When comparing Marvel's Spider-Man 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 Marvel's Spider-Man is ranked 22nd. 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 Swinging around Manhattan as Spider-Man is tons of fun
Traversing across buildings with Spider-Man's web-slinging ability is thrilling. Zipping across town from quest marker to quest marker is quick and convenient: with simple aiming and button presses, you aim your web at the top corner of a skyscraper, for example, and then you swing through other buildings and across the busy streets to get there. Keeping up this momentum lets you get from one place to another in record time. The rumble feature and the rattling camera effects from your boots in speed give you the perfect amount of feedback to help you feel like you're really in Spider-Man's shoes. It's so fun that you might find yourself swinging from place to place for no reason, just to have that thrill.
Pro Interesting story that shows the human side of Spider-Man's life
The game's story is pretty impactful, showing what happens behind-the-scenes in Spider-Man's life outside of his positive and optimistic superhero persona. While you do get to see plenty of his typical silly snarks as with his mask on, what happens when he's just Peter with his friends is equally as interesting, if not more so. You get to watch as he gets to know other side characters in New York City, like his friends and his eventual enemies, all of whom work either with him or against him. Everyone has their own fleshed out, personal struggles, showcasing the actual people who both help and fight Spider-Man in his goals to save the city from the villains who come up throughout the 15-20 hour story.
It's a surprisingly riveting plot that goes much deeper than the comics and movies, and it's absolutely worth experiencing for both Spider-Man fans as well as players getting to know him for the first time.
Pro Strategic and engaging hand-to-hand combat
Fighting against goons on the ground is a solid experience that keeps your attention for the most part. Since Spider-Man can't take many hits before going down, that's all the more reason to keep an eye on exactly which buttons you press. Chaining combos is your best bet, rewarding you with fancy and flashy acrobatics that are great to watch as well as a good deal of invincibility as you take down one bad guy after another. Boss battles are great too, with lots of excellent cinematic fights that really do a great job of showing off the whole city with their setpieces.
When you're overwhelmed in battle, you can make use of Spider-Man's nifty gadgets to help you out, like a drone you can use to get rid of anyone who's giving you too much of a hard time. Once you get the hang of using combos and gadgets to your advantage, things can get a little repetitive, but you can always up the difficulty if you're looking for more of a challenge.
Pro Impressive visuals
Spider-Man is a really great-looking game. The skyscrapers across Manhattan in New York City gleam in the sunlight and moonlight, the streets are densely packed with shining cars and busy civilians, and the character models are all realistic enough to believe. Swinging around the city with Spider-Man's web is even more fluid with the way the camera zooms in and out to show you a full vantage point of the city, filled with tons of details that make you feel like you have a real bird's-eye view of the area. Everything has an incredible amount of polish and doesn't get old to look at.
Pro Great game, based on Marvel Universe
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 Weak side content
Aside from some fun time trial challenges, most of the side quests and other optional content are pretty boring and repetitive. Many of them are standard quests, like going to fetch pigeons or beating up random enemies. They don't feel anywhere near as engaging as the main story, either. With how standard and procedural they are, they're just there to fill up space and let you earn some rewards to customize Spider-Man's outfit with. Not to mention, it's jarring going from the tense and important story missions to these throwaway side quests, like you're wasting 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.