SHADOW OF MORDOR - The Rageaholic

"I know! We'll replace all the Templars with ORCS!"
[Money dance intensifies]

[@5carecrow94]

You never cease to impress. The fact that you know a lot about Tolkien lore unapologetically and unironically has earned you my respect.

[@Tabletop_Epics]

I suffer from purist obsession and rage, so I can't bring myself to play any game adapted from Tolkien's work. It doesn't make me a better person or anything, but I do gatekeep Tolkien country with extreme prejudice because everyone, especially The Tolkien Society, seems dedicated to misrepresenting and screwing up everything the man created. And they do all of this while calling him a racist scumbag.

[@michaelhutchings8599]

As Razor said "gatekeep the gatekeepers." They trash everything good in this world. Entering established, beloved IPs communities - to then tell them how their hobby, TV series, or books in this case, are to be enjoyed or what the creator meant and so on. They have no creativity of their own so they latch onto already crafted works. Like leeches. I haven't read the books. Loved the LOTR Trilogy though. I have friends who are massive fans of "The Man" (he's a literary god in their eye's and I can see why), who have read the books 10 times over and have not one bad thing to say. Not one. Gatekeep what you enjoy before the snakes slither through the gate. God. Fucking Speed!

[@jesseparagamian7932]

Return of the King on the Gamecube was the shit, me and a friend played that for hours on end back in the day. If only it had a few more levels.

[@michaelhutchings8599]

Great game. Just incredible. Funny story, in the kinda early days of eBay (for a young kid + Australia) my friend bought a copy from the Bay and it was in a case... Just with a white, blank disc. So funny. It was 60 AUD too. So a lot for a young Buck.

[@liamstewart2287]

The worst part of this game is that had they remained faithful to lore, not stolen code, and not have felt/been required to sign on for every modern trend in the AAA industry, they could have made a really good Thief style stealth game. I would think Mordor would be the perfect setting for a Lord of the Rings stealth game of that style because of how dark it is. Yes, I know this review is almost 6 years old.

[@daveshort145]

The use of Baron Harkonnen in this pleases me greatly.

[@DevastatorsPissed1]

You forgot to mention the final "boss fight"

[@BoukenJima]

Fucking this.

[@TheRageaholic]

Yeah, that was one difficult button to push. Twice. Within the prohibitively brief time window of 3 entire hours. Thinking of devoting a chapter of my memoirs to it.

[@DarkenedArc]

***** Why hasn't Ubisoft/ Charles Randall sued Monolith and Warner Bros. for this alleged theft?

[@andersonandrighi4539]

geekgreek427 Because the code is not plagiarism material. If a game can be acused of such, just because it uses the same mechanics we are into dark waters, bud. Every FPS will be a Wolfenstein/Doom clone. The cover system will have to pay money for one obscure game called Winback. Open world games with crime will all be GTA clone. You see the problem? Gaming is a trending business, which I might add that creativity does not count. People have been doing this for so long that developers can't remember. This does not excuse Monolith of their sins.

[@MikhaelEternal]

I just remembered that... Oh, it hurts...

[@kamikage9420]

When I came back to the game the day after I finished it, it became basically unplayable. All of the orcs were the same ridiculously powerful demigods I had accrued over the time spent playing, but literally all of my own abilities were gone, including ones you get from story missions I couldn't replay. The world was in an endgame state and Talion was prologue level, meaning trying to fight off the two orc warlords who are invulnerable to stealth, ranged attacks, combat finishers, mount attacks, and enraged by literally everything, having poisoned weapons, having no mercy and the ability to throw me around like a ragdoll whenever they want, accompanied by their posses and the already present horde of orc grunts, was virtually impossible.

[@kevincruz7958]

the Internet needs more Rageaholics.

[@NolanHickey]

The beginning made me burst out laughing.

[@IlayYoeli]

"It's not an English accent counselor Troi, it's a hate crime with punctuation marks" I died.

[@DoomRulz]

What can I say, I loved this game. Then again I played the PC version.

[@RiasGremoryIsLife]

Same lel

[@ornu01]

Heh, 'loading screens'.

[@UnchainedEruption]

I loved it too, and I played it on PS4.

[@JimmyTurner]

You ever download the high def textures?

[@mrbouncelol]

Yeah authenticity or no it was a solid experience (on pc too)

[@JoeyEchoLawrence]

Wait, what? "Shadow" is ripping off AC code? Ok, now I'm really confused. In the run-up to this game's release, I could've sworn that they actually said "Shadow Of Mordor" was BUILT WITH licenced Assassin's Creed base technology. Did I hallucinate this?

[@TheRageaholic]

+JoeyEchoLawrence - Apparently so. Assassin's Creed is owned by a completely different company. (Ubisoft) Shadow of Mordor is made by WB Interactive. They didn't swap code.

[@JoeyEchoLawrence]

Wow. I guess I saw the gameplay demos and just read between the lines - "This looks so identical to AC parkour, it must be a middleware thing..."

[@TheRageaholic]

+Michael Cardi - They didn't execute a 'concept'. They STOLE ANIMATION CODE. There's a difference. Dennis Miller did the angry ranting *_after_* George Carlin and Lenny Bruce, but he made it his own, with his own punchlines. Shadow of Mordor is more akin to Carlos Mencia or Dane Cook. Stealing other peoples' material and becoming financially successful for it.

[@roudanskalamir9251]

+The Rageaholic It's sad to see this coming from what was once one of my favorite video game companies of all time. Alas, if it's plagiarism, it's plagiarism. At least I can still shout praise for Blackpowder games. Monolith seems to have lost all of its crazy idea making since those people left. Sure, olden-days Monolith have taken ideas from other games before (No One Lives Forever shows rather obvious influence from Goldeneye 007) but they still made the game distinctly theirs (drawing parallels to your Dennis Miller explanation). Now, they are just flat out stealing code. Thank you, Razorfist, for preventing me from making a blind fanboy decision. P.S. On an vaguely related note, I would like to know your thoughts on Betrayer since it is currently one of my favorite horror games of all time.

[@JoeyEchoLawrence]

Well, honestly, I do prefer it myself, even tho AC does have its 'moments' when they choose to step away from The Formula.

[@kirpid]

Please let me assure you, plagiarism is industry standard. It's really the guts of the sausage.

[@Cryofax]

You make a boatload of excellent points. What passes for innovation and amazingly original content in today's games is adding ANY small tidbit of originality to what is otherwise a retread. Wake me up when someone writes the next System Shock.

[@Craftymcstabber]

I am a big fan of Tolkien, and I actually really enjoyed this game for the vibes, I am able to separate it from Tolkien unlike the rings of garbage

[@nycsoul17]

That intro is so perfect. I haven't even watched the rest of the video and I'm dropping a like.

[@UncleSheo2498]

It’s definitely not lore friendly at all, but the gameplay is definitely fun, so I enjoyed it.

[@GloriousKev]

This game looks and runs amazingly on PC lol

[@OffTheSpot22]

It wasn't amazing when I first bough it, but a couple of patches have perfected everything. Haven't seen the framerate drop below 56 in months.

[@GloriousKev]

SpookyKid94 i bought it at launch and didn't have any issues with FPS. I wonder if maybe you run AMD and it had some issues on AMD hardware. idk devs are known to shit on AMD.

[@GloriousKev]

MarioTGP not shitting on PS4. I have a PS4 and its a great system I just chose to play this game on PC. He made a statement saying it in general ran and looked like shit. That was not the case for me when i played it on PC.

[@OffTheSpot22]

Kev West - Gaming Nah 4gb 770 with a intel cpu as well It had something to do with the textures, at first I couldn't handle high settings, then I could suddenly play on ultra.

[@GloriousKev]

SpookyKid94 did you have the same problem when you turned the textures down? A lot of people on PC cry foul when they cant max a game out but it would run better if they turned the settings down. I have a 970 4770 build I totally understand wanting to get everything out of a power house rig but if it can play at the lower settings then maybe the game is just more demanding then we would like it to be.

[@Dominic_el_tercero]

you went full spoony on this, but with more passion that he had in a long time, I loved it

[@slashemup101]

Every video you make makes my day 10x better, keep up the good work.

[@SHOTRED555]

Love that Fist of the North Star And Mad Tv references LOL

[@NeoTheAmazingOne]

You speak the truth but I still found this game to be one of the better ones I played in 2014. Maybe that says a lot about how bad that year was for gaming.

[@Soraking007]

well look at it this way 2/3rds of what was supposed to come out in 2014 is coming out in 2015... whoopie.

[@tbirddddd]

I don't listen to music often, but I had to hear the rest of "For All Those who Died" after hearing that scream and that riff. Very much worth it. Also your review was funny and informative.

[@Feminismisfornobody]

looks fucking great on PC...

[@NicholasLaRosa0496]

You got me good at the intro.

[@RetepOdaged]

Hahaha! You Sir are a true talent, for some reason even if I completely disagree with your critiques on some of your videos I can't seem stop listening to you! As much as I liked listening to you ball busting this game I have to say I really enjoyed Shadow Mordor and I can't wait for the next one! Well at least I hope they're making another one!

[@theclown8399]

7:55 the first case in Wuhan

[@SaY4cT89]

My scars run, *very. deep.* I admit, I loved that

[@Siarawaszympanemjest]

AAAAHAHAHA, the beginning made my day :D

[@Thepunisher90thGaming]

Lmao yes, was hoping someone else commented about the intro.

[@jamessinclair723]

Your videos are what get me up in the morning

[@chiip90]

The books are written from the view point of normal people. Tolkien knew, as many writers do, that the main character observing greatness translates better on the page than them being great themselves. But this is a game and so, apparently, you need to have some innate super powers to make it fun. But flashing around as an indestructible, mind bending super hero doesn't have the feel that Tolkien wanted for his universe.

[@Lastat1011]

yet another great episode ! Godspeed Raz0er Fist!

[@Feminismisfornobody]

it's just AC with a bit of cool shit added... Luckily i like AC and cool shit.

[@Cronus111]

A truly great and rich RPG could be produced from LOTR, 10 + years in and everyone is still waiting.

[@darkentity1000]

Honestly i like the story lol, you can tell they didn't give a fuck.

[@DMX-PAT]

War in the North is basically Dragon Age Origin, Lord of the Rings Conquest is StarWars Battlefront (the Pandemic version) and yep Shadow of Mordor is AC II

[@forsakenparadise6828]

Shadow of Mordor and it’s sequel are super fun and interesting games and I think razor was extremely wrong here

[@qpmkro]

Fuck I thought you game on PC. Mordor looks good on PC and faces are really nice.

[@andrewpost9335]

So..... Was it a good Assassin's Creed game? Cuz plagiarism or not, I've been waiting for one of those......

[@Morokiin]

Took you long enough. 11/10 on the intro makes up for it.

[@Marcloud]

This video is a victory for the simple fact that it has Goldust in it.

[@thisguy7083]

Looking at this in 2024. Gaming journalism has outlived its utility😂😂😂 that’s a statement that echoes in eternity

[@ChrisJames-gv9wy]

Game journalism is the ultimate hugbox.

[@marny129]

Have zero interest in this game. The only good Lord of the Rings games were on PS2. The Two Towers was my personal favorite. Return of the King was good also.

[@TheRageaholic]

Those are two of the best hack-n-slash games I've ever played. Great stuff.

[@romulanrancor6387]

The Two Towers game was very good.

[@lastbriteSon]

Yup when ea use to be the only one make good licensed games

[@BlackBerserkgasme]

HAHA! oh god! the Goldust and the Orc at the beginning! god that was amazing!

[@zombiesRus23]

Great music for a great video, that Bathory song is definitely in my top 5 :)

[@ShadowWolfRising]

any other PS4 Players have no issues with the game? Anyway, i enjoyed the game ALOT. the Nemesis system is genius and needs to be used more.

[@CallanElliott]

If the game was nothing but fucking with the Orc hierarchy, it'd be beautiful.

[@venwin25]

The only LOTR video game that was good was the turn-based rpg "The Third Age." What made it great was the cast of original characters who mirrored the fellowship. There was something awesome about traversing the lower levels of Moria, overhearing the fellowship bicker, and then join forces with Gandalf to fight the balrog and the bridge of Khazad-Dhum.

[@cruelcumber5317]

I heard the rts games are pretty decent, but they're almost impossible to find for less than 200$

[@MrScreaminglarry]

You sir are what gaming needs

[@LyaksandraB]

It's hilarious that he thought the ps4 controller was over designed. The ps5 controller just fucking kicked the door in and wants to have a word with you.

[@finalfantasy50]

Keep doing what you do best Razorfist :D

[@MrNuclearturtle]

Must've been some money dance, this game was bafflingly getting game of the year nominees

[@TheBayzent]

Wow PS4? Didn't know they were still making those.

[@bigblue2216]

You are a Fin' animal ! how the hell do you only have 141k subs ?

[@michiganjack1337]

Holy fuck, never thought about Goldust Orc! Brilliant!

[@oliverjamesatkinson]

Actually, I'm English, and Troy Baker's accent is rather accurate and fluent. Good review with your own trademark flavour nonetheless.

[@TheRageaholic]

That's just it. He didn't do an English accent. He did a bad Sean Bean impersonation.

[@SwarleyU]

***** As in he impersonated Sean Beans accent or the fact that he constantly dies?

[@oliverjamesatkinson]

***** Well, he didn't, but Sean Bean is English, from the North, which Troy Baker didn't sound. But I'm English, and telling you it's very acceptable.

[@hkazu63]

Oliver James Atkinson I'm English too, and I would say that it's an exceptionally tacked on imitation of an English accent, with wild flurries of "am I doing this right guys?".

[@gamernickcentral]

Swarley Underhill I was wondering if someone was going to make that joke. Lol.

[@bullethail3875]

How did I never hear about the Assassin's Creed stuff until now? I knew it was similar but I never heard about the programmer posting about it

[@Andersson203]

4000th like coming through lads.

[@UnboxedtvNet]

When i saw the Shadow of Mordor psoter in your last episode, I thought "Wow this guy must really like the game" after watching the review though....I can't tell if you actually do. If Monolith actually had stolen from Ubisoft then I'd expect lawsuits and such. But anyway, I fell in LOVE with this game, it's actually the game that finally convinced me to get a PS4 and I spent damn good 12 hours killing captains and freeing slaves before I ever gave a shit about the story mode

[@TheMeteoDragoon]

The scene you had used Arnold Was simply Orgasmic.

[@JimBobJourneyer]

Just in case nobody knew, the story for this game was written by Christian Cantamessa, the same bloke who wrote the story for Red Dead: Redemption.

[@JimmyTurner]

And?

[@Mowglibaloo2]

Now that is what I call a game review.

[@wholelottalight]

I honestly didn't know he was going for a British accent. I don't know what I thought he was going for, but I wouldn't have thought that was it.

[@anonymousskunk]

Another great video, Razörfist! God-fucking-speed!

[@Bourikii2992]

I don't see how you had such trouble getting high combo scores. I regularly jogged into encampments and got 100+ combos enjoying the visceral moments of orc heads rolling around on the ground.

[@NerfedFalcon]

Don't bag the Lord of the Rings pinball machine. Best one Stern ever made, seriously.

[@IRMentat]

8 months on and I still don't remember anyone else mentioning the stark similarity to AC2.

[@Sigmundfruit]

I'm gonna say my piece on Lord of the Rings Online briefly: I bailed on that sinking ship around the time the game decided it was time to teach me and I quote...... "how to door"

[@dragonhold4]

I don't think Realism in games is at any point copyrightable, just as much as any, standalone, everyday word should not be. Every human being has the potential to climb, jump from heights, and to quickly counter in fights. Simply because one set of people implemented this in a game, that doesn't give them exclusivity (I certainly do appreciate them for doing so, in any case). As is mentioned, adding the in questioned features did not subtract from the entertainment value of the gameplay.

[@JakeBaldino]

Everyone is so damn bitter and Internet cynical to the point where no one can just enjoy a freaking video game anymore.

[@hunterkiller7352]

You are the reason games suck.

[@valthiriansunstrider2540]

+H8dolf Schmitler Games don't suck unless you're a fucking gamer who's desensitized to them because you spend all your waking hours playing them.

[@thealphaincel1619]

@@Poroner Weeeeeee neeeeeeeeeed dopamineeeeee!

[@kylopat1652]

Leagues ahead of that god awful show.

[@childofbodom1314]

I lost my shit when "Crawling" came on. xD

[@andystegall7407]

I put off buying it for a long time then they put it on sale for like $7 on the PSN store. Given the dearth of games on PS5 at the moment I'm basically playing all the PS4 games I never played. I have to say I thought I hated it at first but then by the end I was enjoying bursting Orc skulls and chopping them to pieces. The combat goes from rather difficult considering how weak you are to laughably easy once you unlock all the skills, particularly the one Wraith skill that stuns and damages all the Orcs around you when you punch the ground.

[@seanbrennan8577]

Razorfist, you have a great taste in Iron Maiden.

[@MrThankman360]

LOL. That Xanax picture is hilarious. And true...

[@TheJoshlueb]

This entire rant is the reason i dropped the game after 4 hours

[@heatherphillips5983]

Lotr The Third Age, is really good rpg

[@TheRageaholic]

It's a bad clone of FF10 with characters that aren't up to the standard of LOTR and gameplay that isn't up to the standard of Final Fantasy. Shitsux, yo.

[@heatherphillips5983]

Valid points. I just never got into FF, my friends did , I just liked the story, not the gameplay. I guess because I am such a huge LOTR fan, I gave it a pass on it's flaws. It did however get me into RPG games, so there's that. Thanks for replying. You're my favorite KZbinr.

[@joahnaut]

Please use that intro for every video ever. Holy shit I lost it.

[@ElJefeRules]

Liked as soon as I heard Purgatory.

[@RicanSlug]

I agree with most of razors statement about the game. It is fun as hell playing the game however it still lacks story telling and visuals to make it the game of the year (2014) therefore it's fair to point out all of its downsides to this game rather than listen to ign or gamespot where they omit all these problems.

[@nhmooytis7058]

I just wanna be Eomer...for that awesome horse helmet.

[@harrisonbeesonvo]

Dude, I gotta ask. What is your hatred of Troy Baker about? I mean, I get you don't like his British accent, but he's honestly not as terrible an actor as I've seen you say in other videos.

[@cyberpimp29]

Loved this game!

[@saturnsbeard7112]

I never could see the weird **THis Is The Sleeper Hit Of The Year** award people and Critics kept throwing at this game. I spent 10 hours with it and it made me wanna go back and play a really good and original game like AC2.

[@hovsep56]

eh...i had fun with it....not complaining.

[@JacobSantosDev]

Holy fuck your rage is hilarious and yes I went insane. I was cured to write this comment.

[@tactixsky]

YES! Troy had a Brit accent in the 2 first episodes, totally forgot!

[@theflammiferofwesternesse6122]

This game might as well have been called: Arkham's Creed - Mordor edition.

[@trago1337]

Much like a third Shadow of Mordor's mimicked code, your overdue Assassin's Creed 2 review only needs a chunk of the material written in this video with some bells and whistles added to be entertaining. :P

[@Erupt50]

Great video. Glad there's still some people out there with common sense.

[@kingenfuuken]

Man I've been staring at that Blade Runner poster on your wall for ages, you ever gunna do a vid about my favorite movie? :D

[@Contenterful]

On the subject of the ending, let's assume that I'd make an Elder Scrolls-like game, so much so that some people may accuse this game of being such a blatant clone. However, I'd make this game because I wanted to fix of add various parts to make the game better. The reason why I bring this up is that several people have stated that Shadow of Mordor is the greatest Assassin's Creed game in a long time. The jokey aspect is fairly obvious, but the point is that if the original isn't up to snuff, then something else like it with its own perks is going to swoop down and take the nest. And if I can't improve the game without being accused of plagiarism, then what gives?

[@Kayspaify]

I gave this video an upvote for Goldust in the beginning.

[@kman13131]

Wow I actually didn't know about that assassin's creed 2 stuff. I thought it looked familiar to assassins creed but I couldn't really put my finger on which one and I thought it was just a subtle rip off, but now that I think of it, it really does look identical to 2. Man that is a huge bummer.

[@jeremylemings]

thanks for the heads up razor. I WAS interested in this game, but I didn't like assassin's creed 2 so thanks for saving me some money

[@barrymcbarryson7094]

Best intro ever. Many lols.

[@gavinmccree6330]

Fuckin love that maiden intro

[@MrBlackBogan]

"halfway through the ps4 vesrion having compleated the every quest..." wait wut i think i'm hearing things again.

[@TheRageaholic]

"...having completed every quest *_required to advance to the second half_* of the game."

[@MrBlackBogan]

Sorry that was a typo, what i was implying was that you got a ps4????

[@MyWhatsyourface]

you got me good at the intro

[@ronniehopper2726]

Okay it's 2017 and I'm still seeing commercials for this shit