2014 brought an abundance of games for both
generations of console, for the PC, and for some random machine called a Wii
U. We had games that sold millions and
delivered nothing but disappointment. And
we had games that barely sold thousands that surprised everyone. Quiet games like This War of Mine created a
strong following, while humongous wastes of money like Destiny lost millions of
players. But one thing is for sure,
every year game culture continues to grow.
Fathers that once came home and vegetated in front of the boob-tube now steal
a controller from their kids to play a FPS.
And mothers that used to spend all day working and then taking care of
the children now shun their families for another round of Mario Kart. What does this all mean? It means the gaming industry has grown so
immense that releases of games are now bigger than movies and that other medium
that no one pays attention to anymore called music. Isn’t life grand?
This year’s candidates for game of the year
were easy to pick through, because most games released to crappy frame rates
and broken codes. But P&P still
attempted to be fair in the choosing. We
looked for a working title at release (this
by far is the most important part, which some developers have forgotten about),
outstanding gameplay, decent to above-par graphics, a fun experience, and a
somewhat intelligent story (if need be,
some games are just made to be fun).
With those simple traits most games quickly fell off the list, but one
remained genuine in all those areas and even surpassed in most: Middle-Earth:
Shadow of Mordor. (Runners-up included: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Sunset Overdrive,
Bayonetta 2, Far Cry 4, and South Park: The Stick of Truth)
DOES IT WORK? AND
HOW DOES IT PLAY?
Oh my goodness…Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
does work. That’s just crazy. But not only does it work, the gameplay
mechanics are top notch. Yes, most
people scream it’s an Assassin’s Creed clone, and that they stole all the blah,
blah, blah. Answer this though: What
game or any art created nowadays is absolutely, one hundred percent
original? Everything produced uses ideas
from everything else. Newsflash: That’s
how improvement happens. If humanity
didn’t build on top of what already existed, we’d still be strapping leaves to
our genitals and grunting at fire. So
yes, Shadow of Mordor is the Assassin’s Creed set in Middle Earth, but it’s
also so much more. It’s an open-ended sandbox
of endless quests, head-chopping, stealth assassinations (that actually work), unbelievable swordplay, beautiful graphics,
incredible voice-acting/dialogue, and cut-scenes that’ll make you laugh and
cry. Even in the first ten minutes
you’ll be sucked up into the gameplay.
Your eyes will be popping out of your head as Talion (the main protagonist) sweeps legs,
counters enemies, elbows Uruks in the nose, stabs them through the ears, slits
throats, shoots arrows while riding beasts, hides in bushes, and slaps Smeagol
around. Oh and not to mention the great
addition of something called the Nemesis System. With all that pixelated goodness, there’s
probably one thing holding you back…
BUT I HATE LORD OF THE RINGS:
So
do a lot of people. That mythology has
too many weird names, too many races of crazy creatures, ugly animals, its own
language, and walking trees. Nobody has
time for all that. But that’s okay,
because even if you don’t like the setting, Talion’s quest is one that every
gamer can get behind. You don’t have to
know a caragor from a graug and you’ll probably never learn. And that’s fine, because the game does a
great job of slowly introducing you to Mordor and its inhabitants, but that’s
only if you want to know more about what you’re killing. If not, you could just run around and stab
things in the head, which is just as satisfying if you do or don’t know its name. What
this means is you don’t have to sit through a marathon of Lord of the Rings or
the Hobbit movies to enjoy Shadow of Mordor.
Feel free to go in fresh. Who
knows, you might just come out a fan of Middle Earth.
"Woah! Easy, fella. I'm just looking for the time. Also, your head's on fire."
THE NEMESIS
SYSTEM:
In
addition to all the similar AC moves you can pull off while running around in
Mordor, there’s also a complex system constantly changing in the
background. It’s called the
Nemesis. The object of the game is to
get to the final boss, but you’ll have to defeat his captains and war-chiefs to
get near him. And when you finally do run
into a captain just roaming the plains, you have multiple choices: stand and
fight, run, or die. And depending on the
outcome of the battle, the chessboard of captains will change. If you kill the captain, another low ranking Uruk
will be promoted to his spot. If the
captain kills you, he’ll increase in level and be harder to kill later on. On top of all this, when and if the captain encounters
you the second time, he’ll mention the last fight while taunting you. But the real fun comes when you can “brand”
enemies. Branding a captain allows the
player to control them throughout the game, and if they should move up the
ranks…well you now have a high ranking Uruk under your command and the rewards
can be very satisfying. You could also
die on purpose, allowing the captains to increase in level, making them more
difficult to kill, but the prize for doing so that much more rewarding. The Nemesis System is a fantastic addition to
the gameplay that ensures no two games or play-throughs to be exactly the same,
ever.
"Will you quit squirming. How can I properly clean your ears if you're dancing around like a little sissy?"
GRAPHICS/VOICE-ACTING/ANIMATIONS:
Typically,
when running around in an open world, your character constantly gets stuck on things:
a wall, a tree stump, a car, a curb. But
not in SoM. The game consistently feels
smooth, whether you’re traversing a tower, running and jumping off a cliff,
climbing a rock face, or stalking prey from high above. You’ll come to realize the controls are
always responsive. As for the animations
while in motion…just watch gameplay from somewhere online and you’ll understand
the slickness of Talion’s moves.
Most
of the time, video games have dialogue that just moves the plot along and allows
the player to get to the next level, but when a game has such talent from the
voice acting community, cut-scenes and gameplay step up to the exquisite. You might be wondering, “Well, who plays Talion?” The
one and only Troy Baker (Joel from The
Last of Us), that’s who. But he’s
not the only shining talent in the game.
Laura Bailey (Fetch from Infamous:
First Light), Claudia Black (Farscape’s
Aeryn Sun), the one and only John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama or Marcus Fenix from Gears of War), the super
talented and only man to be in almost every single video game: Nolan North (Nathan Drake from Uncharted), Jennifer
Hale (the female Shepard from Mass Effect),
and even Sean Connery’s son, Jason Connery adds his voice to the game. With the above list of extraordinary people
and the many that weren’t listed, you know that developer Monolith Productions
(F.E.A.R. / Condemned) put everything
they had into the game’s creation.
"I think I've been swindled. This is by far the worst smelling camel I have ever ridden."
CONCLUSION:
If you haven’t played Shadow of Mordor, then the
game should be popped on your list immediately.
If you have played SoM, then you already agree. With unbelievable voice-acting, smooth
animations, responsive gameplay, a sand-box style map (make your own way through the game), the Nemesis System, an
engaging story, and beautiful graphics, there’s not much else needed to make
game of the year. So P&P would like
to thank Monolith Productions for a wonderful experience in Mordor and endless
hours of enjoyable Uruk killing. This
year’s Game of the Year title easily goes to Middle-Earth: Shadow of
Mordor. Do yourself a favor and pick up
the game if you haven’t already. You
won’t be disappointed.
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