Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2369 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,686 out of 2369
  2. Mixed: 489 out of 2369
  3. Negative: 194 out of 2369
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  1. Elkay_Gaming
    Mar 19, 2019
    7
    This game is great.

    Not the deepest, not the hardest and not the longest. But still enjoyable.

    You can get this for under $10 in a sale and it will sate your hunger for Orc blood.
  2. PortalToH3LL
    Mar 17, 2019
    8
    Умеренно долгий и довольно неплохой openworld в средиземье. Приличный графон, бетменовская боевка, сбор секреток, хреноватое управление, стелс, опять же, бетменовский.
  3. AlirezASlayeR
    Feb 10, 2019
    3
    Mindless and boring copy of Assassins' Creed and Arkham City.
    The game was just too uninteresting to finish! And the EXTREMELY familiar controls to Arkham City made me feel like Rocksteady could actually SUE them!
  4. Frasoric
    Feb 8, 2019
    9
    Shadow of Mordor offers a unique take on the past games based on the Lord of the Rings franchise. The game has a similar combat systems used in the Batman Arkham Knight series with stealth take downs and combat finishers to defeat enemies.

    Instead of Riddler Riddles the game offers a varied amount of collectables and progression within the open world. Wither it's collecting artifacts to    Shadow of Mordor offers a unique take on the past games based on the Lord of the Rings franchise. The game has a similar combat systems used in the Batman Arkham Knight series with stealth take downs and combat finishers to defeat enemies.

    Instead of Riddler Riddles the game offers a varied amount of collectables and progression within the open world. Wither it's collecting artifacts to empower your weapons or going on a hunt for rare creatures and herbs for new abilities.

    What makes Shadow of Mordor different from other games in the action genre is the use of the nemesis system which allows the user to manipulate the world around them through ordered assassinations and forcing orcs to provide information on captains weaknesses.

    The system provides challenges with captains gaining power and new resistances, which the player needs to overcome to defeat them in combat. There is a Vendetta system used in the game allowing friends to attempt the captains that were difficult throughout your experience in Mordor.

    The campaign isn't canon to the Lord of the Rings lore, but does provide some interesting twists and challenges to drive the player throughout their playthrough of the game. In comparison to the open world the campaign feels short, but is better than expected from previous Lord of the Rings games.

    The game is great overall with little to complain about. Shadow of Mordor is a must have for fans of the Lord of the Rings franchise and action games.    … Expand
  5. sweet
    Oct 22, 2018
    0
    To call this game mediocre would be giving it too much credit. It had some nice combat animations, and that's all. The story is forgettable. The combat is unchallenging and as much fun as cow clicker. The graphics are average. The world is small, uninteresting and full of all that boring junk marketing teams demand be in modern games, like climbable towers and endless worthlessTo call this game mediocre would be giving it too much credit. It had some nice combat animations, and that's all. The story is forgettable. The combat is unchallenging and as much fun as cow clicker. The graphics are average. The world is small, uninteresting and full of all that boring junk marketing teams demand be in modern games, like climbable towers and endless worthless collectables. Nearly all the "missions" are the same thing over and over. The nemesis system talked about so much quickly becomes an annoyance.… Expand
  6. Ted_Tris
    Oct 12, 2018
    0
    Unplayable, button mash gameplay, boring garbage.
    Game pad control is bad, keyboard-mouse control is too complicated.
    The fighting system is terrible.
    The number of enemies is infinite.
    Ugly
    V-sync not working on win 10.
    The sounds is weak
  7. RagingPoet
    Aug 6, 2018
    7
    Shadow of Mordor got fluid combat animations, killing orcs never felt more satisfying (even though player only asked to press 2 buttons and the execution is done automatically). Enemy captains commenting on your playstyle and previous combat encounters is a very nice touch too.

    On the other side, main missions are extremely dull, most of them are just tutorials for different game    Shadow of Mordor got fluid combat animations, killing orcs never felt more satisfying (even though player only asked to press 2 buttons and the execution is done automatically). Enemy captains commenting on your playstyle and previous combat encounters is a very nice touch too.

    On the other side, main missions are extremely dull, most of them are just tutorials for different game mechanics. And missions overall are boring, it's more fun to just roam the land, pick an enemy officer and kill it the way you want it without any mission limitations.    … Expand
  8. kevinbrown
    Jul 15, 2018
    4
    The entire game is disappointing. Basically it's a melt of every game out there but badly done. Nothing makes sense, whether it is the gameplay, game mechanics, level design, overall progression, story...

    So Mordor really is 'that' big? Actually it is one of the smallest open world maps ever and I haven't mentioned the cheap level design; repetitive and empty, but first and foremost it    The entire game is disappointing. Basically it's a melt of every game out there but badly done. Nothing makes sense, whether it is the gameplay, game mechanics, level design, overall progression, story...

    So Mordor really is 'that' big? Actually it is one of the smallest open world maps ever and I haven't mentioned the cheap level design; repetitive and empty, but first and foremost it is pointless again.

    The gameplay itself look like it was rushed by developpers. Every mechanic introduced lacks a missing part. The system behind the gameplay is useless (eg: Sauron's army). You can just kill everyone on your path the same way and repeat it until the end of times. The powers, upgrades or anything else are useless.

    Don't waste your time, this is not the ultimate Lord of the Rings video game that you have been dreaming of for the past 15 years. Someday perhaps.    … Expand
  9. Diegochocho
    Jul 5, 2018
    8
    Se nota que el sistema de combate esta sacado de los Batman, pero aun así logra adaptar perfectamente al mundo del Señor de los Anillos.
  10. GolovA
    Jun 19, 2018
    5
    In essence, this is Assassin’s Creed.
    And I don’t like Assassins’ Creed.
    But if you’re a fan of Assassin’s Creed – give yourself (and this game) a Thumbs Up! Is Shadow of Mordor an RPG? Definitely No. There are no dialogue trees, no character selection, and all side “quests” or more properly – missions, degrade into assassinating an urk, or whatever. Is it Open World? Not    In essence, this is Assassin’s Creed.
    And I don’t like Assassins’ Creed.
    But if you’re a fan of Assassin’s Creed – give yourself (and this game) a Thumbs Up!

    Is Shadow of Mordor an RPG?
    Definitely No.
    There are no dialogue trees, no character selection, and all side “quests” or more properly – missions, degrade into assassinating an urk, or whatever.

    Is it Open World?
    Not really. While the scale of the map is extensive, there is no element of exploring (think Fallout 3 / New Vegas), and all the locations you discover are by no means locales (like villages with interesting NPC’s) but rather places where the aforementioned target for your assassination is awaiting his doom by your hand.

    Is there Character Development? (Potential spoilers)
    Eh . . . There are skill points you spend to “develop” your character, but all the progress concentrates on combat skills and weapons (obviously, since we already established that this is not an RPG, and skill point cannot be sunk into trade skill, or speech, ect). I see this more in the same venue as weapon upgrading, not character “development.”

    Having said all of this, here’s where I see Computer Gaming.
    When I want a story – I read a book. When I seek atmosphere – I listen to music. When I require a mental challenge – I play board games with friends. A Computer Game is unique in that it is able to unite all of those things together. A good computer game can, at least.
    Middle Earth – Shadow of Mordor is not that game.
    While having decent mechanics and a good story it simply does not have a good gameplay. You get the gist of what the entire playthrough will be like in the first 15 minutes or so – run, kill, run, kill, upgrade, run, kill more of the same – no rest for you, because you’re dead or something. Ahm, ok. I don’t find such a gameplay fun, which unfortunately I have to bear through to uncover the story.

    Speaking of which.
    The Story is not only the plot but also the telling. Shadow of Mordor’s pace is sheer madness – there is no pause, no place to take a break, the urks are constantly spawning, the bosses continually appearing if you’re killed, and so on. So, of course it is different for everybody, but I want my Tolkien story told by a gray-bearded Socrates looking grandpa, who is peacefully puffing on his cavendish cherry-wood pipe, while turning the burning coals in the fire and sipping his chamomile tea, NOT by a speed-junky, who yells out an extremely abridged “Hobbit” in 3 seconds while flying past me on a motorcycle. That’s Shadow of Mordor’s story-telling.

    So in short, i feel like the game is punishing me for wanting to uncover the plot of the story. I simply can't move through the main plot at my own speed - i need to do that by grinding through irrelevant, monotonous, repeatative assassination missions. And that is just not my idea of fun. Sounds more like work and a waste of time - unfortunately, to get through the story i am forced to those tedious things.

    To Devs / Publishers:
    When porting, please, start implementing FOV sliders for PC Gamers. Yes, we PC Gamers get it – Consoles are the future, and console owners are your target group. But here’s the thing – we, PC Gamers, still pay you money. Why not make us happy, and throw in a freebie in the form of the NORMAL, expanded FOV.

    Instead of this Game, try these for an RPG experience:
    Fallout 3 (+ New Vegas)
    Dragon Age Origins

    Games Similar to Shadow of Mordor, but which i think are better:
    Saints Row the Third
    Darksiders
    Red Faction: Guerrilla
    Red Faction: Armageddon
    Just Cause 2

    And of course i highly recommend reading Tolkien - BOOKS RULE!

    P.S.
    Finally finished it. Really had to force myself to play at times - ok story, but the grindy gameplay just ruins the joy.    … Expand
  11. El_Manco
    May 20, 2018
    8
    Al igual que con "Mad Max", creo que a este juego le faltan una serie de virtudes para obtener más de un 8. Sin embargo, Shadow of Mordor me parece mejor juego que el anterior. Si ambos pueden hacerse repetitivos, Shadow of Mordor logra no hacer tan pesado obtener ciertos logros y realizar ciertas misiones. Las historias paralelas a la trama principal lo hacen algo más dinámico, y `por esoAl igual que con "Mad Max", creo que a este juego le faltan una serie de virtudes para obtener más de un 8. Sin embargo, Shadow of Mordor me parece mejor juego que el anterior. Si ambos pueden hacerse repetitivos, Shadow of Mordor logra no hacer tan pesado obtener ciertos logros y realizar ciertas misiones. Las historias paralelas a la trama principal lo hacen algo más dinámico, y `por eso le doy una nota más alta… Expand
  12. njja02
    May 15, 2018
    5
    Plenty of awesome moments, but pretty bland overall. The Nemesis system is great, making encounters with Orc generals more epic and personal. But, the game=play does get a bit repetitive from the way the missions are structured. Plus the open world feels empty and generic.
  13. muzmuz
    May 3, 2018
    5
    Shadow of Mordor has that entertaining cinematic combat gameplay that will leave you satisfied in every swing of the blade. But in all honesty, the eye-candy fighting, slashing and execution animations is the only thing this game can boast. It implemented a very repetitive formula in an empty, desolate open-world setting that most likely would shove you away from ever seeing the credits roll.
  14. Valera612
    Feb 25, 2018
    10
    this game is very good. big open world. interesting game-play and very good story
  15. Mitya64
    Jan 14, 2018
    8
    Шикарный геймплей. Система немезида интересная. Графон на высоте. орки выглядят уродские. Музыка и звуки отличные. Сюжет короткий и не интересный. Бегал убивал орков
  16. xRabia
    Dec 3, 2017
    7
    Podríamos definirlo como "Un juego entretenido", gran temática un sistema de juego que bien entretiene un poco pero tampoco es nada del otro mundo. Nada rejugable pero para disfrutar con la temática y disfrutar unas horitas.
  17. Poishawk
    Nov 26, 2017
    8
    Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ боевик с элементами рпг. Игра разробатывалась WarnerBros., что сразу заметно по геймплею, чувствуется родство с играми серии Бэтман, особенно боевка. Сюжет рассказывает о жителях Мордора, до истории первой книго "Властелин колец". Хотя если вырвать игру из вселенной Толкина, разницы не сразу заметишь. Присутствуют некоторые персонажи из фильмов, что даетMiddle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ боевик с элементами рпг. Игра разробатывалась WarnerBros., что сразу заметно по геймплею, чувствуется родство с играми серии Бэтман, особенно боевка. Сюжет рассказывает о жителях Мордора, до истории первой книго "Властелин колец". Хотя если вырвать игру из вселенной Толкина, разницы не сразу заметишь. Присутствуют некоторые персонажи из фильмов, что дает какую то ностальгию, захотелось даже пересмотреть трилогию. Немного не проработана система захвата командиров, не до конца понятно, зачем это, если геймплейно никак не влияет. Платное ДСЛ добавляет некоторые функции, которых не хватало в оригинале. Чувствуется, что эти фишки были вырезанны или не продуманы вначале. Сюжет прост и без всяких поворотов, в открытом мире есть чем заняться на несколько часов, уйдя от основной сюжетной линии. Прокачка очень проста, маши себе мечом да получай XP. Очень понравилось разнообразие приемов и добивания, что хоть как то разбовляет постоянный сражения. В общем игра получилась хорошая, на пару вечеров и не больше.
    7/10 Урук-хаев!    … Expand
  18. Jayme_lara
    Nov 23, 2017
    9
    Podri describir este juego como un Assasin´s Creed bien hecho el sistema nemesis te hace sentir la personalidad de algunos rivales y mas aun cuando aparecen varios a la vez. Muy recomendado y divertido
  19. steelcl
    Nov 22, 2017
    6
    I think the greatest quality of this game is that it doesn't try to be grand. It's quite a simple game in which you can mess around, kill some orcs, complete some events and progress with the main story. The story is short and tolerable.

    Combat isn't complex, but it isn't complicated to learn. The orc army hierarchy system is original and fun. The strenghts and weaknesses of the    I think the greatest quality of this game is that it doesn't try to be grand. It's quite a simple game in which you can mess around, kill some orcs, complete some events and progress with the main story. The story is short and tolerable.

    Combat isn't complex, but it isn't complicated to learn.

    The orc army hierarchy system is original and fun. The strenghts and weaknesses of the captains gives it an interesting flavor and that combined to those orc leader events, can lead to some random and funny moments, for example: my nemesis was fleeing from battle, then he walks into fire, gets killed by some monster in the way, and suddenly appears back later to haunt me while I was at other event.

    Although it can be a fun experience, I can't imagine this game remaining interesting after much more than 1 play through.    … Expand
  20. jelikey
    Nov 19, 2017
    9
    At first glance this game seems like Batman meets Assassin's Creed with Witcher elements mixed in. I wasn't really sold on it until I realized how robust the Nemesis system is. I was messing around fighting a Graug and my health was down to about 1/4. Then out of nowhere a Captain that I identified in the Army of Sauron as being in the next zone over appears. He says "OH IS NOW A BAD…
  21. Billydju
    Nov 16, 2017
    8
    The gameplay is really nice, its really fun to make those orcs working for us. Sadly this game has 1 of the shortest story in any AAA-tier game.

    Overall its worth and only cost $5 on sales.
  22. Gohax
    Oct 19, 2017
    8
    So i played this game first on the ps4 and i really enjoyed it so much that i bought it for the pc aswell this game is basically if Assassin's creed and Batman Arkham games had a baby this game is a joy to play and heres why:

    Story: you are a ranger watching the black gate ? i think ? while having some family issues the right hand of Sauron attacks you and sacrifices you to summon a    So i played this game first on the ps4 and i really enjoyed it so much that i bought it for the pc aswell this game is basically if Assassin's creed and Batman Arkham games had a baby this game is a joy to play and heres why:

    Story: you are a ranger watching the black gate ? i think ? while having some family issues the right hand of Sauron attacks you and sacrifices you to summon a spirit that died with the ring the spirit gets into you instead and revives you from the dead so you can have your revenge against the right hand of Sauron.
    In my opinion the story is the weak part in this game because you wont be caring about any characters they introduce to you

    Gameplay: so the gameplay is the fun part you will be slaying orcs or as they call them uruks a stronger version of orcs and their leaders the combat is a complete copy from batman but there is stealth like in assasins creed and parkour as well this game has a special system called the nemesis system in which the uruks will remember what you have done and if you kill someone and he survives that uruk will come back for revenge your main goal in this game is to win up the 5 warchiefs and make them your minions from the skills youll get as being a host of a spirit

    pros: great gameplay really brutal and satisfying
    the nemesis system works awesome
    of course it takes time in the lord of the rings universe so you nerds will enjoy it

    cons: poor story and characters
    THE STORY BOSSES NOT COUTING THE FIRST ONE WHICH IS THE ONLY ONE WHO IS AWESOME ARE AWFULL
    combat can get rapatative after 30 hours of gameplay XDD

    my final score for this game is
    8.5/10
    i really enjoyed this game and i hope you all will    … Expand
  23. JJRambo
    Oct 18, 2017
    4
    the game looks fun, but it's a repetitive bottom smashing fest. Climbing walls it's so frustrating. The fighting is just smash one button with the occasional use of other buttons, you can fell satisfied for what you see on screen but the game tricks you while you smash that one button till your hands get numb.
    And then there's the micro transaction that don't even lets you play the game    the game looks fun, but it's a repetitive bottom smashing fest. Climbing walls it's so frustrating. The fighting is just smash one button with the occasional use of other buttons, you can fell satisfied for what you see on screen but the game tricks you while you smash that one button till your hands get numb.
    And then there's the micro transaction that don't even lets you play the game as it's intended, and day one DLC. So this game just sucks.    … Expand
  24. noirfx
    Oct 15, 2017
    0
    The game is ok, just remove microtransaction and everybody will be happy. Gamers are not stupid, you can't put loot crates into 60$ single player game.
  25. Clapper
    Oct 13, 2017
    9
    Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor Review:
    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor was released in 2014, and despite its innovations and publicity work, it fell under the radar as one of the multitude of games accompanying the arrival of next generation consoles. However, what developer Monolith Productions had created was a contender for game of the year 2014, a game that received critical appraise    Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor Review:
    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor was released in 2014, and despite its innovations and publicity work, it fell under the radar as one of the multitude of games accompanying the arrival of next generation consoles. However, what developer Monolith Productions had created was a contender for game of the year 2014, a game that received critical appraise and a vast amounts of awards and nominations. But no game is without its flaws.
    Without a doubt, the most controversial aspect of Shadow Of Mordor was the story. Generally, an offline single player game would be expected to be quite story-driven, however in this case the story felt more like a series of side quests, enjoyable but lacking a huge amount of depth or creativity. However, the setting was a good decision by the writers as the games story occurs between the events of The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings, and with the convoluted and magical lore of middle earth it removes the issue of a ‘doomed by cannon’ scenario (in which the inevitable outcome is evident from the beginning and inhibits any sort of emotional attachment to the characters or cause). Also, the voice acting ranged from brilliant to downright boring. Main characters varied in quality, causing there to be a feeling of distance between them, lacking chemistry between partnering roles in the story. Overall, the story is worth playing through, but it will not be the highlight and will act more as just a means of progression into later game areas and powers.
    Yes, powers. The games main character, Talion, is joined with the spirit of Celibrimbor, which grants him special abilities that you can unlock as you progress through the game. These range from elven swiftness - which allows you to gain a speed boost while traversing the terrain, to draining and dominating orcs to fight for you (this makes up the bulk of the gameplay). The powers granted to you are excellently animated, and are deftly woven into the fluid combat system to create a great – though potentially a bit too easy – combat experience. The system used for combat is a tried and tested formula featuring most notably in the Batman: Arkham series, and the control scheme this system utilises is efficient and effective on both keyboard and controller. As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty is lacking, and while this does allow the player to enjoy other aspects of the game, it also means that the lack of challenge will bore some gamers. The idea seems to be to launch a large amount of easy enemies, than make the individuals enemies stronger, which can work in certain situations and pairs wonderfully with the combo-based combat system, but if you find yourself fighting an orc captain 1 on 1, it becomes a very mundane task and can dampen immersion.
    This games crown jewel is its innovative ‘Nemesis System’. This system allows orc captains and War Chiefs to remember you and your past fights with them, and can adapt their traits or strategies to counter your play style or tactics previously used against them. Some orcs can also cheat death, and come back to find you after you ‘kill’ them, this creates a story and relationship with each and every randomly generated orc captain, and is what gives the game its almost infinite replay value. For players looking for a fun and immersive gameplay experience, this system is the best one in the games industry to date, and will not disappoint players that can look past the flaws of the story.
    The game is quite well optimised as well, and for players on pc it doesn’t demand too much from your rig, especially as the game was released a few years ago now, 60fps shouldn’t be a struggle for even budget rigs, and of course the consoles will play at a smooth 30fps as well.
    Overall, Monolith’s Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor is a masterpiece in terms of gameplay and depth, but its lacking story will leave some players disappointed, and definitely has wasted potential. My Rating for Shadow Of Mordor would be a 9/10.    … Expand
  26. KittyWhisky
    Aug 19, 2017
    6
    This game is just about killing orcs. In Shadow of Mordor has good graphics, nice combat system, but the dull open world does not encourage the passing game. Heath is very sad, besides annoying endless respawns of orcs. The game has a nice feature - system Nemesis. It is working out great. The plot of the game completely dull. Please only nice video (especially Gollum). The orcs are veryThis game is just about killing orcs. In Shadow of Mordor has good graphics, nice combat system, but the dull open world does not encourage the passing game. Heath is very sad, besides annoying endless respawns of orcs. The game has a nice feature - system Nemesis. It is working out great. The plot of the game completely dull. Please only nice video (especially Gollum). The orcs are very cool looking and well voiced. They are nice to destroy. But in addition to Stripping the card and the endless destruction of the orcs in the game do nothing.
    This game is bare mechanics. Waiting for the second part and good gameplay, advanced system Nemesis and PLOT.    … Expand
  27. birdman3
    Aug 6, 2017
    8
    I've got mixed feelings about this game- on the one hand, it's got a lot of very similar stealth and combat moves from the Arkham series, which I love in the LOTR setting. I like the story, and a few of the characters even stood out to me (I really loved the dwarf, even if the rest of the 2nd act characters were forgettable). I liked the interplay between Talion and the wraith, which madeI've got mixed feelings about this game- on the one hand, it's got a lot of very similar stealth and combat moves from the Arkham series, which I love in the LOTR setting. I like the story, and a few of the characters even stood out to me (I really loved the dwarf, even if the rest of the 2nd act characters were forgettable). I liked the interplay between Talion and the wraith, which made for some interesting contrasting sequences. I liked that the game started off challenging (although, a bit too challenging- I died a lot very quickly and some of the captains got really powerful, and I found myself running from many, many battles early on). I dlisked that the game got too easy once you gained the ability to Brand the orcs- every battle from that point on became a war of attrition, where I simply attacked until I could Brand, then I Branded over and over again until my orcs overwhelmed the enemy. In the last half of the game, I died only once, compared to the 20+ times in the 1st act. I additionally disliked some of the tedium of the side quests, fetching, and challenges- I felt like they added very little to the game overall, so their scope should have been reduced.

    As has probably been mentioned, the best part of the game is the Nemesis system wherein orcs fight each other and develop, thereby becoming stronger and adapting. While I thought that controlling orcs in individual skirmishes made the game too easy, controlling captains made the game into a fun pokemon-style level-up system wherein you babysit your pet captains, making them grow stronger and have achievements and rank advances. That was fun.

    Overall, the game achieves more successes than failures, and I appreciate the use of the license. Makes me want to re-watch some of the movies.    … Expand
  28. SuperkenGaming
    Aug 6, 2017
    8
    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor
    When Batman meets Assassins Creed
    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor is an action adventure game where you play as Talion, going after the black hand after he does something in the beginning of the game that I wont spoil… But part of that something is killing you.. That’s right.. youre dead… sort of… Youre stuck in limbo and seeking revenge.. but you soon find    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor
    When Batman meets Assassins Creed
    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor is an action adventure game where you play as Talion, going after the black hand after he does something in the beginning of the game that I wont spoil…
    But part of that something is killing you..
    That’s right.. youre dead… sort of…
    Youre stuck in limbo and seeking revenge.. but you soon find out youre attached to Elf Lord Celebrimbor who is also after the black hand… and with his power you turn into an assassins creed fans dream…
    You can hop from these towers and really any location without taking damage leap of faith style..
    The game is set in an open world takes place on 2 maps
    and you can unlock fast travel points on the maps by climbing towers like assassins creed..
    Climbing in this game is automatic, done by just holding down a button which can make for some frustrating getaway moments during combat as expected..
    not as smoth as the later installments of assassins creed has become..
    but these maps are crawling with side missions power struggles and collectables…
    And there is actual incentive to star aside from the main story thanks to the different skill trees and leveling system in this game..
    You of course aqquire skills by leveling up from killing orcs and completing quests… this lets you unlock new skilsl in your skill tree..
    But to unlock more tiers in your skill tree you need more power..
    power is acquired by taking out orcs in saurans army..
    The first half of the game is all about climbing your way through the orc ranks and taking out the 5 warchiefs..
    you do this by grabbing orcs, enetering their brains,, and getting intel on your target..
    this intel will tell you their location, their strengths, power and their weaknesses…
    And once you feel youre prepared to take them down you can go into a power struggle to eliminate them..
    But you have to be sure youre ready because of the games nemesis system…
    the combat here is fairly simple and plays like the batman arkham games and the ps3 assassins creed games…
    you can stealth kill enemies from bushes, ledges, behind, or from above.. use your bow to head shot or zip through thin air for a devastating blow.. ride in on the back of an animal or monster you’ve taimed in the wild..
    or you can go in batman style countering attacks and going for annoying finishers that take 20 years to pull off and are nearly impossible to pull off outside of a main mission…
    This is my biggest complaint with the entire game…
    These missions to dethrone orcs are extremely frustrating because the game expects you to be able to take on 30 at a time while in the story they only ask you to deal with like 5 or 6 at a time..
    The variety here is a lot like the arkham games where you eventually have to stun enemies or jump over their shields just to make things more frustrating…
    but every time you go to do a ground finisher itss get broken up because it takes so long to pull off, thankfully you are eventually able to pull of moves like executions once you get a hit streak going of 8 and later 5, but this doesn’t help these encounters from feeling cheap…
    if you do get knocked down,. You will.. a lot.. you have the opportunity to do a quick time event to get up again 2 or 3 times.. but eventually you will just die or if you mess up youll just die,,
    And dying makes things even worse as the orc that kills you will remember you, they get promoted in the ranks, and their power ioncreases making them even harder to take care of the next time…
    And then there are the collectibles and sidemissions that increase your attribvutes like health as well as open rune slots for your sword, bow, and dagger, these runes are picked up off of warchiefs and captains…
    Who also act as bodyguards…
    so its important to take out a targets bodyguards before you attack them to make your encounter easier…
    during the 2nd half of this 12 hours game.. you have to go through the same system..
    this time however youre tasked with making your own army out of these orcs so you can challenge the black hand.. and you do this by your new ability to brand them..
    Your goal is to now find a target and get them on your side..
    you can either go right to a bodybuard or help your newly owed orc captain prove himself and become a bodybuard..    … Expand
  29. auditbadger
    Jul 30, 2017
    9
    I think that this is truly a unique game and I would recommend that if you are a fan of this type of genre then I think you should give this game a try.
  30. veedub
    Jul 14, 2017
    9
    This game manages to take a bunch of things I hate from other games and somehow make them awesome.

    Open world generally sucks. It's a stupid way to shove a bunch of filler in between missions and story, by making you have to walk across a bunch of stuff before you can get to the mission. Boring, long, repetitive, unnecessary. But Shadow of Mordor manages to make it not only *not    This game manages to take a bunch of things I hate from other games and somehow make them awesome.

    Open world generally sucks. It's a stupid way to shove a bunch of filler in between missions and story, by making you have to walk across a bunch of stuff before you can get to the mission. Boring, long, repetitive, unnecessary. But Shadow of Mordor manages to make it not only *not boring filler* but actually fun and interesting, perhaps because the meat of the game is *about* the world instead of just sort of crammed on to the game to check off a box. There's a system to the world that's constantly happening and evolving all around you, and you're dropped into it for the sole purpose of screwing with that system. That makes it better than just about any other open world game out there.

    I generally hate the brawler-style combat where you mash the attack button to win, as featured in Assassin's Creed and Batman. But this one somehow manages to be fun and satisfying in a way that the others never achieved. A lot of it comes from balancing the rhythm and combo scoring against some deliberate choices -- for example, in Batman and AC enemies only die by just hitting them enough times, but in SoM you are given abilities to make it feel more deliberate -- knock-down ground executions, executions from charging up combos, draining enemies to recover ammo, stun + flurry attack, etc. -- in short, it feels like things are happening because of *your* decisions, not the results of mashing the same button over and over.

    Another review on my screen as I type this up complains that the game has no choice of direction. That's absolutely untrue. It's largely nonlinear, and I was never "told" where to go next. Yeah, there's a "main mission" thing but it's not begging you to complete the main mission and trying to make you feel bad for screwing around -- and it also doesn't make you feel like you're doing something other than what you're supposed to be doing when you decide you just want to go screw around. A big problem with Assassin's Creed is that it's trying to be open world but it's mission-based, and the way it's all structured it feels like everything besides the main mission is a waste of time. That's not a problem in Shadow of Mordor -- you have *real* choices on where to go and what to approach next, and it doesn't feel like it's "in between" what you're supposed to be doing.

    Another thing I hate about a lot of modern games is quick time events. While they're still not the ideal mechanism, Shadow of Mordor manages to make them a frantic but fair struggle, and limits them only to appropriate places of gameplay instead of shoving them into things that should be watch-only cinematics.

    My only real complaint about the game is that in the process of making everything work as perfectly smooth motion-captured animations to look like a LotR movie, the controls aren't as responsive and precise as I'd prefer. I have very brief moments of frustration where Talion does something other than what I precisely intended to do, but it's minor enough to knock only one point off.

    Oh, then there are reviews that complain about the story . . . I don't play games to pretend that they're interactive movies. Movies are better at that a lot of the time. The only way I dock points for story is if the story is so bad that it actively interferes with the game -- i.e. I can no longer like the character I'm playing as, or the way the character plays is at complete odds with how the character is portrayed in the story. And Shadow of Mordor's story is fine. It's not the greatest and I don't think it would make a compelling movie, but it's fine. No cringey moments, no poorly written dialog, etc., so no points lost.

    Last point: The Nemesis system. Fantastic. Yeah, the randomly-generated strengths and weaknesses don't make everything magically whatever, but the way your enemies remember your past interactions makes it *sooo* much more satisfying when you kill them than if they were standard video game bosses. It's not just something the game tells you to do, it's personal. YOU KILLED ME! NOW **YOU** DIE! But it's not *just* the Nemesis system -- it's how the entire game pays attention to the way you play and is frequently making references to it. Hearing the orcs ramble about how they want to ride a Caragor because they saw the Ranger do it. Hearing them make fun of you if you've died a lot. Hearing them whine about some chief you just killed, or celebrate because they hated that chief, or say how they wish their chief (by name!) would get killed. Etc. The game is aware of your decisions and lets you know that it's aware. It's an incredible touch that makes the whole thing feel *alive*.    … Expand
  31. FromKanga
    Jul 9, 2017
    8
    Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a flawed but really fun game.
    I didn't know if I was going to like this game because it reminded me of a series of games I despise and that is Assassin's creed, the gameplay looked the same to me but Shadow of Mordor is superior to Assassin's creed in almost every way.
    The story was a bore, that's probably because I'm not a lord of the rings fan, I    Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a flawed but really fun game.
    I didn't know if I was going to like this game because it reminded me of a series of games I despise and that is Assassin's creed, the gameplay looked the same to me but Shadow of Mordor is superior to Assassin's creed in almost every way.

    The story was a bore, that's probably because I'm not a lord of the rings fan, I like these films but not to the point where I wanted to know the lore behind it, the main character was well acted but he was boring as well, he had a very rushed back-story in the first minutes of the game and it is tragic what happened to him but the game fails at making me care about him and his goal.
    And the other characters were also not interesting, the villains were boring as hell, since this game is a prequel I thought that would give an opportunity to give a motivation to the main villain, that would have made the story so much more interesting but it's just villains who want to take over the world...
    And this game has one of the worst endings I've seen in a long time, the final boss is a quick time event and the game just abruptly ends...? The game failed at making me care about the story and characters.

    But the gameplay did redeem the lackluster story, the stealth sections is like assassin's creed and the combat is like the batman arkham games and it's really fun, it never gets repetitive with the power ups and the environnemental attacks and the best element in this game is being able to control the orcs, you can help them become chief and have your own army of orcs.
    It gives you a reason to play more even when you finished the story.

    The presentation and sound design are really good, like I already mentioned, the acting is really solid but the graphics and atmosphere are even better, this does feel like you are playing a lord of the rings game.

    So my real problem with this game is the story, I thought it was terrible but it's one of those games where it's gameplay over story and since the gameplay was a success, I can forgive it.
    It is a really fun game and I do reccomend it.    … Expand
  32. Mascalzone
    Jul 8, 2017
    6
    A very normal "free roaming" game with just a great background and a huge budget. It's 20 hours/10$ MAX buy, nothing more 'cause it's just a well made game mechanic ("fight Sauron army") made over and over nce you got enough. 6/10.
  33. WalterDisney
    Jul 6, 2017
    10
    “Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor” is probably one of my favorite video game adaptations of the Tolkien lore. Long story short, if you enjoy Lord of the Rings, the world of Middle Earth, and amazing video games, this game is a no brainer. Also, if you haven’t picked this game up yet, now is the perfect time considering the sequel is being released later this year, and your nemesis will carry“Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor” is probably one of my favorite video game adaptations of the Tolkien lore. Long story short, if you enjoy Lord of the Rings, the world of Middle Earth, and amazing video games, this game is a no brainer. Also, if you haven’t picked this game up yet, now is the perfect time considering the sequel is being released later this year, and your nemesis will carry over into the new game!… Expand
  34. OberiousLocke
    Jun 25, 2017
    9
    As someone who's never really gotten the hype behind the Lord of The Rings franchise (I did love the movies though) this game is absolutely fantastic, even if it doesn't fit in 100% with the universe. The combat is satisfying, frenetic and silky smooth. There is no greater feeling then to get in a brawl with 30 Uruks and win it unscathed. There is also a certain depth to the game, as allAs someone who's never really gotten the hype behind the Lord of The Rings franchise (I did love the movies though) this game is absolutely fantastic, even if it doesn't fit in 100% with the universe. The combat is satisfying, frenetic and silky smooth. There is no greater feeling then to get in a brawl with 30 Uruks and win it unscathed. There is also a certain depth to the game, as all captains have their own unique set of Strengths (Enraged +damage if set on fire, for example) and Weaknesses (Terrified of X monster, can be killed instantly using technique Y) and if you die to even the lowliest Uruk, they can themselves become powerful captains. The different types of Captain can also keep things interesting, and you can turn Uruks and Captains to your side when you unlock Brand. There is also a somewhat extensive sheet of different talents you can invest in, from instantly executing enemies every 8x hitstreak (8, 16, etc hits) or be able to mount Caragors and go on a rampage.

    I picked this up on the Steam Summer Sale and got the complete package, and I feel like I should have paid more for this. Even if you're not a LoTR fan, you should at least give this game a gander.    … Expand
  35. jamiemgr
    Jun 23, 2017
    4
    This game is ruined by it's terrible combat system. I got so bored with it that I lasted half an hour before uninstalling it. I hope the combat system has been changed for shadow of war or I will not be playing it. Shame because the story in Shadow of mordor looks good but I can't bring myself to play it with this atrocious combat system.
  36. kiwijinxter
    May 20, 2017
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wowsers. I came into this game without any expectations whatsoever. Boy, I was blown away. Hot off Dragon Age: Inquisition which in itself is an Action RPG, I found Shadow of Mordor's combat (which is important in any ARPG) to be most satisfying. I must admit I found it a bit difficult at the start - I died a lot at the beginning due to lack of experience (going for a whole bunch of orcs like a superhero) but over time as I added more skills, I became more adept at handling orcs, warchiefs and all (yes I still died, but quite a bit less!). It's a game that does stealth MUCH more smoothly and seamless than Assassin's Creed, combat movements MUCH more fluid than Dragon Age: Inquisition and introduces a fun "Nemesis" system.

    The Nemesis system introduces you to the idea of enemy progression e.g. each time an orc or uruk kills you, he gains 1 rank up. There are Warchiefs who are stronger versions of orcs/uruks, surrounded by some bodyguards which require a bit more careful planning. Later in the game when you can brand uruks and turn them into your side, the Nemesis system becomes more fun where you can brand bodyguards and get them to betray Warchiefs (with you helping them), essentially creating traitors within Sauron's orc army ranks.

    As I said before, combat is super fluid and reminds me of the Batman series of games.

    There's heaps of variety in the game, including the ability to ride Caragors (the fierce dog monsters) and Graugs (the huge golem like monster). You also have a mix of sword, bow-and-arrow and stealth dagger skills you employ throughout the game to rid of your enemies. Stealth executions and branding are actually fun and very smooth. Later on you can purchase higher end skill sets which makes you a stronger killing machine for a limited time. There are the main quests and never ending side-quests to enable you to grind a bit to increase your skill sets.

    If there's one thing I'd improve, I'd like the sometimes "sticky" situations where you're stuck climbing on a wall and can't jump down quick enough. But generally you can survive without having to do this.

    Story-wise, it's pretty straight forward, and has ties to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings lore (as re-imagined by Peter Jackson). Familiar characters like the ring, Sauron, Saruman, Gollum either make an appearance in person or in the text.

    After playing this, games like Assassin's Creed will need to improve their combat! I'm certainly looking forward to the sequel, Middle Earth: Shadow of War. It's truly a worthy game.    … Expand
  37. Amsheagar
    Mar 27, 2017
    7
    This game is very simple. You need to slaughtering orcs. The combat system is very good and the executions are cool. The story is weak and forgetable. The graphics and the view is amazing. This is a good game, howewer i started to boring after i have played 15 hours. Fortunately this game is short, about 20hours with every collectives and side missions. i recommend one walkthrough, not more.
  38. vicccp
    Mar 26, 2017
    10
    Игра очень понравилось. Рекомендую для любителей Трилогии "Властелин колец".
    Давно не вышло что то из этой темы, так что это игра самое то. Оценка 10 из 10.
  39. marcelus
    Mar 17, 2017
    8
    Since I knew this game wasn't going to be online I didn't expect nothing about it. At its release moment I was tired of Assassins Creed or this kind of games (at least for a while). But finally, I stumble with a different game that has a lot of well applied ingredients.

    Pros: - Of course you heard about the famous "Nemesis System". It's really REALLY fun and it makes the game shine.    Since I knew this game wasn't going to be online I didn't expect nothing about it. At its release moment I was tired of Assassins Creed or this kind of games (at least for a while). But finally, I stumble with a different game that has a lot of well applied ingredients.

    Pros:
    - Of course you heard about the famous "Nemesis System". It's really REALLY fun and it makes the game shine. You have a kind of board with all the Uruks (captains and warchiefs) and simply you start killing them (if you can). I find myself just killing these guys before starting even the third mission of the Main Missions xD and it was really satisfiying. I really recommend to don't pay much attention at the story at the beggining and start developing Talion upgrades.
    - Continueing with the Nemesis System related "pros". It wonderful the number of animations and recorded voices from the Uruks. I didn't hear any repetition in my 27hs of gameplay.
    - There're so many interesting mechanics. For instance: the death threats, the duels, betrayal, recruitment, execution etc....
    - The intel and the domination of course!
    - The combat (Batman alike) is well balanced. You're OP in 1 on 1, 1 on 2, 3 etc...but most of the time a nromal situation is 1 on 10+ xD I find interesting the key binding for controller where you find enemies hard to finish and counter because they change their approaches.
    - Captain vulnerabilities are fun to use at your advantage.
    - Developing good / bad feelings to an Uruk that maybe is only on your playthough and fighting against him for a second, third or even fourth time after die again and again.
    - Diying is not a good thing. Is not just "Retry". You're helping your enemies to be stronger and even go up in the ranks (because the Nemesis System is active each time you do a mission and Uruks fight against each others).
    - Ratbag the Coward! :D
    - Some orc said to me "I will kill you until you're dead" :O
    - You can revenge the death of friends. That's the only major interactivity "online". So you fight against the enemy who killed your mate.
    - The stealth is at the right amount. Not flawless but is not annoying or forced.
    - As I mentioned before. Talion upgrades makes you feel a total badass. It's great to defeat an old enemy in seconds and see him retreat or beg for his life :P
    - It doesn't feel repetitive during 99% of the game.
    - Visually it looks really good. You need to see it for yourself, not on YouTube. Is not perfect but its well optimized even on Ultra. The lighting its great during the day. During the night is not that great but when it rains it shines!!The vegetation looks nice in the whole picture maybe (not in detail). The amount of details on closeups during cutscenes is good and well planned. The only downside about visuals is the abuse of some speculars and instances of ambient particles (too repetitive). The DOF looks nice but it needs better motion blur.
    - It rains A LOT! :3
    - The musicalization reminds me to some Dante's Inferno ambient sounds with those intense vocals. Is not the best part of the game but it fits most of the time.

    Cons:
    - The story feels incomplete. I mean we barely developed some of the characters from the game and they are protagonist of sentimental scenes at the end. But is ok, I'm ok with the ending (no spoilers) and with the presentation of this character.
    - Troy Baker acting was good as always but it could have shine a bit more with more main missions. There're only 20. I think they could have had other 20 more.
    - Escort missions feels boring (but is not a long game).
    - The bad compresion of pre-redered in-engine cutscenes. The CGI ones don't feel that bad .
    - The didn't abuse of Gollum cameo :)
    - The animals / beast during the game are not bad and they can be mounted. It can be fun but there're only
    a few.

    I don't think it deserved the GOTY for 2014 but it's a must play game for this kind of open world games. It's nice to see they made their work well without too much hype and expectations.
    Kudos for Monolith Productions!

    “Not all those who wander are lost.”
    J.R.R. Tolkien    … Expand
  40. Laer
    Mar 14, 2017
    8
    Uno de los mejores juegos del Señor de los anillos sin duda, si eres fan de este mundo, te gustara sin dudarlo.

    El juego en casi todos sus apartados es bastante bueno, quizás en lo único que se queda atrás es en la historia, que no es que sea de lo peor que he visto, pero se ve que no le han dado mucha importancia, al menos a mi parecer. En cuanto a gráficos, el juego luce muy bien,    Uno de los mejores juegos del Señor de los anillos sin duda, si eres fan de este mundo, te gustara sin dudarlo.

    El juego en casi todos sus apartados es bastante bueno, quizás en lo único que se queda atrás es en la historia, que no es que sea de lo peor que he visto, pero se ve que no le han dado mucha importancia, al menos a mi parecer.

    En cuanto a gráficos, el juego luce muy bien, y una de las cosas que mas resaltan es la gran optimización que tiene.

    Su jugabilidad, se podría decir que puede llegar a ser repetitiva, pero si te gusta, tiene las suficientes opciones como para que dentro de su repetitividad no llegue a cansar en ningún momento y siempre puedas jugar a tu manera.

    Lo mejor sin duda es el sistema nemesis, que te da mucho juego, es sin duda de lo mas divertido que tiene, aunque bajo mi punto de vista tiene un fallo, y es que según te vas acercando al final este va mejorando añadiendo distintas opciones, que creo que deberían estar desde el principio.

    En cuanto a duración no es muy largo, aun haciendo las cosas que hay repartidas por el mapa (encontrar objetos, retos, marcas...). Yo he completado el juego al 100%, y me ha llevado 25 horas.

    En definitiva, es un juego muy muy recomendable, que a pesar de no ser una obra maestra, merece ser jugando aun si ni siquiera conoces el mundo del señor de los anillos.    … Expand
  41. Krzych
    Feb 19, 2017
    8
    Cutting Orc heads is still enjoyable. I got through the game 3 times and had a good time each time. There are some limitations, game is linear, open world doesn't really matter because of that. There is also little variety and a lot of repetitiveness, second map really saves this game and adds some variety. Nonetheless the game is good, story is good, as well as graphics. Dialogues andCutting Orc heads is still enjoyable. I got through the game 3 times and had a good time each time. There are some limitations, game is linear, open world doesn't really matter because of that. There is also little variety and a lot of repetitiveness, second map really saves this game and adds some variety. Nonetheless the game is good, story is good, as well as graphics. Dialogues and voice acting is great. Combat is very enjoyable, especially in if you are advancing quickly with XP and have some great skills unlocked quickly so you can enjoy them for longer before game ends. There are issues that are preventing me from giving this game more than 8, and those rather disappointing DLCs, especially Bright Lord, are only confirming that this game does not belong to the best ones, but I also cannot give it less than 8 for much good time I had with it.… Expand
  42. brugy
    Feb 5, 2017
    5
    - Ugly graphics
    - Boring story
    - Combat is not bad but is often iterrupted with cutscenes
    - Movement is sometimes glitchy
    - Map is overcrowded
    + riding on animals
  43. NShep53
    Dec 16, 2016
    9
    Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor uses the Batman Arkham series style of game-play and takes it up a notch. Combat is so fluid and well-done. It might be too easy overall, but it is just so fun. Very violent, even more than the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit Films. And just like the Arkham series, there is an open world to explore and gather various side quest items. The Nemesis system that has youMiddle Earth: Shadow of Mordor uses the Batman Arkham series style of game-play and takes it up a notch. Combat is so fluid and well-done. It might be too easy overall, but it is just so fun. Very violent, even more than the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit Films. And just like the Arkham series, there is an open world to explore and gather various side quest items. The Nemesis system that has you take on a whole army of Uruks (orcs) is a shining highlight.

    Story-wise, the game starts off a little derivative, with a revenge story that you have heard a thousand times before. But it gets better and better the more you play. Fans of the films will especially love it, while hardcore Tolkien fans may cringe at the lore inconsistencies. The voice acting is well done as well.

    Overall, this is an amazing game even if you aren't a fan of Middle-Earth. I was a casual viewer of the films before, but now after playing the game, I want to own the films and read the books. If that isn't a glowing recommendation, I don't know what is.    … Expand
  44. julius98
    Aug 29, 2016
    10
    Pure fun. Although the ending is definitively not ideal, the main bulk of the game is extremely entertaining, if not entirely refined. Well optimized for play on PC, a must buy for any gamer interested in action RPGs.
  45. veyron2222
    Aug 13, 2016
    10
    I started playing this game thinking I would probably hate it at least as much as I hate LOTR (and I hate it a lot), but then I started playing it and just fell in love with the game, the game-play was great ,it was so fun, the reactions of the generals and the things they say when you come back after they killed you just made me love it. It was the first game I have ever played that II started playing this game thinking I would probably hate it at least as much as I hate LOTR (and I hate it a lot), but then I started playing it and just fell in love with the game, the game-play was great ,it was so fun, the reactions of the generals and the things they say when you come back after they killed you just made me love it. It was the first game I have ever played that I loved so much that i just couldn't stop playing it until I got 100% of the game completed.… Expand
  46. crimsondoor
    Jul 14, 2016
    5
    Since I heard a lot of good things about this game, which was compared to the AC and Batman Arkham series I was surprised that I couldn't like it. Uninstalled after a day. To be honest the only good thing is the graphics. This game steals a lot of ideas from other games, tried to be everything but it ends up being nothing. Combat, map, story, characters, upgrade system - everything - isSince I heard a lot of good things about this game, which was compared to the AC and Batman Arkham series I was surprised that I couldn't like it. Uninstalled after a day. To be honest the only good thing is the graphics. This game steals a lot of ideas from other games, tried to be everything but it ends up being nothing. Combat, map, story, characters, upgrade system - everything - is generic as hell. This game proves that mixing all the good things up doesn't make the result better. I especially can't stand looking at the same landscape throughout the 10 hours of play time. The whole time I was thinking, can't you make the colour palette more pleasant to the eye, or at least make the view less boring? I don't want to see some random castles or towers on my screen all the time! The only original element is probably the nemesis system which sounds awesome on paper but doesn't contribute to the fun element of the game. It doesn't even have much to do with LOTR, so why set this in Tolkien's universe?… Expand
  47. NathanielRH
    Jul 14, 2016
    10
    With beautiful graphics, an interesting storyline, an action-packed and suspenseful combat system, an intricate leveling system, an outstanding immersion, an emotional drama for both the player AND the various enemies faced throughout the game, great voice acting, and a theatrical approach to execution, this game is a 10/10. I originally got a stolen copy, as I do with all my games, butWith beautiful graphics, an interesting storyline, an action-packed and suspenseful combat system, an intricate leveling system, an outstanding immersion, an emotional drama for both the player AND the various enemies faced throughout the game, great voice acting, and a theatrical approach to execution, this game is a 10/10. I originally got a stolen copy, as I do with all my games, but ended up buying the game about halfway through it (no spoilers on the halfway mark, but it was right between the "dirt" and the "jungle"! Hah! Vague enough for you?)

    This game needs a sequel. Super impressive. Will turn any home into a theater. You do not need to be a fan of the series to get absorbed into this game and fall in love. Warner Bros knocked out a homerun!    … Expand
  48. Jesburger
    May 2, 2016
    9
    This game is easily on of my all-time favourites. The combat is great, punishing and rewarding at the same time, graphics and animations are the best I have ever seen in a game, the story is good with some LotR characters making appearances and the nemesis system is a great addition. The only downside is the story witch sometimes felt a bit uninspiring.

    + Graphics + Animations, I    This game is easily on of my all-time favourites. The combat is great, punishing and rewarding at the same time, graphics and animations are the best I have ever seen in a game, the story is good with some LotR characters making appearances and the nemesis system is a great addition. The only downside is the story witch sometimes felt a bit uninspiring.

    + Graphics
    + Animations, I though Assassin's Creed had nailed animations and the parkour system, but this game took it a step further
    + Combat is by far my favourite aspect of the game, the battles with bosses have a really epic feeling, and the nemesis system makes it even better

    - Story fits the game well, but it didn't quite drag me into it like some other games

    In short, this game is what Assassins Creed games should be. Climbing up walls of forts inspecting the area and planning your attacks, riding caragors, blowing up masses of orcs, exploring the open areas, taking on a boss and 20 minutes later finding yourself surrounded with orcs and four bosses after you, shooting headshots with the bow in slow motion, everything in the game makes you feel like a bad-ass, while being challeging at the same time. Can't wait for a sequel to this game!    … Expand
  49. Vicente_ao
    Apr 13, 2016
    8
    Shadow of mordor es un juego bien logrado. La jugabilidad entretiene(a pesar que es una jugabilidad ya conocida en otros juegos), las peleas se dan fluidas y entretenidas, siempre dan ganas ya sea de infiltrarte e ir matando orcos sigilosamente, o hacerles frente y pelear contra turbas enormes. La música está muy bien lograda. ENTRETIENE mucho, sobre todo si eres amante de la saga.Shadow of mordor es un juego bien logrado. La jugabilidad entretiene(a pesar que es una jugabilidad ya conocida en otros juegos), las peleas se dan fluidas y entretenidas, siempre dan ganas ya sea de infiltrarte e ir matando orcos sigilosamente, o hacerles frente y pelear contra turbas enormes. La música está muy bien lograda. ENTRETIENE mucho, sobre todo si eres amante de la saga.

    Pros:
    -Jugabilidad entretenida
    -Muchas misiones secundarias
    -Banda Sonora
    -Universo Tolkiano

    Contras:
    -Misiones repetitivas
    -Historia nada del otro mundo
    -Mordor es demasiado alegre en colores

    8.5/10    … Expand
  50. psylife
    Apr 10, 2016
    7
    The combat system is robust and is backed by a plethora of moves and special abilities that manages to keep things fairly fresh throughout the experience. There are environmental contraptions that can be exploited to your advantage. Intel pertaining to the targets you need to eliminate can be gathered in order to reveal each enemy's weaknesses; Planning and acting around each enemy'sThe combat system is robust and is backed by a plethora of moves and special abilities that manages to keep things fairly fresh throughout the experience. There are environmental contraptions that can be exploited to your advantage. Intel pertaining to the targets you need to eliminate can be gathered in order to reveal each enemy's weaknesses; Planning and acting around each enemy's weakness and environmental exploits is where lies the core dynamic of the game. Additionally, there is a "nemesis" system that has the player consider the friendship and/or animosities pre-existing between each war-chiefs; Such clan rivalries and animosities can be exploited by strategically eliminating targets or taking control of the minds of key warlords so as to have them eliminate each other. The audio-visual realization is quite weak, with environments looking quite hideous; Animations are the true saving grace. The story is forgettable and the game does get slightly repetitive after a while. Overall, it is an enjoyable experience that is surprising and commendable in many respects. This is a pretty good game.… Expand
  51. jackhunter
    Apr 6, 2016
    8
    A very good beat them up set in Tolkien'slore. Well made fights, where you cut and slash your enemies with a lot of pleasure.The stgory is decent and could be integrated to the canon of the universe if you want my opinion.The only flaw of this game may be the lack of epicness of some fights against bosses. Definitely worth a try when you see it on sale.
  52. MattEzekiel
    Apr 2, 2016
    9
    I really need more of this game, When you get really OP you wanto to fight against everybody. It's really enjoyable I don't regreat all the hours played it on this game.

    WORTH IT

    for me
  53. melodymoony
    Feb 23, 2016
    9
    I really enjoyed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, it’s a well-adapted LoTR / Middle earth open world action game which combines both Batman and Assassin’s Creed gameplay and style in a nice way as combat and game progression are well implemented and fun. If you enjoyed those games, you are gonna like this one then.
    The story itself is strong enough, with some nice fan service (you will    I really enjoyed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, it’s a well-adapted LoTR / Middle earth open world action game which combines both Batman and Assassin’s Creed gameplay and style in a nice way as combat and game progression are well implemented and fun. If you enjoyed those games, you are gonna like this one then.
    The story itself is strong enough, with some nice fan service (you will even find Gollum in it), but definitely one of the best features the game has is the Nemesis system, which is extremely good. Maybe at first you’ll think it’s nothing really special, but trust me, it is! and it works very well, the way orcs can remember the encounters you have and how they talk to you when they meet you again is really effective and credible and it’s going to arouse your emotions, especially when they kill you and grow in power because of that.
    You can get your revenge and also avenge people in your friend list if you want. Eventually you will have your own story of vengeance and confrontation.
    The orcs have their own ranks of influence and power which are always changing not only based on your own actions, but on their own and oh boy! they are selfish and ambitious and will do everything, even betray their own, to gain more power.
    The Nemesis System is actually so good that I hope they implement more things like that in other games, it makes the game feel alive.
    As you play you will gather information about your enemies so you can always have the advantage (if you want) of knowing which their weaknesses are and even turn them against each other and have a lot of fun with your powers as they increase.
    There are other activities which are not part of the main quests and they can also be fun and challenging.
    Killing so many orcs can become a bit repetitive at some points, but you won’t get bored easily, the combat system is fun and intuitive and there are a lot of options to engage and kill your enemies, I’m sure you will find some very creative ways to get the job done. If you like the stealthy approach or the kick the door and kill them all style both are gonna work in different situations.
    You earn ability points that can be assigned the way you want and get runes that can be applied to your weapons to customize your gameplay even more.
    The graphics are really good and well optimized for PC specially with the HD textures (By the way, you don’t actually need the 6gb vram to run them, but the more you have, the better - obviously).
    Finally, I would recommend to play with a gamepad, it’s amazing! the keyboard and mouse combo works , but it is just not as intuitive nor as comfortable.
    At the end Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a great game with a AAA production value, a precious one!    … Expand
  54. danstew
    Feb 15, 2016
    9
    Where do I even start? This game won me over, when I didn't really expect too much of it. I had heard several different opinions about it, and wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy it.I bought it when it was on sale, and just finished it. And I enjoyed it a LOT.
    Let's go through it:
    Story: The story is not very deep, and neither is it Tolkien-level writing. It actually messes with the lore of    Where do I even start? This game won me over, when I didn't really expect too much of it. I had heard several different opinions about it, and wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy it.I bought it when it was on sale, and just finished it. And I enjoyed it a LOT.
    Let's go through it:

    Story:
    The story is not very deep, and neither is it Tolkien-level writing. It actually messes with the lore of Sauron, the One Ring, and Celebrimbor quite a lot. But STILL, I did enjoy it. It isn't all that deep, but it's dark, tragic and makes you care about the main protagonists.
    Please note that I am a big Tolkien-fan, and while I realize that this is a bit lore-breaking, I still enjoyed the game and the story a lot.

    Graphics:
    The game looks great. The first zone is rather dull, which fits Mordor. The second zone is nicer. And I disagree with those reviewers who said it is wrong, or doesn't look right. This is a zone which had a lake, and that, together with the volcanic ashes of Mt. Doom, made for quite fertile soil. This is actually according to lore.

    Gameplay:
    If you like AC and Batman, you'll get a handle of the mechanics quickly. Attacks, jumps, dodging, blocking etc. You have to adjust to different enemies. Sometimes, a tactical retreat to heal and reattack is helpful. I think I did about three times by the hands of an orc, and twice by some creature (Caragor).
    There are some fun moves you can do, especially the shadow strike, which isn't only a powerful one-shot move, it also helps to get around camps full of orcs.

    The fun REALLY starts once you get the ability to brand orcs so they fight FOR you. You can tactically brand an area full of orcs before you go for a stronger one or start a mission there to improve your chances.

    Yes, you CAN go for a certain build (stealth, archery, swordfight, mounted fight), BUT the missions will force you to use different playstyles at some point. So even if you don't go for archery too much, the game eventually requires you to use it for a while. Also, with the story quests and all the side-stuff I did, I got to the point where I unlocked almost all abilities in the skill tree anyway, and opened up most rune slots etc, so all play-styles where useable and I had special abilities for each of them.
    And finishing those hunting quests with the dwarf in the second zone opened up some abilities and how to use them that felt pretty epic. =)

    At first, you wanna be careful about picking your fights, but eventually, you can handle several big groups.
    The final boss fight is often critizised, and I agree, it seems a bit underwhelming. Then again, how could you expect to actually hold your own against this enemy for too long? You go through a couple of sub-bosses shortly before this fight, and then you get one shot, and you use it.

    Nemesis-system:
    This is the most innovative system of the game. It shines even more if you die a lot and really start to hate certain mobs. I didn't die too often, but if an orc managed to kill me, I really REALLY was out for revenge.
    It's a VERY cool idea IMO. Not only one of the coolest parts about SoM, but in general, just a great idea, just like the branding.

    Content:
    The story isn't TOO long... I hear you can finish that in about 10 hrs or less. There is a lot of side content which is NOT mandatory. It's the system you have in most open-world games... it CAN be grindy if you do all the rather repetitive side content, but you don't have to. I did the side-missions for a while in order to make my army of orcs stronger and level my orc leaders, but eventually stuck to story missions. I recommend a mix of both... do the story, but if you feel like it, do a bit of the side-content. Dont burn yourself out on doing too much of the side-stuff, but don't ignore it either, otherwise you'll most likely go through the game too quickly.

    Music:
    Even though it occasionally sounds pretty much like some MIDI-library, some of it sounds great, especially tracks with the choir.

    Overall:
    I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. It has its flaws, surely, like the typical "open world with tons of repetitive side content", you mostly fight orcs (which makes sense in Mordor), the story isn't exactly on the level of a Tolkien-novel. Still, I loved the fighting style and special moves, the tactical aspects of infiltrating a fortress and branding orcs (again: Once you get branding, the fun really starts), loved how the main character started to feel more and more powerful (nice development curve there), and when I was done after about 26-28 hours, I really felt entertained. I definitely got my moneys worth (got this during a sale), and enjoyed it MUCH more than similar games, like, say, AC Syndicate.

    I really recommend the game if you like AC/Batman style gaming, if you like Tolkien and his books (even though it messes with the lore and isn't that deep), and especially if you can get this while it's on sale!

    Overall rating: 8.5/10    … Expand
  55. gloriouspotato
    Jan 23, 2016
    7
    Take the combat from the Batman Arkham games, and a lot of the gameplay and world building elements of Assassin's Creed, and you've pretty much got Shadow of Mordor. In the same realm of Batman, the combat is fluid and offers some flashy animations. Just like Assassin's Creed, all the side missions are more or less the same thing, with only slight variations in their objective. TheseTake the combat from the Batman Arkham games, and a lot of the gameplay and world building elements of Assassin's Creed, and you've pretty much got Shadow of Mordor. In the same realm of Batman, the combat is fluid and offers some flashy animations. Just like Assassin's Creed, all the side missions are more or less the same thing, with only slight variations in their objective. These missions offer useful incentives in the form of in-game currency, XP or power, but provides little in the way of character depth or storytelling. There comes a point where the only reason to do anything besides the main quest is if you have a compulsive urge to achieve 100% completion.

    In addition, the overarching narrative wasn't particularly impressive and the characters lacked complexity and were largely unremarkable. At least the graphics look quite decent, and I must appraise how well the game runs on PC. Although there are a few more tweaks Monolith could've done to expand upon the graphics options, they did a pretty good job with optimisation overall.

    Overall rating - 6.8/10    … Expand
  56. Barnews
    Dec 16, 2015
    8
    Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is definitely one of the best action games in last years. You can expect very high quality combat system, good animations, day and night cycle, fair weather system, interesting gameworld full of different enemies and much more...

    The gameworld is not very big but it doesnt matter. It is full of enemies, quests and other things to do. Storyline is simple    Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is definitely one of the best action games in last years. You can expect very high quality combat system, good animations, day and night cycle, fair weather system, interesting gameworld full of different enemies and much more...

    The gameworld is not very big but it doesnt matter. It is full of enemies, quests and other things to do. Storyline is simple but not bad at all. It surprised me a bit.

    Graphics and Sounds are very high quality and another good thing is you do not need High End computer to play it. Mainstream PC will be enough.

    PROS
    - Sounds and Graphics
    - Combat system, Animations, and everything else with combat
    - Captains and warchiefs system where every captain has strengths and weaknesess. Captains can fight each other. You can force one captain to murder another captain etc...
    - World is not big but full of things to do.
    - Freedom. You can do what do you want and how do you want. You can fight your way, etc...
    - Day night cycle + weathers

    CONS
    - Longevity (20 - 40 hours average, which is not bad)
    - Camera (sometimes)
    - Controlls (sometimes)    … Expand
  57. waltari
    Dec 6, 2015
    5
    This game is basically the combination of all the clichés you can possibly imagine. Linear story, arcade style console-ish movement and combat system ala Batman / AC series. Lack of any challenge as its way too easy to kill basically everything that moves with 2 slashes of your sword. Crappy weapon selection, lame upgrade system. The abilities you gain while you progress you wont ever needThis game is basically the combination of all the clichés you can possibly imagine. Linear story, arcade style console-ish movement and combat system ala Batman / AC series. Lack of any challenge as its way too easy to kill basically everything that moves with 2 slashes of your sword. Crappy weapon selection, lame upgrade system. The abilities you gain while you progress you wont ever need anyway so there's actually no point to bother with it.
    TL;DR
    Nice shell with nothing worth inside. Another example of degradation of tripple A game titles.    … Expand
  58. WillG027
    Dec 5, 2015
    9
    Much more polished than a lot of other games out these days. The production and attention to detail is top notch.
    Features a super fluid 'Batman' fight system that has a plethora of ways to kill your enemy: the 'Uruks'.
    Outstanding music and very good voice work add to the atmosphere created by the Tolkien lore. Good graphics are the cherry-on-top, and really the only negative, for me    Much more polished than a lot of other games out these days. The production and attention to detail is top notch.
    Features a super fluid 'Batman' fight system that has a plethora of ways to kill your enemy: the 'Uruks'.
    Outstanding music and very good voice work add to the atmosphere created by the Tolkien lore.
    Good graphics are the cherry-on-top, and really the only negative, for me personally, is that it's all action; whereas the Tolkien lore cries out for a more adventure/exploration based game.
    Still, a game this playable and rich in sound and detail, especially compared to other buggy releases, deserves a 9.    … Expand
  59. PrincessRose
    Nov 30, 2015
    5
    Don't like the combat, it's tiresome and very repetitive, thought it was kind of fun at first, now I just feel bored playing it.

    The camera is too close to the character, often making it hard to see everything attacking you. Which at times makes it hard to dodge attacks. Another over hyped, over rated game, sort of ok but gets boring fast, all it mostly is, is repetitive combat    Don't like the combat, it's tiresome and very repetitive, thought it was kind of fun at first, now I just feel bored playing it.

    The camera is too close to the character, often making it hard to see everything attacking you.
    Which at times makes it hard to dodge attacks.

    Another over hyped, over rated game, sort of ok but gets boring fast, all it mostly is, is repetitive combat fighting massive groups of orcs. Not a game I recommend.

    I'd rate it as an average rather boring game.    … Expand
  60. wonderirani
    Nov 21, 2015
    9
    The Best Game I had ever played was and is this one. Amazing Graphic, smooth, well controlled and developed environment, great missions and great story. Best of the Franchise.
    Well Done.
  61. Gormph
    Nov 12, 2015
    7
    This game was good but gets boring at the end and has a rough start, starting tutorials are not needed and normally get you killed by interrupting you while you’re trying to do the things they tell you to do, but on the flipside doesn’t tell you how things like last stand work very well at all which should be simple and easy to explain. The game starts off dramatic and gets you invested inThis game was good but gets boring at the end and has a rough start, starting tutorials are not needed and normally get you killed by interrupting you while you’re trying to do the things they tell you to do, but on the flipside doesn’t tell you how things like last stand work very well at all which should be simple and easy to explain. The game starts off dramatic and gets you invested in the main character then just drops you in an open world with no drive other then orcs bad kill orcs…… combat is hard to get away from like all games where the character has an auto engaged combat mode when you want to leave combat the game fights you trying to make you fight more, need dedicated runaway button that disables combat mode, the game is fun to play once you get some powers however you have to go halfway through the game before getting the power central to the games mechanic, which makes the first half of the game seem pointless filler and you pretty much do the same thing all game which caused my interest to wane quite a bit latter in the game over all the main game play focus was fun but could have used more like tricking enemies to get alone so you could deal with them one on one which you almost never do, almost every target is a group fight, and more story or some other focus to keep me interested in the game besides kill orc, orc bad.… Expand
  62. Fuini
    Nov 11, 2015
    2
    Batman gameplay but with all the cons and none of the pros : too much slow motions, too much pauses in fights.
    Smash buttons, a new enemy appears, wait 30s , smash, eat some flower to recover HP, repeat.

    The story made no sense in Tolkien universe.... What do I have still to add ? Buy another game or the books, your money will be far better invested
  63. ZeroWaitState
    Oct 24, 2015
    9
    The rest of the game is so good, the boss fights are disappointing and anti-climactic. That's literally the only complaint I have about this game. It's that good. Go play it.
  64. ElNova
    Oct 19, 2015
    0
    this is a game made for the new gamers, these gamers that like button smashing, repetitive gameplay, cliche and stupid story, all of this packed with great graphics, animation and gameplay.
    if ur an olds school gamer, this might not be for you, if you are from the new generation of gamers you probably love this game.

    hope this helps.
  65. bdng09
    Oct 18, 2015
    10
    Absolutely brilliant! The mechanics are challenging, and create a beautiful fluidity to the combat. The voice acting is superb, the narrative is intriguing and exciting, and the whole idea of this game is new and so much fun!
  66. BoTheMastaOfAll
    Oct 16, 2015
    6
    The nemesis system is awesome in its own right, but there's way too much 'meh' in this game to give it a 10.

    While the style of combat is super fun fluid and perfect, the difficulty of the game is way too low. Combat is fun in the beginning when masses of orcs are actually likely to kill you, but you become completely overpowered and don't even need think twice about jumping into a    The nemesis system is awesome in its own right, but there's way too much 'meh' in this game to give it a 10.

    While the style of combat is super fun fluid and perfect, the difficulty of the game is way too low. Combat is fun in the beginning when masses of orcs are actually likely to kill you, but you become completely overpowered and don't even need think twice about jumping into a massive brawl with > 50 orcs.
    Combat works via hit streaks. Get a high enough hit streak (8) and you get a free execution. Talion gains abilities to nerf the required hit streak to 5, and gives him a 2 for one execution.
    The game also ends up giving you more max arrows, higher slomo meter, gaining slomo back on bow headshot kills, gaining arrows back on combat executions, teleportation kill moves, health back on executions. I became more powerful than Sauron himself, and I didn't even take advantage of the game; I just leveled up. Meanwhile the orcs never receive any significant buffs; combat only gets a tad more difficult with the introduction of new units.

    The story mode is 'meh' too. Missions are boring and oddly structured. For example, fairly early on you should figure out how to ride a caragor (Giant hairless tiger. They're awesome). There's even a few side missions that require a caragor, so the game expects you to ride them early on. Yet approximately 75% of the way done with the game, there's this super long and scripted tutorial mission all about caragor usage, even though I'd ridden 50 of the damn things at this point.
    They also have a mission where you learn how to mind control orcs. This is fairly late in the game, which would be fine if I had to find some sort of item to let me do it, but Talion just sort of figures it's what he should do now. Seriously! We're walking up to the orcs, and Talion says "I could mind control them" and boom! 90% of the way in and you have a power I guess you had all along. No narrative reason exists why you weren't doing this earlier.

    The bosses are boring too. The first is ok; it's like an orc with extra abilities. This makes sense, he's the first boss, plus actually fighting him in open combat was a good sign. Fine, the other 2 will be more epic.
    The 2nd boss makes copies of himself, and then teleports all the copies away from your location, and you have to stealth kill the copies. I guess he just lost track of you, even though you haven't moved. Each copy is just as dumb as an orc btw. It's super easy, and the game gives you like 10 minutes to stealth kill 3 copies. I did it in 90 seconds on my first try. It's not hard.
    And the 3rd boss is just 3 quick time events. Seriously.

    Nemesis is great, the style of combat is fun even if there's absolutely zero difficulty, but the main missions are awkward and the bosses all suck.    … Expand
  67. rpeh
    Oct 3, 2015
    9
    I read a lot of reviews on this site before buying this game, and I can agree with almost all of them; both the positive and the negative. Yes, the combat can be a bit repetitive but there are enough variations that you have to try to make it that way. You can either snipe from a distance with your bow, sneak around and take down enemies by stealth, deal death from above (or below!) orI read a lot of reviews on this site before buying this game, and I can agree with almost all of them; both the positive and the negative. Yes, the combat can be a bit repetitive but there are enough variations that you have to try to make it that way. You can either snipe from a distance with your bow, sneak around and take down enemies by stealth, deal death from above (or below!) or just whale into a pack of orcs and give 'em the old cold steel treatment. Even there you can simply mash the attack and parry buttons or start to mix in special kills, dodges and rolls.

    For LoTR fans, the story just about fits into Tolkien's world properly. I'm not sure about the hundreds of human slaves that populate Mordor but otherwise it fits with the books. The plot itself is pretty interesting and having a guide who's lost his memory is certainly an interesting twist.

    And then there's the Nemesis system. Yes, it is just as good as everyone else says it is and adds an extra dimension to the game. When I started out I didn't really know what I was doing and got killed several times by one particular captain. He gained enough power to rise to the top of the orc hierarchy and I felt really aggrieved that I'd helped him out so much. When I finally killed him it genuinely made me happy!

    The real success of the game is that it kept me coming back for more. And that's all you really want from a game.    … Expand
  68. AndreRLZ
    Sep 17, 2015
    5
    Ci saranno spoiler. Questo gioco non ha soddisfatto le mie aspettative, che erano abbastanza alte visti i voti delle varie testate videoludiche.. Partiamo dal suo più grande pregio: il Nemesis System. Questo sistema casuale fa si che tu debba farti strada tra la "gerarchia" di guerrieri orchi per poter, prima uccidere dei comandanti e poi anche reclutarne altri. Funziona davvero bene e laCi saranno spoiler. Questo gioco non ha soddisfatto le mie aspettative, che erano abbastanza alte visti i voti delle varie testate videoludiche.. Partiamo dal suo più grande pregio: il Nemesis System. Questo sistema casuale fa si che tu debba farti strada tra la "gerarchia" di guerrieri orchi per poter, prima uccidere dei comandanti e poi anche reclutarne altri. Funziona davvero bene e la gente fa bene ad acclamare questa novità, è veramente ben fatta e l'idea è ottima. L'aspetto tecnico è veramente eccezionale, notevolissimo, sia in termini di video che di audio. Doppiaggio italiano non male, anche se inferiore a quello inglese secondo me. Questi erano i pregi. I difetti sono tanti, troppi per farmi apprezzare veramente questo gioco.. Innanzitutto la storia principale è composta da sole 20 missioni, di cui almeno 5 sono praticamente introduttive. Questa cosa rende il gioco estremamente breve da un punto di vista narrativo: tutto viene spiegato e buttato al giocatore come se non ci fosse tempo! Veramente, la trama da una sensazione di "fatto in fretta" allucinante! Questo è un gioco che, vista l'enormità dell'universo di Tolkien, avrebbe meritato il doppio delle cutscene e della profondità narrativa. Inoltre il gameplay è, onestamente, piuttosto ripetitivo. Anche se i combattimenti sono fluidi e ben fatti, e le abilità siano abbastanza carine, il modo in cui il giocatore deve procedere nel gioco è ripetitivo: uccidi le guardie, uccidi i servi del comandante, uccidi il comandante. Questo dall'inizio alla fine del gioco. Le abilità dei comandanti sono poche, sempre quelle: è vero che puoi informarti sulle abilità di ognuno, ma personalmente l'ho trovato inutile (superfluo) o comunque noioso.. Altro grande, enorme difetto è il level design: la mappa di gioco è piatta. E' un mondo desolato proprio come nel film, al quale tiene abbastanza fede. Peccato che per un videogioco ciò sia di una noia mortale, non c'è nulla da vedere, nessun paesino da visitare, nessun villain da intervistare o mini-gioco da fare.. non c'è niente se non orchi su orchi e qualche graug o altre bestie varie ogni tanto sparse a caso. Viaggiare è noioso, lo si fa praticamente sempre col viaggio rapido. Uccidere certi comandanti è tedioso, alcuni sono decisamente più forti di altri, indipendentemente dal livello. L'intelligenza artificiale ha qualche lacuna, almeno da quel che ho visto io: il mio orco livello 19, potentissimo, ha deciso a un certo punto di andare da solo contro 1 comandante e 2 guardie: è morto, chi l'avrebbe mai detto! Si è praticamente suicidato senza il mio consenso, dopo che avevo fatto molta fatica a reclutarlo. La qualità stessa della trama, oltre che essere brevissima, è scarsa: banale fino alla fine, a parte un singolo cliff-hanger che comunque non ha nessun risvolto poi.. Un gioco dal quale mi aspettavo tanto tanto di più, buono solo per la grafica e il Nemesis System, per il resto decisamente mediocre.… Expand
  69. BetaVersion
    Sep 5, 2015
    4
    One of the most boring and repetitive games i have played in a long time. Shadow of Mordor is an excellent example of degradation of AAA (or should i say "console") gaming.
  70. JJthis
    Sep 4, 2015
    5
    The game-play of Shadow of Mordor is incredible and great fun. The kill moves will keep you pushing for that next fight and that next battle. It looks sublime and feels (a bit) like you're really in Mordor.
    That said, it was too blatantly a re-skinned Batman. The movements of the protagonist, when put right next to a Batman game, is identical to it. The thugs/orcs are pretty much the same    The game-play of Shadow of Mordor is incredible and great fun. The kill moves will keep you pushing for that next fight and that next battle. It looks sublime and feels (a bit) like you're really in Mordor.
    That said, it was too blatantly a re-skinned Batman. The movements of the protagonist, when put right next to a Batman game, is identical to it. The thugs/orcs are pretty much the same thing, with different skins. Detective mode becomes Wraith mode. The marketing "large open world" is tiny.
    The worst of all is a QTE final battle.
    All in all it's a great game none the less, but it's not worth that "AAA" price.    … Expand
  71. Antor457
    Sep 2, 2015
    10
    Here is my review:
    Music:9/10
    Combat:8/10
    Stealth Combat:9/10
    Bow Combat:8.5/10
    Enemies:Goblins etc...so 9/10!
    Variety:10/10
    Total Game:10/10
    Best Game Ever!
  72. pratikgorasia
    Aug 25, 2015
    10
    oh my god game is awsome.it consumes you into middle earth.what a magic,controlling brains excellent combat,breathtaking graphics,give some more game like this.there is eagernes when the finale of game will come and i take my revenge
  73. Horrux
    Jul 30, 2015
    3
    The graphis are good, but the game itself is a pure grind. You do the same thing over and over and over again, you don't acquire new skills or abilities, the game doesn't change. You kill Uruks. That's it.

    I don't know why people are rating this game so high, it is a pure borefest after the first hour or two. 3/10 for the good graphics and smooth gameplay. 0/10 for creativity,    The graphis are good, but the game itself is a pure grind. You do the same thing over and over and over again, you don't acquire new skills or abilities, the game doesn't change. You kill Uruks. That's it.

    I don't know why people are rating this game so high, it is a pure borefest after the first hour or two.

    3/10 for the good graphics and smooth gameplay. 0/10 for creativity, gameplay, progression, story, etc.    … Expand
  74. I3ordo
    Jul 27, 2015
    7
    TIPS for the DEVS for the sequel:

    Very good start for a new IP, unless they want to stall like batman series, i am expecting them to add: Better animation technology like "endorphin engine" for throwing orcs, off the cliff. Could be shorter and more effective at what it is, it did spare some missions as "optional". Dwarf missions for example, could be optional, post game. More    TIPS for the DEVS for the sequel:

    Very good start for a new IP, unless they want to stall like batman series, i am expecting them to add:

    Better animation technology like "endorphin engine" for throwing orcs, off the cliff.

    Could be shorter and more effective at what it is, it did spare some missions as "optional". Dwarf missions for example, could be optional, post game.

    More animation variations so the "skating" effect be less apparent.

    Less "speed up" and "slow motion" moves to help appreciate the move set.

    Less OverPowered protagonist for the "Brand" system to actually beneficial.

    Less snappy animation system for natural motion.    … Expand
  75. monkeyking95
    Jul 23, 2015
    10
    Literally the greatest game set in Tolkien's rich universe. If you've been waiting for an enticing, unique and dark game with an innovative "Nemesis" system, look no further than Shadows of Mordor.
  76. ADHGO
    Jun 26, 2015
    8
    It is beautiful how to control the character and fighting mechanics is so great with amazing cinematic views during the fighting,characters details and texture is also great and beautiful to look at, the campaign is very poor and there are no much details to deliver in this landscape, i would gave this game 10 if the environment of the game was different, it should be an adventure gameIt is beautiful how to control the character and fighting mechanics is so great with amazing cinematic views during the fighting,characters details and texture is also great and beautiful to look at, the campaign is very poor and there are no much details to deliver in this landscape, i would gave this game 10 if the environment of the game was different, it should be an adventure game with many secrets to reveal.… Expand
  77. CanyonsGaming
    Jun 17, 2015
    10
    One of the best LOTR game to date, it takes all the best bits of Assassins Creed and Batman and it turns it into the best game of 2014 (in my opinion). It sets a new level for graphics, and the anti-aliasing effect is wonderful. The people who are giving this game a low score is because they probably haven't played games of this genre before or have never played AC or Batman. Overall IOne of the best LOTR game to date, it takes all the best bits of Assassins Creed and Batman and it turns it into the best game of 2014 (in my opinion). It sets a new level for graphics, and the anti-aliasing effect is wonderful. The people who are giving this game a low score is because they probably haven't played games of this genre before or have never played AC or Batman. Overall I give this game a 10 for one of the best games of 2014.… Expand
  78. Dabandaid
    Jun 8, 2015
    6
    Game has been out for almost a year now and I am still getting the same bugs that happened when the game first released. Sure WB released a lot of DLC, but what good is that DLC when your game losses its saves? Would be a 8 game if they ever fixed their bugs, but dont hold your breath on that.
  79. DawnofAaron
    May 20, 2015
    8
    You are Talion, the ranger of Gondar who is trying to stop the uruks and orks from taking over. The gameplay is very fun with an added stealth element which allows the player to choose how to tackle a mission. The graphics are extremely good on the PC but I enjoy the blue-ish colored world. One thing that I did not like that how easy the game was. As long as the player presses theYou are Talion, the ranger of Gondar who is trying to stop the uruks and orks from taking over. The gameplay is very fun with an added stealth element which allows the player to choose how to tackle a mission. The graphics are extremely good on the PC but I enjoy the blue-ish colored world. One thing that I did not like that how easy the game was. As long as the player presses the spacebar, they will continuo to dodge and cannot be hit. The average amount of time to beat a boss is around 1:30 minutes MAX!! In conclusion, I recommend this game to all gamers who want open world rpg fun but I do not recommend this game to players looking for a challenge because it is too happy. If you want an rpg challenge, play Dark Souls 2 or Bloodborne.… Expand
  80. SpiderPlayer
    May 15, 2015
    10
    Spectacular game despite his copy concepts seen in other games, he simultaneously innovates with its Nemesis system, has a great history besides having several references of Middle-earth universe, the game play is good but the drive becomes muddled through the times.
  81. eRKingslayer
    May 7, 2015
    10
    Shadow of Mordor is one of those games that just gets it perfect in every aspect, The combat and movement feels like Batman and Assassins Creed got together and made a baby to be set within Middle Earth and also for a chance to expand on Tolkien’s universe. Voice acting is top notch with the likes of troy baker and so are the graphics. All I can say is if you like Tolkien’s work then thisShadow of Mordor is one of those games that just gets it perfect in every aspect, The combat and movement feels like Batman and Assassins Creed got together and made a baby to be set within Middle Earth and also for a chance to expand on Tolkien’s universe. Voice acting is top notch with the likes of troy baker and so are the graphics. All I can say is if you like Tolkien’s work then this game is for you… Expand
  82. WestLil0
    Apr 22, 2015
    7
    I was bored and didn't know what else to play when I saw this game listed. Even though it wasn't yet on sale, I gave it a try. At first I thought, oh boy, what did I do. The story line is weak, very weak. But slowly, I began to enjoy it more and now I keep going back to the completed game just to kill a few more ugly orcs (Uruks). There's a certain attraction to the game, even though it'sI was bored and didn't know what else to play when I saw this game listed. Even though it wasn't yet on sale, I gave it a try. At first I thought, oh boy, what did I do. The story line is weak, very weak. But slowly, I began to enjoy it more and now I keep going back to the completed game just to kill a few more ugly orcs (Uruks). There's a certain attraction to the game, even though it's repetitive, it does have its charm and eventually as soon as you get the hang of it, I think most players end up enjoying it. I agree with many of the reviewers regarding the combat style - yes, similar to Batman (but IMO not Assassin's Creed). And yes, the fighting does get stale. But whenever this game goes on sale, it would be a worthwhile purchase for those who enjoy semi-challenging battles with seemingly no end. I often laughed when I thought I had beat a captain and suddenly three more show up and each with their unique comment - "Ah you ran away last time wait until you see what I am going to do to you"...the game does have its moments.… Expand
  83. elevensword
    Apr 9, 2015
    7
    You cant play this game and look for true LOTR backstory since its mostly made up for this game and isn't faithful at all. This game is very fun though when you get down to it and worth a play. Took 3 days to beat. Score lowered based on shortness of game, disappointing end bosses and how easy it is.
  84. Alsmir
    Apr 8, 2015
    9
    Quick version:
    It's like an Assassins Creed that doesn't suck.
    I bought this game for 2 reasons: 1. It was cheap - around 15$. 2. There is one more week untill GTA 5 and I have nothing to play. I' ve read some reviews before, watched a couple of videos. I've heard it's good but at the same time it didn't look like a game I'd enjoy. Surprise, surprise. It is good and I'm loving    Quick version:
    It's like an Assassins Creed that doesn't suck.

    I bought this game for 2 reasons:
    1. It was cheap - around 15$.
    2. There is one more week untill GTA 5 and I have nothing to play.

    I' ve read some reviews before, watched a couple of videos. I've heard it's good but at the same time it didn't look like a game I'd enjoy.
    Surprise, surprise. It is good and I'm loving it.

    First of all, my 2 cents about issues mentioned in negative reviews:
    It's not for hardcore LoTR fans. Mostly because they can't be pleased by anything other than the book trilogy. Personally, I don't care if the lore is perfect. The story if fine, I enjoyed it.

    PC controlls. I'm playing it with mouse + keyboard and it works well. No issues with camera or weird controlls. It's quite intuitive and easy to learn. You have bloody tutorials with explaination + video for every single move, so I can't understand why some people say that they can't learn it.

    Combat isn't difficult, nor is it too easy. You can get overwhelmed by enemies, some bosses are a pain in the ass. It gets better as you progress your character.

    What I enjoyed the most:
    Combat.
    The game is mostly about fighting and the combat is really fun. A whole bunch of different moves, fluid, interesting, challenging. On top of that SoM has one of the best animations, I've ever seen.

    Progression system is interesting and keeps the game interesting. You always have some new upgrades waiting for you, my fighting style was changing with every new unlocked ability.

    Side quests give you decent rewards. Most of them are quite enjoyable with multiple ways of finishing them. There aren't tons of similar missions that feel like a chore. It's not as repetitive as AC series.

    Overall I'm very happy with this game, especially for that price. ~30-40 hours of entertainment.    … Expand
  85. Lenzie
    Apr 7, 2015
    8
    There is a moment reasonably early on in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, for me this was about 6-8 hours in after an initial learning curve, where everything just clicks, comes together and this game has you grinning ear to ear and really enjoying yourself!

    Combat is an attack, counter, special combo and dodge affair similar to the combat of the Batman games, weapons and abilities are    There is a moment reasonably early on in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, for me this was about 6-8 hours in after an initial learning curve, where everything just clicks, comes together and this game has you grinning ear to ear and really enjoying yourself!

    Combat is an attack, counter, special combo and dodge affair similar to the combat of the Batman games, weapons and abilities are all upgradeable and make a real difference to gameplay, the parkour and stealth mechanics are superb, and the nemesis system is something different that I've not seen before in a game. I enjoyed planning and thinking through the best means to take out high level Uruk-hai / Ork captains and warchiefs to both advance the story and to obtain high level runes (weapon upgrades).

    Similar to the FarCry and Assassins Creed games you are given a lot of freedom on what to do and in which order to tackle various quests or objectives available on the map. I particularly enjoyed the 'weapon completion' missions which force you to approach mission scenarios using only specific skills or combat tactics and give you bonus objectives to achieve. At times these missions opened my eyes to new or different ways and gameplay mechanics that are available to you to approach main-game combat, the main campaign missions and options for taking out powerful Uruk-hai or other beasts.

    To me this game has a very similar feel to the recent Batman games with some Assassin’s Creed style elements but obviously in the Middle-earth fantasy setting.

    Brilliant combat, parkour, stealth etc. aside the reason I didn't give this game a 9 or 10 score is that it did feel a bit 'hollow' at times, almost somehow like the story was tacked on to a combat / parkour / exploration 'system' versus pulling you forward in the game. And many of the missions, in fact pretty much all of them, are combat centric which while fun at the start become somewhat repetitive towards the end of the game. That said, I was very happy to have experienced this game and would certainly recommend that you give it go.    … Expand
  86. whatever523
    Mar 28, 2015
    8
    Shadow of Mordor really surprised me. After I was initially put down by the slow and boring beginning, the game constantly picked up speed and got better and in the end I really enjoyed it. It also has quite a few issues though, so I'd recommend buying it on sale.

    + nice graphics and animations + game mechanics are a mix of Assassin's Creed, Batman and Tomb Raider and work well +    Shadow of Mordor really surprised me. After I was initially put down by the slow and boring beginning, the game constantly picked up speed and got better and in the end I really enjoyed it. It also has quite a few issues though, so I'd recommend buying it on sale.

    + nice graphics and animations
    + game mechanics are a mix of Assassin's Creed, Batman and Tomb Raider and work well
    + missions are mostly entertaining
    + awesome photo mode
    + some cool supporting characters

    - very boring and frustrating start (warchief missions) until you get better runes and skills
    - infinite enemy reinforcements
    - story could be better
    - boss introduction sequences can't be skipped
    - most of the time the voice volume is too low
    - fighting orcs does become a bit dull after a while
    - no safehouse or some kind of neutral areas. would be a welcome change from the constant fighting
    - field of view is too narrow
    - some unnecessary bugs    … Expand
  87. Namya
    Mar 27, 2015
    4
    Like someone said .. its like playing assasins creed but u kill orcs...it took me 20 hours to finish it... if u are a "GAMER" its a short game!! It was harder to kill the warchiefs than the epic enemies... it took 2 hits of e and a spacebar to kill sauron...wtf??????
  88. Hurleyfromlost
    Mar 27, 2015
    8
    Running around the maps killing Orcs has to be one of the most satisfying things I've ever done in a game. There are SO many ways to kill and harass the enemy it's redonkulous. Put about 50 hours into it and still play daily for an hour or two just to kill bad doods. Game is DA BOMB YA'LL
  89. PessimisticMan
    Mar 20, 2015
    3
    For an incredibly hyped game that I had heard nothing but positive things about, I am unfortunately having to say that this game is not good (in my opinion). I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and the gameplay looked cool; but than I got the game and was welcomed with an incredibly frustrating experience.
    PROS:
    + The game looks gorgeous, very good graphics. + The combat actually flows    For an incredibly hyped game that I had heard nothing but positive things about, I am unfortunately having to say that this game is not good (in my opinion). I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and the gameplay looked cool; but than I got the game and was welcomed with an incredibly frustrating experience.
    PROS:
    + The game looks gorgeous, very good graphics.
    + The combat actually flows very nice! It's basically a direct copy of Batman, but that isn't a bad thing; games should learn from each other.
    + The Nemesis System is very unique and cool.
    CONS:
    - The story is boring - not interesting in the slightest. Missions are tedious and irritating.
    - While I did appreciate the Nemesis System, it functions in one of the stupidest most irritating ways ever: I do like the fact that when a captain kills you he gains power, that's cool - what isn't cool is that even if no one kills (for example, a caragor kills you) every fricken person gets a power-up even though they had nothing to do with your death - and yes, sometimes it is literally EVERYBODY!
    - The game is littered with poopy-designed enemies: caragors, shield-soldiers, hunters, etc.), and when you first encounter these enemies, from that point on they will pop-up EVERYWHERE, and trust me, that is NOT a hyperbole.
    - This game is not a fan of fair fights. This sucks because the Nemesis System had so much potential, but a lot of the time it is impossible to get a 1-on-1 fight with these captains (especially the warchiefs). You're usually confronted with not only the captain (or multiple captains), you get the bonus of fighting a dozen spear-throwing hunters, a half-dozen shield-soldiers, about 20 normal enemies, and sometimes, if you're really lucky, a caragor (literally out of nowhere) comes - ignores all the other enemies - tackles and instakills you! Brilliant game design, whatever type of monkey made this needs a raise.
    If you think I "don't like a challenge," you're wrong: Dark Souls is my favorite game, I love Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, Shadow of the Colossus, and Hotline Miami are some of my other favorites. But this game has extreme artificial difficulty, and other mechanics designed to be unfair (like captain's regenerating health) and this frustrating pile of dung has amassed millions of dollars and critical acclaim, great. Don't buy it if you like being a calm person.    … Expand
  90. FogCityRoller
    Mar 14, 2015
    6
    Is the game fun? Initially yes. A lot of games can be fun without making any effort to embark on the revolutionary. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of those games. The control scheme is derivative, the story is uninspired, but the graphics and sound are immersive. It aimed to profit off the large fanbase of Lord of the Rings and it excelled by a large margin. It's certainly not doingIs the game fun? Initially yes. A lot of games can be fun without making any effort to embark on the revolutionary. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of those games. The control scheme is derivative, the story is uninspired, but the graphics and sound are immersive. It aimed to profit off the large fanbase of Lord of the Rings and it excelled by a large margin. It's certainly not doing much to separate itself from the ever-growing pile of "meh LOTR games," though admittedly if the games were stacked top to bottom in quality this would be at the top.… Expand
  91. Cordova
    Mar 9, 2015
    7
    Shadow of Mordor is good, but simultaneously disappoints because of the potential you can see in it. It's perpetually on the cusp of greatness, but whether due to time, money, or design decisions (or some combination of the above) it feels like they made it decent enough and then said, "Yeah, pretty good, done." So it has a bittersweet aftertaste. Let's look at some of what makes it andShadow of Mordor is good, but simultaneously disappoints because of the potential you can see in it. It's perpetually on the cusp of greatness, but whether due to time, money, or design decisions (or some combination of the above) it feels like they made it decent enough and then said, "Yeah, pretty good, done." So it has a bittersweet aftertaste. Let's look at some of what makes it and where it falls a touch short:

    Characters - Talion (our main protagonist) is really cliche and unlikeable. A piece of cardboard from which we're supposed to experience the world around us. His ghostly sidekick (no spoilers) is much more interesting. I will say that the voice acting is actually quite superb.

    Atmosphere - The visuals and audio (soundtrack, ambient, and voice) are expertly crafted. And they make it easy to feel immersed in your surroundings.

    Combat/action - As you have likely seen in every review, SOM draws from Batman and Assassin's Creed, but honestly that doesn't matter, what does matter is how it's executed. The combat system is incredibly smooth and fluid and really let's you play with combinations between weapons. The downside is that you don't need to, you can just button mash 1-2 buttons and win in most cases. This brings me to the character progression system. Really really lack luster, they had a great foundation but the upgrades are more akin to God of War ability unlocks rather than creating a unique character. If they had put some more effort in this area, it could easily be a 9/10 game. So "action" the non-combat stuff like free running. It's shallow. It does everything for you, and I understand that makes it much much easier, but because it does it for you, it robs you of that feeling that you just pulled off a badass move or string of moves. This feeling is incredibly important in video games because they give the player a sense of ownership over the action. I feel more like a spectator than the Shadow of Mordor.

    Combat #2 More Kombat! Finish him! – Beyond the unexpected shallowness of the character development, the real pitfall is that combat is really inconsistent. Rather than create a cohesive system they slightly adjusted it for various enemies so that it doesn’t really work the same way throughout. For example, you have your standard parry warning which flashes a hotkey above an enemies head, you press it and you parry. Okay, makes sense! But then you have slightly tougher enemies captains/chiefs and beasts and sometimes they flash that hotkey or sometimes they flash a different hotkey, but if you press it when it shows up, it’s too late! It doesn’t function like the parry does. You need to know that they’re going to do that and be ready to press just before. Then there’s other creatures which don’t bring up the parry event and simply swarm you chipping away at your health. This is really bizarre as the entire combat system is built around you being able to handle all comers, so even if these enemies are 1-hit kills, you’ll find yourself low on HP just because that’s how it is.

    Combat #3 Wait it’s not over? – A deeper more interesting combat system would have solved this, but they opted for the “lots of enemies” approach. This is not as fun. There comes a point where you either just run away (because you’re bored of fighting), you just keep going despite being bored and slightly disliking the game because of it, or you eventually make a couple mistakes and find yourself dead because you’ve been fighting non-stop for an hour and you’re fingers are just done. I would have preferred fewer but smarter/better enemies that you interact with through a more robust combat system.

    Nemesis System – Ah the much vaunted nemesis system. To be honest it’s pretty cool, I’m really glad they made this and I hope to see it used to better effect in other games. It’s something that would make a great background system to a living dynamic world, but the way it’s implemented in SOM just leaves me wanting. The respawn mechanic is bad, again this is likely due to combat being shallow. A game in which death is more likely, like Dark Souls, a nemesis system would be amazing. But you really miss out on the bulk of the nemesis system if you’re “too good”. Part of the problem here is that the combat is too easy and their only solution was to throw dozens upon dozens upon dozens of mobs at you.

    Overall it’s a fun time despite its flaws, there’s lot to do in terms of side quests and collecting stuff, so if you’re a completionist you’ll have many many hours or orc slaying ahead of you. If you find it repetitive, then you’ll make your way through the game with relative ease but feeling a bit underwhelmed.    … Expand
  92. Skulb
    Mar 6, 2015
    7
    Certainly the best Middle Earth video game to date, although this sadly isn`t saying a whole lot. And it is very impressive in many ways, particularly visually. The combat is fun too, if FP swashbuckling/stealth is your thing. And even if it isn`t there are plenty of side quests, an engaging combat system, lots of lore, some nice characters and above all an interactive Mordor for you toCertainly the best Middle Earth video game to date, although this sadly isn`t saying a whole lot. And it is very impressive in many ways, particularly visually. The combat is fun too, if FP swashbuckling/stealth is your thing. And even if it isn`t there are plenty of side quests, an engaging combat system, lots of lore, some nice characters and above all an interactive Mordor for you to run around in which should give many hours of good entertainment.
    The most interesting bit is how the Uruk enemies have been done. Each one can grow in power if they defeat you, survive a fight with you, win a duel against a rival, go on a hunt and many other things. A repeat offender who has killed you over and over again can become quite formidable. Best of all the Uruk hierarchy fills up again, usually with random orcs and occasionally by regular grunts who luck out and get a killing blow on you. It`ll repeat itself at some point I guess, but the variation produced by this system is pretty impressive. And so is watching an archer scout who blew your head off five minutes into the game grow in stature and power until you kill him off late. The game is an orc generator at its core, which I honestly never thought I`d see.
    My only problems with the game come almost exclusively from the genre it represents, which is one I honestly detest energetically. There are constant respawns of basically everything, which makes the otherwise interesting fights feel a bit pointless at times. Unless I had a quest objective somewhere I tried my best to stay out of the way of enemies altogether because of this. But because of all the respawn it is rarely possible to go where you need to be without at least some tedium in the form of fights you`d rather skip, forcing you into the drudgery of wading through exactly the same orcs you`ve already killed about 15 times. It gets unbelievably repetitive. Playing the game with a keyboard is also a real wear on one`s fingers because you`re constantly using the LCTRL and LShift buttons to toggle running, sneaking and interactions of all kinds. Pressing these buttons I can not help doing with my pinky, which was totally worn out after a few hours of play. Best get a controller I suppose.
    Finally the story, while well told and with a lot of lore and details underpinning it, feels a bit simplistic. Brave ranger loses family and gets killed, then comes back as a wratih. Wants revenge. The only real twist is that he also has an elvish ghost living inside him, which I guess is sort of interesting. Other than that it`s straightforward: Kill lots of orcs. The end. If you want more than this you must dig up artifacts, do side quests, fill out the lore tab etc which is scattered all over the place in copious amounts. And all of those mean more fights with still more, slightly samey, basic orcs. So it comes down to how much time you want to blow just on getting one piece of Elvish writing on an inexplicable wall you have in your menus or just one more sword ability you may or may not need. I could feel my stamina with the game running lower and lower for each one of these Easter egg detours.

    If this is your kind of game then you`ll probably love Shadow of Mordor. Me I wish it had been almost any other sort of game, perhaps except a sports simulator or an anime dating game, rather than an FP-hack n`slash. They exhaust me and I hate playing them even when they are good. And Shadow of Mordor certainly is good. I`ll give it that. It`s just that it`s a FP action game. I wish it would stop being a FP action game and become an RPG, tactical turn based or even RTS game. I would even settle for a tower defense game. Just anything but FP action. Oh well, just thirty more years until the next good Middle Earth video game, if the past is anything to go by. Maybe I`ll have more luck with that one.    … Expand
  93. DonMega
    Feb 27, 2015
    5
    When you start playing this game in the beginning you feel amazed with how good the graphics are, the gameplay is definitely batman arkham mixed with assassins creed so you know its a good mixture. The problem once you have played it for a while. Eventually you will realize how boring and repetitive the game is. The enemies constantly respawn in the nemesis system and its created this wayWhen you start playing this game in the beginning you feel amazed with how good the graphics are, the gameplay is definitely batman arkham mixed with assassins creed so you know its a good mixture. The problem once you have played it for a while. Eventually you will realize how boring and repetitive the game is. The enemies constantly respawn in the nemesis system and its created this way to extend the gameplay. Nemesis is great but feels broken after a while. There is useless quests around the map that hardly give you any incentive to do, the missions are pretty repetitive also. I find this game is a good rental, definitely not worth a buy as it very quickly feels like a grind and is boring.… Expand
  94. MrMayhem94
    Feb 27, 2015
    10
    It's good to finally see an amazing LOTR game hit the shelves a lot of the last entries have been boring and lacklustre, This game combines mechanics from both assassins creed and the batman series and binds together very fluidly creating is own unique feel my only problem is that the story could have been better but the gameplay mechanics make up for it.

    Story: 6/10 Gameplay: 10/10    It's good to finally see an amazing LOTR game hit the shelves a lot of the last entries have been boring and lacklustre, This game combines mechanics from both assassins creed and the batman series and binds together very fluidly creating is own unique feel my only problem is that the story could have been better but the gameplay mechanics make up for it.

    Story: 6/10
    Gameplay: 10/10
    Graphics 10/10
    Sound 10/10

    Final 10/10

    Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor is must buy for any Fantasy or Action Game Fan.    … Expand
  95. ireviewthings1
    Feb 18, 2015
    8
    A pleasent suprise. The AC-Batman comparison is fair. I enjoyed arham asylum, but more for it's lore. Got bored of AC2 after 15h and never touched the franchise prior or after again. (I'm also not a Lord of the Rings fan. Not quite my universe. Liked the movies but saw them only once.)

    The mechanics are essentially the same, yes. But somehow intigrated more purposefully and focused. The    A pleasent suprise. The AC-Batman comparison is fair. I enjoyed arham asylum, but more for it's lore. Got bored of AC2 after 15h and never touched the franchise prior or after again. (I'm also not a Lord of the Rings fan. Not quite my universe. Liked the movies but saw them only once.)

    The mechanics are essentially the same, yes. But somehow intigrated more purposefully and focused. The Nemesis System is the star though. That, and the way Uruks interact with you. The way they trashtalk and reference prior battles is amazingly invigorating. Uruks are portrayed in such a way that you will want to just shank each and every one of those you come across.

    Sound is very good... *slice*...
    Graphics are as good as you can hope for for a title that is available for 360 and PS3 as well. Nice detail up close, not so pretty enviromental geometry. But hey, it's Mordor. It is a pisshole anyway. On the FPS/detail correlation is definetly well optimized.

    Result: this game shoots straight. It uses a few core mechanics but does what it does very well. Very good pace troughout and good total playing time.

    It is 30 € on amazon as off now and at that price point you will never regret buying it.    … Expand
  96. Kelphy
    Feb 15, 2015
    8
    A great game with great story, great gameplay and wonderful characters loses a little bit of it's greatness from the lack of lore. It feels that sometimes the writers of this game did not read any of Tolkiens notes nor did they read the LOTR books.

    This game was good, but adding the lore would have made it incredible.
  97. Escafoides
    Feb 15, 2015
    6
    So, we received a new, refreshing sandbox game, Monolith promised us that it wont be "The Same as the others" and in some point they are right.

    They managed to create a story that is immersive, original and that isn't damaging the Middle Earth of Tolkien. The game has a battle dynamic that is really incredible, you can feel the brutality of killing and slaughter orcs, but there is a    So, we received a new, refreshing sandbox game, Monolith promised us that it wont be "The Same as the others" and in some point they are right.

    They managed to create a story that is immersive, original and that isn't damaging the Middle Earth of Tolkien.

    The game has a battle dynamic that is really incredible, you can feel the brutality of killing and slaughter orcs, but there is a bad thing in that, the game is really easy to complete, even at 100% with all the collectibles, but that's because the game itself is short.

    In the other hand the gameplay is really repetitive, and despite of being original and new it becomes monotonous and boring.

    The Nemesis mechanic also is affected in that, In the first hours of game-play its really a thing to point out but while the hours are running, the boredom kills all that innovative experience, making the gameplay a suffering.    … Expand
  98. Verdan
    Feb 13, 2015
    6
    Overhyped game. Batman with different story. I loved the story and it granted this game some points. While the graphics were good i owned Batman games all ready and game engine was pretty familiar.

    The negative: - Repeats itself until you finish it - Only several "missions". Kill 10, kill 15, sneak on someone. Nothing else. - Collectives added to extend length. Most annoying thing    Overhyped game. Batman with different story. I loved the story and it granted this game some points. While the graphics were good i owned Batman games all ready and game engine was pretty familiar.

    The negative:

    - Repeats itself until you finish it
    - Only several "missions". Kill 10, kill 15, sneak on someone. Nothing else.
    - Collectives added to extend length. Most annoying thing was to collect pieces to an massive nice looking board only to find out it gives you nothing. Not even juicy cinematic with some nice story in it.

    Game with a lot of potential fell flat.    … Expand
  99. Rahza
    Feb 11, 2015
    10
    Great Combat, Great Audio, Great Graphics, Great Mechanics, Great Atmosphere, Great Story, Great Execution, Great Roleplay, Great Customization... Should I continue? I'll just say that it's a great game, worth the full price (although understandable if you want to wait until it goes on sale, because it *is* expensive. I reccomend the Season Pass, because it gives access to *a lot* ofGreat Combat, Great Audio, Great Graphics, Great Mechanics, Great Atmosphere, Great Story, Great Execution, Great Roleplay, Great Customization... Should I continue? I'll just say that it's a great game, worth the full price (although understandable if you want to wait until it goes on sale, because it *is* expensive. I reccomend the Season Pass, because it gives access to *a lot* of stuff; Costumes for your guy, New Quests, new Runes for your Weapons, new Challenges, ect.)… Expand
  100. RebelliousGoat
    Feb 11, 2015
    10
    This game is in incredibly fun, detailed, and massive. There is a lot of extra stuff, an excellent combat, and even though the map is not huge, they pack a lot in to it and make the map awesome because you get to know every corner of it. This is my favorite game that I own and I recommend it to everyone who owns anything which they can download it on.
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Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Best PC Game of 2014
11
#11 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Nov 1, 2014
    90
    Solid action wrapped in a fascinating simulated Orc society. [Nov 2014, p.52]
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 25, 2014
    72
    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]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Oct 19, 2014
    70
    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.
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