Shadow Of War: 10 Brutally Honest Impressions You Need To Know
9. It's Ugly (At Least Up Close)
From afar, Shadow of War can be breathtaking. The vistas of Middle-Earth have never looked so picturesque, and the impressive effects work for elements of the world like smoke, fire and the sparks of clashing blades add a huge amount of personality to the game.
However, once you get down to the nitty gritty of the visuals, WB's sequel is surprisingly ugly. Character models in particular can be exceptionally bad, with just about every other human who isn't Talion looking like they were ripped straight out of the Xbox 360 era.
In more ways than one, Shadow of War feels a lot like the earlier Assassin's Creed titles, not least in the way its beautiful locations jar with ugly character models and low-quality textures to make for a disappointing overall presentation.
It's not a make-or-break criticism, but the already-spotty main campaign feels even less polished when the characters involved look like they were created the weekend before the game shipped.