A good start, but still not perfect

After I played the game for nearly 35 hours countless Urukhauptmänner made a head shorter and just before the last story mission stand, a review on Middle-earth: Modors shadow. The game is an action-adventure, with RPG and Hack`n Slay bonds. It is a pure single-player game.

Story:
The story takes place in the Lord of the Rings universe and is chronologically set between the two movie trilogies.
You play the Ranger Talion. He's captain of the guard and Gondor guarding the Black Gate. During the attack the Uruk Talion and his family were murdered. But Talion it is not possible to go into the world of the dead, is taken by a mysterious same spirit possession and so converts between the worlds of the living and the world of the dead. Who is this spirit and what drives him to his deeds, we learn in the course of history. Thus Talion makes on to take revenge for his family.
I found the story interesting, because it was about the history of the ring of power here. Except for Gollum but come no recognizable characters from the films.

Setting:
Since the story takes place in Modor, there are no human settlements or cities. In addition, the environment is usually very monotonous, what will change in the second region a little. At first I was disappointed with the size of the freely accessible world something, but after completing the first 10 story missions to get again in a second equally large area to which you can return to the first at all times. Overall, I found the design Modors as credible and the world has a sufficient size.

Graphics / Performance:
The extent to which the graphics are good or bad, I can little judge, since it's my first PS4 title. I felt as well, but as I said can, give any comparisons. The Urukhauptmänner are designed class. The animations and the performance of the game were always liquid. No stuttering or framerate dips and a beautiful vision. The loading times were fine.

Sound:
The soundtrack was also consistent, although not so epic music as used in the movies. The game is fully synchronized in German and the speakers are good.

Control:
Here one has, as already mentioned, especially in games like Assassins Creed (around exploring, climbing) and Batman (battle management) oriented. The controls are intuitive and learned quickly. In addition, a good flow of the game comes in the fighting.

Nemesissytem:
Within the Orcs and Uruk there is a hierarchy. Elite captains have among themselves more Captains (that goes over 4 levels up to 0815-Uruk), which compete with each other, slaughter each other, etc. In so-called power quests you can decide here active, if a chief is gaining power or he, for example, a duel loses by your aid. Defeat you a captain he rises in his rank, his power is greater and follow him more people. What food are cold a captain, perhaps jumping another in its place. I also happened that I had a captain (apparently) have defeated, but since he was later, with Armprotese, burns, etc. In addition, chiefs have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, some may impose by an arrow, while others are assassinated again with a sneak attack. The higher the rank, the less weaknesses the captain and most of the more difficult the struggle. There are different ranking systems for both areas. After defeating a chief of leaves usually one rune. All in all very nice, but could be expanded, as with certain season comes a certain Tristes.

RPG elements:
With increasing power (defeating Uruks, chiefs, completing missions) Talion can learn additional skills. Some skills will be unlocked only through story missions. There is also a separate currency system, where runes places for weapons (sword, dagger and bow), etc. are unlocked. Different swords, daggers and bows do not exist. Talion has his weapons from the beginning. However, the arms can be equipped with runes. Rune bring different skills with them and they come in various stages (stage 1-20, Epic).

Gameplay:
Most of the time I went to the open world simply by Quest to Quest, in between I've also taken a captain. It is important to find different collectibles to provide survival and hunting missions to master weapons challenges to complete liberation quests and then the events of the main men among themselves. Away from the story so there is plenty to do.

Difficulty:
The game was indeed shown by some critics as too heavy. This I can not confirm. Surely you can not massacre by Hundreds of Uruk to start the game and will have and seek to run away. Some captains may initially be quite crisp. If one makes but some events, procured on a regular basis the information on the main men, what are the strengths and weaknesses, the game is absolutely creating bar. I've only died twice and it was each Caradore involved because you tame this gets the ability later.

Conclusion:
All in all Middle-earth: Modors shadow a good PS4 title. It skilfully combines familiar elements from other games series. The Nemesissystem is good, but still expandable. Even for Lord of the Rings fans, the game is interesting. Overall, I would say a buy recommendation for the title.