Video Game Tester Application‎

                Since I can’t afford games all the time, this week I had to choose between Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Wolfenstein: The New Order. I didn’t play many FPS games released this year, but not many action games either. I was tempted to go for Wolfenstein, but some unconvincing videos and a last minute deal, made me buy Shadow of Mordor and I can’t say that I regret my decision.

                I was skeptical regarding this title and some of my fears proved to be right. It gets repetitive few hours into the game, mainly because of the low variety of enemy and missions. But the game shines on the technical part with crisp graphics and gorgeous animations. The combat system is what should be expected from a good action game, it’s visceral, dynamic and satisfying. You can’t get enough of battling dozens of orcs at once and executing them in a gory fashion.

                I would have preferred a different setting than the Middle-Earth, because everything is canon in this universe and the way things were left in the books doesn’t give so much room for creativity, as some might think, without damaging the original story. Despite some interesting way of presenting it, the story is not captivating at all and it didn’t make me feel any attachment to the characters in it or made me curious about what I will find out in the next mission.

                Overall Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor looks like a combination of Assassin’s Creed and Batman Arkham series set in Tolkien universe. The game has some interesting ideas in it, but it does lack substance to some degree, mostly because of writing issues and repetitive gameplay.

                Hopefully I will be able to write a review for this game in the following weeks before Dragon Age: Inquisition is released, because I think that game is going to eat all my time.