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Warner Bros. has announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a dark, third-person action game currently in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Productions, Shadow of Mordor sees players step into the role of Talion, a ranger who sets on a journey of revenge after he and his family are slaughtered.
"Resurrected by a Spirit of vengeance and empowered with Wraith abilities, Talion ventures into Mordor and vows to destroy those who have wronged him," says Warner Bros. "Through the course of his personal vendetta, Talion uncovers the truth of the Spirit that compels him, learns the origins of the Rings of Power and ultimately confronts his true nemesis."
Warner Bros. claims that every enemy the player encounters will be "unique" and differentiated "by their personality, strengths and weaknesses".
Players can also shape their relationships with enemies via a mechanic known as the 'Nemesis System', with the player's actions and decisions creating "personal archenemies that remember and adapt to the player". The system will deliver a "unique experience to every player", Warner states.
Expect the game to be particularly violent, too – judging by the pack shot, the game is currently targeting a PEGI 18 rating.
"In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, players will explore the dark and very personal theme of vengeance in a world where decisions have a consequence, and those consequences persist even after death," said Samantha Ryan, senior vice president of production and development and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
"The game introduces new gameplay mechanics to the action genre, creating opportunities for emergent and customized gameplay that will be rewarding for players."
A release date for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor has yet to be announced.
Source Kind of excited for this, will be keeping an eye on it.
I always feel a little ill at ease with LOTR games They're always filled with fantasy tropes that are pretty unsuitable.
Let me Preface by saying i'm not an LOTR nut. I know the films inside out but i've only read the main books, and that was some time ago.
Spoiler:
Magic seems to be a rarefied commodity in the universe with only a handful capable of magical acts (leading elves seem capable of Prophecy and Mind powers, Ringwraiths displays some preternatural abilties) and yet less anything physically impressive like say a generic fantasy mage, Well actually i'd put the count at 5: Saruman, Gandalf, those other two and Sauron. (I don't count those magic Water-horses as anybody's, i class them as Rivendell's 'Point defence' )
Things like wraiths and such are common in LOTR but due to Tolkien's fastidious 'Secondary believability' wraith's and such are by in large relegated to a role in which they can't interfere with the story. They are sometimes menacing and sinister though but i class this as an animalistic instinct. They have abilities that would destroy the secondary believability if they took a more active role. There are exceptions but they are rare and 'Unprecedented', they wouldn't just appear for some side story.
Also 'spirit of vengeance' sounds a little too religious for my tastes as does his resurrection. Having a Gandalf style mysterious one would be fine for me though. There are powerful entities in LOTR but all started as living beings, no Gods.
I've kinda lost faith in Monolith. Fear 2 was really good but clearly a low-budget product (Turns out they didn't make FEAR 3, that's in their favour ). A bunch of Monolith guys have left over the years, FEAR 2 seems curiously common on Kickstarter resumés , 'The betrayer' is also made by ex monolith employees. Also judging from Wikipedia they last made Gotham City Imposters and Guardians of Middle earth, two games that haven't exactly wowed (Modestly popular though).
Game could be good, who knows, i need at least 3 screenshots and 15 seconds of gameplay before i write it off.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/12 20:48:12
Mary Sue wrote: Perkustin is even more awesome than me!
Oh look another guy motivated by having his family stuffed in a fridge.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
Warner Bros. has announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a dark, third-person action game currently in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Productions, Shadow of Mordor sees players step into the role of Talion, a ranger who sets on a journey of revenge after he and his family are slaughtered.
Well the only thing that worries me is the following:
"Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Production"
FEAR has been going down the pipe in the last few years... hope they stepped their game up^^
Kanluwen wrote: Warner Bros. has announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a dark, third-person action game currently in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Productions, Shadow of Mordor sees players step into the role of Talion, a ranger who sets on a journey of revenge after he and his family are slaughtered
]Well the only thing that worries me is the following: "Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Production"
FEAR has been going down the pipe in the last few years... hope they stepped their game up^^
To monolith's credit they weren't responsible for FEAR 3. EDIT: @dropdatbulls, ARRGH!!!!! what did you do to the quotes??!!!! SUPER annoying lol, 5 edits and it still won't format
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2013/11/15 14:04:23
Mary Sue wrote: Perkustin is even more awesome than me!
Kanluwen wrote: Warner Bros. has announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a dark, third-person action game currently in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Productions, Shadow of Mordor sees players step into the role of Talion, a ranger who sets on a journey of revenge after he and his family are slaughtered
]Well the only thing that worries me is the following:
"Headed up by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith Production"
FEAR has been going down the pipe in the last few years... hope they stepped their game up^^
To monolith's credit they weren't responsible for FEAR 3.
EDIT: @dropdatbulls, ARRGH!!!!! what did you do to the quotes??!!!! SUPER annoying lol, 5 edits and it still won't format
Fixed that for you Perky.
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Manchu wrote: Could be good. Then again, War In The North.
What did you not like about WITN? I still haven't completed it, but from a gameplay perspective I love it. Simple, but fun, and suitably challenging. I also like the gritty aesthetic and darker tone.
I'm not sure about this new one, though. Spirit of Vengeance and Wraith abilities all sound a bit more generic fantasy and less LOTR to me. LOTR doesn't need fancy magic and superpowers to make it good. Just give me a game where I can hack through hordes of orcs and I'll be happy (which is probably why I like War in the North)
I love War in the North. It's like an updated combination of Justice League Heroes and Champions of Norrath. I wonder why that could...oh, wait. Snowblind made all of them. And they're all damn good games. Perfect stories? No. Amazingly fun gameplay that has near infinite replayability? Yup. It's like Gauntlet turned up ten notches, but leaving out "Elf needs food." Hmm, guess that makes them about on par. ENF is a very integral part of Gauntlet.
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
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Melissia wrote: Oh look another guy motivated by having his family stuffed in a fridge.
He himself was stuffed into said fridge as well.
The exacting details on their marty stu don't make me want to play the game.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
Medium of Death wrote: This game could have been about Aragorn being hunted by the forces of Mordor as a younger man...
I think it stills sounds promising. Will hold my judgement.
That actually sounds like a neat idea. I'm assuming you mean young young like only a teenager, so you can't fight people straight up. You have to spend your time sneaking and hiding trying to weaken your enemy with traps as you try to move through an occupied forest. I could love a game like that.
"...he’s not a human so much as he is a Ken Doll, except instead of plastic, he’s molded from untempered wish fulfillment."
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
That premise sounds just a little bit like The Third Age's one...
Still I liked The Third Age, and should this not be a piece of gak sell out that a lot of film/book tie in games are, I may give it a shot. However it doesn't really scream out "buy me now! Preorder me even. Wait who preorders?!!", rather more like "ah well, wait till it appears in a Steam sale then maybe..." type. At this stage I'm erring towards the latter, if even that.
-gakky, irritating story
- cookie cutter characters
- lousy deus ex machina ending
- mostly mediocre graphics
- overly simplistic gameplay
- boring character level and item choices
- repetitive map/challenge design
Interesting list. I can't comment on the ending as I still haven't finished it yet, but I'm not sure I'd say the gameplay was simplistic. Yes, it's all a bit mindless-hack-and-slash but that's kind of the point, and probably why I like it so much. I enjoyed the more visceral and 'brutal' feel of the combat compared to a lot of other games, both LOTR and other.
Yes, the characters were a bit generic, but I've played most of the LOTR games and all the non-movie characters are a bit like that. But I found it was tolerable. Similar with the graphics, they were nothing special but weren't abysmal. And I didn't find the gameplay that repetitive, although I can see where you're coming from.
I'll probably give it an 8 once all's said and done, but so far I haven't finished it so the score is a little lower and will likely go up once I've played all of it. The fact I've got stuck at the same bit on 2 separate playthroughs doesn't help. But from a gameplay perspective, certainly an 8.
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