Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 85 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 77 out of 85
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 85
  3. Negative: 0 out of 85
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  1. Edge Magazine
    Nov 5, 2014
    70
    It's a shame that the terrain you wander through as you do all this is so visually substandard. [Dec 2014, p.116]
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  2. Eurogamer Portugal
    Oct 27, 2014
    70
    Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor emerges as a highly entertaining proposal and is able to entertain for hours on end, unless you have an ethical problem with killing Uruks.
  3. Eurogamer Spain
    Oct 9, 2014
    70
    Although Shadow of Mordor's world never feels as alive as the ones from Skyrim or Fallout, the new Nemesis system is a great idea that makes normal battles something much more interesting.
  5. Gamer.no
    Oct 8, 2014
    70
    With the Nemesis system, Monolith Productions has created a living, breathing power struggle in an otherwise disappointingly empty world. It alone makes the game worth playing.
  6. Toronto Sun
    Sep 26, 2014
    70
    But this invigorating combat and intriguing enemy hierarchy system exist in an empty-feeling world, and not even the lovingly written lore in the game’s appendices can inject much personality into Mordor.
  7. Gameblog.fr
    Sep 26, 2014
    70
    Shadow of Mordor is really cool to play and introduce an interesting Nemesis System mechanic, but at some point it becomes a little bit too repetitive.
  8. Post Arcade (National Post)
    Sep 26, 2014
    70
    This carefully designed, constantly evolving, and weirdly dynamic army of Orcs – especially those strong enough to repeatedly defeat me (more on that in a bit) — is what made me keep playing Shadow of Mordor through to the end, even as I felt growing dissatisfaction with the game’s stillborn and often threadbare narrative.
  9. Destructoid
    Sep 25, 2014
    60
    Ultimately, like many ambitious projects, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor doesn't deliver on everything it sets out to do.

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best PS4 Game of 2014
7
#7 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2014
5
#5 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2699 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,017 out of 2699
  2. Mixed: 474 out of 2699
  3. Negative: 208 out of 2699
  1. Ondopher
    Sep 30, 2014
    10
    With some issues aside, which I hope will be patched soon, the game stands to its hype. Extremely fun combat, with awesome visuals and not toWith some issues aside, which I hope will be patched soon, the game stands to its hype. Extremely fun combat, with awesome visuals and not to mention the much loved world setting of Middle-earth, which I'm sure even non-Tolkien fans will rejoice. This is a RPG that I cannot wait to delve further into.… Full Review »
  2. fserb
    Oct 1, 2014
    2
    The game feels like a poor Assassin's Creed rip off.

    The camera is so bad that it becomes a challenge in itself. If you fight near a wall    The game feels like a poor Assassin's Creed rip off.

    The camera is so bad that it becomes a challenge in itself. If you fight near a wall it completely goes crazy and points to random directions. It reminds me of old N64 games.

    The stealth mechanics are bad. It's an open world most of the time, so the enemies just have super small sight. You can kill 3 enemies stealthly when they are all side by side and nobody notices. It's made to look like you are stealth, but in fact I think they found out that in LoTR orcs are deaf and have very poor vision. Also, there is no "go behind the wall mechanics", so when you go close to a wall, the camera focus on the wall and the controller gets clumsy (since you can't walk by the wall).

    Combat mechanics are a bit better, but still clumsy. Fighting has lots of button smashing and the player moves in random directions sometimes. To compensate for the easiness of button smashing, the game throws tons of monsters at you at the same time. This changes the mechanic into: button smashing, run far from everyone (which you do faster than them anyway), wait for them to come in line, button smashing and repeat. Also, the bow mechanic is worse than Tomb Raider. The only ok point of the combat system is that you don't have to actually switch weapons (press square you use the sword, press R2/L2 you use the bow).
    The open world part seems to be ok so far and the nemesis/famous orcs part works well. The respawn system is very aggressive (more than Destiny, for example). It means it is virtually impossible to get rid of all orcs in an area before killing the big guys. You kill a bunch of them, walk 15 steps, look back and there are more of them again. The only way to clear an area is killing the bug guys. It is designed like this because the fighting is very easy 1vs1.    … Full Review »
  3. Nistrega
    Sep 30, 2014
    10
    Finally we have a LoTR game worthy of many hours of our time! Shadow of Mordor brings free roaming adventure and game changing new featuresFinally we have a LoTR game worthy of many hours of our time! Shadow of Mordor brings free roaming adventure and game changing new features together to make one amazing game. One of those games where you get lost in its mechanics and find yourself putting the story on the back burner. For me that's a good sign of a game with good longevity.

    Nemesis system is great, combat is satisfying and gory to boot. Story is there but I find myself making my own story to enhance the main one. RPG elements are there. I especially like how the weapons upgrade with ruins you collect off of war chiefs or other notable enemies. Graphics are great. There is not much tediousness that comes with the open world genre. You can fast travel pretty readily conveniently. But this is one of those worlds where I prefer to get lost in and take that short cut threw the woods.

    Even if you are not a fan of Lord of the Rings check this game out. It is an amazing game on its own.
    If you are a die hard Tolkeinite the lore should not be that blasphemous to you either.    … Full Review »
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