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. Feroxz
    Sep 30, 2014
    5
    This game is not bad, it's just not as great as most people claim it to be. The story is generic and doesn't really fit into LotR universe; combat is taken from Arkham games; most of other mechanics (freerunning, stealth, detection system) is taken from AC series. And the only truly original feature, Nemesis system, is far too simple and repetitive to keep you playing this game longer thanThis game is not bad, it's just not as great as most people claim it to be. The story is generic and doesn't really fit into LotR universe; combat is taken from Arkham games; most of other mechanics (freerunning, stealth, detection system) is taken from AC series. And the only truly original feature, Nemesis system, is far too simple and repetitive to keep you playing this game longer than 10 hours. The longer you play this game the more flows you start to see: unpolished gaps in combat system, repetitiveness of missions, dumb (even for orcs) AI. I do not recommend buying this game at full price, wait for sale and only then consider a purchase.… Expand
  2. Sawt00th
    Oct 1, 2014
    5
    This game is like a water-slide. Fun, no choice of direction and you forget about it when you move onto the next one. Combat physics is hard to apply to games, as would planning for a myriad of styles, they forgo these issues by implementing an Arkham Batman style of combat, which is lovely in small doses and for 1080 vids to showcase the game, but after killing the zillionth Ork you beginThis game is like a water-slide. Fun, no choice of direction and you forget about it when you move onto the next one. Combat physics is hard to apply to games, as would planning for a myriad of styles, they forgo these issues by implementing an Arkham Batman style of combat, which is lovely in small doses and for 1080 vids to showcase the game, but after killing the zillionth Ork you begin to get bored. Free-running needs to die, it needs to leave games right now, Assassin's Creed has been a cancer of the video game market. The basic formulae has been set by Arkham and AC they just needed to re-skin it and force through a story. Not a game that will capture you for very long should you be an adult that has developed a brain capable of logical and free thought. I gave it a 5 purely for the fact that it's well optimised. But let's be really honest if you have that many people at the top of their game creating a product you'd bloody well hope it was optimised.… Expand
  3. ALB13
    Sep 30, 2014
    7
    Did you enjoy Assassin's Creed but wish there were more Orcs, Elves, and Rings involved? If so, this is your game. As someone who enjoys the mixture stealth/parkor/brawling the AC series brings to the table, I have been heartily enjoying Shadow of Mordor.

    Pro: Hundreds of orcs to slaughter in fun, careful, or frenetic ways. Game looks good. The Nemesis system creates numerous    Did you enjoy Assassin's Creed but wish there were more Orcs, Elves, and Rings involved? If so, this is your game. As someone who enjoys the mixture stealth/parkor/brawling the AC series brings to the table, I have been heartily enjoying Shadow of Mordor.

    Pro:
    Hundreds of orcs to slaughter in fun, careful, or frenetic ways.
    Game looks good.
    The Nemesis system creates numerous engaging enemies, some of whom show up at the absolute worst times (this remains a Pro since it keeps the game interesting).

    Con:
    If you don't like Assassin's Creed style game play, just avoid this one.
    Will probably drive Tolkien purists insane for some reason.
    Melee combat has a shallow learning curve, very few encounters require more thought than "bash bash bash counter bash bash bash counter bash bash KILL bash bash counter etc."

    Big Con:
    The Nemesis system isn't as deep as it could have been; preview materials would have had us believe that defeated foes could be turned to your cause and used to your advantage. This is not the case. There is a single orc that can be turned to your side, and his activities are pre-planned. Other enemies can be interrogated for useful information prior to execution, but any suggestion that you can use one defeated foe to sow chaos in the camp of another is, at least six hours into the game, untrue.    … Expand
  4. papisotoromek
    Oct 2, 2014
    3
    How's this possible, that so repetitive and frustrating game is so high-ranked and praised by both critics and gamers.
    Story is simply boring and cliche, moreover it's not within the spirit of LOTR books or movies. It has revenge driven hero who's absolutely dull and says nothing interesting through the whole game.
    Nemesis system at first glance is very interesting, but in short time    How's this possible, that so repetitive and frustrating game is so high-ranked and praised by both critics and gamers.
    Story is simply boring and cliche, moreover it's not within the spirit of LOTR books or movies. It has revenge driven hero who's absolutely dull and says nothing interesting through the whole game.
    Nemesis system at first glance is very interesting, but in short time becomes a great problem. Yes, the orcs are different, promote when they kill you and it's more or less engaging, but when you realize that it never ends it's no fun anymore. New orcs replace dead ones and you can fight with them whole eternity. The same problem is about wandering through the map. Mordor is very small and cramped and overcrowded with opponents who's respawning all the time. It's no pleasure when you cannot find peace anywhere on the map and you are forced to fight or run straight and try to escape from next and next hordes of enemies.
    Fight is simply mashing buttons but when it's taking to long, orcs are gathering quickly and you're outnumbered and powerless. Then you die and some random orc is promoting forthwith. As I said it's very frustrating and repetitive.
    Next great problem is camera which is uneasy to operate and during the fights is to close to our hero. Because of this we cannot see all enemies and sometimes we don't even now that we could block some attack from behind.
    Graphics are mediocre and it's the same with the sound.
    If this game would provide compelling story and develop Nemesis system into something bigger than never-ending orcs replacement and rotation, it could be just good one, but it's not satisfying at all and essentially is a very small game with no interesting content.    … Expand
  5. Jezath
    Sep 30, 2014
    10
    Its good to see that studios like this still feel the need to take a risk and innovate.. What we all figured would be some sort of gimmick is actually an incredible system that works behind the scenes even when you think it isn't.. Follow the in game story yes, but make your own story using the nemesis system and your suddenly in a whole new world!! Graphics are what you expect nowadaysIts good to see that studios like this still feel the need to take a risk and innovate.. What we all figured would be some sort of gimmick is actually an incredible system that works behind the scenes even when you think it isn't.. Follow the in game story yes, but make your own story using the nemesis system and your suddenly in a whole new world!! Graphics are what you expect nowadays from a AAA title along with the sound.. The gameplay has the best elements with almost assassins creed style assassination manoeuvres..… Expand
  6. Xyzpl_29
    Sep 30, 2014
    5
    Very disappointing game. Nemesis is good. Unfortunately it is all what this game 's got to ofert. Other features are taken from other games [sorry for my poor English]
  7. newbiee
    Sep 30, 2014
    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 BADAt 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 TIME?!" I'm like 'damn right it is' and I barely escape. The Captain is ballsy enough to go toe-to-toe with the Graug and gets wasted. This Captain had the tracker trait and came after me. There is so much going on under the hood with the Nemesis system and it is awesome.

    Only potenial problem I see is this great system becoming stale, but by that point players should have got their money's worth out of the game.    … Expand
  8. Garfoodle
    Sep 30, 2014
    5
    WWhile it's not a bad game,per say,it is a dull one. It relies too much no the now overused Batman style combat,and too little on LoTR universe and story. The new "make your own army" thing is cool, but.much like the Ass Creed mission type of the same nature, it falls flat. And then there is the small map. And the lack of a real,loot system. And the mediocre graphics. Anyway, now I'm justWWhile it's not a bad game,per say,it is a dull one. It relies too much no the now overused Batman style combat,and too little on LoTR universe and story. The new "make your own army" thing is cool, but.much like the Ass Creed mission type of the same nature, it falls flat. And then there is the small map. And the lack of a real,loot system. And the mediocre graphics. Anyway, now I'm just rambling. The game is Ok. Not bad, not good,not worth $50. Stick to Skyrim with mods if you're looking for a solid LoTR experience… Expand
  9. navlasop
    Oct 7, 2014
    0
    Consolised.
    Linear Gameplay.
    Linear Power progression.
    WB's PR company trying to get it more shiney by any means they can. (Just google Shadow of Mordor Review Pressure Allegations)
  10. ar1ur
    Sep 30, 2014
    10
    Absolutely fenomenal !! Benn playing for 10 hours straight - haven't found a thing that would turn me off. Very happy i pre ordered it. After playing it i went straight and bought the Season Pass DLC boundle.

    I play using the Logitech F710 gamepad and i would advise any PC gamer getting this to also play using a gamepad.

    To sum up worth getting - hope they make a franchise out of it !
  11. velvetmeds
    Oct 12, 2014
    0
    This game is incredibly overrated, wtf are reviewers and users thinking? The game has good fighting/combat, though even that is entirely ripped off of Batman Arkham (which still does it better than this game), everything else is a yawn fest. Bland, empty, lifeless open world which is a chore to travel through, boring story, lots of useless padding of the kind that you find in many UbisoftThis game is incredibly overrated, wtf are reviewers and users thinking? The game has good fighting/combat, though even that is entirely ripped off of Batman Arkham (which still does it better than this game), everything else is a yawn fest. Bland, empty, lifeless open world which is a chore to travel through, boring story, lots of useless padding of the kind that you find in many Ubisoft games... damn. This game would have been a lot better with a more tight, focused experience instead of trying to do many things and artificially increasing play time. But i guess this is what gamers want nowadays, doesn't matter if it's boring or not, they just want it to take hours to play through. Quantity over quality mentality...which i disagree with.… Expand
  12. Putin2000
    Sep 30, 2014
    1
    If you take the gameplay of Assassins creed and mix it with the combat system of Batman arkam asylum you will have Shadow of Mordor. Its a hack and slash with some funny stuff thrown in (the enemy system) but in the end it all comes down to grinding through hordes of generic orcs while spamming attack (left click) and deflect (right click).

    On top of that, add in uninteresting story,    If you take the gameplay of Assassins creed and mix it with the combat system of Batman arkam asylum you will have Shadow of Mordor. Its a hack and slash with some funny stuff thrown in (the enemy system) but in the end it all comes down to grinding through hordes of generic orcs while spamming attack (left click) and deflect (right click).

    On top of that, add in uninteresting story, booring characters, small map, BONUSES AND COLLECTABLES and mediocre graphics and you have a 4 out of 10.    … Expand
  13. ekolet
    Oct 13, 2014
    0
    Classic AAA moneygrabber.
    Exteremely repetitive gameplay gets old after 1 hours, crappy storytelling. Horrible and boring combat. Doesnt worth more than 10 bucks.
  14. Veber
    Oct 5, 2014
    5
    Shadow of Mordor's main problem is that it tries to copy other games (Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham Asylum) without understanding what makes those games worth playing - it's not climbing. sticky running and fighting f*ckton of enemies at once that makes AC likable; and beat-up system of Batman doesn't really work as good with actual swords.

    Overall we have an openworld game with    Shadow of Mordor's main problem is that it tries to copy other games (Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham Asylum) without understanding what makes those games worth playing - it's not climbing. sticky running and fighting f*ckton of enemies at once that makes AC likable; and beat-up system of Batman doesn't really work as good with actual swords.

    Overall we have an openworld game with tiny world, inane captain system, endless slashing through always respawning hordes, tacked-on stealth and no hubs, short campaign and annoying cutscenes    … Expand
  15. Cuchulane
    Dec 29, 2014
    5
    There is a lot of smoke and mirrors going on in this overrated game. This game embodies the very essence of "lather, rinse, repeat", and tries hard to hide that. It's a well made game, and the nemesis system was a novel idea, but even that starts to reveal it's repetitiveness and pointlessness over time. Here's how the game works. Steal three fight mechanics from Batman and make themThere is a lot of smoke and mirrors going on in this overrated game. This game embodies the very essence of "lather, rinse, repeat", and tries hard to hide that. It's a well made game, and the nemesis system was a novel idea, but even that starts to reveal it's repetitiveness and pointlessness over time. Here's how the game works. Steal three fight mechanics from Batman and make them sword, stealth, and bow. Create an orc generator with a fixed number of strengths and weaknesses (of which only about 4 really matter), randomly generate new orcs with random name, armor skins (cosmetic only which starts to repeat itself with frequency), and a few attack styles. Generate a mission map with a small amount of mission types repeating. Then add Assassin's Creed running, jumping, and climbing (which sometimes works and often leaves you rolling against a wall) mechanics and random stuff to collect. Repeat all of the above layered on a very thin storyline. I'm about 80% done with the story line and am really struggling to force myself to finish it.… Expand
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. NemesisBruh
    Feb 7, 2021
    0
    Imagine patenting the nemesis system, despite your game being an Assassin's Creed re-skin. Not to mention that nemesis system itself existed long before this game. The industry is built on innovating existing ideas. Everything is inspired by something that came before it. That's how games, art, music, writing, culture itself and everything else works. Patenting the nemesis system is likeImagine patenting the nemesis system, despite your game being an Assassin's Creed re-skin. Not to mention that nemesis system itself existed long before this game. The industry is built on innovating existing ideas. Everything is inspired by something that came before it. That's how games, art, music, writing, culture itself and everything else works. Patenting the nemesis system is like patenting a color blue, or like patenting an the idea of a powerful corrupting item in storytelling. WB Games needs to back down on this.… Expand
  19. gannicus
    Oct 21, 2014
    6
    Game is ok... nothing special... graphics reqs are way to high... story is ok but seems to contradict Tolkiens writing.. Combat was very good.. only strength of the game... Nemesis system was fine i guess give them points for innovation but execution was bad eg any time you die other orcs get promoted and theres a never ending list of orcs who will become captains and warchiefs etc..Game is ok... nothing special... graphics reqs are way to high... story is ok but seems to contradict Tolkiens writing.. Combat was very good.. only strength of the game... Nemesis system was fine i guess give them points for innovation but execution was bad eg any time you die other orcs get promoted and theres a never ending list of orcs who will become captains and warchiefs etc.. finally somehow the game doesnt seem to come together at the end... However the game wasnt a total waste , worth a play if you have a lot of excess time....… Expand
  20. Oleksandr_
    Feb 10, 2021
    0
    Patenting the nemesis system, despite your game being created base on others' ideas. The industry is built on innovating of existing ideas.
  21. 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.
  22. 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
  23. 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.
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. GamesOverMind
    Oct 24, 2014
    5
    Definitely a decent gaming experience. Not all its cracked up to be though; honestly if i found as many problems within a Ubisoft game as I found in this, it would be unacceptable. With a big PR machine like WB you have to expect over compensation with just about everything but in this case they had to have rushed their testers on the release dates. Amazing story but lacking in all theDefinitely a decent gaming experience. Not all its cracked up to be though; honestly if i found as many problems within a Ubisoft game as I found in this, it would be unacceptable. With a big PR machine like WB you have to expect over compensation with just about everything but in this case they had to have rushed their testers on the release dates. Amazing story but lacking in all the areas that it counts. Personally I would never pay for this game. Bitter sweet disaster till the end.… Expand
  27. gostarkgo
    Dec 3, 2014
    7
    This game is a mixed bag for me. Most importantly the combat and gameplay are excellent. If I was rating this game strictly on gameplay it would get a 10. But I had a hard time sinking my teeth into the story line. As a result I find myself loving the combat for about 20 to 30 minutes and then being left with the sense that my time should be spent elsewhere. The story just doesn'tThis game is a mixed bag for me. Most importantly the combat and gameplay are excellent. If I was rating this game strictly on gameplay it would get a 10. But I had a hard time sinking my teeth into the story line. As a result I find myself loving the combat for about 20 to 30 minutes and then being left with the sense that my time should be spent elsewhere. The story just doesn't captivate me, which is a shame because the combat and the gameplay are incredible.

    Considering how bad the latest Assassins Creed is, this game was exactly what I needed. Perhaps the folly in this game lies not in the story but in my lukewarm interest toward the fantasy genre. Still though the game gets a solid 7/10, and I have no doubt that I will play the game out. Its just to much fun not to play, but not enough to get hooked on.    … Expand
  28. Ponchoarg
    Jan 13, 2015
    8
    The game is great! action-packed and compelling. Specially the nemesis system.
    The only bad things about it are 2:
    1- Very minor. Some button combinations are complicated to execute. Specially when most useful, like when you are surrounded by 20 uruks. TYou charge your powers and press R and L sticks and it doesnt respond. 2- The story. It's not that good. A lot of missions don't fit    The game is great! action-packed and compelling. Specially the nemesis system.
    The only bad things about it are 2:
    1- Very minor. Some button combinations are complicated to execute. Specially when most useful, like when you are surrounded by 20 uruks. TYou charge your powers and press R and L sticks and it doesnt respond.
    2- The story. It's not that good. A lot of missions don't fit well, specially the side stories like that of Torving, which I liked, but doing those made no sense at all with the story.    … Expand
  29. 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??????
  30. 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.
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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

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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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