Middle earth Shadow of War Review. One of the first people you meet in Middle earth Shadow of War is a woman with midnight black hair and a dress torn in intentionally strategic locations. Youll then learn that shes a version of Shelob, a giant deadly spider creature. The game explains her mysterious human form in time, and while fans of Lord of the Rings lore might have trouble embracing this unique interpretation of Tolkien storytelling, it shows that Shadow of War is a game thats willing to take risks with its source material. And, in a way, this example represents the full arc of the game off putting in the beginning, disappointing in the end, but seeing how they explain it all is an exciting ride. Like its predecessor, Shadow of War is populated by powerful Orc Captains that have specific strengths, weaknesses, and personality traits defined by the games Nemesis system. The number of fears, special abilities, and beneficial powers are much more robust than the first game, making it important to find a strategic approach to taking down some of the games more powerful foes. The amount of information you get about each Orc once youve revealed its vulnerabilities can feel almost overwhelming, but you quickly adapt to the games shorthand and what traits to look out for. Your primary goal is to raise an army against the forces of Mordor by recruiting every Orcish leader you meet. These characters strike the perfect balance of humor and absurdity against the dull seriousness of the human cast, and youll wish the quirkier denizens of Mordor could be constant companions instead of the brief vignettes that flash across the screen when you either kill or are killed by one. One especially colorful character I met was an Orc prophet who yelled at me about some serpent cult he was a part of I ended up killing him, but it left a lot of questions in my mind about how Orc religions work. Most of your time in Mordor is spent killing Orcs. Building off the first game, Shadow of War has a free flowing combat system that lets you dominate creatures one on one but still stay in control when surrounded by a dozen or more adversaries. That momentum slows when too many things are happening on screen at once, though. When an enemy captain is ready to be coerced over to your side an icon above his head turns green. Incoming attacks can be countered following a flashing prompt, and you have a slew of different abilities to take out legions of enemies. A communitybuilt site of hints and tips on using Apples new Mac OS X operating system. Watch breaking news videos, viral videos and original video clips on CNN. com. GamersGate is the leading digital distribution platform for PC and Mac games creating easily accessible gaming experiences for gamers worldwide anytime, anywhere. Welcome to a new Lets Play for The Lord Of The Rings The Battle For Middleearth 2 The Rise of the Witchking in which we play the Angmar Campaign The. Im not scared to say it I love a good Subway sandwich. My dad used to take me to the only Subway in town after we went grocery shopping, and I remember tracking. But the chaos of battle can make targeting opponents frustrating. Thats a shame because Shadow of Wars most memorable moments revolve around its large scale Siege battles, where you take over Orc controlled fortresses using your own loyal followers. With an army of Orcs at your back, both pressing the offensive on a castle and protecting it are equally exciting, and the final entrance into the main hall of a fortress for the final fight feels as reverent and grand as walking into a towering cathedral in real life. In the moment, these tense battles are the core of the Shadow of War experience, but the overarching narrative outside of the broad tour Mordor, fight Saurons forces, feels directionless. Part of thats because you dont spend enough time with any secondary characters except for Gollum, whose brief appearance is somehow still too long. Characters you meet in the game have relatively short asides that range from the absolutely boring save some Gondorians to the furiously funny learn how fight pits work with Bruz the Orc. Its hard to get invested in the stories of less interesting characters, and once youve completed a few of their quests, they disappear forever anyway. And, like most open world games, after youve spent a couple hours running around collecting trinkets, it makes an NPCs entreaty about an imminent enemy invasion feel less immediately pressing. But, narrative problems aside, some of the setpieces are breathlessly fun. You ride a drake, team up with some ridiculous Orcs, fight an imposing, flame winged Balrog, battle the Ringwraiths. Its a greatest hits compilation of the most bad ass moments from The Lord of the Rings. After a slow building introductory act, the game gains momentum as it crashes toward what seems like a final standoff against the forces of evil. And this fight addresses criticism of the previous game its an epic multi stage battle that does still have QTEs, but no more than the ones you find while playing through the game normally. Bafflingly that battle isnt the end of the game. Shadow of War continues on, but with its momentum drained completely. What should be an exciting climax instead descends into a tedious slog for a cutscene that doesnt quite feel worth the time and effort. In the games actual final act, you cycle through the four fortresses you explored previously for a total of 2. If you havent upgraded the Orcs you met early in the game and up until this point, there was no reason to you have to replace and upgrade your entire retinue of Orcs to match this more powerful invading force. Its an entire section that should have been cut or severely truncated, and playing through the repetitious levels felt like padding meant only to make the game last longer. The enemies you face level up with each encounter, so youre also forced into upgrading each castle over and over again, either by building up your current Orc army or finding new fighters and replacing the old. This Sisyphean quest has no corresponding significant characters to keep you company or explain why its important to tackle the defense missions in the order you do. Its not even clear, exactly, why you want to do them at all. More than once I felt like giving up on this quest thinking Id stumbled onto some optional side content that was clearly only made for obsessed completionists. But enduring on, I found that finishing every stage unlocks the final cutscene and credits. It did not feel worth it. Its an entire section that should have been cut or severely truncated, and playing through the repetitious levels felt like padding meant only to make the game last longer. But although the games final act is the most egregious, there are several other systems that Shadow of War fails to justify. Almost every item and Orc has some type of associated rarity which scales from Common to Rare to Epic to Legendary, and with higher rarity comes more abilities. For Orcs, this means that they have additional, more powerful attributes that arent available elsewhere. For weapons, it includes perks like 4. The buffs are useful, but the effects arent so amazing that youd keep a significantly underpowered weapon or Orc just for its benefits. It feels like a system tacked on purely to add another set of items to collect. The menu systems for your Orcs and weapons is the part that feels most overburdened. Its grating that theres no way to sort or search through your own army if, say, you need an Orc with a cursed weapon and an immunity to beast attacks to take out an especially tricky opponent. But to find out what skills are active based on your current weapon loadout, you have to go to each item in your menu and read up on what you have equipped. Theres no overview screen that lists out what effects you currently have active. Like so many of the other games systems, the storefront feels less predatory and more like a cluelessly unnecessary addition.