Shadow of Mordor

I think the best word to describe my feelings towards Lord of the Rings etc. etc. is appreciation. There are many legendary artistic works that I respect: I understand what they do and how they do it, I acknowledge their place in modern cultural canon, and yet I do not particularly enjoy them. That doesn’t prevent me from understanding what their creators accomplished and why others speak of them so highly. On the flip side are works that I admire and adore, my favourite franchises, those I personally believe mark the heights of their media and genre. Somewhere in between are those that I appreciate. When it comes to these, I generally acknowledge that I like them without loving them. They might not speak to me on the deepest level, but I find more value in them than simply respecting their place in the canon. On the occasional weekend, I might be possessed by a sudden obsession for them, for the feelings that surround them, but after a few days this intensity recedes and they fall from the immediacy of my focus. Lord of the Rings is like this, especially the film adaptations. Many aspects of the series appeal to me; others do not. Without any real love for Lord of the Rings, it is easier to forgive Shadow of Mordor its franchise-related sins. As much as I would prefer the media landscape to be filled with new properties and spiritual successors, I accept (on some level) that investment requires reason to believe in return. Shadow of Mordor would not have had so many resources poured into it if it was an original IP, and marketing it would have been even harder. I surprised myself with how well I was able to ignore the Ring-themed baggage, yet the game’s success was precisely because I ignored it. Nothing I want to say about this game is based in its setting or plot. Instead, like almost everyone, my brain was captivated by the famous Nemesis System.

 

There’s a joke among critics about Hideo Kojima’s post-Konami project, Death Stranding, which is to establish that an earlier release contained similar elements or themes, or was structured similarly, etc. etc, thus making it the first game in the “strand-like” genre, and Death Stranding the second. I’m tempted to apply the same process here: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are essentially the same game. They share a focus on developing organisational power (which further increases the personal power of the protagonist, whether through skill trees or tech trees). They mix stealth and action gameplay. Two open world maps are used as the stage for this all to play out, in which small groups relatively similar but statistically differentiated enemies can be found and interacted with. This theatre allows for the development of relationships, and in both games enemies eventually become the most loyal and effective soldiers a human wraith or demon could ask for. Perhaps the feeling that Shadow of Mordor would have been better served as a wholly original story, rather than bastardising Tolkien’s work, truly makes it the first of the phantom pain-like genre. I never finished Metal Gear Solid V. Was it because I was too disappointed in the direction of a franchise I adored? Did my more callous, disrespectful approach to Shadow of Mordor allow me to reach its conclusion? Of course, getting into and then out of media is more often a product of mood and timing. I had to try Dorohedoro twice before I even liked it, and its now one of my favourite comic series. Sometimes you bounce off. Sometimes you slide out. Shadow of Mordor had enough to carry me through, although much of its progression mechanics are built on the same endless slop that has lathered itself over the video game industry as a whole, and I’m not particularly interested in trying out the sequel any time soon.

 

So that’s how I feel about accomplished media, and Shadow of Mordor. It’s fine. It’s enjoyable. It didn’t really spark any great love or passion in me, and neither did it make me turn away in disappointment or disgust. I finished it, largely because the end was close enough by the time I considered not finishing. Yet I have a little more to say, particularly on how it compares to Phantom Pain. I figured I’d have a bit of stupid fun, and finish of this response piece with a sham q & a.

 

 

 

What is the Nemesis System?

The way Shadow of Mordor organises your enemies. A set number of orcs are considered captains, organised into four ranks. Generic enemies are promoted to captains to fill vacancies, sometimes because of interactions with the player. Captains gain unique traits, including resistances to certain attacks, fear of others, and particular ways of fighting. It’s a good way to incorporate a few disparate mechanics and fold them under one umbrella.

 

Is it fun?

Yeah! The Nemesis System is pretty popular, and audiences have been for it to be used or replicated by other developers in different franchises and genres. One of the most popular fan ideas was the Arkham games (also published by Warner Bros.), a natural fit for the style. One of the best parts of its implementation here is the cocky swagger (and occasional lack thereof) demonstrated by the orcs. They leer, jeer, and taunt, and the mini-cutscenes that play when you clash with a captain for the first time in each battle are an amusing little break. You’d expect to get annoyed that the flow of battle is interrupted by generic named enemies stopping you for a chat, but it works. Most everything about the system works in that magical “hehe fun videogame” sense. It’s fun to fight these guys, it’s fun to hear their boasts, it’s fun to start recognising them, it’s even fun when they beat you and gain some status for it.

 

So its perfect all round, then?

Uuuh… not quite. Before I reached the second area, when Talion gains the ability to brand orcs and bring them under his control, it was feeling a little meaningless. There’s not much point invading duels and hunts over and over when you yourself don’t have much to gain other than keeping an eye on your favourite foes. Of course, there’s the various upgrades and currency and skill trees to fill out (oh boy, upgrades and currency and skill trees, what an extraordinary open world innovation!) but it feels like there should be something more meaningful in these interactions. Fortunately, once Talion has orcs under his command, there is. The Nemesis System then becomes about helping your underlings gain power, not just bringing warchiefs into the open to merely kill them, but now replacing or subjugating them outright. It’s pretty fun, but I found I very quickly rampaged through the hordes of Nurn. It didn’t take me too long to go from one submissive warchief to five. I’ve heard the sequel adds more interesting and dynamic elements to the system, which could be interesting to check out. Overall, it’s an enjoyable layer that makes clever use of procedurally generated elements to elevate what would otherwise be a standard boring, bloated open world.

 

What’s the deal with Metal Gear Solid?

Several of the games revolve around building up an army by bringing your enemies onside. Hey, that sounds kind of familiar! I’ve played Peace Walker (to completion) and Phantom Pain (to the point of boredom and sadness, twice). There are a few key differences. For one, the way you recruit allies is completely different. Instead of the ridiculous method of the elven wraith bound within you subjugating orcs through sheer force of will, Big Boss chooses the much more sensible approach of tying a balloon to sleeping foes, who are only too happy to help their main adversary (some recruits do spend time in the Mother Base brig before coming around to your glorious cause). Their stats are more static than the orcs – I don’t believe they ever change their ranks after recruitment – and they don’t do much anymore. Sure, you can choose to play as them (but why would you, when the default player character is the cooler and sexier Big Boss?), and in Phantom Pain you can stroll around the base and interact with them. But in Shadow of Mordor, your branded orcs back you up on the battlefield, and you can send your branded captains to ruin an enemy orcs’ day.

 

Which one’s better?

Bit of a stupid way to look at video games, don’t you think? Blunt comparisons are often unhelpful, but I’ll try and express why I enjoyed both systems and yet wanted something a little different. In Peace Walker and Phantom Pain, you recruit soldiers to increase the level of various teams on your base, essentially removing them from the board. This in turn increases your individual resources as a player, particularly as the R&D team is filled out, as it is the primary check on developing new weapons. Unfortunately, there are so many weapons and the tech tree is largely filled with incremental statistical upgrades rather than consistently offering meaningful gameplay enhancements or trade-offs. These do exist, of course, but the typical stats-based approach is an unwelcome layer on top of the excellent gameplay. In Shadow of Mordor, on the other hand, the pieces remain in play. Branded orcs remain in the open world and fight alongside you, not replaced as easily as soldiers taken away by Fulton. Orcs also directly upgrade the player’s power level when they die, giving them resources to earn new unlocks and runes that change the properties of your three weapons. Unfortunately, there are so many runes, and the two skill trees are largely filled with incremental statistical upgrades rather than consistently offering meaningful gameplay enhancements or trade-offs. These do exist, of course, but the typical stats-based approach is an unwelcome layer on top of the enjoyable gameplay.

 

Look, I know Phantom Pain and Shadow of Mordor aren’t trying to do the same things, but the uncanny resemblances and the parts of my brain they activate are important. I’m mostly dismissive of the reliance contemporary video games have on numbers (and especially the primacy of numbers going up), and I’m largely disinterested in the direction open worlds have taken (I’m thinking of Ubisoft-style design here). But underneath the slimy layer of progress bars, tech trees, and collectibles, both games have a beating heart driven by systems that encourage players to individuate generic enemies. These systems give life to the open world, give slightly more personal meaning to typical combat encounters. It’s not just about growing in strength, about building armies. It's about players “humanising” their foes, wanting to bring them on board. These systems are only really possible in an open world that encourages replaying relatively generic missions, to move through the same spaces and do the same things over and over. Some could see that as a condemnation of it, but many (myself included) appreciate the meta-game that army-building provides alongside the roteness of open world gameplay. Both systems feel a little more special than the usual formulaic progression, even if they rely on some of the same Skinner box tricks.

 

Ultimately, I found the Nemesis System to be a little more engaging than Mother Base, for two reasons. One, the orcs continue to exist in the game world after recruitment. As Talion, you’re the head of an army (or at least a skirmishing band of uruks), whereas Big Boss feels more like the one man super-sneaky solider that Metal Gear protagonists have always been, just with 500 cheerleaders waiting back home for him. Second, the enemies stats as displayed in each games’ respective systems matters in Shadow of Mordor, but not in Phantom Pain. I never felt like there was any difference in sneaking past or fighting with an A-ranked or E-ranked soldier, whereas when an orc was immune to combat finishers I felt it, I had to fight around it. It’s not particularly deep, but it’s a good way of matching the army meta-game to the moment to moment gameplay, one that Phantom Pain didn’t seem to attempt. There’s a flipside to all this, though. Phantom Pain has much better gameplay overall. It’s an awesome stealth game (I think? – not exactly an expert here, if I’m being honest), works pretty well as a shooter, and the world is engaging to explore and move through despite a tendency towards barrenness between outposts. Shadow of Mordor is a little too bland in comparison. The two maps are much less interesting than those in Phantom Pain, with little to do in orc outposts other than fight. The one saving grace is the speed with which Talion covers terrain, crossing the entire map with a pace that would make Pequod jealous. The combat is similarly a mix of stealth, ranged, and melee engagements (with several types of animals serving as rough vehicle analogues), although Shadow of Mordor focusses most giant brawls rather than stealth. All three are enjoyable to pull off, but not particularly deep or dynamic. Being the best Arkham imitator isn’t exactly the highest praise, but it makes for more fun combat than most developers could hope to pull off, and the moment-to-moment stuff is really just a base on which the metagame can be tantalisingly balanced.