When comparing Dynasty Warriors 9 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 hack and slash PC games?” Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 16th while Dynasty Warriors 9 is ranked 33rd. 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
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Pros
Pro Flashy combat animations that feel like a power fantasy
Dynasty Warriors 9, at the very least, makes you feel like you're a powerful, skilled warrior with cool moves in combat. The animations look a lot like over-the-top action sequences from cheesy action flicks, except with more special effects like fire, ice, or wind auras surrounding your weapons as you take down enemy units single-handedly. You'll spin and slash your swords, lances, and more all around you as you devastate dozens of enemies in a single sequence of fast attacks. It's impossible in real life and lacks any realism whatsoever, but it's all part of the power fantasy that the Dynasty Warriors series is known for.
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 Useless open world with too much empty space
The open world in Dynasty Warriors 9 is huge, but there's not a lot to do in it, and having all of this space cuts down on the quality of the game's combat. There's space for the sake of having space, with quests and battles often making you ride your horse for minutes at a time through empty stretches of wastelands and forests to reach your next objective. While the battles are spread out across the world to encourage player exploration and broaden the game's scope, this comes at the cost of not having the dense, action-packed fights that fans of the series enjoyed so much. This open world only thinned the game and diluted the battles without adding anything meaningful or innovative.
Con Mindless battles that lack substance or challenge
While the animations in combat are flashy and cool, the actual battles themselves are trivial and dull because of how simple they are. As you slice and dice dozens of enemy units in the air or bulldoze ahead to kill them all at once, it looks fun at first, but it quickly gets old. Blasting through troops lacks weight or meaning, to the point where you might find yourself mentally checking out as you play the game. It's the same thing over and over again with no skill involved.
Con Broken, buggy hunting in the wild
There's no excitement or thrill with hunting in Dynasty Warriors 9 because of how broken it is. You'll fire your arrows at tigers or wolves that won't respond--they'll keep standing there until you deplete their health, and then drop some loot for you to pick up. Or they'll crowd around you in gigantic packs without attacking you, leaving them wide open for you to kill them all one at a time. Even worse, sometimes they'll get stuck in the environment, again making them easy pickings for you to get rid of without a fight. Hunting is absolutely broken with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Con Generic, low-effort voice acting
The voice acting in this game is so incredibly basic that it sounds like a mockery and a joke. It's as if the voice crew simply asked people out on the street to mimic how grizzled or noble warriors would sound and recorded the lines right then and there. You can hear how the actors deepen their voice on purpose and read out their lines without any spirit or personality whatsoever. It's a travesty that could have been avoided if they had left out the English voices altogether and stuck with the original language.
Con Grappling hook trivializes enemy encampments
You can scale just about every single wall in the game with a grappling hook, making enemy forts pointless. Whenever there's a base that you have to get inside to find the next group of enemies, all you have to do is use the hook to get to the top of the wall. You're then free to run around and kill everyone without consequence, trivializing the whole mechanic of having enemy defenses in the first place. The enemies might as well stand out in the open with nothing around for miles, because it wouldn't make much of a difference and it'd save you some time.
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.