mahdyar_rng
6 reviews liked by mahdyar_rng
Underrated
This game improves on alot of what the first game established.
The nemesis system can be pretty fun, unlike the first game.
The story is better but the requirements to continue the story ruins the pacing a bit. Though luckily I already had most of the requirements done by the time I got round to those points.
The epilogue is a shitshow making you play 8 hours of fortress defence just for a 3 minute cutscene. This and other aspects like the online lead me to believe this was originally going to be some sort of live service game luckily it turned out not be... Fully.
The combat is much improved compared to the first game, adding a difficulty option and giving us some cool new abilities.
The nemesis system can be pretty fun, unlike the first game.
The story is better but the requirements to continue the story ruins the pacing a bit. Though luckily I already had most of the requirements done by the time I got round to those points.
The epilogue is a shitshow making you play 8 hours of fortress defence just for a 3 minute cutscene. This and other aspects like the online lead me to believe this was originally going to be some sort of live service game luckily it turned out not be... Fully.
The combat is much improved compared to the first game, adding a difficulty option and giving us some cool new abilities.
I really enjoyed my time with Man of Medan but there is one thing that constantly went through my head; Juxtaposition.
Let me explain, this game is gorgeous, great looking environments and character models in atmospheric settings. The camera angles are obviously designed for a cinematic claustrophobic feeling setting up the feeling of dread and scares. This is entirely ruined by the terrible animations and controls, sometimes to hilarious effect. As an example fairly early in the game when walking down some hollow metal stairs the camera swoops down slowly behind the stairs watching your feet walk down them and giving a narrow view down a corridor. It's an angle I've seen films use before and the effect was really nice. The illusion is shattered like a glass hitting a wall though as my friend and I struggle to control our wooden walking puppet characters as they bump into each other and scenery as walking along even in a straight line felt like a constant battle. Sometimes it was like aliens had taken control of humans and weren't used to their bodies having so few limbs. Characters would stop sometimes for no reason, turning felt like trying to drive a T-34 tank and it generally felt like a cumbersome mess to actually play
A shame really, I like a lot of what this game does otherwise. The story is actually pretty well done with some interesting jump scares and revelations though I had figured out what was happening very early into the game due to one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's using a similar idea. It's actually based on a supposedly real ship and situation though its a bit sketchy on details how true the events are. Don't look it up until you finish the game as it will spoil it but a fascinating tale.
I played it through in co-op a few times with a friend and seeing the characters expressions every time we were making a decision was never not hilarious. The sudden silence, eyes darting around with a look as if they just realized they left their front door open before they went out never got old. Speaking of the co-op, it's got some really cool moments where you split up controlling different characters exploring different areas then re-meeting up again with decisions you make effecting how the story plays out and who lives and dies. The game wasn't hugely stable for us playing online though, had a few disconnections, bugs, glitches and crashes here and there sadly.
It's pretty short but with fairly decent replay value, collectables, endings and some making of documentaries attached. We are definitely interested in the others in the series as I hear they get better from here, and this one was pretty good. Recommend giving it a try.
Edit: So an update was released with a PS5 version but included a whole new ending, improved UI and other changes. The UI and difficulty options are good, as is the new ending and faster walking speed. It's still full of bugs though. The update introduced an infinite loading screen stopping movie night working and wiped game saves. Absolute mess.
+ Gorgeous visuals.
+ Co-op mode has some neat ideas.
+ Interesting story and atmosphere.
- Characters control like Octodad.
- Quite a few bugs and crashes.
Let me explain, this game is gorgeous, great looking environments and character models in atmospheric settings. The camera angles are obviously designed for a cinematic claustrophobic feeling setting up the feeling of dread and scares. This is entirely ruined by the terrible animations and controls, sometimes to hilarious effect. As an example fairly early in the game when walking down some hollow metal stairs the camera swoops down slowly behind the stairs watching your feet walk down them and giving a narrow view down a corridor. It's an angle I've seen films use before and the effect was really nice. The illusion is shattered like a glass hitting a wall though as my friend and I struggle to control our wooden walking puppet characters as they bump into each other and scenery as walking along even in a straight line felt like a constant battle. Sometimes it was like aliens had taken control of humans and weren't used to their bodies having so few limbs. Characters would stop sometimes for no reason, turning felt like trying to drive a T-34 tank and it generally felt like a cumbersome mess to actually play
A shame really, I like a lot of what this game does otherwise. The story is actually pretty well done with some interesting jump scares and revelations though I had figured out what was happening very early into the game due to one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's using a similar idea. It's actually based on a supposedly real ship and situation though its a bit sketchy on details how true the events are. Don't look it up until you finish the game as it will spoil it but a fascinating tale.
I played it through in co-op a few times with a friend and seeing the characters expressions every time we were making a decision was never not hilarious. The sudden silence, eyes darting around with a look as if they just realized they left their front door open before they went out never got old. Speaking of the co-op, it's got some really cool moments where you split up controlling different characters exploring different areas then re-meeting up again with decisions you make effecting how the story plays out and who lives and dies. The game wasn't hugely stable for us playing online though, had a few disconnections, bugs, glitches and crashes here and there sadly.
It's pretty short but with fairly decent replay value, collectables, endings and some making of documentaries attached. We are definitely interested in the others in the series as I hear they get better from here, and this one was pretty good. Recommend giving it a try.
Edit: So an update was released with a PS5 version but included a whole new ending, improved UI and other changes. The UI and difficulty options are good, as is the new ending and faster walking speed. It's still full of bugs though. The update introduced an infinite loading screen stopping movie night working and wiped game saves. Absolute mess.
+ Gorgeous visuals.
+ Co-op mode has some neat ideas.
+ Interesting story and atmosphere.
- Characters control like Octodad.
- Quite a few bugs and crashes.
i feel good killing orcs
I was completely surprised by how good this game is. I know it's a copy of the Assassin's Creed formula, but even so... good game!
After finishing lotr's trilogy I wanted to try some games that are connected to lotr (spoiler alert: yes this game is connected to lotr but it's not canon storywise) picked it up with dlcs as well and the game was great (finished only the main storyline missions) and i'm looking forward to play it more since I got the dlcs.
Might be one of my favorite RPG game of all time to be honest, the combat is great and the graphics are way ahead for a 2014 game and the stealth is not complicated and very straight forward.
By the way only 20 main storyline missions to finish, so the game is very short there, shadow of war is way longer from what I heard so can't wait to play that one after i'm done having fun with this one.
Might be one of my favorite RPG game of all time to be honest, the combat is great and the graphics are way ahead for a 2014 game and the stealth is not complicated and very straight forward.
By the way only 20 main storyline missions to finish, so the game is very short there, shadow of war is way longer from what I heard so can't wait to play that one after i'm done having fun with this one.