Recent reviews by Green Tea

Would definitely recommend this to EU4 players who want to focus more on dynasties.

It's like Civ, but sightly more complicated, has a fantasy setting, and looks pretty good (except the invidual soldier models when you preview them, they look pretty unpolished). Also the tutorial is quite boring.

Also it's VERY addictive once you get the hang of it.

Get ready for a lenghty review.

Backstory time: Warner Brothers (publisher) and Monolith (developer)'s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an action and stealth RPG based in J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy world of Arda. Taking place between the events of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, we follow the life (or afterlife) of Talion, Ranger of Gondor, who has been killed along with his family by the Black Hand, a follower of Sauron, and somehow has been denied death. He becomes a wraith imbued with the spirit of Celembrimbor, a great elf-smith who had died millenias before these events took place.

The main selling point of this game is the Nemesis system, which is comprised of Orc-captains who are chosen either by random or if they kill you. They are given special abilities and weaknesses that one should exploit to their liking. Beware that if they increase in power (by killing you, killing beasts, etc), they will become stronger. These captains can then fight each other, recruit soldiers to fight with them, and become bodyguards of Warchiefs. There are five Warchiefs in each of the two zones in the game (Udun and Núrnen). Captains become Warchiefs either by organising riots against current Warchiefs, or by becoming bodyguards and betraying their own. What makes this Nemesis system even better is that, as you progress further in the game, you can actually brand (take control) over orc soldiers, Captains and even Warchiefs, and make them do whatever you want as you continue to build your orc-army and take on the Enemy.

The game's combat system is a hybrid between Assassin's Creed and the Batman Arkham series mechanics, meaning that if you like any of those games, you will love this one's combat. This system gives you three options of engaging your enemy: charging with your greatsword and taking your foes head-on like a baws, getting headshots with your spirit bow, or by sneaking in with your dagger and taking down Orcs before they even realise you're there. The action is extremely satisfying, albeit getting somewhat repetitive as you get used to the game. Similar to Asssasin's Creed, the controls may start to feel unresponsive as your character starts to do unintentional things that might lead to you getting discovered in the middle of an Orc stronghold. One thing that bugs me the same way it does with AC, is that you become nearly invincible if you keep pressing the counter button when prompted.

And that takes us to controls. Now I'm no slouch with keyboard and mouse, but I can easily say I am not the best when it comes to using controllers (I can see my Xbox controller I use with my PC shaking its head in disapproval every time I use it). If you're planning to play this game the traditional way with the good ol' keyboard-and-mouse, suffice to say you will probably find no bad things with the controls. They are well spaced-out and are easy to understand and memorize. If you are using the controller, then it's probably the same experience.

Speaking of experience, how's the visual and sound (I'm just going to say it twice) experience , you might add?
Well I'm glad you asked. It's just spectacular. The graphics are already excellent on low settings, but you can just imagine the beauty if you crank up everything to maximum. The textures are well detailed, and the lighting is spot-on. Keep in mind, however, that you will need a beefy PC with not less than 3gb of VRAM to be able to max out this game at 1080p. I can max out everything with around 60 fps average on my 4.6Ghz 4790k and r9 390 (8gb) rig, which is in the lower part of the high-end range. Even with such a massive frame buffer I still saw the game consume over 3/4 at 1080p, so it really is a VRAM hog. But, again, I wouldn't see it as an optimization issue, since this game really does look excellent. Oh, and it sounds good, too.

So let's head on to the story: While it is based in Arda, keep in mind that the game's story is non-canon, with creatures (Caragors, Graugs, Ghuls, Caragaths, and the like) being entirely made-up by Monolith. While there was a build-up towards the Black Hand as the story progressed naturally as it led you to each of the three Black Captains, it all came crashing down immediately as it reached a very disappointing climax that left me scratching my head. The characters were neatly presented and professionally voice-acted, and I can guarantee that some of them will make you smile all the way through. If I had to pick my least favourite, it would probably by Talion: he sounds extremely bored and irritated most of the time, and nothing he does makes him memorable. My guess would be this was done to shed more light on other characters rather than himself, but I believe that in all cases the most memorable character should be the protagonist, but this however appears to be an exception that I would have liked to seen been done otherwise.

And last, but definetly not least, the gameplay. How long is the game? Is it repetitive? Is there anything to do besides story progression? My answer: The Nemesis System. When you finish the story, you are left to continue to strengthen your army for as long as you like, which, to my suprise, did not bore me one bit. As 'side quests' you can go free slaves in enemy strongholds, interrupt a Captain's feast, execution or duel with another captain, and collect relics, herbs, etc. There are a lot of things to do and to achieve before you see that 100% mark on your game save (which I, admittedly, have not yet reached). All that added with the Lord of the Hunt and Bright Lord DLC (which, if you bought the GOTY edition like I did, comes included), makes a week's worth of gameplay (which is above average).

In conclusion, I think that this game is well-worth the price tag. If you can get this on sale, all the better. It is a unique game, with a unique system the likes of which we have never seen before, amazing graphics and has a lot of things to do. The story would probably be the weak-point of the game alongside its average length, with RPGs like the Witcher 3 surpassing it in terms of length for the same price. However, if you don't care about that, it's a no-brainer.

Pros:
-Excellent graphics;
-Satisfying combat;
-Very good voice-acting;
-Nemesis system is truly next-gen.

Cons:
-Difficult to drive, requires beefy PC;
-Disappointing climax;