Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor remembers how good (or bad) you are at slaying orcs

Like most nerds I have a deep admiration for the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, and that love sustains even after watching two increasingly boring Hobbit films. My E3 demo of Lord of the Rings action adventure Shadow of Modor reminded me of my love for the filmic approach on LotR. This game isnt about lengthy songs or long winded conversations. Its about battling huge groups of orcs to rid the world of Sauron (provided you dont die first).

My Shadow of Modor demo at E3 dropped me into the fields of Middle-earth near an abandoned castle thats home to a whole orc collective. Im sneaking in to kill their leader, though I got a little warm-up against his underlings first. The Batman: Arkham-style combat is easy to adapt to, and after I beheading a group of orcs with ease, I take on their leader. I felt more confident than Legolas and Gimli combined. And then Idied While Im humbled in defeat, the victorious orc moved up the ranks, more powerful than ever.

As I wait to respawn, I get acquainted with the entire army of orcs, all with specific names and ranks, including one lieutenant that another GamesRadar editor had battled weeks before in another demo. Shadow of Mordor has a long memory, while my mind is currently focused on revenge on that one orc that killed me. I sneak up on him once more and dive straight into battle, less worried than I shouldve been. He kills me again, once more getting a promotion thanks to my failure. Despite the games impressive collection of unique gameplay data, for the sake of my pride, I hope Shadow of Mordor forgets this particular demo.

Check out the following screenshots for additional info!