Middle-earth: Shadow of War Review

[Julio Franco]

The underlying ethos of Shadow of War seems to be more. More types of orcs. Your playgrounds are bigger. The number of things you can do is overwhelming. There are also plenty of combat options. And with Talion's ability to swiftly climb everything, the game often feels like it is brimming with possibility.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1501-shadow-of-war-review/

 

[poohbear]

This is techspot and not one mention of the graphics and performance on different systems??? PC gamers care about the technical stuff man!!

 

[hahahanoobs]

This is techspot and not one mention of the graphics and performance on different systems??? PC gamers care about the technical stuff man!!

And the review is of the PS4 version.

 

[Julio Franco]

As you might be aware, on ocassion we republish some gaming content from our friends at Kotaku as is the case with this review. They're looking primarily at gameplay and overall game's experience which in our opinion does complement nicely our usual gaming content that is indeed more focused on PC performance. You can recognize republished content because of their logo on top, and also because 95% of the time, we don't review games.

 

[Fobus]

"Instead of wasting time fighting yet another orc, I could just buy a box using the ample amounts of in-game cash I’d amassed and get some cool new additions to my roster"

Shouldn't the whole point of the game be that fighting orcs is not wasting time? Isn't it a bad game, if it makes you feel like paying to skip play is worthwhile? And a cynic in me tells that making grinding unappealing was done for the purpose of selling more loot crates. Or is it just a coincidence? Kotaku is a joke...

 

[Polycount]

"Instead of wasting time fighting yet another orc, I could just buy a box using the ample amounts of in-game cash I’d amassed and get some cool new additions to my roster"

Shouldn't the whole point of the game be that fighting orcs is not wasting time? Isn't it a bad game, if it makes you feel like paying to skip play is worthwhile? And a cynic in me tells that making grinding unappealing was done for the purpose of selling more loot crates. Or is it just a coincidence? Kotaku is a joke...

I delved into this a bit back when I covered the initial announcement of the game's microtransactions. I do agree that it shouldn't be considered a "Waste of time" to actually play the game, and that does speak to how sneakily the microtransactions have been implemented into the game's flow here - clearly the balance of the game was changed to fit them, rather than the other way around. Jim Sterling on YT brings up a lot of excellent points about this whole debacle, I recommend checking that out if you get a chance.

I don't agree that Kotaku is in any way a "joke", though. It's just one reviewer's experience, I've seen other writers there criticize microtransactions on multiple occasions. It's OK to like microtransactions, even if you (and myself, granted) dislike them. It does mean that I'll be holding off on this game, though, sadly - I really enjoyed the first one.

 

[GreenNova343]

"Instead of wasting time fighting yet another orc, I could just buy a box using the ample amounts of in-game cash I’d amassed and get some cool new additions to my roster"

Shouldn't the whole point of the game be that fighting orcs is not wasting time? Isn't it a bad game, if it makes you feel like paying to skip play is worthwhile? And a cynic in me tells that making grinding unappealing was done for the purpose of selling more loot crates. Or is it just a coincidence? Kotaku is a joke...

Which is why there have been a couple of recent articles about the proliferation of microtransactions in games, of which (IIRC) Shadows of Mordor was one of the 3 main transgressors (Star Wars Battlefront II being another one).

 

[Squid Surprise]

Shockingly, there is already a trainer that will make you invincible, unlock all skills/abilities, etc... only a matter of time until it also lets you "buy" those loot boxes...

 

[funglebuddy]

"Instead of wasting time fighting yet another orc, I could just buy a box using the ample amounts of in-game cash I’d amassed and get some cool new additions to my roster"

Shouldn't the whole point of the game be that fighting orcs is not wasting time? Isn't it a bad game, if it makes you feel like paying to skip play is worthwhile? And a cynic in me tells that making grinding unappealing was done for the purpose of selling more loot crates. Or is it just a coincidence? Kotaku is a joke...

I delved into this a bit back when I covered the initial announcement of the game's microtransactions. I do agree that it shouldn't be considered a "Waste of time" to actually play the game, and that does speak to how sneakily the microtransactions have been implemented into the game's flow here - clearly the balance of the game was changed to fit them, rather than the other way around. Jim Sterling on YT brings up a lot of excellent points about this whole debacle, I recommend checking that out if you get a chance.

I don't agree that Kotaku is in any way a "joke", though. It's just one reviewer's experience, I've seen other writers there criticize microtransactions on multiple occasions. It's OK to like microtransactions, even if you (and myself, granted) dislike them. It does mean that I'll be holding off on this game, though, sadly - I really enjoyed the first one.

To be honest from what I hear they locked the games true ending behind a lootbox and that to me is unacceptable. Microtransactions should complement the game not prevent a user from getting at to a games storyline.

 

[Squid Surprise]

To be honest from what I hear they locked the games true ending behind a lootbox and that to me is unacceptable. Microtransactions should complement the game not prevent a user from getting at to a games storyline.

You heard wrong...

 

[Polycount]

To be honest from what I hear they locked the games true ending behind a lootbox and that to me is unacceptable. Microtransactions should complement the game not prevent a user from getting at to a games storyline.

As Squid said, that's not exactly the case. Rather, the ending is locked behind something called "Shadow Wars," a part of the game that -- by all accounts -- involves a significant amount of grinding. Some are OK with it, some aren't. In my mind, it's not so much the presence of microtransactions that bother me, but this emphasis on just churning through orcs at a rapid pace. The whole point of the Nemesis system is to develop relationships with these digital entities and start to hate or care about them over time.

To me, giving them a high mortality rate and pushing this loot box system where you unlock several at a time just seems counter-intuitive to that system.

 

[Peter Farkas]

This is techspot and not one mention of the graphics and performance on different systems??? PC gamers care about the technical stuff man!!

And the review is of the PS4 version.

LMAO

 

[Peter Farkas]

These Kotaku reviews really suck in my opinion...