New beasts, new names for the list.
PlayStation 4 tested version.
DLCs are bad for the gaming industry. I don't remember who wrote this sentence, if it belongs to a colleague or if, more simply, I was impressed by seeing it in some comments on Facebook. I think, however, it is useless to seek paternity because the aversion to Dlc has now become one of those "cordial" hatreds accepted by all those who do not buy them "on principle" and, often, also by those who punctually buy every single Season Pass. and paid add-on content placed on the digital market. In short, downloadable content like white socks: everyone uses them but no one will ever admit to wearing them right now.
For my part, the announcement of new content for a game that I loved, I often find myself, we always say, torn apart by the classic "I would like but I can't, because it will be a me ... zza crap". But you don't look at a gift horse in the mouth and so during the first days of "holidays" I rushed to try The Lord of the Hunt (there is a i, read it! ed), the first DLC released by Warner Bros within the Season Pass de Middle-earth: The Shadow of Mordor. I hastily stepped into the shoes of dear Talion and set out to hunt for new beasts and new captains. My list has been empty for too long ...
Caragor? No, Caragath!
If you had a mirror you would hardly recognize yourself: who is this elusive lord of the hunt? The words of the dwarf by your side, a hunter named Torvin that you remember having already met, and the immense powers in your hands seem to leave no room for doubt, even if some identity crisis will accompany you for a long time. But you will soon realize that you are not the only one who has undergone a face lift.
Not even time to take a few steps in company and here you are introduced to the existence of a new variety of fearsome beasts of Mordor, the Caragath. Even if you won't be obliged to have already had to deal with them (the new adventure is selectable from the main menu and does not take into account the progress in the story mode), you have probably already seen some very similar animals, namely the Caragors: simplifying them a lot. you might now consider the foolish cousins of the Caragaths. These cute puppies, which you are obviously able to easily tame, have the habit of crouching and ambushing every living being in the area, including their own kind. So kill some orc in the area on the back of the new mount, just to see the effect it has, and go and analyze who your new enemies are.
Torvin calls them tamers: five Uruk commanders who are trying to harness the dangerous local fauna in the ranks of Sauron's army. Five new names for your list. You prepare to hunt, but the nosy dwarf takes away much of the fun. He explains practically everything and you find yourself listening to him and performing the simple tasks he assigns you from time to time. In short, you lack the freedom you had when you first explored that region of Mordor.
You also meet the Graug Horned, who would be identical to their relatives were it not for the ability to spit poison on enemies, in their eyes probably similar to cheating wives. You tame them too and, in order not to really miss anything, you also have the possibility to bring hordes of Ghoul subjugating them to your will. The clashes with the new commanders, however, are as epic as they are brief, due to all of your abilities and the five powerful new runes in your possession. So, in just over 2 hours, you find yourself wandering aimlessly in a land that you now know like the back of your hand, just looking for a few pages in Torvin's diary and learning details about his past and his enemies. Nemesis did not in fact give you new tamers to defeat, only simple Uruk with names and some different provocations than their brothers met up to now near the Black Gate.
Then you try without too much conviction in the Proof of Nature, a time trial to take out all the captains and commanders in minutes, but you get bored soon. Greetings Torvin and your Caragath to return to life as always: more powerful yes, but with a bitter taste in your mouth for a hunt that has not in any way satisfied your perennial thirst for revenge.
Final commentThe Lord of the Hunt is a DLC that fails to significantly expand the experience lived in it Middle-earth - The shadow of Mordor. Its stand-alone nature compared to the main campaign greatly limits its appeal, leaving abilities, new beasts and enemies confined to a recycled map and that we will hardly have the desire to explore again. Commanders are eliminated all too easily by a Talion in possession of all its powers, who no longer even need to hunt them down to discover their weaknesses, and their successors are Uruk far too ordinary. Of the ten euros spent there will then remain a potentially interesting restyling of the fauna, a new skin and new powerful runes (also usable in the basic adventure), in addition to the epic nature of a couple of clashes. From the creators of one of the best games of 2014, we can expect much more. |
| For | Cons |
|---|---|
|
- Potentially interesting new beasts
- A few more hours in Mordor
|
- Too short, simple and detached from the main campaign
- More frequent framerate drops than in the base game
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| Overall rating: 65 |
