1) Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Every year, numerous licensed games make their way to market, but only the odd few ever end up being noteworthy. It’s a cycle that has persisted in gaming for as long as I can remember, and is cheekily referred to as a curse by those in the know.
One game that avoided the norm and wasn’t hampered by the issues that most licensed titles fall victim to, was 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R.). Despite being based around one of the world’s most popular and expansive pieces of English fiction, the game catapulted itself into Game of the Year contention thanks to addictive gameplay, inventive mechanics and an impressive amount of polish. And, seeing as we were unsure of what to expect from it, the fact that it turned out to be as good as it did has resulted in it being one of the most surprising games of the calendar year.
Although Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor obviously borrowed elements from Ubisoft’s venerable Assassin’s Creed games, it introduced something great that we’ll hopefully see more of. That is, the Nemesis system, wherein the game world’s enemies live within a hierarchy. Those who kill targets, like main character Talion, are promoted, and can achieve such high status as that of a Warchief. However, though it doesn’t always work in his favour, Talion is also able to use this system to his advantage, by meddling with minor players’ minds and helping them become promoted. By doing so, he’s able to spread his influence throughout the Uruks and instill those under his control in pivotal positions.
Within the next two or three years, it would be great to see a sequel to this impressive game. After all, now that Monolith has succeeded at creating a solid base formula, they’ll be able to expand upon it in interesting ways. However, in order to keep things fresh, they’ll need to stay away from the annual release cycle that threatens to make their main competitor old hat.