Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Impressions

Yes, we all know what I spent my weekend doing. I couldn’t resist giving Shadow of Mordor a try once my buddy told me about The Silmarillion backbone that the game uses heavily in its story line. You start out by watching your family get slaughtered right in front of you in what seems to be a sacrifice of some sort. You then awaken as a wraith with a wraith buddy (whose identity is yet unkonwn early on in the game) that guides you throughout the game for the rest of the way. The easiest comparison to make for Shadow of Mordor’s fight mechanics is with the Assassin’s Creed series, most closely resembling Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Once we get passed that small detail, it’s easier to come to understand that this is the direction a ton of these melee combat systems are moving since Batman: Arkham Asylum hit the market back in 2010. I like to call these combat systems the, ‘push-a-button-enjoy-the-show’ phenomenon, which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy them as they usually lead to beautiful sequences but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of skill ceiling for titles who employ it. Yea, it’s sorta’ like that. With the Rocky music in the background and all.   Now, on to the interesting stuff. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor introduces a concept they’re calling, ‘Nemesis’. Which is as cool as it sounds and leads to loads of possibilities. When I started playing, I just jumped into combat with random orcs roaming Mordor and went after low-level captains only, to my dismay, to g…