Orc-orc-orc: Middle-earth Shadow of War review | Technobubble
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I despise Lord of the Rings’ orcs.
It’s essentially a testament to how well they play their role as villains, whether it be in Tolkien’s books or Peter Jackson’s movies. Typically imbued with ugly hearts matched only by their ugly mugs, the main foot soldiers of Sauron’s army have been responsible for much death and destruction throughout Middle-earth, including the demise of many beloved characters.
Even as I found myself enjoying Shadow of Mordor thanks to its excellent use of orcdom via the Nemesis system, I pretty much treated them with grudging acceptance — mere pawns in my conquest to help fulfill the game’s narrative. The only exception was Ratbag, who displayed a lot more personality than the cookie-cutter orcs that populated the rest of Sauron’s army. I actually liked that guy.
While playing the follow-up game Shadow of War, however, something happened. I actually started getting fond of all the other orcs. What form of wicked sorcery is this? I mean, I liked other orcs in Shadow of Mordor but in a more superficial way, such as their cool designs or ruthless deference to being the cruel, cocky jerks that orcs are known to be. But I wouldn't sit down and have a beer with them (even though I don't drink, but you know what I mean). I'd sit down and have a beer with Shadow of War's Bruz, though. Or the singing orc who shows up with a lute. Or the orc with the silver tongue who does poetry readings. Seriously, how can you not lower your emotional guard when encountering that level of goofy silliness? It got to the point where I seriously felt conflicted about killing some of these guys.
See, Shadow of War doubles down on its orc-farming simulator component by fleshing out the Nemesis system even more and throwing in a bunch more ingredients to its orc formula. The best thing the game adds, however, is not the extra orc loot or hierarchy. No, the best thing it does with its rotten orc denizens is giving them more personality. All of a sudden, I start seeing them as actual allies or important components to the narrative as opposed to just a means to an end. In short, I started liking the guys.
It’s a great decision on the part of the developers. The original Shadow of Mordor was a pleasant surprise when it came out in 2014, the rare video game tied to a commercial franchise that actually did not, well, suck from a gameplay standpoint. Lord knows — pun so totally intended — how many movie or cartoon tie-in games I played that were utterly underwhelming and felt like they were simply designed to take money away from kids who didn’t know any better.
Shadow of Mordor was different. The game essentially took the good parts from the Arkham series of Batman games and plopped them into Tolkien’s world. This included the excellent, free-flowing combat as well as the tight sandbox design that made the game world your proverbial oyster.
Then again, those mechanics by themselves would only make Shadow of Mordor a solid but not exactly memorable game. It was the Nemesis system — a feature that allowed you to have dynamic reactions with the game’s orc population — that truly set it apart. Take away the Nemesis system and you’re left with a wannabe fantasy Arkham game. Factor in its penchant for creating interesting orc rivalries as well as how its political machinations allow you to seize control of various orc ranks and you’ve got the recipe for some out-of-the-box fun.
All that being said, the original Nemesis system does suffer from its limitations. Once you’ve clashed with a few rivals and set up your own puppet to climb the orc ranks, the experience admittedly becomes more repetitive. This is especially true if you get really good at offing rivals before they can make your life miserable. Shadow of War tries to address that by fleshing out the entire experience even more to help make things more engaging and dynamic.
One is by emphasizing rankings among captains, with Epic and Legendary elites not just being set apart from the rest of the pack by their strength but also the loot they hold. This becomes especially important for folks who want to acquire gear in a more natural way as opposed to the controversial loot boxes that are now featured in the game.
Shadow of War also does a better job in fleshing out the various motivations, not just of its story orcs but its random ones as well. In addition to showing even more personality, orcs can display surprising bouts of independence. A great example is when an orc in your team betrays you, sometimes for reasons that actually make you empathize with them. You can have an orc who has been quite loyal switch sides all of a sudden, all because you ended up killing or ordering it to kill a blood brother. This, combined with the amount of color displayed by many orcs from a personality standpoint make them feel more alive in my eyes.
Shadow of War also expands the orc hierarchy by adding Warlords into the fray. These super leaders stand above orc captains and chieftains and play a pivotal role in the new siege mode that’s added to the game. The mode basically requires you to take over fortresses controlled by one main warlord who oversees several warchiefs, captains and orc soldiers, adding a new layer of strategy to the game. It’s a feature that has an online component to boot, allowing other players to lay siege on your own fortresses as well.
At the same time, you still have familiar features from the first game like the ability to pump minor orcs for information about leader weaknesses so you can dispatch of them more easily. You can also continue to manipulate the chain of command by dominating an orc on the lower ranks of his group’s hierarchy and eliminating those higher up the ranks to make your chosen traitor a warchief.
Combat, meanwhile, retains the free-flowing style of the original game, complete with counters, wraith abilities and brutal executions. In addition to your familiar melee and bow attacks, you also get new moves like the ability to do a cool double jump when moving through the map. Shadow of War features a massive skill tree that allows you to personalize protagonist Talion to suit your play style. Heck, you can even dominate and ride dragons now, which is like the series’ Cargor mounting mechanic on steroids.
Once you combine character progression with orc management and the plethora of loot to be acquired, you end up with a chunky experience that can keep you busy for hours upon hours. I remember spending a ton of time with the first game just piddling around and doing stuff on the side. Shadow of War builds on that by giving you even more things to do.
Not everything, however, is perfect in Middle Earth.
The narrative, for example, continues to be a polarizing proposition for fans, thanks to its very liberal interpretation of Tolkien’s script. Whether it be Shelob’s transformation into something far beyond the books or its various liberties with the source material, Shadow of War’s story will likely nag purists who don’t like to see narratives going off-script from the original tale.
The addition of microtransactions in a full-priced game also will not sit well with gamers who decry the increasing reach of what they see as manipulative and overly capitalistic moves in their favorite pastime. Granted, you can still play the game without touching microtransactions. But the end-game grind can make it feel like you’re encouraged to use them to avoid turning the game into a huge time sink. The in-game shop also serves as a constant reminder of this increased focus on loot boxes that takes you out of the game’s immersion.
The new fortress sieges, meanwhile — while fun — also are not as comprehensive as they could be. Although you can add defenses and fortifications, their benefits can be mixed in battle due to the automatic nature in which some aspects of siege gameplay play out. It would have been nice if the game gave you greater control of certain parts of siege defense. Shadow of War also does not shake off a similar issue I experienced in the original involving repetitive gameplay. Although the world is segmented into different areas, it can still feel like you're doing the exact same thing over and over, just in different places, as you progress through the game. It’s not an issue if you like the core gameplay but folks who don’t might lose interest more quickly.
Even with its faults, however, Shadow of War proves to be an improvement over the original. The encroachment of microtransactions in a full-price game will always be a deal breaker for a segment of the population and I don't fault them for that. As someone who grew up gaming during a time when features you now see locked behind paid content used to be your reward for simply playing the game, I'm not a big fan of increasing game monetization myself. If you can get past Shadow of War's microtransaction issues as well as its narrative liberties, however, you will find a game that's actually good at face value. In my case, for example, I've determined that I would voice my opposition to nickle-and-diming in games by not spending a cent on such transactions. It's not the perfect solution. But it's one way I feel that I can support the good work done by the rank and file who worked hard on the game while showing my displeasure with the more corporate decisions afflicting it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Like an ever-growing castle, Shadow of War takes the strong foundation of Shadows of Mordor and builds several more keeps and floors on top of it. The not-so-faithful narrative continues to be polarizing and the addition of microtransactions won’t sit well with some fans. A more fleshed out Nemesis system combined with a ton of content and new features such as fortress sieges, however, provide hours and hours of gameplay for fans of the original. Plus you've got orcs that sing and perform poetry before they try to kick your butt. Just let that sink in for a bit...
- Rating: 8 out of 10
- Cost: $59.99; PC, PS4 (reviewed), XB1
- https://www.shadowofwar.com/