Shadow of Mordor: The Bright Lord DLC

Last time, we discussed Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.  This is some of the attached DLC. Is it worth it?

Genre

Action Platformer

Platform

PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One

Story

In the main storyline, the Ranger Captain Talion was stationed at the Black Gate of Mordor with his family when the Orcs came. The Orcs slaughtered Talion’s family and killed him. But a wraith from the first age has possessed Talion, and he cannot die…or, more precisely, he cannot stay dead. Talion goes on a quest to stop the hordes of Sauron.

The Bright Lord is the story of the wraith who has possessed Talion, and how he came to be a wraith, as he uses the one ring to turn Sauron's army against him.

Mechanics

Think of this as Batman: Arkham City, only with swords. Only with arrows and knives instead of baterangs.

It’s simple, it’s straightforward, and it’s generally just easy.

Yes, I gave this short shrift in the last review.  But it's simple, really.  You can counter with the Y button, attack with the X button, run and jump by holding the A button while moving the stick. You can bring out the bow and arrow by holding the left trigger -- while in the main game, you enter a slow-motion "wraith mode" where you can draw back the bow, in The Bright Lord, you have no such slow motion.   Double-tapping the right trigger will throw Baterangs ... um, knives, really.

While in the main game, you can hit a combo Orcs when your hit streak is high enough (like any combo in a Batman game), they replaced the "wraith flash" (stunning a group of Orcs) with bulk dominating.

Gameplay

The Nemesis system from the main game is butchered here. Basically, if an Orc kills you, he gets a name (if he doesn’t have one already), goes up in power, and a promotion, and he can be targeted for revenge if you decide to.  But here ... it's insane. The Orcs that kill you go from level 1 to level 20+ villains.

For the Bright Lord, branding starts almost immediately. Brand enough Orcs, you bring out a Captain in an area. Get the captain, you get to build a tower that unlocks other missions.

However, the missions are various and feel more like segments they could have put into the main game, but everyone thought "nah, this would break the game settings."

Music/Graphics

The music is … okay. It wants to be Howard Shore and the theme of Lord of the Rings, and barely gets to the level of The Hobbit’s soundtrack.

The graphics, though, are stunning. It’s not as good as the original Lord of the Rings films, but darn close.

Morals/Appropriateness

It’s Lord of the Rings. They made Talion’s family being murdered PG-13 (the camera is angled so you don’t actually see anything). Remember Aragorn cutting heads and arms off right and left? It’s as bloody as that.

Community/Multiplayer

None.

Addiction Danger

While Shadows of Mordor was a great romp, The Bright Lord has much to be desired. It was deliberately harder, and really not half as much fun as the main campaign. And, really, the main campaign already told you the story, so there's really no reason to play it. I wouldn't put in any addiction danger.

Problems/Ending Comments

The controls can get a little strange at times, but I used a controller on PC, so that might be on my end.

My Rating: 6/10.  PG-13. It's okay.

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Copyright 2015 John Konecsni