Ho there, have a seat, grab an ale, light your pipe and allow me to recant a recent tale you may find most intriguing.
I found myself atop a silver spire, bewildered with the events that recently transpired, looking out into the vast expanse, towering gray mountains and barren earth staring back at me. I took a deep breath and, at a voice's behest, leaped off and found the ground rushing at me. To my surprise, I landed softly and unharmed. Sword in hand, I sought to find those who wronged me.
I first happened upon an Uruk chastising a slave. Gripping my sword tightly, I rushed towards him. He quickly recognized the threat and raised his weapon to mine. Steel clashed and our feet danced upon the ground. The ugly wretch brought his sword up, hoping to overwhelm me. Pah! What arrogance. I quickly shoved his sword aside and buried my own deep into his belly. He slumped motionless to the ground. The slave thanked me before running off.
I was filled with much vigor at first victory. I scrambled down the side of a bluff to meet my next challenge. Two Uruk's rushed me as I met the ground. I shot up quickly to try and gain the upper hand. I met them, blow for blow, sparks raining and steel clashed. As the first fell to my onslaught, more came. But these Uruk's were different: the others knew them by name. Indeed, they had aspirations of killing me, brutally as they explained when our swords crossed. More Uruks, grunts, entered and I was completely surrounded. I parried and fought back as best as I was able. A lesser Uruk fell. Then another. The first named captain, who had explained how he would cut me from navel to nose, could not stand my flurry of blows as I cleanly removed his head from his body.
This only fueled the other's rage. Azgrom the Ripper they called him. I parried each attack, but he was relentless. Every time he would seem winded, he would rise up and hit me with a surprise blow. More of his friends came to his aid. I was out numbered and quickly tiring. A painful blow brought me to my knees. I looked up to see him raise his sword high above his head. Just as he was about to finish me off, I drew every bit of energy I had left and retaliated. Each blow knocked him back. He was beginning to reel. I took him to the ground, and bent his arm back. My blade kissed his neck waiting to taste blood. I drew my arm back, but before I could spill his blood, an Uruk hit me from behind. Azgrom rose up and knocked me to my knees. The world blurred as I reeled. I looked up just in time to see the glint of his blade lodge into my neck, the pain ripping through my entire body. The world turned black.
I arose at the silver spire. I quickly learned that Azgrom had earned a promotion to captain for my death. I set out to find his lackeys and entered their mind. They showed me everything I needed to know. Azgrom may have reveled in his victory of my death. Alas, he will soon find out that I'm not so easy to kill...
Now go, and tell your master I will find him. I'm coming for you Azgrom.
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Shadows of Mordor throws you into the story quickly, with a short tutorial that also sets up the story. I will not spoil the set up, but suffice it to say you quickly meet the wraith that Talion joins with and are introduced to the gameplay elements and then the Nemesis system. The game itself plays out like the love-child of the Batman: Arkham series and Assassin's Creed, for better and worse.
Gameplay:
Talion has several basic abilities, including slashing with his sword, sniping at range (with a slow down period when first entering bow aim), and moving up for a silent kill with a broken sword - aka his dagger. He can run, dodge, climb walls, kill from above, kill from below, grapple orcs and Uruks to throw them or enter their minds. When grabbing an enemy, you can choose to enter their mind to gain intel on a captain or you can kill them. Everything feels very familiar, almost too much so at times as if "I've played this before".
Speak of enemies, captains (and all higher ranks) are hidden at first in the pause menu. By dominating enemies, you gain valuable intel learning what the enemy looks like, as well revealing their weaknesses. Enemies, like Azgrom mentioned above, can be nigh impossible to defeat without the right tactics. Combat itself isn't overly complicated (though you can unlock the ability to perform more moves including instant kill finishers), but you can quickly become overwhelmed. Talion doesn't magically regain health either, so a powerful captain can finish off Talion easily if you're not careful. Talion can heal by finding herbs growing in the wild.
In addition to revealing the captains, certain enemies and items can reveal a captain's weakness. This allows a player to more effectively deal with these powerful foes, sometimes killing them in one fell blow. Without knowing their weakness, a player will either have to be lucky, or hope they aren't overwhelmed in the process.
In addition to captains, there are random named enemies that show up from time to time. These enemies vary in their level of power (same as captains) that detail how difficult they are to battle. The higher the number, the more difficult they are. However, higher power levels yield better rewards. The downside is that Talion won't know their weaknesses nor strengths, which makes the fights very organic, and oft times, very difficult. It's a great random element that keeps the game fresh and tense.
Talion is equipped with a sword, bow and "dagger" (a broken sword). He can upgrade these items by unlocking runes. Runes are acquired through various means including defeating captains and partaking in trials/quests. There is a description along with a picture of the defeated enemy who you acquired it from (if applicable). The amazon pre-order bonus was the Deadly Archer Rune which increases head shot damage by 25%. Others can cause enemies to flee in terror if you kill an enemy in a certain way or even refill your life by killing certain enemies.
Talion can unlock additional abilities through earning experience. These include the aforementioned instant kills (after hitting enemies consecutively 8 times), turning aerial knock downs into lethal ambushes from above, springing quicker, and others. Talion can also earn a sort of currency that allows him to unlock more health, focus (bow slow-down timer) and additional rune slots on all weapons.
Talion can also call on the Wraith to enter an Assassin's Creed "Eagle Vision" like Wraith State. In this state, he can see enemies behind structures and focus in on his marked target. It's a handy way to check your surroundings and prepare for battle.
The NEMESIS system:
This is the true draw of Shadow of Mordor over similar offerings. You will encounter random enemies who have names, backgrounds, weaknesses and strengths. If you fall in battle to one, they will rise in power, both physically and in rank. This means the next time you encounter them they will be stronger and have more allies. Conversely, should they fall but get away, they will remember their battle with you and have prepared for next time - carrying the scars of the last time you met. Talion is also able to use lesser Uruk's to do his bidding, infiltrating the ranks and causing power struggles in Orc/Uruk society. This allows him to gain an upper hand and even bend them to meet his needs. Talion can help promote enemies, either by dying to them (which is always an option) or by removing another named officer in which they have a power struggle with. This allows Talion to pull the strings and move his "allies" into more important positions. The other bonus is that by making them more powerful, when he does finally kill them, the rewards will be much greater. It's fantastic, though it does get a bit repetitive after awhile. While I don't enjoy falling in battle, I do revel in the revenge kill...
There are other things to do than hunt Orcs and Uruk's. There are many flora to find in the wilds around the black gate. Talion can also do some treasure hunting for artifacts, each having a bit of history tied to them, diving further into Tolkien's lore.
Speaking of lore! While the game is brutal, it oozes with fan service. The developer carefully crafted the areas, interjected the lore and explanations, all respecting the lore Middle Earth.
The camera has given me minor gripes from time to time, making it hard to see incoming enemies. I was blindsided several times because of my inability to look around quick enough.
Music:
You will not find distorted guitars, jazz flutes, or vuvuzelas as hard as you may look. The music fits the high fantasy theme of Middle Earth. It helps set the mood and meshes perfectly with the action. So much so, that I really didn't find anything about the music that stood out personally. I will update later if I find myself further enthralled.
Graphics:
The character models look fantastic. Talion looks amazing (except for his hair - Tomb Raider proved you could do some amazing hair modeling; it looks good, but not next gen good). The enemies are grotesque and brutish - when I first met Azgrom he clicked the few teeth he still had left at me before lunging. The other textures look muddy and lower resolution though. I'm not entirely sure if this was an artifact from releasing across generations or that there were other limitations. They are a little blurry up close and certainly drab in color - browns and grays mostly. They are not terrible (certainly better than the last gen systems) but clearly not up to the same standard as the characters. In the pause menu, the enemies are created in lush detail, the weapons you can inspect are phenomenal as well.
Online:
Looking at the map, I was greeted with new missions that I hadn't seen before. Apparently, another player was not strong enough to kill a certain captain and the game tried to have me avenge him. His power level was too high, so I decided not to add to the captain's kill list. It's a neat way to increase power of enemies across games, but you don't interact directly with other players. The online component is minimal, but it's nice they have done something interesting with it.
OVERALL:
Gameplay: 4/5 - Minor gripes aside, the gameplay is solid with familiar combat, intense, difficult battles, and the Nemesis system.
Graphics: 4/5 - Character models are gorgeous, though the environment can be quite bland and appears lower resolution.
Music: 4/5 - Fits the theme and mood very well, though nothing stuck around in my head.
Online: 3/5 - Nothing revolutionary, but I wasn't expecting much in terms of online play anyway.
Overall: 4/5 - A solid action game that takes a well known franchise and breathes a new chapter into the grand epic and features the fantastic Nemesis system.
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