Reviews Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review

As the "review" glosses over the elephant in the room completely:

 

Why the scare quotes? What are you implying?
Seems like a very review-y review to me.

 

Indeed. Strange not to mention it at all, even if you personally do not see it as an issue.

For anyone who follows games media this has been a huge controversy.

For my personal take - boycott this ********.

 

I went out and bought a ps4 just to play this game because i loved the fact that you can have fortress battles, ork allies, and generally wanted to experience the story.

So i go to purchase my xbox one which apparently came with the gamebox with a download for the game… Nope… However purchasing a PS4 destiny 2 console then purchasing the game on top meant i had two games and didn’t have to download the whole freaking 64gb using my crappy 300kb/s internet connection. Smart choice and the ps4 slim is freaking small, surprised is under statement.

So i played the game, loved the microtransactions despite not putting any real money into them i still loved the fact that i could get a couple free orks. Legendary orks still appeared throughout the game so i didn’t feel like i was missing out on anything.

The story was top notch, amazing how it changed from the first one when you were defending a damn wall. Combat was absolutely fine, talents were okayish, All in all the experience was worth every damn penny, and now i’ve got a now tv/netflex dedicated box in my bedroom…. Destiny 2 on the other hand… what a load of tosh.

 

"In theory, you could attack the fortress right away"

Yep, that's the way I do business. A good 20 or so failed attempts before accepting it isn't possible.

 

Bit-tech game reviews have been severely lacking for years, see the omission of all the technical stuff, most have no mention if KB + Mouse controls work properly, make no mention if FPS is capped or not, make no mention of FOV sliders, make no mention of 21:9 being supported or not, make no mention of the status of official mod support and so on.
Which is kind of silly really when you consider that bit-tech is more of a tech site than a gaming site what with all hardware reviews and modding stuff.

Unfortunately now all of the following disgusting business practices are also being ignored:
Pre order incentives
Content being carved off to be held hostage in overpriced special editions
Day one DLC
Pre order DLC
Season Passes (aka give us money without a clue what its for)
Microtransactions of any kind in a game that costs money up front
Loot boxes (aka real money gambling for in game stuff)

While it would obviously be better if the industry came to its senses and stopped doing any of the above, we all know the industry isn't going to stop until it destroys gaming as a whole, so harping on about the issue like a broken record is the only avenue left.

Slippery slope and all that.

Remember the time when microtransactions with even the most minor impact on gameplay where so universally reviled that no one dared to implement them in games that cost money upfront?
You (you as in games journalism at large, not you personally) turning a blind eye to the disgusting practice of real money gambling for items that impact gameplay enables the industry to slip further and further down to hell.

So yes, not tearing those companies a new one for their practices in Shadow of War, Forza 7 or Destiny 2 is a very big problem, because they'll take it as a tacit endorsement and double down, see the plans for Battlefront II for a taste of things to come in regards to utterly disgusting business practices.