I wonder if you like to cultivate game works? Most of the cultivation works on the market are mainly pets, girls and other cute things, and the "Middle-earth: Shadow Magic" that I want to introduce this time also has cultivation elements, but the cultivation object in this work is - orcs.
The background of The development of Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor is also interesting, it was developed by Monolith Studios, and it is under the same Warner umbrella as Rocksteady, who started the Batman: Arkham series.
Originally, this work should not be "Shadow of Middle-earth", but a sequel to Nolan's "Dark Knight" movie. Originally, it was intended to rub the film's popularity with the Dark Knight's release at the same time, but the project was cancelled two years after its development. However, it is also a waste to develop half of the resources, so it is simply another IP owned by Warner to set up a new series, that is, "Middle-earth".
What the? You don't know what Middle-earth is? To put it bluntly, it is actually the product of The General Worldview of Tolkien's classic fantasy novels "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings".
The game's backstory is set between the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, when Sauron's servants re-lead an army of orcs to capture the Dark Gate. But of course, the game itself is not very related to the novel, so it is not uncommon to think of it as a stand-alone spin-off.
Artistic expression
This work is a work during the generational transition, so at the current level, the picture is relatively not so good. The scene has fewer objects, most of them are more empty, and the texture is much lower than it is now. Because it is the background of Middle-earth, the scene is in the medieval style, and the place of occurrence is outside the city wall, mostly exterior scenes, such as forests, coasts, ruins, caves and so on. And the whole game is almost outside, so there is basically no indoor scene, the screen is very empty at any time, and the view is very good.
The game is open-ended, with two major areas on the map, one is the inland near the city wall, which is more desolate, overgrown with weeds, and there are more buildings, and the other is the coast with more dense vegetation. The tone of the inland is dark, there are many broken walls, and there are no trees dotted, so they look similar in the visual range; the coastal scenery is more beautiful, after all, it is the coastline, the light is also brighter, you can see the mountains in the background, the plants are more dense, and you can see the horizon of the sea and the sky in the distance, which is not only more beautiful, the color is richer than the inland.
In addition to the above natural scenery, you can also see the tents erected by the orcs and the fortress built with wood, the statue of Sauron covered to half, etc., but if you want to say it, the scene design of this work is still quite simple. Because the scenes are similar in length and the landmarks are extremely rare, it is very easy to get lost without looking at the minimap. Personally, I estimate that most of the cost of the game is used to make the orc NPC system, so the scene does not put much effort into it.
The more interesting thing about this game is the design of those orcs, although the game is randomly generated, but the types of faces, armor characteristics, and body sizes are very diverse. Couple that with those interesting conversations. Although the orcs are ugly, they will still impress the player and even find it very funny.
After all, you're going to build your own orc harem anyway, right?
Plot of the work
After Sauron was defeated by the last elven and human alliance, the power of the Gondor kingdom gradually faded, and Sauron's strength and resentment returned, and the dark flames covered the entire Dark Gate, and no one could stop it.
Just as Sauron's army is re-sweeping Through Middle-earth, Sauron's servants and the orc army he leads once again capture Mordor's main entrance and exit, the Black Gate. The first to bear the brunt of the victims were the Rangers stationed at the Dark Gate. And Tarion is one of them.
Suffer aggression and lose everything
Under the aggressive invasion of the orc army, Tarion's outpost was unable to resist their invasion and was eventually overwhelmed by the orcs. And he and his family suffered the most painful treatment. Held hostage by the orcs, Tarion had to watch his wife and children executed. While chanting the incantation among Sauron's servants, the sharp sword gradually erased from under the neck of his wife and children, and Tarion was furious but helpless, waiting for the end he was about to usher in, allowing the last knife to pass under his neck.
Opening his eyes again, to his surprise, he did not die, but existed at the junction of life and death.
Affected by the curse of immortality, and turned away by death
Looking at the corpses of his wife and children lying at his feet, Tarion came from it with sorrow, hating his powerless self and wondering why he did not die with them and travel to another world together. And it was at this junction of death that he met a guy like him, a great elven craftsman of the past, Caleb Ripon. He said that the souls of the two of them were bound together by the same curse, and not only could not be separated, but they were also turned away by death and could only wander in this world.
For Tarion, who is currently bent on death, he just wants to lift this curse and go to another world with his wife and children. And the only way to lift the curse is to kill Sauron's servant, the black hand that executed his family.
This was the best situation for Tarion, who could not only slash enemies but also lift the curse of immortality, so he teamed up with Caleb Li peng to become a walking dead for revenge, returning to Middle-earth again.
Game system
Like the Arkham series, the game has a head-to-head one-to-many battle and stealth assassinations. But the difference is that the Arkham series is a carefully arranged combat configuration, while this game is a random enemy on the large map. In addition, the stealth method is also more inclined to the parkour, climbing and stealth assassination of Assassin's Creed, so it is quite common for people to compare this with Assassin's Creed.
The entire game is a battle with orcs, and the player has to kill the orc captain and the orc chief to weaken Sauron's power. Interestingly, the captains and chiefs are not carefully designed, but are randomly generated by the system, so each player will face different orcs. The player's goal is to dispose of the top five chiefs.
Although the game's combat is almost identical to that of the Arkham series, there are still slight differences in the battle situation. The number of enemies in this game is large, and reinforcements will be called, so 1v20 and 1v30 are possible, and then you will understand what is called Tarion.
In addition, unlike the Arkham series of battles, it is only by fists, sneaking to the gun. In this battle, there will also be a cold gun placed on the side by a ranged enemy. This makes the already complex battle situation more difficult to grasp, and I personally believe that this game is more difficult in combat than the Arkham series, and many times it must be taken as a good policy. But in the same way, due to the large number of enemies, the execution and killing methods of this game are also more diverse than those of the Arkham series, and the enemies have more ways to kill and are easier to kill.
Get enemy information
Before you can fight against the captain and the chief, you need to obtain their information, which is called knowing oneself and knowing the other, and never losing a battle. In the game, it is necessary to interrogate the orc fish to obtain new information, including strengths, weaknesses, locations, fears, etc., which can help the player to have a correct entry point when fighting.
Like some enemies are immune to assassination, some enemies are immune to executions, some enemies are afraid of flames, etc., with this information, there is a chance to take the lead in battle. Even if the weakness is used properly, it can directly scare people away or kill them instantly, making it easier for players to take advantage of the void.
The flow of Sauron's army
Much of this gameplay is based on random events that occur to the orcs. Sauron's army will move according to the current situation. Some orc captains will be promoted after a long time, and the vacated positions will be replaced by other orcs, or the orcs themselves will usurp the throne, and so on. In addition, if the player is killed or beaten to retreat, the orcs will also be promoted.
The promoted orc will gain more powerful passive abilities, making him more and more troublesome to deal with. Of course, the rarity of the drop will also be higher, and the player can fatten up and slaughter.
Rune configuration
There are runes in the game that can be freely matched, and runes will drop after defeating the captain or chief. The higher the enemy's combat power, the rarer and more powerful the runes dropped, and the concept is the white, green, blue, purple and gold of traditional agricultural clothing.
The runes are divided into three types, corresponding to three weapons and fighting methods: bow and arrow (ranged shooting), sword (frontal combat), and short sword (stealth assassination). Configuring the correct rune abilities in battle will greatly increase the player's combat effectiveness.
For example, my bow and arrow is equipped with a bunch of runes that restore the effect of the bow and arrow, so I am not afraid to use up the arrow when shooting.
Orc DreamWorks
With the help of elven craftsmen, players will turn on the ability to control orcs in the middle of the game. After being able to control the orcs, the game is about to enter the DreamWorks section. Players can control not only the trash fish, but also the captain and chief. After successful control, they can give orders to riot, usurp the throne, fight each other, and in any case, they will continue to stir up trouble in Sauron's army.
Watching the little guy under his control climb all the way from trash fish to chief is actually quite touching.
Very interesting orc playground, like heroic battles are not to be missed
The concept is more like an orc playground, through random events and orc abilities to give players different challenges to enjoy. Because the orc captain will continue to promote and flow, as long as the system will give you a position as soon as you have the opportunity, it is basically impossible to kill. And the whole game experience is based on that random army system.
It's an interesting design, with random events that keep coming up to immerse the player, and because combat and stealth are fun in themselves, players forget their time while constantly taking on missions. In order to assist this system, the game has a very rich variety of orcs, with a variety of appearances, personalities, and dialogues, so that players will be impressed by those randomly produced orcs. This is really an extremely good part of this random play.
Incidentally, this game has no NPCs, and players can't see any other important characters in the game except for the main line and cutscenes, so the whole game is really only players and funny orcs. But this system also has drawbacks, because the experience of each task is similar, so it will feel more and more repetitive after playing. Personally, it is estimated that developers have invested all their capital in this system, so the game has almost no other chic gameplay. Even the main quests are similar to the side quests. Even the boss battle has not changed, so this boss battle makes me quite disappointed.
All in all, this game is very worth playing and lays a good foundation for its sequel. If you like the way the Arkham series fights, this is definitely a work not to be missed.