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Tolkien must be turning in his grave ; Game zoneDan Sharp reviews the latest games [Lincolnshire Echo (England)](Lincolnshire Echo (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. PS4 (reviewed), PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC. Publisher: Warner Bros. Rating: 6/10 Welcome to yet another video game foray into the fantasy world created by JRR Tolkien back in the 1930s and 40s. This time you play a character dramatically removed from the great man's work and revamped for the modern age - a ranger captain called Talion. Talion, his wife and his son are captured by Black Numenoreans and sacrificed in a ritual to summon the wrath of the elf lord Celebrimbor, maker of the rings of power. The ritual works but Celebrimbor ends up merging with Talion, saving him from death and giving him what can best be described as superpowers. The pair then set off to exact revenge on those responsible for killing Talion's family, with you in control. It's an intriguing storyline, though with a whiff of God of War about it, and no doubt Tolkien must be rolling about in his grave with what's been done to his creation. The gameplay is Arkham City meets Assassin's Creed - lots of stealthy attacks and use of powers. It's enjoyable enough but it entirely lacks the pathos and gravitas of the books and the films. The Evil Within. PS4 (reviewed), PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC. Publisher: Bethesda. Rating: 5/10 Take every horror film cliche, roll them all together and then turn them into a video game and you've got something approximating The Evil Within. You're a detective investigating a gruesome mass murder at a mental hospital with his colleagues. Suddenly and mysteriously, both you and they are transported to a Stephen King/Silent Hill type world inhabited by frightening creatures with a penchant for torture, barbed wire, blood and general nastiness. The third person action that ensues while you attempt to track down the evil force that's keeping you in the horror universe is awkward and the camera angles tend to be decidedly unhelpful. Fighting off the malevolent creatures takes a modicum of skill and effort, but the cliches keep on coming and it gets a little tiresome. The voice acting is weak and the plot is weaker. If you're a lover of all things horror, then The Evil Within might have the capacity to make you smile. For the rest of us, this plays like one familiar scene after the next. All of this is odd, since The Evil Within was made by the man who previously made the excellent Resident Evil 4, Shinji Mikami. Perhaps he has already used up all his best ideas. (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |