Shadow of Mordor on PS4 Pro Impressions
Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro has seen a good amount of support from older titles this generation with the likes of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and inFAMOUS: Second Son getting welcome upgrades for those who own the mid-generation upgrade on both 1080p and 4K displays. One such title is Monolith’s breakout hit Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Is this a case of minor upgrades and tweaks or does the new update bring serious graphical improvements to an already great looking title?
Booting the game up on a 1080p display, the first thing I noticed was a significant improvement regarding the character models and the level of detail found on clothing and armor. However, enemy units don’t seem to have the same upgrade. Close-up shots of the Orcs spewing vitriol before they engage the player in battle looks a little rough. It just looks a bit outdated compared to the Uncharted 4 and DOOM.
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“Booting the game up on a 1080p display, the first thing I noticed was a significant improvement regarding the character models and the level of detail found on clothing and armor.”
Terrain quality, in terms of the actual textures of the grassland and earth, doesn’t seem to have been improved in any noticeable way. Similarly on a 4K display, the dated feel of the game doesn’t do it much favor as the resolution almost makes the terrain look harsher. But I’m of the opinion that significant boosts in other areas of a game besides resolution seems to be the better option during PS4 Pro’s early days instead of using up most of the extra computing power to render in 4K with little other meaningful additions. Warner Brothers and Monolith must still be commended for patching in updates for a game that’s over two years old, but the results aren’t mighty impressive.
Although the big addition comes by way of super sampling anti-aliasing which diminishes jaggy edges and outputs an overall cleaner look. On an original PS4 system, the game seems to have some issues in that department, so it’s nice to see a significant upgrade here. Frame rate appears to be set at a consistent 30 FPS like on the original PS4, and I didn’t encounter any dips on either console in my testing. Unfortunately, there isn’t any HDR support in this title which I feel is a shame particularly due to the amount of missions that take place in the open world that could have benefitted from such an addition. The world of Mordor is just dying for some high dynamic range, especially since OG PS4 owners can enjoy the benefits of HDR as well! Thankfully, in an interview with GameCrate, Senior VP of Warner Brothers Games Peter Wyse did confirm that there would be HDR support for future WB games.
What I may have been most impressed by are the draw distances in the game, which is especially important as you approach a camp with a marked target that you can see from a long way away. Additionally, I didn’t encounter any textures popping into view here as I remember back in 2014 when playing the game for the first time on the original PS4. Cut-scenes look a little bit better, with the weather effects standing out, but not by much.
For those looking for games to push their brand new mid-generation consoles to the limit, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor simply isn’t improved enough to justify a purchase for graphical reasons alone, but at the very least it’s as fun as ever and jumping back into the world of Mordor with the revolutionary Nemesis system was a nice stroll back to 2014. Now, hopefully a sequel can take advantage of the PS4 Pro’s improved power.
***A copy of the game was provided to COG by Warner Bros***Â