of you seeing what is going on. This can make a fight against multiple opponents difficult if not impossible to deal with.
The game does also offer an interesting glimpse at the behind the scenes story of Lord of the Rings, though some fans are not keen about the stuff that was not in the 4 books. The game expands on who exactly made the rings of power (or at least 3 of them) along with aiding if in the making of the "one ring".
I'm not that far into the game, but I know that I'll play it through to the end. It is fun and worth picking up when you can. Just be mindful of being ambushed by Captains.
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