Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsDon't Be Scared Off By the One-Star Reviews. Get This Game Today!
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2015
I'm a long-time fan of the LOTR stories, so needless to say that I enjoyed this game VERY much. So far, I've logged something like 90 hours on this game, so there's lots of things to do, even after you've finished the main story, especially if you're one of those people (like me) who like to go for 100% completion (Yes, I did it!). At least for me, the difficulty was just high enough that I never got discouraged and never consulted any walkthroughs. The world you'll be traveling through is beautifully rendered. The voice acting and attention to detail are both fantastic. The things the orcs say will make you laugh. There's a good variety of missions. The various actions that Talion can perform make for a varied and entertaining experience, and you will need all of them to succeed. Brawling with 20-30 orcs is challenging and a blast. Taking out orcs/captains/warchiefs with stealth moves is extremely pleasing. Blowing things up or pinning a fleeing orc to the ground with your bow and arrow so you can catch up to him will bring a smile to your face.
IMHO, complaints regarding the lack of dedication to the LOTR canon should be disregarded. Just let it go and have some fun. Remember, LOTR is a work of fiction!
If I have a beef, it's that there was no instruction manual, or at the very least, a sheet included with the required keystrokes needed to perform the numerous actions that Talion can do. The result is that just about the time you get a handle on all the keystrokes needed to perform the various moves (and there are many), the game is just about over. I actually did not discover what a certain on-screen prompt meant until the very last move to destroy Sauron after I had died a couple of times! Jotting them down is somewhat of a drag, too, but that seems to be the only way to get a good handle on them. I gave it up after a page full of jotted down notes.
You'll need some horsepower to play this game. My rig: Intel quad-core i5-4570, 8gb RAM, Gigabyte LGA 1150 Intel H87 mobo, W7 Ultimate 64-bit, Corsair Hydro cooling fan. The game ran like a dream at high settings and looked great. As for problems with Steam, I had a Steam account previously but when I attempted to log in using my former login info, Steam didn't recognize it (even though I contacted Steam to remind me of my password info!), so I simply created a new user name/login/password combo. This was the one and only glitch I encountered while installing this game. Yes, it took a while to get it installed, but it's a big game. Anyway, we'll see what happens when I get another Steam game.
Overall, SoM gets 5 stars from me. I'll be on board if/when they can create another LOTR games as good as or better than this one!
