Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor stands out from other open-world action games by putting a great new layer on top of the trail that Batman blazed. I was surprised at how well it integrates its excellent combat with rewarding feedback and progression not just for me, but also for my enemies.

And now, there are two types of gamers, if we're talking about The Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, "Those who have play The Shadow of Mordor and those who are going to."

Shadow of Mordor is a tie-in with stellar production values, a very well-executed action game and a sandbox that shows to the whole genre a new way to dynamically create interaction and storytelling.

Solid action wrapped in a fascinating simulated Orc society. [Nov 2014, p.52]

It may be a mixed bag of hits and misses, but when all of those misses have nothing to do with the gameplay itself, that's a very good thing.

Shadow of Mordor is not just a great action adventure game, with a smooth combat system and a lot of things to do and discover, but a real taste of what the new generation of consoles can do. Mordor is a (beautiful) and vivid place that has its own life (tanks to Nemesis System) and in which Talion is just a variable, and not the ruler. That position is already taken by the Lord of the Rings.

Shadow of Mordor is more than a decent game that will be appreciated by most gamers, while die-hard Tolkien fans will have one more reason to love it.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a strong foray into the Tolkien universe, backed up by popular combat from other major action series, with its own free-running style to boot.

The tech specs are demanding, but this is the Middle-Earth game to rule them all.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a very well crafted adventure that will keep you hooked for hours on end.

I'd be lying if I said that I did not have fun with Shadow of Mordor, because it kept me entertained for 30 hours. Not on a superior level, but on a good, technically flawless one, whose objective quality one must be soberly recognized. But it has never affected me emotionally in that time, never surprised me, never gave me the feeling that I'd just played something special, something unique, something remarkable.

At first glance, this is "only" some Assassin's Creed game from the Lord of the Rings world. When you look at it again you see an immersive action RPG relying on fun and fancy combats that are plentiful here. Tolkien is still waiting for that proverbial game that would find them and in the darkness bind them, however, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is close to it.

While a good first entry in a possible series, Shadow of Mordor can’t quite compete with other big open-world action games. Light on innovation, Monolith's trip to Middle-Earth is mechanically sound and surprisingly addictive. Its 10 to 20 hour campaign offers a lot of fun, mostly thanks to the great cast of individual orcs and the slick combat system. Story and mission design could have used more work though, especially as players are bound to perform the same tasks over and over again in a world that isn’t as lively or as interesting as Los Santos or Arkham City.

After you get used to the world of Shadow of Mordor understanding comes: there is nothing to do in it. Chieftains – pretty serious opponents at first – in the end due to the lame balance become the whipping boys. Storyline is buried under muddy reasoning about rings, elves and dark lord. As a result you like the Shadow of Mordor gameplay but you do not want to go to the finish. [Nov 2014, p.64]

Only thanks to the Nemesis system stinky orcs from Peter Jackson’s movies rise above being cannon fodder and turn into actual characters. If this cool system weren’t here, no one would have looked twice at this hybrid clone of Batman: Arkham City and Assassin’s Creed.