Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Professional Griefer

The next Lord of the Rings game is called Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, and it's an open-world action game set between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Yep, this is an original, brand new prequel that doesn't seem to be based on any of JRR Tolkien's works. Shadow of Mordor, developed by the folks at Monolith (Guardians of Middle-Earth), will be out for PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4. Warner Bros. announced the game in a Game Informer cover reveal today, and the January edition of the magazine will have more details about the game.
Via press release, here's WB describing the game:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a next-gen, third-person action game set in the legendary Tolkien universe of Middle-earth. In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, players explore an original story of vengeance and redemption as they take control of Talion, a ranger whose family is murdered at the hands of Sauron and his army the night they return to Mordor.
Developed for next-gen consoles, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor introduces the Nemesis System, a powerful and dynamic gameplay mechanic that allows players' actions to shape enemy relationships and characteristics to create personal and unique story and gameplay arcs that are persistent even after death. Players experience a unique game every time as the dynamic world reacts and adapts to their choices.

Huh. This is certainly unexpected. I wonder how JRR Tolkien would feel about this one?

Link

Really looking forward to seeing this, if done right it'll be awesome.

humanji

I've always wanted an open world lotr's game like they used to make. I can't help but expect it to be a cheap cash in while the new movies are out.

BopNiblets

I bet Tolkien and his son wouldn't like it but to be honest they're different generation so in the nicest possible way, feck 'em, I think we can stop worrying about what they would think at this point!
It sounds cool if it's a good SP experience, I'm interested.

Potatoeman

humanji wrote: »

I've always wanted an open world lotr's game like they used to make. I can't help but expect it to be a cheap cash in while the new movies are out.

It usually depends on the development time. If it was made quick I'd give it a miss.

humanji

Footage of this has been released and Gamespot has an article on it. And I have to say I'm getting a bit tingly about this. Essentially it's like a total conversion of Assassin's Creed, set in Middle Earth. It's probably going to be fairly light on trying to stick to the book's lore, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The article is here along with the footage (I can't embed it here):

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hunting-and-hierarchy-in-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor/1100-6417227/

And the thing is, that's pre-alpha footage and it looks great. Obviously, it'll be edited for viewing, but still. I'm loving the idea of a non-scripted nemesis who's life you effect in small ways. This could turn out to be a hell of a game.

Shiminay

That looks like a lot of fun and since I already love the Assassins Creed series (and the comparison's are totally justified), I'm looking forward to seeing a radically different sort of environment to play in.

Josey Wales

As a huge Assassin's Creed fan this game looks amazing. I really hope the final product is as good as this footage makes it appear.

irish_stevo815

Within the first 30 seconds of watching, I thought its Assassins Creed with a LOTR skin which got me excited. It looks a like it could be an amazing game. The whole nemesis thing sounds class

2Mad2BeMad

wow can't wait for this
hope its released this year as I really am looking forward to a decent LOTR's game

danthefan

Looks very interesting. The combat is going to have to be better than an AC game for me to buy it though tbh. Lots of very good ideas but will have to see how well they get implemented.

heebusjeebus

Gameplay mechanics look interesting but maybe being in Middle Earth will constrain it a bit. It would be better if it was an original property.

Dcully

The combat looks simplistic to me, its like AC as in you fight a guy and the others just stand watching until you kill one guy then the next joins in rinse and repeat, its what has made the AC series less interesting to me.
Compare it to the combat in The Witcher 2 and you will see what i mean.

McSasquatch

heebusjeebus wrote: »

Gameplay mechanics look interesting but maybe being in Middle Earth will constrain it a bit. It would be better if it was an original property.

Agreed - going so heavily against canon (wraith powers?) could work against it, but I'm still looking forward to it. AssCreed comparisons are well deserved, and it has a smack of Arkham off it too, which isn't a bad thing at all.

tok9

Dcully wrote: »

The combat looks simplistic to me, its like AC as in you fight a guy and the others just stand watching until you kill one guy then the next joins in rinse and repeat, its what has made the AC series less interesting to me.
Compare it to the combat in The Witcher 2 and you will see what i mean.

I actually thought the one good thing they didn't take from AC was the combat.. looks a lot more like Batman imo which would be great.

Zillah

Excited:
- Great look.
- Proper LOTR voices.
- Nemesis system/hunting/tracking looks cool.

Wary:
- AC combat is boring as hell and this looks to be basically identical.
- Wraith thing seems very over the top and not very Lord of the Ringsy.
- RADIANT MISSIONS DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER

I'll bet money that the auto-generating missions become stale and obvious within an hour of gameplay.

aaronjumper

Zillah wrote: »

Excited:
- Great look.
- Proper LOTR voices.
- Nemesis system/hunting/tracking looks cool.

Wary:
- AC combat is boring as hell and this looks to be basically identical.
- Wraith thing seems very over the top and not very Lord of the Ringsy.
- RADIANT MISSIONS DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER

I'll bet money that the auto-generating missions become stale and obvious within an hour of gameplay.

I hate LOTR but am looking forward to this. The AC combat could be improved but I find if you mix it up yourself instead of waiting to counter, it can be fun.

If they can implement the Radiant missions to the point where they are suitably different, rather than just a different location and character each time, could be a fun way to spend your time.

Most people will probably just use it as a faster way to level and stop once they are strong enough in their own right. What I did in Skyrim anyway.

Shiminay

If they took their combat queues from the Arkham series, that'd be more enjoyable. Enemies standing there waiting to attack is just sorta lame and whilst that's not completely eliminated in the Arkham games, they do gang up.

If you make it *really* difficult, then you force people into using the "take over enemies minds" mechanics so that it's 10 v 10 rather than 1 v 19 in combat.

Temptamperu

Looks great, I dont mind assassins creed combat.

Gandalph

They better add in a god damn good reason why a wraith is helping out this bloke, last I checked they were not very friendly with the locals of Middle-Earth.

Professional Griefer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6G9A-iA7c8

Its out 7th of October on 360, PS3, XB1, PS4 and PC.

Gandalph

The trailer is not really doing it for me

humanji

Yeah, it doesn't exactly sell it very well.

nesf

That looks, gah. Sorry, just no. That style of combat in that world? This isn't some bloody western comic book they're doing a prequel to (and I'm saying this as someone who isn't much of a fan of Tolkien). I'm just getting completely the wrong vibe off of that, if you took away the title I'd never place it as a LOTR game.

Yeti Beast

New video showing the weapons rune upgrade system;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVKZfJuegBE

Still not sold on this really. If it was an original IP, it'd look like a fun OTT slasher. But it just doesn't feel like a LotR game to me at all. Too much pandering to the American teenage boy demographic.

Kirby

I'm going against the grain here It seems. I think it looks quite good. If they can take the good from assassins creed and leave the bad....in a middle earth setting....whats not to like?

I also the think the voice acting is a notch above what we usually see in games which is nice. No Jill sandwiches to be had here.

I am a little annoyed they are derping it for 360 and ps3 though.

nesf

Looks more like a Viking game tbh.

Yeti Beast

Kirby wrote: »

I'm going against the grain here It seems. I think it looks quite good. If they can take the good from assassins creed and leave the bad....in a middle earth setting....whats not to like?

Don't get me wrong - I don't think it looks bad per sé.

But there's something about it that I can't quite put my finger on... Anti-heroes with dark powers and badass weapon upgrades don't feel very Middle Earth to me. Maybe it's that the clear good vs evil values of LotR are missing, all in the name of "cool".

humanji

Kirby wrote: »

I'm going against the grain here It seems. I think it looks quite good. If they can take the good from assassins creed and leave the bad....in a middle earth setting....whats not to like?

I also the think the voice acting is a notch above what we usually see in games which is nice. No Jill sandwiches to be had here.

I am a little annoyed they are derping it for 360 and ps3 though.

I think the biggest problem is it being a LOTR license. As Dair. says, if it were it's own IP, then it'd be a lot easier to accept and you wouldn't have that niggling thought in the back of your mind that keeps telling you it doesn't feel very Tolkien.

But I love the idea of telling bosses you're out to get them and the whole nemesis system sounds cool too.

Yeti Beast

humanji wrote: »

I think the biggest problem is it being a LOTR license. As Dair. says, if it were it's own IP, then it'd be a lot easier to accept and you wouldn't have that niggling thought in the back of your mind that keeps telling you it doesn't feel very Tolkien.

But I love the idea of telling bosses you're out to get them and the whole nemesis system sounds cool too.

Yeah, if they succeed with the gameplay, I'll still buy and enjoy I'm sure.

2Mad2BeMad

looks deadly to me

Big Knox

While I'm not a huge fan of that style of combat saying it doesn't belong in a Middle Earth setting is being pedantic. As is the anti-hero criticism! I do think more weighty combat like Dark Souls would probably suit the game better but definitely don't write it off yet.

Yeti Beast

Big Knox wrote: »

While I'm not a huge fan of that style of combat saying it doesn't belong in a Middle Earth setting is being pedantic. As is the anti-hero criticism! I do think more weighty combat like Dark Souls would probably suit the game better but definitely don't write it off yet.

Who has written it off?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i have, but I also hadn't posted in the thread

2Mad2BeMad

I am a big LoTR geek so I'll buy it even if its awfull :L

nesf

Big Knox wrote: »

While I'm not a huge fan of that style of combat saying it doesn't belong in a Middle Earth setting is being pedantic. As is the anti-hero criticism! I do think more weighty combat like Dark Souls would probably suit the game better but definitely don't write it off yet.

Pedantic? But surely the whole point of IP spin offs are that they fit with the IP no? Especially with "established longer than anyone on this thread's parents were born" kind of IP. I see no one here going "Yeah, that looks like a Middle Earth game." It's far, far from a death knell for the game but more of a criticism of this game being matched with that IP, which is where the whole "I'd feel a lot better about this if it was it's own IP" angle is coming from.

It's like SimCity Societies, apart from its problems as a game itself, the biggest criticism was that it shouldn't have had the SimCity IP logo tagged onto it because the game felt absolutely nothing like a SimCity game.

humanji

PC Gamer had a hands on with this: http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/shadow-of-mordor-hands-on-lord-of-the-rings-with-batmans-combat-system/

Sounds fun, but as the writer says, it all depends on if there's more to it than the nemesis system.

Jonny Blaze

This game looks pretty amazing actually!

I'd agree with you that there is a slight air of shoehorning the game into the middle earth setting etc. however from the publisher's point of view, it's gonna be a far safer bet to ride the coat tails of the LOTR ip and take advantage of the built in audience in order to sell the game.

While I would much rather have a brand new ip that did a bit of the creative legwork by itself, I understand the decision.

And at the end of the day, i'd much rather have an awesome game rather than a new ip, regardless of the setting!

Dan_Solo

They could have come up with a more original name.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_of_Mordor

Yeti Beast

Another hands-on from EuroGamer.

Monolith might just pull it off (as they have in the past)!

Gran Hermano

Looks like everyone in the trade has had their mitts on this
IGN's take plus a new video on the weapons/rune upgrade system.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/22/e3-2014-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor

.ak

TBH as a Tolkien fan I've never found any game particular suiting the setting. Although I did have a guilty pleasure of the Tower Towers and Return of the King PS2 co-op games, but they were movie based rather than book.

Still, I like the look of this as a game, but that's just it.

2Mad2BeMad

Dair. wrote: »

Another hands-on from EuroGamer.

Monolith might just pull it off (as they have in the past)!

Wow who ever wrote that done a great job, sounds fantastic

Thargor

Its a load of sh1t calling this Nemesis stuff dynamic, I was reading an article about it today and checked the date in case it was an old April Fools or something, I mean they got a voice actor to record the dialogue for one thing so it'll just be 2 or 3 option trees like any other RPG, I really doubt they put much work into it either for the sake of a quick cash in that will be forgotten about after the film dies down.

Studios seem to be so desperate for any "hook" whatsoever these days, I fully expect the hacking element in Watchdogs to be a big let down aswell.

2Mad2BeMad

Thargor wrote: »

Its a load of sh1t calling this Nemesis stuff dynamic, I was reading an article about it today and checked the date in case it was an old April Fools or something, I mean they got a voice actor to record the dialogue for one thing so it'll just be 2 or 3 option trees like any other RPG, I really doubt they put much work into it either for the sake of a quick cash in that will be forgotten about after the film dies down.

Studios seem to be so desperate for any "hook" whatsoever these days, I fully expect the hacking element in Watchdogs to be a big let down aswell.

you have a great outlook on games, I wonder if your outlook on life has anything to do with it:pac:

Thargor

Eh? I do have a great outlook on games in that I love them, I just dont like being patronised by a companies marketing department, theres nothing groundbreaking or new here and its definitely not dynamic. South Park The Stick of Truth gave you the option of softening up enemies before a battle like a million other games, thats all thats happening here no dynamic emergent storylines or any of that fluff.

humanji

What was in the article that says it's not dynamic? All I've read is basic overviews of it.

Getting good Reviews; surprised nobody talking about this.

9.3 http://ie.ign.com/articles/2014/09/26/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-review

8 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-review/1900-6415884/

wexdevil

I'm quite surprised with the reviews, I was on the fence about getting it but now I'm really really thinking about getting it

Icyseanfitz

got a 9.5 at polygon, im getting really interested in this for my ps4

Kiith

It's looked great in trailers, but i assumed it'd be average at best. Delighted that it's getting good reviews, and i might just pick this up now.

Reviews have been very strong across the board almost. One thing they all mention is the Nemesis system, apparently it's been implemented really well and it actually works.

I don't have the money to buy it now but will definitely get at some point.