This is the first game I have bought for the Xbox One and I have decided to review it as some of the previous reviews are a little misleading. The closest game I compare this too is Assassin's Creed. However for role playing fans it is definitely not the same. The reason for this is that the game is mainly run fight, run fight and in that sense it is more like Batman Arkham City. Also the world is not huge. I get the feeling that it was designed to play on the PS3 and Xbox 360 but then someone asked them to tweak it for the next gen of console. However the designers decided that making the world larger would be too much hassle so added things like characters that "learn" and ever more complex fighting routines.
The graphics and motion are slightly better than many PS3 and 360 games but when you consider the lifelike graphics of Far Cry 2 are approx. 8 years old the "slightly" better rendered imagery here is certainly nothing to shout about and no major leap forward. Also when you consider the hugely upgraded processing power of the Xbox One, this game has not even come close to the consoles capabilities. Do not forget that a slightly "dumbed down" version is also available to buy for both the PS3 and 360.
The game play, due to its combative nature, gets quite lame after a while and due to the comparatively "medium" size of the world becomes repetitive. That is to say that you do find yourself running around the same areas and streets over and over again attempting to complete very "samey" missions. On the upside unlike say GTA 5 the character development is rich you can find yourself fighting up to 30 different Orcs who all move differently and appear to have pretty distinct characters. However this can regress into a Dead Rising scenario where you are quickly over run and have to escape. Taking you back to running around the world again trying to complete other pretty similar fight type missions. Think Lego LOTR game.
The game is quite long I have been playing for about 20 hours at 41% of game completion and I am still enjoying it (even due to the repetition). The game approx. sticks to the LOTR mythos and if you are familiar with the universe you will meet many familiar characters and situations (most of which you end up fighting with or in). I would go so far as to say that this is the best LOTR game so far and I have played most of them. If they do another one or anything similar I would suggest they add more role playing elements on top of the fighting and also make the world bigger so we don't end up running round and round in circles a'la Lego game style! Would I recommend this game? Not to a role playing fan but to anyone else who likes LOTR's and obviously fighting. Would I rush out to buy a next gen console just to play this game hell no. Buy the PS3/360 version and save yourself some money.
The graphics and motion are slightly better than many PS3 and 360 games but when you consider the lifelike graphics of Far Cry 2 are approx. 8 years old the "slightly" better rendered imagery here is certainly nothing to shout about and no major leap forward. Also when you consider the hugely upgraded processing power of the Xbox One, this game has not even come close to the consoles capabilities. Do not forget that a slightly "dumbed down" version is also available to buy for both the PS3 and 360.
The game play, due to its combative nature, gets quite lame after a while and due to the comparatively "medium" size of the world becomes repetitive. That is to say that you do find yourself running around the same areas and streets over and over again attempting to complete very "samey" missions. On the upside unlike say GTA 5 the character development is rich you can find yourself fighting up to 30 different Orcs who all move differently and appear to have pretty distinct characters. However this can regress into a Dead Rising scenario where you are quickly over run and have to escape. Taking you back to running around the world again trying to complete other pretty similar fight type missions. Think Lego LOTR game.
The game is quite long I have been playing for about 20 hours at 41% of game completion and I am still enjoying it (even due to the repetition). The game approx. sticks to the LOTR mythos and if you are familiar with the universe you will meet many familiar characters and situations (most of which you end up fighting with or in). I would go so far as to say that this is the best LOTR game so far and I have played most of them. If they do another one or anything similar I would suggest they add more role playing elements on top of the fighting and also make the world bigger so we don't end up running round and round in circles a'la Lego game style! Would I recommend this game? Not to a role playing fan but to anyone else who likes LOTR's and obviously fighting. Would I rush out to buy a next gen console just to play this game hell no. Buy the PS3/360 version and save yourself some money.