That’s because of the fascinating system that Monolith built to make the world of Middle-earth feel more alive. ![]() Every Uruk character in Shadow of Mordor has its own name and distinct look (you’ll come across regular Orcs as well, but they don’t rise in rank). If you go into a battle and a grunt kills you, that weak soldier will move up the ranks to captain. This makes him tougher to kill the next time you face him. This system is completely dynamic and it works. It creates emergent moments and storylines that will belong to you and only you, and it is just such a smart way to make a big, triple-A open-world game feel more alive. Mordor feels like a real place to me because it has a memory. It knows what I’ve done, and it throws the results of my success and failures back at me. Uruks who continually best you in combat continue leveling up and getting perks. That means certain enemies become impervious to ranged attacks. But they all also have at least one weakness. Of course, Shadow or Mordor doesn’t tell just tell you that info. You can do this by interrogating Uruks for information. You can find the identity, whereabouts, and more about the characters in Sauron’s army through this method. This loop, of finding and fighting captains as well as the higher-ranked warlords, is the core of Shadow of Mordor. It’s the most exciting feature and it does a lot to counter any issues I have with the game. It gets even better as the game goes along I honestly love this, and I think gamers should experience it if only because it is such an interesting new idea from a major publisher. Once you get the hang of the enemy system, you start to get the feeling that maybe things could get repetitive. But as the game progresses, as your hero gains more powers, your interactions with enemies completely changes.įor example, you eventually get the power to “brand” enemies. You can take over an entire camp before going to face off against one of the tougher captains. This completely changes the balance of every engagement. What’s even better than overtaking an entire garrison of enemy soldiers is that you can brand the captains once you defeat them. If they are a warlord’s bodyguard, they’ll make what is typically a very tough fight feel like a brilliant plan all coming together and ending with your victory. Open world that feels large but not too big This arc of builds over the entire game is such a smart way. An Aragorn-like ranger, Talion also has the power of Sauron’s Ringwraiths thanks to his body getting mushed up with Celebrimbor, the Elf prince who forged the Rings of Power from The Lord of the Rings books. I bring all of this up only to point out that while you ostensibly play as a human man, you actually have what amounts to superpowers. You can teleport to surprise attack enemies. On top of your movement, the map fits in that just-right zone in terms of size. ![]() Things look like they’re far away, but you’ll get to them in no time. Shadow of Mordor manages to simultaneously feel lived in and large while never making you feel like getting around is wasting your time. In my time with Shadow of Mordor, I came across a particular Uruk that turned into what I can only describe as my mortal enemy. In our first battle, Tumug the Lookout killed my mount. ![]() It was an epic battle that included maybe a dozen soldiers and three captains. One of Tumug’s comrades dealt the finishing blow on my character.
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