The game opens with a tutorial that presents the idyllic home life of Talion as our first run at the controls, but quickly blends it into a battle with orcs. Sombre Good treads too close to the “ I may just cry forever” line to inflame the audience. The parts that concerned Talion, Hirgon and the outcasts lacked relatability, when as the most prominent humans, the opposite should have been true. The Wraith’s story was the standout, and thankfully the major focus of most missions, however even that has a number of gaps, with the events of his past told through flashbacks. I found myself more interested in the other characters (aside from the first of the Black Captains who was an evil incarnate that made even Sauron seem nuanced). The overall story feels as though it is missing something, which is due to the character of Talion not quite delivering. It can afford to do this in the same way sequels don’t need to establish a setting, though the position this story occupies is not directly in sequence with either LOTR or The Hobbit, but somewhere off to the side – and as such, Monolith Productions can afford to jump right in to the story they want to tell. Those that aren’t familiar with the setting may find themselves lost, because Shadow does not attempt to retell the story, though it’ll tell a good deal about a ring, and a dark lord, and something about the end of the world. One of the obvious benefits of telling a story in the Lord of the Rings setting is that the scene is already set, and the game need not do the heavy lifting itself. Like yeah, you’re going to learn to ride a caragor too, Mr Orc? You and every other corpse I left behind. Considering the timing (of when the game is set), it should also be no surprise that Gollum is about, yet there’s balance to how much he’s part of the narrative. As with many open-world games, over time the ambient dialogue between Orcs, and the threats issues by Captain and their ilk will be repeated. Both Captains and Warchiefs will taunt you, though the arrival of a War Chief will be accompanied by the orcish horde chanting their name. The sounds in the environment are effective, but it’s the audio used in association with the Captains and Warchiefs that build momentum best. The characterisation of Talion feels as though he comes from Gondor, with the same sombre tones of melancholy we heard from Sean Bean’s lips, and the Wraith (I’m still not telling you who in case the name DOES mean something to you) has the weighty voice we associate with twisted powers. The wraith that accompanies your character comes from The Silmarillion, though additional characters like Queen Marwen, Torvin and Ratbag do play notes that you may not recognise until after they’re undone. Where the game steps right in terms of the lore then is in the characters we may not know already. While that’s true, an exception is present in the case of dialogue, with many lines mirroring ones elsewhere in LOTR, which does take you out of the moment. True, it is set in Mordor and must intertwine with some key characters from the canon, but it does not do so for the sake of making references, or trying to invoke a wink of “Hey, remember this character?” Those present have proper justification for being there, as it’s conceivable they would be tied to Mordor during this period somewhere between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Shadow of Mordor does play notes from the series, drawing on characters from LOTR, but does so with restraint.
War in the North pushes its original characters into the LOTR canon, but with actors taking on monumental roles that were beyond their ability, marring the delight one should feel sauntering around Rivendell. Memories of the former do not seem so offensive, though some of this is attributable to the use of footage, the actors from the films, or reasonable impersonators.
MIDDLE EARTH SHADOW OF MORDOR CHARACTERS MOVIE
It’s understandable for those based upon the films, but the overlap between movie and game was excessive in both LOTR: The Third Age and more recently with LOTR: War in the North. While one of the key draws for LOTR games is being able to explore the environments we’ve seen in films or read of in the books, the word judicious doesn’t come to mind when considering how references to the lore has been in previous games. It steadily improves as a game through play, strongly conveying the growth in power of the player’s character Talion through play as well as story, and in a most welcome change, it exercises moderation in how it touches upon the lore that surrounds Middle-earth. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is probably the best LOTR-themed game in recent years, possibly since the tie-in game for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
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