Review: Middle-earth: Shadow of War (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · Published October 20, 2017 · Updated October 23, 2017

Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army.

Pros:

Decent graphics.
44.64GB Download size.
Graphics options- Favour quality over resolution.
PS4 Pro support for 4k.
Three difficulties- Easy, Normal and hard.
Opening and ongoing tutorial support.
Uses DS4 speaker for sound effects.
The open world plays how you want adventure game.
Free 4K cinematics download.
Excellent voice work, Each Orc sounds unique.
Platinum trophy.
Collectibles- Earn bonus loot and EXP by finding the many items hidden across the game world.
Earn EXP and level up to earn skill points and spend on the huge skill tree.
Towers- Scan the world to show icons for collectibles and missions but also acts as a fast travel point.
Shadows of the past levels- Relive and re-play classic and important battles from the past with a whole set of objectives.
Caragors- Beasts that you can tame and ride into battle.
Climbing- Think Assassins Creed but with a crazy high jump mechanic making it even quicker to scale the many buildings and forts strewn across Middle Earth.
Simplified combat very akin to the Arkham games, Simply mashes a button to do combos and move the pad to change target. You can counter or avoid attacks.
Spirit world- Hit a button to enter the spirit world and see objectives or Orc targets and mark them. This is the same mechanic as detective mode, Again in the Arkham games.
Worms- These Orcs show with a green icon and can be interrogated to learn Orc ruler info like strengths and weaknesses and indeed their identity as all rulers and leaders are unknown at first.
Auto stealth when entering the bushes, You can attract people over.
You are not just the hunter but you are the hunted. When taking out Orcs they can come back and hunt you down and ambush you at any point.
The Orcs- These brutes are not only voiced superbly but everyone is an intricate character of its own with its own personality, Traits, and abilities. They can learn your attacks and render them useless, They can come back from the dead, Break your weapons on a whim and be damn right horrible.
Last chance QTE- Just before you are slain you have a QTE in order to get a second wind.
Nemesis system is back and better as already stated the Orcs can come back and get you, They can come back from the dead and give an explanation on how that is possible along with a physical appearance change.
Side missions are optional and scattered around.
Attacks- Apart from straight combat you can do stealth kills, Jump off buildings and attack, Kill from ledges and of course kill from a Caragor mount.
Possible to flee from combat.
Environmental hazards like fire barrels, Spider nests, Beehives and spiking water supplies.
Autosaves regularly.
Can skip the story if you wish.
Very easy to get into.
Play how you want in terms of what objectives to do, When to do the story missions and of course free roam it.
The game feels fluid with climbing to combat to exploration, in general, being relatively painless.
Handy shadow outline of where you were last seen making fleeing a lot easier.
Online vendettas.
Loot boxes- You earn credits in the game for missions and collectibles so you can afford to buy quite a lot of loot boxes without spending real money on them.
Loot- You have a loadout of gear from your weapon to ranged to boots and armor. All loot has a rating from common to legendary. Legendary loot also brings extra buffs and abilities.
Gear- Some gear will have quests attached to them and finishing them will not only up the stats of the item but also add a buff.
Tower defense or base defense. You can eventually unlock the ability to run your own base of operations and capture Orcs from the game or loot boxes and have them protect your home. Again Orcs come in a rating system like the loot.
Health- You can regain health from gear or you can drain it from rats or Orcs if you have it unlocked.
Very atmospheric as you go from the busy streets of the towns into the mountains and caves.
Living world- See fights break out between the factions and even the Orcs themselves.
Clever fire mechanic- It is not just the run of the mill fire in one place oh no. Catch on fire and walk near wood and that then catches fire. Ok, it doesn’t last long but when in a fight with a horde it helps to have hellfire everywhere!

Cons:

Cannot skip intros from Orcs. Everytime you engage with an Orc they give you this short speech and whilst cool at first, It soon drags on and breaks the flow.
Can easily get swamped. Usually, its when you get ambushed whilst in a fight. Again its fine for a while then it straight up aggravates you.
The camera can go funny when in tight spots.
Annoying noise emits through the controller when you are near arrows, There is a lot of arrows about and makes the noise if you need arrows or not.
No proper lock on that works right.
Chest opening is slow as it syncs with a server and generates loot.
Overwhelmed by choice. The map is always full even when taking out all Orc bosses, The game will always generate enemies.
The grind in the last part of the game is straight up horrible and for very little pay off.
Easy to get sidetracked.
Apart from a few bits here and there little has changed from the first game.