On October 10th, Monolith Productions and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will finally release Middle-earth: Shadow of War on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Around this same time, IUGO Mobile Entertainment will be launching their joint project with Warner Bros. to help Shadow of War fans continue Talion’s journey on any iOS or Android mobile device.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War Mobile is a free-to-play real-time RPG that allows players to experience Mordor and epic enemy encounters alongside popular characters from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Here’s a brief overview of my thoughts on the game after playing it during PAX West 2017.
As I described above, Shadow of War Mobile is an interactive experience designed specifically for iPad, iPhone and Android devices. With a team of four Middle-Earth and/or Lord of the Rings characters, players are tasked with participating in real-time battles while they explore all that Mordor has to offer. Touching and swiping on your mobile device allows you to choose various moves and inflict damage on your adversaries. Each character can be upgraded with high-powered attacks and the nemesis system is also featured as a way to build orc armies who will fight for you.
One aspect that I absolutely love about Shadow of War Mobile is that finally Tailon and Celebrimbor can work alongside notable heroes like Aragorn, Gimli, and Boromir. I underestimated just how much I missed these characters and their roles within the entire LOTR universe. Each one of them has distinct strengths and weaknesses, meaning that players can spend all their time exploring which heroes are best suited for battle.
Graphically, Shadow of War looks absolutely fantastic for a mobile game. Special attack animations are top notch and every character is easily distinguishable from one another. If you’re using newer mobile devices, chances are that you may see a performance boost but even on slightly older devices, the game looked and performed well above my expectations.
During my appointment, Warner Bros. mentioned to me that they will keep supporting this game with free updates well into 2018. Outside of continuing Talion’s journey, I’m not yet sure how this experience will translate over to the full console game and I’m totally cool with that. The approach that the devs have taken here is unique and deserves to stand on its own without the need of trying to be exactly like the main title.
Overall, Middle-earth: Shadow of War Mobile was a surprisingly fun experience and I’m curious to see how the final product turns out. You can pre-register for the game right now at this link. Players who pre-register on Apple devices will receive Ratbag and an orc starter army while Android device owners will receive Shelob. All content will be available at launch.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War Mobile launches worldwide this Fall for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Are any of you planning on checking out this game? Please feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
