Review of the game Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Review of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Review of the game Mordor

We go through an action-RPG in the Lord of the Rings universe and cannot believe that the Assassin's Creed mechanics turned out to be more appropriate in The Lord of the Rings than, in fact, in a game about assassins

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Is one of the main surprises of this year. The developers did not hesitate to borrow key ideas from, put them in the universe of "The Lord of the Rings", screw on a developed role-playing system with interesting features - and no longer pay attention to either the stupid system "go up the tower and open the area of ​​the map", or to repetitive tasks.

The game opens with the dramatic murder of the protagonist Talion and his family by Sauron's henchmen. Our ward after death ends up in the world of Mordor. The character discovers that he is quite alive to himself, in addition has acquired an assistant - the spirit of Celebrimor. This is the elf who forged the Rings of Power for Sauron. Returning to the world of the living as a ghost, Celebrimor complements our abilities and reveals the details of the plot.

Uruk camps are scattered across the large and monotonous territory of Mordor. They are our enemies by default. You will have to kill more than one thousand nasty-looking and similarly speaking opponents to get to the Dark Lord. An interactive field displays captains and leaders - these are our mini-bosses. At first, nothing is known about them: neither behavioral features, nor vulnerabilities. Obtaining information about the opponents (to steal data, or to interrogate the "language"), we get closer to the enemies. When we decide that we are ready, we can attack. You just need to take into account that even the captain is a strong enemy, and after killing you, he will rise in the level and become even more dangerous. An interesting point: the Uruks are not very smart creatures, and their discipline is lame. Therefore, creatures are constantly fighting for power, and the place of one captain can take another.

The developers have given features to ordinary bosses. For example, one is invulnerable to arrows and frontal attacks, the other is a three-meter fellow, but is terrified of a swarm of insects. Taking this data into account, killing enemies will save you nerves and time. For the destruction of strong opponents and the completion of quests, we get points, which are spent on improving Talion's characteristics and opening abilities. Many of them provide new opportunities for completing tasks. Silent kill from a height, improved stealth, brutal execution of the enemy, seeing which the Uruks scatter in horror. By the way, Talion is excellent at climbing walls and climbing ledges. The features of the buildings must also be taken into account when performing missions. Often the easiest way to reach your goal is along the upper levels, not along the ground.

On a fairly large territory, there are a lot of secondary tasks. Most of them, unfortunately, are repeated: save the slaves, open the towers, eliminate the captain. But there are also interesting quests like creating a legend for a weapon, although this translates into the same murder of hordes of Uruks. Also in there is an opportunity to avenge the death of the player. Periodically pop-up tasks "Vendetta" show the place of the murder of a random character, where we can deal with the Uruk, who decided the hero.

The easiest way is to pass missions unnoticed, fortunately, there are great opportunities for this: quiet murders, bushes in which you can hide, besides, the Uruks have serious hearing problems. But sooner or later the moment will come when you will have to engage in open combat. For this, the developers have created a simple but advanced combat system. Jumps, rolls, "fatalities", the ability to draw energy from Uruk or subdue it, counterattacks - a large arsenal of skills is easy to control. In some ways, the combat system, again, resembles, but here it is much simpler, although the functionality is not affected.

There is only one gripe about fighting - there are too many opponents. The Uruks naturally trample you, a battle with three captains and one leader can start on a small patch, and ordinary enemies still help them. The developers force us to delicately handle the sword and accurately guess the moment for attacks, while not forgetting about the defense. Also keep in mind that after each death of your enemies grow in levels, so the longer you cannot kill the boss, the worse you do to yourself.

The action genre outweighs the RPG prefix. From the latter there is only a pumping tree. No dialogue, no choice, no behavior. But with this concept, Middle-earth has proven to be a very viable product. Even monotonous tasks and a dead world do not spoil the experience. Complete story missions, open runes for weapons, learn to use new techniques in battle - and there will be happiness. Monolith has developed not perfect, but high-quality and spectacular action in a famous universe. For fans of "The Lord of the Rings" there are familiar characters and additions to the main history of literary works.

Surprisingly interesting action game in the Lord of the Rings universe. It would be great if the developers got away from the cloned side quests.

Mordor. This country in the southeast of Middle-earth has never been a hospitable place in any era. The bulwark of the dark forces, surrounded by impenetrable mountain ranges, has become home to countless hordes of orcs and their master, Lord Sauron, for centuries. Red-hot rocks at the foot of Orodruin, musty caves inhabited by monsters - in these parts even the air seems to be saturated with anger.

For many years the frightening beauty of the Black Country was hidden from the eyes of random travelers - even in Lord of the Rings Online we were not allowed outside the gates of the Morannon, and in other projects only the places that were glimpsed in the epic by Peter Jackson were copied. And now the time has come: in the review of the game "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" we will not only visit the resident of evil, but also find out how interesting this journey is.

- This is probably our end.
- End? No. Our path does not end with death. Death is just a continuation of the path, traced to everyone.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Pathfinder Notes

My name is Talion. During my lifetime, I was a tracker - I guarded the borders at the Black Gate from outside threats, and now I fight with the orcs, trying to deal with those who have changed my destiny so much. Why am I writing this? Do not know. These records are unlikely to be seen by anyone, but in Mordor there are not so many leisure activities: you either kill or die and start killing again.

What happened to me, ask those who will never read these lines? It all started the day my family was killed in front of me. These were the servants of Sauron, performing some kind of black ritual. I died too, but not for long - death rejected me and continues to do so whenever the enemies take over me. I am an immortal ghost: it is both a gift and a curse.

This kingdom of Sauron is not so gloomy and dark. The bright rays of the sun peep even into these lands.

After being reborn, I woke up in some kind of silver tower. She did not belong to this world, and to the orcs wandering below, this place seemed like ordinary ruins. Yes, I hit the very heart of Mordor. Not a very welcoming place, to tell the truth: all around there are mountains and bare stone, orc fortifications and ruins, overgrown with dense bushes with yellowed leaves.

You quickly get used to an unfriendly environment - it is much more difficult and more unpleasant to come to terms with the constant neighborhood of orcs. There are not many of them in Mordor, but they are everywhere I go. Attempts to clear at least one piece of land from these pigs are futile. I've already tried. In place of the killed, new ones come, it is worthwhile to move at least to a league.

Although the game was not produced by Ubisoft, it was not without sync points in Mordor. After visiting the forge tower, we will display on the map all tasks and gathering items in the region.

Having become immortal, I realized that during the years of service I had not learned anything. Even a small detachment of orcs becomes a problem, and if a captain has entered their ranks, it is easier to give a fight than to accept a humiliating death, even if it is temporary. But one officer got me pretty tired: they didn't take his arrows, he successfully parried attacks with the sword, and while I was looking for an approach to him, he won three times, and with each death he became stronger.

Realizing that I still have little strength for open combat, I decided to change my approach. The bushes, the hills, and patience have become my allies in Mordor. Orcs are not very observant, are deaf and rarely look around, and I was good at stealth attacks. Sometimes I even find it funny: with a dagger I kill any orc with one blow, but in a fair fight I would have to stab him with a sword seven times.

If inherited in a fortress orcs, the life of a tracker can go head over heels. In the literal sense of the word.

Ancient traditions held that the orcs did not know fear. Oh, if you could only see the screeching with which they scatter to the sides when you throw off the nest of Morgai flies on them! And how they burn - feast for the eyes! I do not know how they melt, but it is worth launching an arrow into the fire and they are immediately killed on the spot by a strong explosion, and the fire does not affect me ( side note: "the advantages of immortality are fire resistance").

But these are general phobias, and there are also individual ones. At first I thought that leaders and captains were almost invulnerable, but it turned out that each has its own weak points. Some get scared at the sight of a graug (a monster that looks like a cave troll), others rush to flee when their soldiers begin to fight among themselves. It remains to catch up with such a "brave man", take in the capture and finish off with one blow.

Highlighted enemies can be lured. Conveniently, only one orc takes the bait.

In my homeland, in Gondor, it is often said that all orcs are alike, and this is another very common misconception. Maybe they are all equally ugly, but outwardly they are different, especially the leaders and captains. Thin and stooped, broad in the shoulders, with growths and swellings on the face, a small skull, like a goblin. Moreover, their appearance is not a reflection of strengths and weaknesses, skills and fears.

Over time, it turned out that the only way to kill the orc was by cutting off the head. That is, kill for sure. Having gained experience, I again met my nemesis, and this time I was victorious. My exultation knew no bounds, but how surprised I was to meet this captain again - the scars on his face made him even more ferocious and he kept repeating that I would have to regret not killing him right away.

The first time this gentleman escaped with scars, the second with a bandaged face. I'm afraid he won't survive another plastic surgery.

The first days in Mordor brought me closer to nature. I learned to heal with herbs, to hunt wild animals and monsters. I noticed that the orcs are not very friendly with the local fauna. The bait thrown to the ground with a well-aimed shot attracts predators, and this helps to create turmoil in the ranks of the orcs.

Later, I learned to tame Karagor (such overgrown wargs), which allowed me not only to quickly move through the wide expanses of Udun, but also to fight on horseback. Some captains are vulnerable to attacks from mounts and run away when they see them, so this experience will be useful to me in the future.

Ohedin Valannor

Despicable man! Not only is he wasting time on meaningless notes instead of getting down to business, but he is also silent about his savior, the mighty Celebrimbor. It was my spirit that entered Talion's body - that is what made the former tracker immortal.

Why do I need this, you want to ask, you dirty Uruk, who found these records, but is unable to read them due to illiteracy? It's about revenge. I have forged great rings, created a single Ring that can subdue the rest. Sauron deceived me, and when I realized this, it was already too late. He killed my family, and then me, but I could not find peace ...

All the characters in the game look either stupid, like this girl, or in no way, like the main character.

Does this story seem ridiculous to you, stupid creature? I do not argue, it is. In places it goes against the known facts about Middle-earth, but otherwise it is just boring. Our fight with Talion is a continuous routine: kill the orcs there, save the slaves here, listen to one pointless conversation, then another.

Sometimes on our way we meet unusual, let's say, creatures. The pathetic Uruk Krysari, dreaming of becoming a leader, a strange creature with big eyes and a hissing voice, mentioning some charm. Later we met Marwen, Queen of the Coast. This lady, frankly, is not of this world, but not like Talion and I, in a different sense.

A rare shot - emotions are seen on the hero's face. Oh, no, it seemed.

Sometimes my partner scares me. I remember the face of Talion when his family was killed. These eyes, filled with complete indifference, I always see: during a battle with orcs and when talking with a girl, and his always monotonous voice is like an elixir for insomnia. We, elves, often seem arrogant, hide our feelings, but are smart enough to understand that humans do not behave like that.

Despite such quirks, we made a good team. I showed Talion how to break the will of the Uruk so that he would give out information about one of the captains. With a snap of his fingers, the Pathfinder transforms into a ghostly archer and shoots arrows at enemies. And the newfound powers save Talion during any jumps from a height ( side note: "the pros of immortality are the absence of damage from falls").

The touch of a ghost is an effective technique. First we interrogate the client, then we decapitate. The main thing is not to confuse the sequence.

Do not think, miserable worm, that we are engaged only in the extermination of your kindred. Mordor is vast, and its corners are full of secrets. Hills, plateaus, highlands, towers and fortresses - there is no place where an immortal warrior could not get through, and very quickly. Noticing the tracker, do not rush to rejoice: just a couple of jumps up - and you will lose sight of us.

I said "us" because we are acting as one. Talion is able to see the world through my eyes and notice the invisible. Only in the world of spirits can artifacts be found: after a good examination of each find and the discovery of a point of memory, we learn the history of its origin. In the same vein, we are looking for the Ithildins: there is only one memory, but it is connected with my past.

When Talion is not on a mission to help me explore Mordor, he writes down the legends of his weapon. Sword, bow and dagger - each has ten challenges, and they are aimed at honing the skills of using the corresponding weapon. If this is the legend of the sword, then it all comes down to skillful swordsmanship surrounded by enemies, and the dagger is a test of stealth and unnoticed elimination of targets.

Bow tests are the most unusual. Either you make your way into the cave and kill the ghouls with explosions, then you target the orcs, practically on the spot.

Sometimes we are distracted by saving the slaves - some of them then tell where they are keeping the rest, and the tracker rushes there. At first I thought it was a waste of time, but then I noticed that the more we help outcasts, the more actively they fight the Uruks and share intelligence.

Talion principle

The Orcs call me a native of the grave. They do not know that I am invulnerable to their weapons and are surprised every time they see me again. A funny incident happened recently: one of the captains had a phobia for the dead and ran away as soon as he saw me. I did not begin to kill him: let it be better to command the orcs by a coward, and not a strong and strong-willed leader who took his place.

Exhaustion is useful in exactly one case: when the enemy has already noticed you and has not yet begun to shout, call for help, or run away.

Mordor is an amazing place. In the old days, I often climbed to the top of the bastions and gazed into the distance, into the pitch and frightening darkness, where the domain of Sauron and his followers stretched. I didn’t know then that the world beyond the Black Gate could be so beautiful.

The plains and plateau of Uduna is a barren desert, where there is nothing but stones, but when I headed south, around the Nurnen Sea, I was fascinated by the beauty of the green fields. There was no smell of sulfur in the air, and the moss-covered ruins looked great against the backdrop of endless meadows. Only the orcs seemed to be superfluous in this corner of the world, but it was for this reason that I came here.

"Shadows of Mordor" is perceived as an ordinary work based on motives, but the built-in encyclopedia with colorful art will delight even ardent fans of the universe.

In Mordor, I explored two large areas - Udun and Nurn. Each is run by its own five leaders, and there are twenty more captains in their service. Like ordinary orcs, it will not be possible to completely cut out the entire top: in the place of the deceased, be it a leader or a simple captain, someone else will always come - it's just a matter of time. All I have to do is to speed up this natural selection.

Yes, I am not the only reason for the death of the orcs in this area. They themselves organize a power struggle, killing each other in duels or in ambushes. Such feuds play into my hands: when I see two fighting captains, I study their strengths and weaknesses and try to help the one who is less protected. A fighter who is invulnerable to arrows and sneaky finishing moves can become a big problem if he gains a high rank.

This is our information headquarters, where you can find out what is known about each of the leaders of the orcs and where to find them.

The massacre of the officers brings me runes that enhance weapons, and their quality depends on the rank of the killed. Some allow me to heal directly in battle, others protect against ranged attacks. If I use the commander's Achilles heel, then I'm guaranteed to get a boost for the same weapon. For example, killing him with a headshot will give you a rune for a bow.

How do you know about the advantages, fears and weaknesses of the leaders? There are several ways: to find information in their camps, to find out from a rescued slave, or to interrogate an orc, breaking his will. Ordinary soldiers will only reveal the identity and whereabouts of the captain, and some leaders can only be reached by interrogating his personal bodyguards.

The beauty of local "horses" is that neither a cliff nor a wall hinders them - they will be delivered in the best possible way even to the top of the tower.

Arriving in the southern lands of Mordor, I learned to brand the orcs - to subordinate them to my will, which gave me a lot of room for maneuver. After capturing the enemy captain (the chief's bodyguard), I ordered him to challenge his master, and then helped him to deal with him. Later I will describe how the brand works: well, what is the probability that this notebook will fall into the hands of some evil magician?

I was so carried away by pampering with my new strength that I did not even notice how all the leaders and captains in Nurn became my puppets, and there was simply no one to fight with (ordinary orcs do not count). But even here a solution was found in the form of the ability to instantly kill all subordinate officers. It remains to collect runes from them, spray unnecessary on Mirians and buy new improvements on them.

Gathering of the two leaders. Given that the enemy leader's bodyguards have already been recruited, I don't have to interfere in this fight.

Looking back at all my days in Mordor, they weren't as bad as I expected. It is interesting to set the orcs against each other and watch them fight among themselves. At the end, it became boring to fight myself, because I became not only immortal, but also almost invincible. The orcs now have spear throwers, berserkers and shield-bearers, but my capabilities are many times greater than the strength of each of them, even if there are more than a dozen orcs in the arena.

Exploring the world produces the same feeling. You can go anywhere right away, but apart from ruins and multi-tiered fortresses, there are not many places worth mentioning here. Perhaps someday I will finish my business in Mordor and go to other lands, but that will be a completely different story.

Conclusion

In the first days after the release of "Shadow of Mordor" only on Steam, more than forty thousand users were united, which is several times higher than the other new product online - Alien: Isolation. This is the first truly successful single-player project in the universe of Middle-earth, and not only financially, but also in terms of quality. Following Divinity: Original Sin is one of the main discoveries of the year.

The combat system, borrowed from Batman: Arkham, is perfectly combined with the endless struggle for power of the orc captains (the Nemesis system) - there is always something to do in the game world, even if these are battles without any goal. The only frustrating thing is the absolutely empty plot with inexpressive characters and some monotony of the game world design, but you can put up with these little things.

Games in the "Lord of the Rings" universe have no luck with original products, but Tolkien's legacy has acquired many clones of other people's games. What was not there - its own Battlefront, its own DotA, even its own Final Fantasy X (The Third Age, by the way, is not so bad against the background of products). The announcement of Shadow of Mordor sounded like “my own Assassin’s Creed”, but for some reason I thought that my favorite studio in the past should have a good game this time. As if in the bowels of Monolith one more ring was forged for players to push around: the irrational in "Shadows of Mordor" tends to prevail over logic.

Story missions are nothing special, but without them it would be boring, and there are more texts with good voice acting in them than usual.

Sauron's henchmen killed the ranger Talion and his entire family, but a powerful elven spirit took over his body, and now they will together take revenge with the grimy evil. It makes no sense to try to present this story more interesting than it is. The further development of events is easy to guess, some of the characters are either well-known or extremely predictable, all types have long been lit up in dozens and hundreds of other works. But belonging to the "Lord of the Rings" helps Shadow of Mordor: epic fantasy rarely tells tricky stories, but dear scenery, each such simple story can make it special. And the events described in "Shadows" should be very interesting to fans of books and films: here they give an opportunity to learn more about what Tolkien paid almost no attention to.

The scenario is fleeting, but the story missions are practically the only ones in which we are given the opportunity to enjoy good videos and pleasantly voiced and delivered dialogues. In addition to Gollum, Talion has few people to talk to, so every such - extremely banal - scene is truly pleasing. The paradox of the whole Shadow of Mordor is that even if some of its elements are poorly executed, in general the game is still captivating and, more importantly, entertaining. By consuming the right portions of a story about vendetta sewn with white threads and lengthy races in the open world, you can reach the finale in 20 hours. At the same time, you will not feel deceived, and some undetected artifacts and mysterious wall signs will still remain in Mordor: it would be desire, and in Shadow of Mordor's modest arsenal of amusements there is always something to do.

Orcs and other creatures are full of all sorts of tricks, but Talion with the spirit is also not a bastard.

But whatever you get carried away in the end, the star of "Shadows" is the Nemesis system. Although new enemies are constantly appearing in the cleared territories, and the consequences of Talion's sabotage activities do not affect their appearance, this "sandbox" does its best to pretend to be alive. The fact is that the orcs have their own hierarchy: in addition to nameless uruks, two dozen captains roam on each map of Mordor, and somewhere in its depths there are five leaders. In rare moments of rest from the pesky tracker, they not only get drunk at feasts or hunt, but also fight among themselves for leadership. In theory, this means that by knocking down an officer, you can "weaken" Sauron. In practice, it all boils down to the fact that if some orc was too tough for you and killed you (Talion was already rejected by death, so it is not difficult for him to resurrect again and again), then next time he will be even stronger. And if the tracker is killed by an ordinary Uruk, then he himself can become a commander.

The developers are very proud of this system, but the orcs are the orcs. Skinny, fat, tall or short - various faces and "trademark" cries do not bring much variety. The creatures who escaped death, at the next meeting with Talion, promise that this time they will definitely release his guts. Some threaten to avenge their crumpled face, although Talion seemed to cut off their heads with one blow, but who cares about such trifles? This is where the pleasant conversations end. Each captain has his own set of weaknesses and invulnerabilities, so if you are lucky enough to stumble upon a freak who does not react to melee attacks and constantly calls for help, then ... congratulations, look for arrows or prepare a dagger.

The recruited orcs bear the imprint of Talion's hand on their faces ...

Usually an inseparable couple of spirit and tracker tied together do an excellent job with their enemies: battles are a literal rendition of Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequel to Tolkien's world, adjusted for lethal weapons and bloody finishing moves. The pathfinder rushes between the orcs, parries their blows, dodges, uses a large number of special techniques. Perhaps this is obvious to some, but although the game looks great and works on the PC, in the battles it feels that it is still focused primarily on the console, so it's better to play on a gamepad.

And then, when it comes to clashes with captains and leaders, it suddenly turns out that the dark knight imitator is not that strong. Death does not end the game, but somewhere in Mordor one (or maybe even more than one) orc becomes more experienced by a conventional level. So, it's time to try other options.

In Shadow of Mordor, the most interesting thing happened to me when I was doing all sorts of nonsense: walking around (the map here is small, so sometimes you don't even want to use the fast movement of the "activated" towers), collect some roots, hunt animals ... Almost every such object is a new page in the local encyclopedia, so Tolkien fans may find this interesting. And here I am, having cut the healing herb, I go to look for a flock of predators. The plan is as follows: saddled Karagora, I will rush on horseback into the nearest orc camp, where one of the captains is sitting, and quickly deal with him.

There are many useful tabs in the menu: on this one, for example, you can acquire new abilities. Some, however, give out only according to the plot.

At this time, another officer was also impatient to hunt. The outbreak was noticed by a sentinel from a nearby fortress and raised the alarm, to which another high rank came running. The case smelled fried, I jumped on one of the Karagor who came running from behind the mountain (they like to eat orcs) and tried to hide from the pursuers. In Shadow of Mordor, one is not ashamed to retire: the Uruks themselves do not disdain this, and you yourself will be better off if one of the creatures does not earn a "frag" for you. And at that moment, my original goal also left the camp. It turned out that she had the ability to kill monsters: an armored Uruk killed my horse with one blow. The chain of failures was interrupted by the nearest camp of the orcs: having lured the whole crowd there, I "blew up" the fire, killed the "monster boy", and set a couple of animals on the others, freeing them from the orc cages.

This completely accidental story is much more interesting than bland story missions and certainly more fun than monotonous "side effects". Sometimes Shadow of Mordor feels like an interactive presentation of a future project, but for some reason it is also interesting to play it. Even primitive stealth (how tired these blind sentries are) and two-button parkour do not spoil the impression: spectacular jumps on a target from a great height, throwing an orc taken by surprise into the flames - all these details and an abundance of tactical opportunities do not allow you to break away from Shadow of Mordor.

To find out details about a particular orc leader, you need to interrogate "Tongue", otherwise the attempt to quietly slaughter the next captain will end with the loud "caught, rat": some creatures are not at all afraid of stabs in the back.

And then, some eight or ten hours later, it suddenly turns out that in "Shadows of Mordor" there is a second map - of the same modest size, but now it is not a scorched wasteland, but a blooming meadow. And then the very Nemesis is finally revealed: now Talion, with the help of the elven spirit, can crush the enemy and lure him over to his side. If the first half of the game is constant pain and suffering, in which your allies are only people enslaved by Sauron, then, having crossed the equator, Shadow of Mordor offers truly fresh operations with already seemingly familiar variables.

The captured Uruk does not betray himself and wanders with his friends through the fields and fortresses, goes about his idiotic orcish affairs and completely ignores Talion. Until he clenches his fist and orders all of his sleeping agents in the area to attack nearby enemies. It is especially fun to secretly "entice" half of the Uruk camp, and then see who will beat whom. Moreover, the tracker has the opportunity to brainwash an officer or even a leader, and then they will follow his orders. The variety is small, but now Nemesis and I are starting to play on equal terms, because we have the opportunity to "convert" the captain-bodyguard of some leader, lure him into a trap, and then order the sent Cossack to attack our "boss". A very convenient alignment, because the traitor will take the place of his predecessor and become much more influential.

Sometimes dozens of orcs participate in the battles, and Shadow of Mordor is not at all embarrassed by this. Also, there are very nice effects here. Especially rain.

But it all comes down to the fact that in addition to Nemesis, simple and familiar "stealth", parkour and combat system in Shadow of Mordor there is nothing. The world looks good, there is no need to complain about the picture, just a meadow with hills and mountains looks like ... a meadow with hills and mountains. There are only ruins around here, designed, it seems, by one architect. Orc fortresses vary in layout, but still look pretty much the same. Apart from the intro, cutscenes and caves, the whole game takes place in the open air. There is not a single room in Mordor! And although I spent twenty hours, not without pleasure, behind the plot and some side affairs, the local too open world did not really offer me anything special: on each of the two maps, 95% of all territories are initially available, in which, in addition to collecting trinkets marked on the plan and the killing of orcs appearing sometimes directly (!) from the air, there is absolutely nothing to do. I would not like to cite GTAV as an example - these are games from different leagues, but, say, in Arkham Asylum there was a feeling of progress, exploring the world, tasks sometimes started unexpectedly, but smoothly and always developed in an interesting way. Shadow of Mordor is well done, but the cutscenes are crudely inserted, and the progress of the character is silly limited by the plot. And, for example, it gets boring to pick up runes for weapons at the moment when you realize that there are almost no normal "inserts" in "Shadows", that is, almost immediately.

In fact, Nemesis sometimes spawns such colorful bosses who run in horror at the sight of Talion. Yes, and read their current plans and thoughts - pure pleasure. But all this is not enough: the world turned out to be rather schematic, so the system needs to be improved.

Shadow of Mordor clings to the irrational in much the same way as Mount & Blade. There I wanted to gather an army more experienced, here I want to lure as many of Sauron's officers as possible. In Mount & Blade, this approach, however, did not lead to anything, and Shadow of Mordor has a clear denouement, after which you can return to Mordor and complete unfinished business - this saves her.

In our time, we are very often disappointed: many games built on legendary films or worlds often fail below any plinth. But there are exceptions that are damn worth living for. Monolith Productions has proven that legendary worlds such as Middle-earth can be used for their intended purpose. turned out to be, I think, a fairly successful project. The game, however, suffers from a small crisis related to the mechanics, which are not entirely new, but it is held on to very strong "gameplay" hooks that do not allow the project to fall. You know, the game can be compared to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It seems to be mowed down, and many think that it will soon fall, but no, and again no: it will stand for another thousand years. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is both an achievement for developers and a welcome fact for Tolkien. I think so.

Linking the events of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Shadow of mordor tells the story of a ranger of Gondor named Talion, who was banished by death itself after he and his family were brutally slain by Sauron's Black Hand. Talion was cursed and could not die, and therefore was reborn as a ghost and acquired the skills of Celebrimor - who was also defeated by Sauron's army. Now Talion and Celebrimor are going to take revenge. An interesting story that is believable and mesmerizing thanks to excellent dialogue and lyrics, as well as excellent voice acting. It seems that you are plunging headlong into this creation, with trembling knees waiting for what will happen next, even if the mission does not belong to the main storyline. I am ready to warn you that if you have never been familiar with Tolkien's Legendarium in the form of his stories and films, then it will be very difficult for you to understand the story and start navigating this world. Many people say that after Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor I really want to watch the corresponding films again, which means that the developers did everything right.

As I said before, the mechanics of the game have not gone far from projects such as Batman: arkham and Assassin's Creed... The combat system practically copies the beloved Batman, where everything is based on pressing the attack, defense and evasion buttons. But even after all that, Shadow of Mordor has its own combat nuances that add variety and dynamics. For example, you can use the ghostly bow of Celebrimor to destroy enemies from afar, or you can use your trusty sword to break through the armies of orcs in close combat. Another interesting thing is the combat "comeback" (ComeBack - Furious return from a full butt), where you get a bunch of slaps from a group of orcs and respawn, giving concrete and devastating blows to their insolent face. As they say, do evil, and it will return to you threefold.

The combat system, while interesting and dynamic, is terribly underdeveloped. This idea arises because Mordor is a completely open world and filled with a bunch of orc patrols. Because of all this, you will simply be overwhelmed by packs of battles and all this will turn into a routine. You know, it's like in the games of the Pokemon series: at first, walking in the grass, we are happy with a new creature that we come across, and at the end we start to get mad because of these moments when we cannot go through some territory without starting with someone - some fight. Plus to all the little nasty things is the fact that in battle sometimes the camera jams and does not show what you really want to see. Fortunately, the ability to upgrade weapons makes many battles easier, and you stop noticing minor flaws that could interfere.

Speaking of similar moments, the old age of the idea can be seen in the stealth mechanics, which also seem to be inspired by the games of the Batman series, when you constantly approach the orcs from behind in order to neutralize them and remain unnoticed. And, for example, Talion's Wraith World ability completely copies Eagle's Sight from Assassin, but you can't complain about all this, since all these moments causing "déjà vu" are implemented almost perfectly.

The biggest plus of the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a unique enemy system called "Nemesis". Each orc in the army has its own name, traits, strengths and weaknesses, as well as a character that changes depending on different game events. Each enemy that can kill you will begin to advance in rank and will begin to lead a larger number of warriors. All this can even accidentally unleash a war between groups of orcs, one of which will surely win and take control of everything. All this goes well with the dialogues, which also change depending on various events. If you want to know more about your enemies, you can interrogate any enemy for territorial data and anything else that might help you on your mission. It feels like the games are starting to move to a new level, becoming more original and realistic. There is, by the way, the Branding skill, which allows you to take control of orcs. All this makes the last moments in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is truly unforgettable. And that's always good.

If you are tired of going through the storyline of 20 missions, you can safely go exploring the lands beyond the Black Gate and take on a couple of new missions in which you will have to hunt for artifacts, or just admire the beautiful views. While the side missions are not all that original, there are an awful lot of them, and therefore they are very good at distracting from the main plot.

In the bearded 2014, I remember, it became for us an unexpectedly pleasant surprise from the category of "what technology has come to", although there was little faith in it. A story-driven game with a complex ecosystem of procedurally generated opponents? Aha, found fools! Leave these fables to Peter Molyneux with his trees growing in real time, and along with Sean Murray tell. Fiction is everything, there is no such thing, period.

Monolith proved that it does happen. Their miracle mechanic Nemesis, capable of riveting dozens of quite bearable antagonists from the orcish consumer goods of Middle-earth, somehow successfully brought to life and in fact pulled out an otherwise ordinary action sandbox on itself. The concept came out unusual and amusing enough that even many Tolkienist gamers, having recovered from an overdose of non-canon, eventually recognized the right to exist for such free fan fiction.

Shadow of War, by and large, does everything right, too. The law of sequel succession does not violate, does not contradict advertising brochures, makes classic promises about "the same, but more" - neither give nor take an exemplary continuation. This, however, is the problem: so the same and so we didn't need more.

It is, of course, good when a new game copies the best ideas of its predecessor. The already mentioned system of sworn enemies is expected to please even now, even though it has not undergone any cardinal changes and, in general, works according to familiar rules. The surrounding area is still inhabited by orcs of all sorts and ranks, whose randomly assigned personalities we are free to cut with a sword or recruit to the bright side of the Force. The essence is the same, only the nuances of interaction have slightly increased.

One of the most notable improvements is that captains now adapt to your fighting style on the fly. If you persistently "spam", say, a combo with stuns, the uruk will unravel your tactics for the umpteenth time and get the hang of painfully hitting back with defensive attacks. Some smart people are even able to overcome their own weaknesses, which is why they have to rely not only on a dry list of vulnerabilities, but also on their ingenuity in battle.

In addition, the free people of Mordor were grouped into tribes, but this decision is more organizational than functional. That is, some features are no longer distributed in a chaotic manner, but directly depend on the breed: they say, only Mystics will counterattack with teleportation, the Marauders shoot pompously with two hands, and the supporters of Horror are inherent in the possession of Kratos blades on chains. In a skirmish or two, this will help to estimate by eye what the opponent's trump cards are up his sleeve, but that's all.

Throughout the game, the feeling does not leave that this porridge with tribes is corny undercooked. They were given a unique design, distinctive combat features, erected monuments, even dedicated a whole line of trailers - but in fact, there is practically no benefit. Nice, impressive, but, uh, why? Considering that the demoniac orcs are also not averse to waging long ravings among themselves, it would be great at least to attract clan feuds here with the ability to add fuel to the fire of internecine wars.

The rest is entirely a trifle of behavioral algorithms, which nevertheless smooth out the irregularities of the generator and make the overall picture convincing. Here the toothed muzzle definitely notices that you crept up to her from a hill, there the cowardly leader makes excuses that the last time he "did not run away, but retreated." Even later, the blood brother of a berserker who was killed a couple of hours ago sets up an ambush, and your bodyguard stabs you in the back, because he is tired of falling under the hot hand of his master. No matter what happens, Shadow of War seems to have a prepared reaction for all occasions, and this still continues to amaze you for a long time.

A carefully planned betrayal is in full swing. Another moment, and the leader learns a lot about his retinue.

With a lot of fun tools at his disposal, the Nemesis virtual director sometimes puts together much more personalized, foldable and complex scenes than ever before. In my playthrough, one such story stretched from the very prologue, when I left the enemy captain to die from the bites of poisonous insects. He, however, did not just deceive death, but returned as a literal lord of the flies with a nickname a la "Grisha Mushiny" and with the clear intention of finishing me off.

The allied Uruk-crossbowman, whom I once helped to get even with the longtime offender, interferes with the execution of retaliation at the very last moment. Behind him, in the spotlight, my own sworn enemy from the first part of the game appears (praise the import function) and sarcastically wonders how many more sixes will jump out of the bushes when he brings me to my knees. Behind his back at the same moment hangs a brutal ologue-high with a mark on the whole green face. True, he does not say anything, but only with a heart-rending cry makes it clear that we are familiar before rushing forward. The battle begins - unequal, unexpected, but so my.

These sketches are the real beauty of Shadow of War. A large, complex system is only skillfully juggling variables, but it turns out to be an extremely personal and emotional experience. Enemies are remembered, saturated with hatred for them, and purely subjective. The ill-fated Grisha Mushiny must die not so much at the command of the plot, but because you have your own scores with him.

Unfortunately, everything that was bad in Shadow of Mordor, and especially everything that is bad in it now, the sequel also inherits without a shadow (huh!) doubts. This is absolutely the same insipid 2014 bottled world, down to the smallest detail such as skill trees, battle animations and camera angles. Okay, then it was, if not cool and juicy, then at least bearable, but now in the area for the combat system "like Batman" is publicly ridiculed.

The only major update in the circus program is fortress sieges. Each of the regions available in the game is equipped with a stronghold, the privatization of which will sooner or later be asked to do. And although this process is not very different from the one shown at E3, it was not very exciting to take part in it on your own.

What looked like a uniform Total War from a third person and with Mount Doom in the background turned out to be a primitive mini-game about capturing control points. Around, of course, a natural extravaganza takes place: the sky is lined with catapult shells, trolls hammer into the walls, dozens of orcs in front of the gates are burning in dragon flame, and so on - the spectacle is truly epic and fascinating for the first few times. There she is, war! Here he is, "The Lord of the Rings"!

And then you stand in a strictly designated area and perform the same combat pirouettes learned over three years. For nothing else is required of you.

A change of scenery in general does not in any way affect the rules of the game, except that from all sides it rushes four times more variegated husks with axes, for the destruction of which they do not give experience. The vaunted interaction between friendly captains and enemy commanders boils down to a couple of funny remarks before the start, and the final meeting with the head of the institution, whose throne room is 70% of flamethrowers built into the floor, resembles the first three-dimensional adventure games, although it looks like an attempt to make an exciting boss fight.

Moreover, the variety of sieges does not shine. A seedy fort differs from a gigantic castle only in the number of capture points, and a variety of defensive structures are often ignored, than pose a serious threat. Neither tasks unique to a particular fortress, nor any strategy in actions, nor even curious level design - if you please enjoy the missions stamped for volume, which get bored much faster than it seems to the game itself.

The long-awaited dragon has been added to the range of mounts

This, incidentally, applies to the entire Shadow of War - she simply does not know the measure. The mediocre open world of the first part rolled, not least because it was exhausted in an adequate 15-20 hours, if you do not sit for a long time in lengthy descriptions of lore. The sequel not only did not follow the example, but, on the contrary, inflated everything that was somehow inflated by two or three times.

Here at 10 o'clock they only explain to us the principles of operation of their grandiose systems. From a user point of view, both Nemesis and the siege, of course, are not furnished in the most obvious way, but the tutorial is so slow and meticulous that you get tired of the game without really learning how to manage it.

And the new sandbox, frankly speaking, does not give reasons for delight. Standard "gatherings", capture of outposts, randomly generated meetings with captains, side missions about rescuing 218 prisoners of war and poisoning 46 vats of grog - everything is as before (or as in any other project), only in an exaggerated form. Instead of two locations, they made five, colorful and colorful externally, but the same empty and thoroughly hostile inside.

And now there is loot here. From opponents, monuments, quests and just like that, armor, daggers, bows, swords and other wardrobe items are pouring out endlessly, which once in eternity should be changed for the sake of the coveted "+ 0.0002% damage", and the rest of the time - mercilessly converted into money. The latter are usually spent on siege upgrades and loot boxes, now hated by everyone.

We will not delve into the controversy about the ethical side of microtransactions - in fact, no one imposes them, and for an advantage in a single player game, the same people must happily pay the same people who poured their salaries into knives in CS: GO. But let's say anyway: in the whole of Shadow of War there is nothing dumber than a store with crates.

For the elementary reason that this idea itself is sewn here with white threads and knocks out of the atmosphere more than annoying prompts on a third of the screen and unsightly interface elements. The idea that someone seriously admitted that in the war-torn Middle-earth there is a place for trips to the arms shops and gambling pursuit of "legendaries" worries me even more than the commercialism of modern publishers.

If anything, orcs, for some reason, were also equated with a drop from purchased cases. The best examples of "Nemesis" still walk calmly through virtual spaces - so what is it for? The sparkling Marauder-bard, performing verses about our shameful death, will be found by itself, and you can train him to the level of "donated" comrades in a matter of minutes, since there are a lot of opportunities for this on the plot path.

Oh, exactly! Somewhere in the depths of Shadow of War, there is still a plot, but over the past time it has not evolved much, and has remained the basis for the orcish "Game of Thrones". The no-ranger Talion and his body-mate, the ghostly elf Celebrimbor, forge a new Ring of Power and continue their crusade against Sauron. In general, that's all.

In all fairness, the narrative was revived a little due to several parallel arches, and yet the feeling that instead of the story they slipped some stupid tribute to the stars of Mordor, it is still impossible to get rid of it. Yes, the heroes will meet Shelob, visit the future Minas Morgul, give a savory kick to the balrog, cross swords with the Witch-king himself and much more - this is all excellent fan service, of course, but it does not add up to a weighty storyline.

But it's not for nothing that we are talking about the plot at the end: Shadow of War, as expected, is more about game mechanisms than about a clear script and high-quality production. Only now the mechanisms let it down again, leaving the ingenious Nemesis concept without worthy gameplay reinforcement.

The game needed changes, not standard sequel improvements. Where it tilts towards RPG, you want a real "role-playing" instead of schematic appendages - maybe even a little through the European prism. Where strategy is visible, the soul is eager for tactical tricks and thoughtful sieges. Where, in the end, it is necessary to fight, a combat system is asked, which did not remain on the margins of the past generation.