Addicted to Killing
***Warning: Spoilers***
Not too soon after you begin the game, Talion and his family is brutally murdered by Sauron’s men. Unfortunately, it seems that Talion has bounded to the ghost of the ring maker, Celebrimbor, keeping him in the world of the living, to seek vengeance.
The big highlight of the game is the smooth combat and the Nemesis system. The game does a good job introducing the player to most of the basic mechanics that they would need to leave their mark in this ever-changing system whether it’s sniping a leader, sneaking in for a kill, or fighting hordes of enemies, the player can equip themselves with skills and tools to handle each situation. Be mindful though, because you can get lost in your mindless slaughter.
The nemesis system is unique to this franchise, and can be unforgiving. Each death affects it, including your own. When I first started playing, I was engrossed with killing everyone on it, only doing the required story missions to get to the high-ranking Uruks. After wiping a good chunk from the board, I managed to die, causing those open spots to fill in by other random Uruks. Steadfast on my personal mission, I was able to kill most of them, including generals, but even without dying, it looked like in the end, the open spots still filled in. Dejected by this site, I decided to continue the story and when I thought I was close to beating it… a surprise came up.
After clearing most of the board, yup I still decided to try to keep an open board as much as possible, at a certain point, when the missions start dwindling down, you get sent to a whole new area to do the same exact thing. I was so exhausted after this discovery that I actually even took a break to play other games. When I returned, I for some reason still found myself trying to clear the board, even with my knowledge of the system.
Up until that point, I tried my best to pay attention to the story, but I, for the most part, skipped a lot of dialogue. Especially after getting into the new area, I skipped almost every cutscene. The story took a backseat to me wanting to maximize my stats and kill everything. Even with the amount of killing that I did, it didn’t feel like that affected the big fight in the end because I did most of the killing anyway.
With a great battle system, this game definitely stands out amongst other games of today’s offerings. I wish the outcome of taking down Sauron’s army felt more rewarding, but I had fun overall, so much that I pretty much ignored the story.