Load the Game

Kinect’s 10% used to improve Shadow of Mordor’s frame-rate

• Egon Kilin
• October 4th, 2014

According to a recent interview with IGN, developer Monolith Productions has used the extra ten percent power unlocked earlier this year by removing the Kinect 2.0 to improve Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s frame-rate on the Xbox One. That said, there is still some confusion over the game’s final resolution and frames-per-second, even to this day. What we know for sure is the fact that Shadow of Mordor runs in 1080p with an unlocked 60FPS on the PS4. On the other hand, rumours state the XB1 version runs at 900p/30FPS.

Nevertheless, whatever platform you choose, Shadow of Mordor has received positive review-scores all around. The game takes place between the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. The family of Talion (voiced and motion captured by Troy Baker), a ranger of Gondor responsible for guarding the Black Gate of Mordor, is killed by Sauron’s armies, but Talion is revived with “wraith-like abilities” and heads into Mordor to exact his revenge. Mordor is not yet a barren wasteland in this story. The player will encounter Gollum (voiced by Liam O’Brien) in the game, discovering that Talion and Gollum have a lot in common. Talion discovers that the wraith who revived him is Celebrimbor (voiced by Alastair Duncan), the greatest Elven smith master of the Second Age and the maker of the Rings of Power, who also seeks revenge against Sauron.

The story involves the Rings of Power, but the story is separate to The Lord of the Rings canon. The Monolith team is working with Middle-earth Enterprises, Peter Jackson, and the artists at the Weta Workshop to make sure that the settings, characters, and story align within canon. Tolkien stated that, aside from Beren, dead men did not return to life in Middle-earth. The beginning of the game is set during abandonment of the watch on the Black Gate, despite that watch ending some 1.300 years prior to the game’s start date.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is already available for purchasing on the PS4, XB1, and PC, with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions releasing on November 18th in North America, November 21st in Europe, and November 26th in Australia.