Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to ensure everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.
The Lord of the Rings is often counted among the best works of fantasy literature, but there were only a few game adaptations prior to Peter Jackson’s films. After the movies pushed Middle Earth to the forefront of pop culture, games based on The Lords of Rings (both cinematic and literary depending on the license) became increasingly common. Despite being a few stinkers (pointing at you Gollum) most of these games were actually worth playing. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the more memorable titles and had an original story to boot.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is set somewhere in the sixty year period between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The player takes control of Talion, a ranger of Gondor who is voiced by Troy Baker and looks enough like Aragorn to appeal to fans of the films, but not enough that they would have to pay Viggo Mortensen royalties. A Great Value Brand Aragorn if you will. Aragorn had he been ordered from that Wish webstore. Terrible attempts at jokes aside, Talion is actually a good protagonist for the game. Talion’s job is to guard the Black Gate of Mordor. One of the occupational hazards of such a possession is the employees and their families are at a slightly elevated risk of being killed by the armies of Sauron, which is exactly what happened to Talion on a day when he really should have just called off. He likely didn’t due to not having enough banked sick time as the wars in Middle-earth happened before OSHA requirements and workers unionizing.
The lack of modern-day employee protective measures are counter balanced by a world is still filled with magic. Talion is revived by the wraith Celebrimbor, who bestows upon him wraith-like powers. Celebrimbor happens to be the greatest Elven smith master of the Second Age who is coincidentally also seeking vengeance against Sauron. Imbued with his new powers in his state of undeath Talion takes up arms against Sauron and seeks vengeance of his own.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s is an action RPG whose game mechanics seem similar to the Batman Arkham series and the classic Assassin’s Creed games. Talion’s main objective is to seek his revenge against Sauron and his army, but he can put that aside to address some side quests, such as rescuing prisoners from Uruk-hai or tending to various tasks for Gollum. Or he can hunt for artifacts to scratch that collectibles itch. One of the perks of being brought back from the dead is one doesn’t have to rush into addressing their goals with any sense of urgency. Battles are where Talion’s abilities truly shine as he’s proficient with sword, bow and dagger where he can nimbly chain his attacks together. The fact that he’s able to further augment his combat prowess with his new-found wraith abilities helps as well.
The Nemesis system is a unique feature that helped distinguish Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from other action games. The Nemesis system tracks the activities of higher ranking uruk-hai. When a uruk-hai general kills Talion in battle or survives an encounter with him, they get promoted in Sauron’s army, making it stronger. Their otherwise inconsequential orc soldiers also get promoted into this system by besting Talion in battle, making some uruk encounters feel more personal. The Nemesis system is tracked online, so a player’s friends can take on vendetta missions where they can avenge their friend by taking out the uruk in question.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the better Lord of the Rings games. Sure, the story lacks the depth of the literature on which it based as it follows a generic kill everyone for revenge plot template, but it’s decent enough to set up a world for fun gameplay. The combat’s fluidity is among the highlights as Talion takes on hordes of orcs with combos that can rival the battle choreography of the films. The Nemesis system was one of the more novel ideas presented in the game, but it would have been more interesting if it was expanded. The rank of the uruk is increased through the system and it does trigger a small cutscene when Talion is about to battle one of the nemesis uruks, but aside from personally wanting to get vengeance, the system has no real impact on the narrative. Despite being good there was a good deal of controversy surrounding Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
Games released across different console generations have some pros and cons. New consoles are expensive and in recent generations have been difficult for consumers to obtain during their first year, and extenuating circumstances like a global pandemic can extend that. Releasing a game on multiple platforms can be viewed as an act of kindness, allowing players who haven’t been able to budget or obtain a new console to access the game. On the other hand, this can mean that the newer-gen version is held back by making it cross platform, or the older-gen version will be inferior or lacking key features such as single player campaigns in some Call of Duty games. Shadow of Mordor fits into the latter category, where the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version were praised by critics and consumers alike. Professional reviews for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version aren’t readily available, and based on the extremely negative consumer reviews that amount to it being a technical dumpster fire, it was probably not accidental that media weren’t sent review copies for those platforms. This was also likely why the initial Cyberpunk 2077 reviews were all on PC.
Just about any social media forum that discusses video games will make an accusation about paid reviews, where the publisher offers some form of compensation in exchange for a positive review score. As a game reviewer paid reviews are something I’ve considered to be an urban legend as I’ve never been offered anything over the course of reviewing close to 300 games. Most of the details of the contract I am not privy to, but some content creators on a popular video platform revealed that they were given early access to the game but with contracts requiring them to review it positively. This ended up getting Warner Bros. into trouble after the Federal Trade Commission got involved. Warner Bros. ended up causing more controversy a few years later with the sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War thanks to their excessive use of loot boxes which caused a great deal of outrage about a game that should have been heralded as a worthy follow up.
Controversies aside, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a great game, provided it’s played on one of the new platforms. And just because it’s stated earlier there’s no legally-binding document requiring me to praise it, it’s a game that I legitimately thought was a lot of fun. The nemesis system was a novel idea that helped separate it from the other action games that clearly influenced its design. There are many games based on Tolkien’s works that span a variety of genres and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is among the better ones based on The Lord of the Rings.
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