Revenge I hear is a dish best served cold. In the case of Shadow of Mordor the dish in question is a severed orc’s head. I am a big Lord of the Rings fan, I have read and re-read the books more times than I can remember and the films were a great interpretation of them. We’ve also had a few fantastic games from the franchise – The Two Towers on PS2 springs to mind. As a result of this, when I heard about Shadow of Mordor, I was extremely excited. Unfortunately I didn’t actually own a PS4 at the time…heartbroken is not even the word. All that has now changed and I am now able to step into the extremely springy shoes of Talion, a ranger of Gonder tasked with protecting the realm against …well the Shadow of Mordor. I think someone had it in for Talion. I mean this was always going to fail.

The games core mechanics is a mixture of a few different titles, most notably Assassins Creed. It’s your standard climby-stealthy-stabby affair and the game does pull it off extremely well. After the inevitable moment you are spotted, the combat is really well done and incredibly visceral. As mentioned in my opening statement after you’re done in an area there will be a great many orc heads rolling around in the dirt, all with surprised expressions etched across their hideous faces. It’s not the combat or the parkour that sets Shadow of Mordor apart though.

One of the biggest aspects is the ever changing army of Sauron. I will give you an example, if you are killed by a grunt, a bog standard orc with no name, that orc will then be promoted to a captain. He’ll get a name, a personality and a unique list of traits such as immune to stealth or vulnerable to fire. He will also remember you and will taunt you on your next meeting – he is also a lot harder to kill. If you get shanked by the same enemy multiple times it creates a bit of a problem, he will eventually be promoted to warchief and will be impervious to a lot of your attacks. It adds a much needed USP to the game and sets the stage for a number of personal revenge kills as you track down the bastard who killed you and separate his head from torso. Not that I am petty or anything. I think I played about 4/5 hours on the first day and didn’t complete a single story mission as I was so taken with tracking down captains and chiefs in an effort to assert my dominance.

Another one of the games more original ideas is splitting gameplay into two different play styles. You have the ranger skill tree where all of your stealth skills are and the wraith side. This part of the skill tree grants you access to powerful magic attacks and also allows you brand enemies. This links back nicely to the promotion aspect of the enemy army. You brand a captain making him your ally, you then kill all of his competition and there you have it, a warchief waiting for your commands. Who doesn’t like a game where you can make an orc your bitch?

The organic nature of Shadow of Mordor mixed with the extremely brutal combat makes for an extremely entertaining game. As I said I am a fan of LoTR and the essence of the franchise is captured in the game really well. You actually feel as though you’re making a noticeable difference in the land when you have most of the captains lying face down in a pool of their own blood. All that I can say for anyone wanting to play is, happy hunting.