“Middle-earth: Shadow of War” was recently launched on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on Oct. 10. Monolith Productions developed it, and it published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and it has gained a lot of praise from different game reviewers. There were four editions of the game, which were standard, Silver, Gold, and the huge Mythril Editions.

The edition that I got was the standard edition with the pre-order bonuses that could improve the first few hours of gameplay. I have already played a few hours of the video game and finished the prequel chapter so far.

Here are my first gameplay impressions of this wondrous sequel.

Gameplay was solid, but with some slowdowns

My first reaction to playing this sequel was being impressed due to its solid gameplay. Fighting enemy orcs in normal combat were awesome, and the counters were responding well with my button mashing. The only issue I encountered during gameplay was a bit of a slowdown during evasion, sometimes on counters and executions.

I hope these low-tier weapons or armors caused the slowdown effect. It could also mean that I am still at lower levels. Hopefully, these were the reasons and not something from the game engine itself. I really want my character to respond quickly in combat just like “Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.”

Cutscenes were beautifully done

I am all praises for Monolith Productions with their development of the cutscenes of “Middle-earth: Shadow of War.” They were beautifully done and the characters had so much emotion shown on their faces and actions.

They were 3D character models, but the way they acted and their expressions were similar to a live-action movie.

Different personalities for each orc

I am very impressed with the different personalities for most of the orcs and orc captains in this sequel. Unlike the first game title that had a lot of similar personalities, this one had tons of diverse ones, and I love it.

Some orcs were cringe-worthy, while the others had so many adorable, funny lines.

I am already having a hard time executing and finishing off most of the orc captains with this new feature. I suppose this is due to the numerous voice actors that lent their talents to this game. So far, this was one of the best parts of the game.

So far, my current concern is the slowdown effect on gameplay. It will hopefully change in the next chapter in “Middle-earth: Shadow of War” because it was a bit distracting.