The Gaming Tailgate Video Podcast
Continue on to see Rudy's review and if you have played the title, share your thoughts as well.
I got this game as a Christmas gift and it was a lot of fun. A short review is this game is Assassin’s Creed with Batman combat set in a LOTR world. The graphics are solid if not spectacular. I had early reservations over whether this game would be repetitive but there is a lot of variety in this game to keep it from feeling that way.
First, the setup of the game is very similar to Assassin’s Creed. You have waypoints (forge towers) that unlock items on the map and fast travel. Climbing and moving around is similar including all too convenient wires that travel from one roof top to another. You have roughly 20 Yellow Story/Main missions along with a lot of side missions that are limitless. There are Red Side Missions that are truly limitless and deal with battles with Orc/Uruk leaders. You have 54 optional White Missions (30 bow, sword and dagger and 24 Outcast missions). There are also 20 collection and hunting challenges so there are MANY things to do in this game if you want. I finished the game at roughly 33 hours and I still have quite a few things left to do. You could finish the game in under 20 hours or you could spend 40-50 hours to get the platinum. It’s up to you.
Many things in this game are video game friendly. Enemies are clearly defined by colours or markers and the map itself is very compact allowing you to travel very easily. You can’t run more than 10 seconds without running into people to fight and you can quickly reach your desired mission start areas. Where this game separates itself from Assassin’s Creed is the combat. Assassin’s Creed combat is simple while this game is very diverse and much better. The amount of options at your disposal from stealth moves, stun moves, execution finishers, counters, bows, daggers, riding monsters, blowing things up along with special Wraith moves (special abilities from the LOTR world including controlling people) is huge. At first I was overwhelmed but the main story missions do a good job of explaining them and you don’t get all of your moves at once. Things unlock nicely over the course of playing.
The story is actually pretty decent. I liked it but a lot of times it’s just fun to run around and fight people. That is where the Nemesis system comes into play. The game remembers the wins and losses for both you and your opponents. Beat an Orc Leader? You gain power and he gets knocked out but someone else will take his place. Lose to someone? They gain power and will taunt you at your next meeting. Who gets promoted is based on your personal game experience so my Nemesis ended up Lugnak Thunderhead who maxed out at Level 20 after killing me about 5 times early on. It was so satisfying to finally take him out later in the game. It’s this personal connection that makes the game even better. To go up against the tough Orc leaders you definitely need to get some Intel on them to discover their strengths and weaknesses. For the higher leveled bosses you will have to go after their weaknesses or you will fail. Some Red/Mini-Boss missions are Vengeance missions. Some of my friends on PSN had been killed by an Orc Leader and I could take on those missions to avenge them. I thought that was cool.
The game has a fairly extensive RPG element. You can upgrade your moves and abilities as you gain power. By beating bosses you gain special runes that you can apply to your weapons that grant you enhanced abilities as well. I was almost maxed out by the end of the game which leads to one of the weaknesses of the game. Near the beginning it’s very easy to get overwhelmed and killed and I enjoyed that. During the second half of the game I rarely died. You aren’t invincible but you are so powerful things get too easy. The final boss battles are underwhelming and there are no difficulty levels so there isn’t anything you can do about it. I do like the fact that your health doesn't auto-regenerate. You do have to collect herbs to heal back up.
At the end of the day there are a lot of things to do and enjoy with this game. It’s a brawler at heart but with a ton of options to keep it from getting repetitive. The Nemesis system adds a nice personal touch that keeps you connected to a world that is always changing. I highly recommend everyone to give this game a shot. Probably my game of the year for 2014.
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