Shadow Of Mordor's combat sees the hero, Talion, go up against groups of mobs at a time, countering their moves and dishing out beatdowns of his own in close, brutal fashion. Does that sound familiar? That's because it's near identical to Batman's style of combat in the Arkham series. It's not obvious at first glance but there's an immense number of similarities that can be drawn between Monolith's next-gen title Shadow Of Mordor (based on JRR Tolkien's works) and Rocksteady's sublime Arkham series. In fact, it seems that Shadow Of Mordor owes a great deal to the Arkham Asylum and City; you'll even be seeing similar types of enemies, like the goons with shields that you need to attack from behind. Still, despite this, Shadow Of Mordor manages to feel fresh and unique, almost as if it took Rocksteady's seemingly flawless combat systems and improved on them; a feat that might once have proved impossible. With the Arkham influence running throughout Shadow Of Mordor, Rocksteady might feel that their upcoming release, Arkham Knight, simply needs to stick to the formula in order to succeed. That's probably true, but Rocksteady has the opportunity, thanks to the exciting new developments in Shadow Of Mordor, to make Arkham Knight the ultimate Batman game. After all, combat isn't the only thing that Shadow Of Mordor improves on; there's plenty of lessons for Rocksteady to learn from Monolith's game. We might not see all of them, sadly, but even one of the ten improvements included in this article would add a new element to Arkham Knight, adding something new and exciting to the series. If you have any additional thoughts on things you would like Rocksteady to add to Arkham Knight as an improvement, let us know in the comments below.
I have an addiction to achievements, a craving for new bands and a dream to become Captain America. I once finished second in a Mario Kart 7 tournament so I'm kind of a big deal.
