So, I heard great things about the game. Praise from left and right. But I have to wonder- how is it for a fan of Tolkien like myself? Becasue from what I heard of the story and gameplay it sounds like it pretty much takes a piss all over the books. Like a great game, that really should not be attached to Middle-Earth.

I guess I should explain that when I say "a fan of Tolkien" I mean it seriously- I read Silmarillion eight times and wrote articles about his work. But at the same time I can enjoy something "lighter" made with the license. I liked The Battle for Middle-Earth, I even enjoyed War in the North. Sure, it was not worthy of the source material, but it was unoffensive, something on a level of playing a tabletop Middle-Earth RPG with a scenario written by your friend. So what I'm asking is whether Shadow of Mordor is that kind of harmless fan-fiction, or does it totally Micheal Bay Middle-Earth?

I think it's reasonably harmless, I don't recall anything making me go all "WTF" about it. Except maybe the last 2 or so seconds of the game.

That said, I didn't really pay all that much attention to the collectibles' backstory; and the main storyline is pretty forgettable. Basically, there's hardly enough story to take a piss all over the books, at most it will get the cover slightly wet.

you mean moist

war in the north was mostly the same really

*mild spoiler*

Too much Gollum involved imho. I don't like Gollum.

Never bothered with that one.

...Well, actually, I think I downloaded a pirate copy and tried it for about 3 whole minutes before uninstalling and not thinking about it until today.

its ...okay
not spectacular not offensive
its just there
the graphics are nice and it does have a difficulty spike that becomes vertical but thats about it

If you were a real fan you'd just get it and not even bother asking.

jk

This guy seems to think it's more the latter. According to him, it completely butchers all the themes and ideals from the books to turn it into "infantile revenge porn".

Yeah... that pretty much answers my question I guess. A pity, but that is exactly the vibe I got from everything I've seen of the game.

Do you really want to support this
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/9782-Shadow-of-Mordors-Promotion-Deals-with-Plaid-Social
only for an orc slaying simulator?

I'd certainly disagree with that. It's worth a playthrough. Don't go in for lore reasons, but for gameplay and world roaming it's pretty fun. The way you affect and take over commanders in the leaders army is pretty good too.

Sure, it's not top 5 of the year imo, but it's certainly not a bad game.

For the record, the game never states you to be playing the good guy. Angmar's witch king might have been a really cool dude before falling to the ring.

Honestly, even after reading that article (and agreeing with most of it) I stand by what I said: the game doesn't have nearly enough story for me to get annoyed at it, nor does it show any too out of character people. Sure it's probably not the Tolkien game you'd wish for, but showing a different perspective doesn't necessarily kill it IMO.

The thing is, the entire Middle-Earth world and Tolkien's fictional works have been greatly expanded upon. Lord of the RIngs is now like Star Wars. A license where ever product, while it stays within the borders of the universe, it still expands upon it. Don't go into the game expecting some amazing story that necessarily fits into the world perfectly. War in the North was pretty much a slap on original story and still good enough if you didn't mind the fact it wasn't a tie in game. The same should go for this one.

I don't know why some of the really cool stories from the Silmarillion are not used in games and movies a bit more, is there at least something about Feanor anywhere?