MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR - Review

The success of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor in 2014 proved to be possible a saga loan of J. R. R. Tolkien in the world of videogames without that sent with the half blushing in comparisons. The game features a fun fighting system based on an innovative artificial intelligence system that set the tone for a full-fledged franchise, which next week will receive a second entry, full-bodied thanks to the generous budget Warner Bros. Placed in the hands of Monolith Productions. It is enough to see the increase in the participation of several ironic figures of the saga, of which Gollum is the greatest example, a proliferation of cutscenes competences to follow the progress of the narrative, and thanks to [God] Melkor, an improvement of the writing.

Talion is back, this time, symbiotically accompanied by his ghostly shadow, the Celebrimbor elf, power ring smith and cover of DLC's 'The Bright Lord', by SoM. The union of the two gives Talion additional abilities a priori, namely as far as navigational skills are concerned (and there we go), but it is in the duality of both that is the interest of the relation, that is what gives body and commands the story of Shadow of War.

As is evident in the trailers, Celebrimbor persuades Talion to forge a new ring of power, which he believes is fundamental to preventing the destruction of Middle Earth once again threatened by chaotic Orc tribes and especially by the returning Sauron with his Nazgul. Talion has every interest in defending the world (Gondor in particular), and here the game introduces anchors of outlined curves to help us keep up with its vision, but it is far from following Celebrimbor to the level of ambition. All Elf wants is to execute definite revenge on Sauron, regardless of the price to pay.

The design of the game world was one of the points where the development team bet more, not only is the space bigger, responding to one of the criticisms of the first game, is more distinct between areas and presents an evident liveliness, thanks in part to day / night cycle and climacteric system, which determines the behavior of the agents of Mordor, and that also has direct impact on the gameplay, for facilitating or hindering the fulfillment of a certain objective during the day or night, rain or sun.
One of the most impressive areas is the city of Minas Tirith, the ultimate human defense line, victim of constant invaders from the invading Orc, as they will quickly discover in Shadow of War. The city, along with the humans who fight to defend it, give us an accurate picture of what we are fighting to protect.

In this diversity is also the second central point of the design of the sequel, which was in increasing the diversity of the Mordor inhabitants. As we mentioned earlier, the game uses a number of well-known figures from Tolkien's Lore, such as the Shelob spider, who are reminded of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and who plays a key role early in the sequel. more interesting is the additional options that the Nemesis system puts at our disposal, taking advantage of different Orc tribes, the new Olog-hai, a subspecies of Troll about 4 times bigger than an Uruk and a new category in the hierarchy of Orc, Overlord, the ultimate goal of the Sieges.

There are several Uruk tribes in the main game, with others scheduled to arrive via additional content (Marauder, Machine, Dark, Terror, Feral, Mystic and Warmonger for now). Besides having different categories of warriors, with advantages and specific weapons, they are distinguished in terms of aesthetics, lifestyles and architectural preferences. If the Feral are lovers of the claws and ferocious methods of the Caragors, the Warmongers are adherents of the first lines of battle. The Machine bet on the wonders of war machines, its own fortress is a gigantic war machine, however, nothing in Shadow of War beats the style of Marauders, the true Bling of Mordor.
The action will immediately be recognizable to any player who has experienced Shadow of Mordor, however, there are many new features available to Talion in the sequel, which offers a much freer and more vertical navigation, and there is virtually nothing that Talion can not climbing at remarkable speed and its jumping ability also suffered a huge upgrade thanks to the union with Celebrimbor.

The combat continues to obey the basic rules of Hack and Slash, however, the greater diversity of opponents force us to adopt the strategy often, using more environment around us, and to favor the stealth method in attacking the camps enemies. The executions are also a bit different, they remain an important part of the fight against groups, but I did not feel that I could / and should abuse them to be victorious.

Each region has several missions divided between Main, Secondary and Nemesis, Revenge, artifacts, collectibles and past memories of Celebrimbor, which are worth a point of skill and put us at the feet of the Elf's past. But the most interesting part comes from our own choice, from the stories we've gained to tell when doubling the Nemesis system this time to developing our own army.
Now, to deal with the Dark Lord's plans, we must conquer the strongholds of Mordor, areas extremely well defended and that can not be taken by a lone wolf like Talion. The fortress is the last stronghold of defense of a zone, and to be conquered, it is necessary to mount an attack ring in the good style of Lord of the Rings, passing through several acts of attack, such as the unlocking of specific areas, murder of captains or the destruction of the defense armament of the fort, before the final confrontation with the respective Overlord.


As our faithful companion and orator Brûz the Chopper is keen to remember, it is important to make our strengths coincide with the enemy's weaknesses, if one of the Captains in a fortress proves fragile to the fire, take with you soldiers with firearms. Better yet, prior to the attack, you can always devote your efforts to chase and dominate the mind of the overlord's over-the-top bosses, by the time the attack comes, they stab their cronies behind their backs, greatly facilitating conquest

Behind this new system of conquest of the Fortresses, the studio has vastly expanded the reach of the weight of RPG elements, which goes far beyond a talent tree full of advantages and flexible bonuses, divided between the ability of Ranger (Talion) and Wraith (Celebrimbor), or the enormous catalog of equipment of different rarities, bonuses and synergies with each other, with sets that can be combined to obtain a superior result. Shadow of War brings a whole new area of improvements and customizations to the army, a fundamental element of the sequel, which allows us to "play" with the results obtained in the Nemesis system, adjusting our defenses and offensive teams to the characteristics and tribal affiliation of the Uruk.

The curious thing about this is that after beginning to develop the army, whenever I was on a mission along Mordor, when I met a formidable enemy, the question arose, "I kill or control?" It is important to say that the best Gear pieces fall from the most powerful, legendary Uruk attracts legendary is not it? But on the other hand, we also want capable soldiers on our side, never forgetting that they have an associated risk because they need to be treated according to their status, in danger of betraying us along the way.

It is very gratifying to develop a capable attacking army, by increasing our chances of clear success, but especially by the evident spectacularity of the large-scale battles in Shadow of War. This is evident from the times when we are invited to defend Minas Tirith, which is the first time we are confronted with the attack of a Drake, magical creatures that we can control during the battles.
Finally, Social conquest, an online mode that serves gas to the more controversial aspect of Shadow of War, the inclusion of microtransactions in a full price game. In this mode we can, in a friendly way or with the neck of our generals at risk, attack and seek to invade the fortresses of other players. To be victorious matters the quality of our Uruk, but also the way we play with the weak points of the defenders. To improve these elements with training boosts, experience or better units, we spend Mirian or Gold on different treasure chests. The Mirian is obtained during the game, reward of practically any activity, already the Gold, that demands your portfolio.

With the addition of this system, allied to the Shadow Wars mode, which is a kind of end-game where we have to repel waves of invaders from the armies of Sauron, it is certain that Warner Bros. has plans for the future of Shadow of War. Of course, it all depends on the audience's response to the possibility of buying an army higher than I spent so many hours tuning in, but the truth is that SoW is worth every penny and the Monolith team deserves continue to develop Nemesis, a system I have mentioned several times, for philosophy, I believe to be part of the future in videogames.
The more purist fans may not like the liberties taken by the "Shadow of" franchise in Tolkien's Lore, but never did the sequel seem disrespectful to the base material, the game is set between the movie Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, being that the journey of Talion is supposed to justify the delay in the advance of the assault of Sauron on Middle Earth.

VERDICT

Shadow of War is not a perfect game, Talion continues to be a very generic hero, fortunately here is only half protagonist, it is addictive as lightning, especially if they are, like me, susceptible to systems of progression and customization. Mechanically it is this mixture of a third-person action and adventure game hack and slash, loaded with RPG elements, but it is averse to fluidity of rhythm, natural as we have so many things to interact with. It is difficult to identify its nuclear mechanics and so define it within gender archetypes, because even the great star here is the Nemesis 2.0 system, which returns more complete and specific than before, and still has the advantage of being able to be amended for our benefit.