When comparing Fortnite vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the Slant community recommends Middle-earth: Shadow of War for most people. In the question“What are the best open world games for PS4?” Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 20th while Fortnite is ranked 41st. The most important reason people chose Middle-earth: Shadow of War is:
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free battle royale mode
The battle royale mode of the game is available for free, capitalizing on the latest surge of the genre's popularity. In Fortnite's battle royale mode, players have unlimited freedom to build their own bases and explore while defending themselves from other players or actively hunting them down.
Pro Smooth performance
Fortnite doesn't put much pressure on your hardware, meaning that even those of you with older gaming rigs will be able to run the game at a stable 60 FPS. The recommended requirements include the Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 equivalent DX11 GPU, meaning you don't need the latest tech to play.
Pro Fort building is simple, but with plenty of depth
While all the building and demolition options the controls might look complicated at first sight, you'll soon notice that the building itself is quite basic since there are only four major blocks you can use. Using these four major blocks in different combinations opens up many possibilities for all sorts of forts to build. Players can choose to keep things quick and easy with simple bridges in the air to traverse from point to point, or they can go much more in-depth to build impressive fortresses to defend from enemy attacks. You can keep expanding on what you build, growing it over time with stronger walls or scattering traps to cover your blind spots.
Pro Different combat classes to master
The hordes of enemies can be challenging to mow down in order to reach objectives around the map while defending your base, and that's where the different combat styles come in to make things easier. Mastering the different classes will give you an edge, like the constructors can quickly build a shield to defend your base from a sudden horde of enemies, and the ninja's boosted mobility and deadly melee attacks.
Pro Character connections make for a compelling experience
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders.
For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother.
Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Pro Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood
As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Pro Satisfying combat
Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations.
If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow.
If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc.
Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Pro You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion
As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while.
For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs.
Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands.
Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Cons
Con Progression is convoluted and grindy
There's a lot to upgrade, such as weapons, traps, your base, and much more. These unlocks are gated behind other progression trees that use an entirely different form of experience currency, mixing everything together in a hodgepodge of systems and menus that don't mesh well together. After a certain point, gaining rewards after unlocking upgrades results in fewer returns for the amount of time it takes to reach the next progression goal. Lootbox availability becomes scarce after a while, slowing progress to a crawl.
Con Not available on Steam
Fortnite has its own launcher separate from the Steam platform. Those on PC will need to download the game directly from Epic Games' website instead. For gamers who prefer the universality of Steam, they may be annoyed by this issue.
Con Can get repetitive
The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Con Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay
Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.