I finally got to play the PS4 version for about 2 hours last night after doing all of my errands, and here are my thoughts:
Graphics: The visuals are sharp and clean, with very detailed textures, and impressive animations. The environments are also impressively detailed, and effects like wind blowing and debris moving across the landscape give it a very real feel. Mordor is perfectly arid and bleak, and oppressive. I didn't pay too much attention to the framerate, as I was too busy having fun roaming around and killing things, but it is at least 30fps, seemingly unlocked, but it never seemed to jutter like in inFAMOUS. In either case, those sorts of things have never bothered me before, and they don't now (even after the framerate cap patch was released in Second Son, I still played it unlocked).
Story: In my two hours of playtime, I only completed 2 story missions, but so far it's very interesting. A straight forward revenge story, and I feel sorry for Talion, and empathize with him. I can't speak on much more than that, since, as I said, I only completed two story missions.
Controls: The games control very similar to Batman and Assassin's Creed, but I found Talion to be very sluggish when just walking around, but fast and responsive while free running and in combat. Combat is very fun and satisfying, especially as you unlock more skills and abilities (it starts off simple and button mashy, but once you start unlocking skills, and adding runes to your sword, bow, and daggers, things get really satisfying). Sometimes I'll miss a counter that I know I pressed the button in time, but overall, the controls are smooth.
Gameplay: This is the big one, and sets the game apart from many other open world titles I've played. As mentioned above, the combat and controls are like Batman, and the traversal and world structure is like Assassin's Creed, especially in how you scale towers to reveal more collectibles, side quests, and other areas of interest on the map. The nemesis system is the real star of the show, and in my playtime, I came across four.
But before that, a quick story about some of the emergent gameplay that arises while playing: So, I was on my way to interrupt a "Feast" event, when I saw a gigantic Graug patrolling the area near the Feast. I hid in the bushes, and watched it for a bit (it was aware of my presence, and started to lumber towards me), until a brave (or is it stupid), Uruk walked into my line of sight, boasting that he was "looking forward to testing out my new blades!" And beating his chest at the Graug. He walks towards the Graug, blades extended, and promptly gets picked up and bitten in half by the Graug. Me and my wife had a good laugh out of that one. Another incident had me tracking down a orc who would give me intel on the feast captain I was attempting to hassle. I tracked him to a fortress, and was perched above him and another orc who were talking near a campfire. My plan was to jump down and air kill the one orc, then interrogate the other. Well, I jumped down and air killed the orc alright. Unfortunately, when I landed on top of the orc, I bumped into the intel orc, sending him into the fire and setting him ablaze, losing the intel he had.
So I finally initiate the Feast, and the Uruk captain commands his men to drink as much grog as they can. I get to high ground while they were distracted, and noticed a Caragor locked in a cage. I loosed an arrow into the lock and set it free. It immediately attacked the orcs, and then I drew a bead on the uruk captain. Twang! My arrow just ricochets off of the guy. He was apparently immune to ranged attacks. I really could have used that intel. I jump down off of my perch and begin to engage him man to man while his goons are occupied by the caragor. Things are going well, until a named orc appears with a crossbow, and taunts me. "Ok, I'll take out the archer first." I start to engage the archer and the Captain simultaneously, and then ANOTHER named orc appears. Some scrawny guy with a stupid helmet. "Well then, this just got a lot more interesting," I say. I begin to position myself to take them all out systematically, starting with the archer, and then a FOURTH named orc appears. Some big motherfucker named Golm The Shadow, who would unbeknownst to me at the time, become my most hated nemesis thus far.
So, I'm battling all four of these guys, plus their goons that the caragor hadn't killed, and eventually I kill the feast captain, and that shiny rune appears over his head. I never get the chance to collect, however, as I'm brought to my knees by that damn archer. I last chance survive one fatal blow, then another, but Golm the Shadow manages to get the best of me with a third fatal blow, and I die. And all three of them level up and get promoted.
When I respawn, I set in motion a plan to get revenge on all three of the survivors, starting with that pesky archer. I immediately target an intel orc, and set about tracking him. I find him, only to have Golm the fucking Shadow appear with some goons in tow. He's not a tracker, but I will come to learn that he has a knack for ambushing enemies. So I end up killing the intel orc in the fracas that ensues, and soon I have a platoon of 20 orcs and Golm hunting me down. I battle some, try to escape the others, but am overwhelmed yet again, and killed, yet again, by Golm.
I respawn AGAIN, fuming at Golm, and decide that this time, I'm going to get revenge on him instead of the archer. This was not to be, as Golm ambushed me at every opportunity, and I died, again, and again, while he taunted me and got stronger. Eventually, I managed to learn he was afraid of Morgul Flies. He was also immune to most attacks, and had a speed boost as well. I tracked him to some hunting ground he was at. I shot a bow into a Morgul Fly nest, and Golm freaked out and fled. I tried to give chase, but I was no match for his speed boost, and he escaped.
I tracked him again, and this time ambushed him while he was torturing another orc. I jumped down and began battling him. One of his traits was quick striking, so I'd have to, in rapid succession, counter his attacks, then move in. I couldn't vault over him either, so I had to just duke it out. Evetually, i wore him down and "killed" him. It felt good.
But I know he'll be back...
The nemesis system is a fantastic new feature.
