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Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Review thread
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
CollectedDust
Member
My copy showed up today, and so far I'm enjoying it. It doesn't seem like a crazy departure from the original, yet there is definitely a lot of new stuff mixed in.
Playing on PS4 Pro BTW. There are options for performance vs. resolution. I have it set to resolution and it looks nice in 4k/HDR. Not sure what the actual resolution is though (doesn't look native).
Is anyone else playing this yet?
Playing on PS4 Pro BTW. There are options for performance vs. resolution. I have it set to resolution and it looks nice in 4k/HDR. Not sure what the actual resolution is though (doesn't look native).
Is anyone else playing this yet?
Quick Mustard
Member
Yea, got it myself today as well.
Only hang up is the utterly stupid design choice of holding X to run again. Why they insist on this is beyond me.
Apart from that, its ok. Nothing special, just more of the first with a bigger focus on the Nemesis System, which isnt exactly great in my eyes but Ill complete it and trade it in.
Admiral Woofington
Member
its dumb but in the first i was sneaking everywhere so it never affected me unless I was escaping.
The last negative sounds far more impactful than the 3 positives.
I was afraid this was going to happen.
Replacing an enemy fortress' warchiefs with your spies is pretty cool. Although I kinda wish I didn't do that for my first one, was super easy.
Edit: Now that I'm a little further in I can speak a bit more of the game as a whole. It feels like going from Assassin's Creed II to Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Not huge changes but solid and build upon the original. I do wish the world looked a little better and was more interesting but it's more of what I wanted from the first game. Highly recommend you switch to Nemesis difficulty when you've got a decent gear setup and your core skills.
Edit: Now that I'm a little further in I can speak a bit more of the game as a whole. It feels like going from Assassin's Creed II to Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Not huge changes but solid and build upon the original. I do wish the world looked a little better and was more interesting but it's more of what I wanted from the first game. Highly recommend you switch to Nemesis difficulty when you've got a decent gear setup and your core skills.
polyh3dron
Banned
All this shit locked behind loot boxes and it still gets these high grades from the gaming media? Fuck off already. Not touching this game with a 50-foot pole until I can get it for $10.
newtypepilot
Member
the major gaming media aren't going to risk pissing off publishers by releasing a negative review. It's sad, really.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
PsihoPerihelion
Member
Yup, this is correct. I used to work on a gaming website (neither big or small in terms of reach) on my country and we pissed off Activision when we gave COD Ghosts a 7/10. They blacklisted us immediately and we never received an invitation or a review copy ever again.
There is nothing locked behind lootboxes. And most reviewers didn't feel like the game balance was affected by the existence of them.
theonerayman
Member
Not only this but Eurogamer did an entire video about how they aren't needed at all. That the game throws enough of everything at you.
texhnolyze
Banned
True.
Reading through this thread over the past few days has turned over my view for this game completely.
Initially, I had zero interest in the game but now the game is pre-loaded on my PC and ready to be unpacked.
But honestly, I have nothing to play before Assassin's Creed Origins which is still quite far away at the end of the month.
Anyway, do I need to play Mordor before jumping into this? Is there a video recap of the story or something like that out there?
2blackcats
Member
No, the story is pretty bad, I wouldn't worry about it.
It's a great game though, worth a play through.
A Serious Man
Member
Most reviews say the world is much more varied and interesting. There is no saving the story though.
Nothing it locked behind loot boxes, everything can be gotten in game but getting it through boxes if faster.
It also possible the game is good so the media gave it a good score and everyone outside of GAF don't care about loot boxes.
It already ahead in terms of preorders. It's outselling the first game and Batman Arkham knight.
TheCthultist
Member
Was actually about to ask about this. Does it let you switch difficulty on the fly? You're not locked into whatever you start with, right?
It lets you switch on the fly. If you played the first game I recommend Nemesis difficulty from the outset. It doesn't feel that tough, more like the way you're meant to play.
Honestly Shadow of War / Middle Earth never really punishes you very hard for dying. If you're in the open world you just respawn and time moves on. In shadow of war death creates a revenge mission which often can have decent loot - it's almost a good thing to die. Not only do you experience more of the intricacies of the nemesis system but you get more loot to boot, and have your own little personal stories.
If you haven't played the first though it's probably best to stick to normal then bump it up once you get your bearings. It's not great at explaining some mechanics.
Will probably pass this. The weak story criticism is a real downer. I'm slogging through Andromeda right now and am pretty sure that I'm close to the end but I don't think I can stomach another game with a bland/dull/just plain bad story.
Also, is it just me or is there barely any buzz surrounding this game? Especially seeing how well-received the original Mordor game was.
Also, is it just me or is there barely any buzz surrounding this game? Especially seeing how well-received the original Mordor game was.
texhnolyze
Banned
I'm not really a fan of the combat. From what I've seen, it's pretty simple, even braindead.
There's definitely buzz, but most of them are of negative tone.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
I assume yeah since most steam games from AAA publishers are starting to enable PS4 prompts from connecting a PS4 controller
BouncyFrag
Member
Seeing ads for this during football is hyping me up a bit.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
I don't want to buy this game, but for some reason I really want to hear the in-game story/conclusion for Shelob, lol, considering the thing that they pulled off in here.
thank GOD if so cause this is honestly my biggest pc gaming pet peeve.
BLAUcopter
Gold Member
Is the the open world any bigger?
Maximus P
Member
There are people in this thread that have early copies and are enjoying it throughly. One of our mods reviewed it with a high score and said that loot boxes can be easily ignored.
I'm finding it difficult to believe that everyone is a shill.
There's
5
Over a 7/10 huh? Classy as always Activision.
I wonder if they have a note sent to all reviewers saying: "less than 9/10 and you're done".
2blackcats
Member
Depends what you mean. Yeah, you can spam a few moves to get through it or you can get creative. The combat is quite sand boxy. It's loads of fun to fuck around with.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Shit. Thats sounds like tomorrow after work. What is the VPN time?
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Idk. Im waiting for the OT to see if anyone who actually knows about that to clue me in lol
Sure you could. There's no need anyway from what I can tell from playing the game all weekend, and I'm on Nemesis difficulty.
wesleyshark
Banned
Jealous!
Majukun
Member
well,looking at the threads on gaf, gamers are not bothered by lootboxes, why should reviewers?
So sad. Thankfully they were brave enought with Andromeda, Mafia 3 and lots of other games!
Did they also blacklist Joystiq, Eurogamer, VideoGamer, Edge, Push Square, GameWatcher, PC Gamer, Impulsegamer, AtomicGamer, PCGamesN and a couple of others because of low scores?