Middle-earth: Shadow of War

 PlayStation 4
User Score
4.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1686 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 665 out of 1686
  2. Mixed: 265 out of 1686
  3. Negative: 756 out of 1686
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  1. ripear
    May 10, 2023
    0
    This is not what i was expecting. Having played the original game, this is totally different. The main characters are the same, but it's just a loot game, there's no caching story and the gameplay feels repetitive and borign. It's a shame, as the world and magic of Tolkien has a lot more to offer than this. Don't waste your money on this game.
  2. gamer664
    May 5, 2023
    0
    Don't bother with this games. It's the exact same as the first one. WB also patented the Nemesis system, which prevents other studios from improving upon the concept.
  3. mikepatyaev
    Dec 21, 2022
    4
    Experience an epic open world brought to life by the Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth: Shadow of War
  4. Reedsnees
    Jul 8, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Loot boxes are bad, but unlike most games you can get the same loot by just obtaining it. The story sucks but gollum in it so yeah good game… Expand
  5. hyunwest123
    Mar 6, 2022
    0
    so boring. also the graphics aren't great considering the times we are in. even tho i love the LOTR trilogy the game is bad. do not get it.
  6. Ebislav
    Jan 29, 2022
    3
    Куча не нужных механик, отвратительные анимации врагов и тупые диалоги капитанов. Не смог закончить и первый акт
  7. TonyBoyBR
    Oct 29, 2021
    2
    Muito ruim em relação ao primeiro game, nada evoluiu, muito pelo contrário o gráfico ficou pior, a história é sem sentido, eu particularmente não tive paciência de terminar o jogo, já o primeiro embora seja um pouco repetitivo ainda gera uma gameplay satisfatória, tanto é que pra mim foi uma platina prazerosa.
  8. neko555
    Oct 24, 2021
    3
    Un juego que podría haber sido de 10, se lo cargan completamente por malas decisiones y falta de continuidad.
    Con un input lag que mucha gente considera incluso que lo hace injugable, unos controles que recuerdan a la peor época de Assassins Creed, diría que bastante peor de hecho (como tener un capitán debajo, marcado para atacar con sigilo, y en el momento de darle se cambia a un uruk    Un juego que podría haber sido de 10, se lo cargan completamente por malas decisiones y falta de continuidad.
    Con un input lag que mucha gente considera incluso que lo hace injugable, unos controles que recuerdan a la peor época de Assassins Creed, diría que bastante peor de hecho (como tener un capitán debajo, marcado para atacar con sigilo, y en el momento de darle se cambia a un uruk normal y corriente que está a 3 metros, algo qué pasa muuuuy a menudo).
    Es un juego tremendamente desesperante, no por la dificultad en si, sino porque esta es injusta. Capitanes que te sobrepasan en 8 o 10 niveles empiezan a llamarse unos a otros, en 3 movimientos se han adaptado a todo tu repertorio de ataques, alarmas que no se pueden parar sumando a lo anterior enemigos infinitos (aparecen literalmente de la nada).
    Este sistema némesis del que tanto parecen enorgullecerse tienes demasiados agujeros, lo único que consigue es que avanzar no sea en absoluto satisfactorio. Y no es que no le haya dado una oportunidad, me he pasado el juego, pero me da mucha pena que se hayan cargado un juego con tanto potencial y que no se hayan molestado en arreglarlo con parches ni en las reediciones.    … Expand
  9. DrBoom-Boom
    Sep 16, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I made an account to post this. This game is absolute **** The only redeeming thing about this game is the Nemesis system; without it, this would probably be one of the most uninteresting, uninspired, poorly made games I have played in a long time. The game, even four years out from launch, is still a buggy mess. I have fallen through the world while walking. I have been given the losing grip minigame while standing on a flat surface; I have also had captains disappear and show up dead on the army screen.

    The combat system ripped straight from the Arkham games does not work when your swarm you effectively, rendering your counter and ground executions useless until level 15, when you can finally kill with your counters. Until then, you are better off running away and picking off enemies with stealth kills, and that's only if you can, as some missions force you to sword fight, multiple enemies without being able to break away from combat. This is unacceptable. On top of that, Talion being the primary target for all enemies does ruin any setup or planning while in battle as enemies will run a football field's length to smack Talion for daring to think he can complete a frozen hit stun combo. And god forbid you shoot a Drake bait because if the Drake sees you, it will ignore everyone and attack you. This has ruined so many surprise attacks on enemy captains as I would have to leave the area and come back to try and set up an attack again.

    Also, the tracking for this game is diarrhea doo-doo. There have been multiple times where I will be attacking a captain, get wrath meter, and performing an execution just for Talion to ignore the person he was attacking to waste the execution on a random ork 50 feet away. This happens constantly and can change the way a fight is going; this also goes for Dominating enemy orks as you will always fight with the game so you can try and dominate an ork or log captain only to have Talion try and dominate a **** spider or random grunt that showed up right next to you wasting time and leaving yourself vulnerable to attack, which again can immediately change the way a fight is going. That is one of the most egregious things this game does because dominating orks is the whole point of this game, and if you don't make that process fun, then what's the point of the game?

    The story is only interesting when it is about Talion and Celebrimbor. None of the humans from that act matter in any way; the only person we meet in that act that matters is Eltariel. Idril and Baranor could have died in act 1, and it wouldn't have made a difference. Also, Idril is incredibly insufferable, showing up twice to fight in the Gondorian plotline after act 1, and is the worst at fighting. It just screams that Monolith didn't have enough material with the good story content and shoehorned in the Minas Ithil plot and Gondorian storyline to pad the game's run time. But let me say that The Desolation of Mordor is the best DLC in this game. I wish it weren't timed. I wish we could have just started out dominating orks instead of wasting the entirety of Act 1, the first couple of hours of the game, failing to read visions properly, and wasting time with Minas Ithil.

    This game is good for one time through, and that's it because the first time you play, you will be enamored by the nemesis system, and you will overlook the flaws, but on subsequent playthroughs, you start to notice the mechanics more and more, and that is where this game falls apart. Whenever the Nemesis system spits out something unique and cool, you tend to forget the 30 minutes of frustrating combat, annoying movement, and random bugs that got you there. This is a bad game that you could cut wholely 1/3 of it out, and it wouldn't make a difference. Anyone who tells you that this game is a masterpiece 10/10 is viewing it through rose-tinted glasses while sucking down their favorite brand of copium. This game should have been an expansion pack to Shadow of Mordor, not its own game.    … Expand
  10. LesandroBonucci
    Jun 12, 2021
    2
    one of the worst games i ever played
    just presing one button to kill those orks
    soon all games is gonna be like this
  11. TheTeaMKiLLer69
    Jun 1, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Boring to death.
    Terrible voice acting.
    Boring quest design.
    Horrible gameplay design.    … Expand
  12. Roost
    May 20, 2021
    0
    Mindlessly repetitive, terrible controls on all levels but especially poor movement through environment controls. Really happy I waited and only spent $10 to buy this game.
  13. OrcBEOR
    May 2, 2021
    0
    Если кто то думает, что без микротранзакций это стало нормальной игрой, то он заблуждается. Это не игра, это фекалии бабуинов, которые возомнили себя разработчиками. Плохо всё. От перемещения, дизайна уровней, до... Неужели после первого высера 2014 года, кто то сказала бабуинам, что идея с "приветствием" капитанов хороша? Бесит. просто бесит.Если кто то думает, что без микротранзакций это стало нормальной игрой, то он заблуждается. Это не игра, это фекалии бабуинов, которые возомнили себя разработчиками. Плохо всё. От перемещения, дизайна уровней, до... Неужели после первого высера 2014 года, кто то сказала бабуинам, что идея с "приветствием" капитанов хороша? Бесит. просто бесит.
  14. Nalpa
    Apr 13, 2021
    0
    Really bad input latency both on PS4 and PS5. Not playable. I loved the first game and the nemesis system is pretty genius but come on patch that mess!
  15. Chrislzrks
    Apr 7, 2021
    3
    Most uninspired, generic game of the recent years.. There's Nothing "Tolkienish" in this game. Mediocre graphics, meeh gameplay, uninspired world and atmosphere as like quests and storyline...
    A crime against Tolkien and Lord of the rings franchise..
    Abort...
  16. ILoveBF1
    Mar 27, 2021
    4
    Pretty average even if you remove the microtransactions. It gets repetitive. Dominate/Kill Captain, Overthrow overlord, repeat. The story is also too weak. The ending was good though. The map is so big yet so small. It has a large area but there is too little to explore. Overall meh.
  17. SPodvohom
    Feb 15, 2021
    0
    Патентую траханье рта издателей этой параши.
  18. 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.
  19. 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
  20. Tru3_Canad1an
    Feb 6, 2021
    0
    **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games **** you WB games
  21. The_Follower
    Feb 1, 2021
    1
    I can’t in good conscience give this even a decent rating. The game itself is mostly fine, but the nemesis system is just straight up ungodly annoying, every time you cone across a captain (which is VERY often) he gives a 20-30 second UNSKIPPABLE speech. For the love of **** god, why would the developers do this? I wanted to give the game a fair go, but I’m probably about an hour in andI can’t in good conscience give this even a decent rating. The game itself is mostly fine, but the nemesis system is just straight up ungodly annoying, every time you cone across a captain (which is VERY often) he gives a 20-30 second UNSKIPPABLE speech. For the love of **** god, why would the developers do this? I wanted to give the game a fair go, but I’m probably about an hour in and just can’t take this anymore.… Expand
  22. Bernaz
    Jan 18, 2021
    2
    One of the most frustrating game I ever played.
    Pit fight are totally stupid, the enemy orc attack and does stuff, mine stand still doing nothing and getting killed.
    The defend missions, at the end game, are stupid as well. You have to defend your castle against orcs lvl 40-50-60 with yours that barely reach lvl 30-40. If you try to find new orcs to recruit, they are always low level.    One of the most frustrating game I ever played.
    Pit fight are totally stupid, the enemy orc attack and does stuff, mine stand still doing nothing and getting killed.
    The defend missions, at the end game, are stupid as well.
    You have to defend your castle against orcs lvl 40-50-60 with yours that barely reach lvl 30-40.
    If you try to find new orcs to recruit, they are always low level.
    The only thing you can do is let one of them kill you and then recruit, but that's doesn't work because 99% of the time one of your orc save you before you die and kill him.
    And of course when you need to be saved, you died.
    When you fight a Captain, there is a high chance that another captain spawned under your feet because yes, there is no sense in this.
    I hate this game.    … Expand
  23. ZaPaAl
    Dec 22, 2020
    4
    They squeezed the theme a bit too much now. And this opinion is not even based on microtransactions.

    It's predecessor was simple but delivered fun and this game now had engaging moments at first and looked like a major enhancement in every way. But later on this grew into a major and repetitive grind with a very senseless story and down right unlikeable characters. I could not gather    They squeezed the theme a bit too much now. And this opinion is not even based on microtransactions.

    It's predecessor was simple but delivered fun and this game now had engaging moments at first and looked like a major enhancement in every way. But later on this grew into a major and repetitive grind with a very senseless story and down right unlikeable characters.

    I could not gather enough interest to grind up for the major siege defending part of the story (Shadow War) so I missed out on the real ending and I really don't care anymore. Quite sad what they did to this.    … Expand
  24. ToshLichev
    Dec 7, 2020
    3
    I'm baffled by the positive reviews this game has received. Shadow of War is a horrible amalgamation of Arkham combat, AC traversal and Saint's Row IV-like powers which feels as cheap as it gets. Every aspect of it's gameplay is a bad bargain bin version of something that was astonishing and new 10 years ago. The only original idea it has, the nemesis system from the first game, feels likeI'm baffled by the positive reviews this game has received. Shadow of War is a horrible amalgamation of Arkham combat, AC traversal and Saint's Row IV-like powers which feels as cheap as it gets. Every aspect of it's gameplay is a bad bargain bin version of something that was astonishing and new 10 years ago. The only original idea it has, the nemesis system from the first game, feels like a gimmick at this point - it was cool the first time around, not as cool the second though...

    The story, although I am in no way a LotR fan, is so bland, boring and predictable that you just end up zoning out during most of it. There are a few sort of funny dialogues here and there but 95% of it is the tale of the most generic and characterless warrior in all of the realms, who's personality and appearance you forget immediately after pausing the game, and his annoying warrior friends who never get more than 30 seconds of character development. Together they have to fight millions of orcs to get a thingy.

    When you add the fact that the game is very buggy, it's got idiotic micro-transactions, the graphics are straight up 2008 PS3 levels of unimpressive and the world itself feels both annoyingly big to traverse and too small to be considered even decent - there just isn't anything good to say about the game.

    I usually have a final statement with which to finish my review but since Shadow of War didn't feel the need to have an actual ending and just gave us 20 fort defense missions to grind through for hours, I don't feel the need to summarize my review. Absolute **** 3/10

    P.S: PS+ really keep hitting a new low every month...    … Expand
  25. Hoplita
    Dec 5, 2020
    4
    Got it for free with PS Plus. Event after the end of the highly criticized micro-transactions, it's still a bad game. Only three years in of its release, this game clearly has not aged well. The movement is bad. The combat mechanics are repetitive. The enemies are dumb (stealth mechanic is a joke). The graphics could be better. The story is boring. It's a sloppy game. Perhaps theGot it for free with PS Plus. Event after the end of the highly criticized micro-transactions, it's still a bad game. Only three years in of its release, this game clearly has not aged well. The movement is bad. The combat mechanics are repetitive. The enemies are dumb (stealth mechanic is a joke). The graphics could be better. The story is boring. It's a sloppy game. Perhaps the developers thought they could provide anything to the players since it's a LOTR game and its predecessor was a success (indeed, the first game was pretty good). Unfortunately, this a game made not with love, but with greed.… Expand
  26. Mo_obaid
    Nov 23, 2020
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It’s not worth playing random fighting random mechanics the story line is not good the basics of the game are the worst I spent my time for no thing… Expand
  27. v3nomro
    Nov 15, 2020
    1
    Wwhat a sh game omg... I got it for free and it's still sh. Never ending hordes of orcs... This game is like mario, jump and run. Cheating death orcs... What's the point of this game? I got borred after 2 hours... Just do the same sh over and over again.
  28. pharagonesia
    Oct 10, 2020
    3
    It is very evident the developers didn't play their own game. Try climbing a wall and the game can't determine whether the 'X' button indicates a command to roll or a command to climb. This regression in mechanics was evident right away. The skill upgrade menus are another downgrade from Shadow of Mordor. While the environments in the game look better than the predecessor, the charactersIt is very evident the developers didn't play their own game. Try climbing a wall and the game can't determine whether the 'X' button indicates a command to roll or a command to climb. This regression in mechanics was evident right away. The skill upgrade menus are another downgrade from Shadow of Mordor. While the environments in the game look better than the predecessor, the characters themselves appear more plastic. Orc Captain cut scenes seem to run longer and there is no way to bypass the nonsense dialogue. Arrows no longer need to be manually picked up, but good luck finding them. If you have aim assist turned on, good luck because the feature is mostly broken. Then there's the matter of having to find some bizarre combination of left/right to reveal secrets. The concept sounds cool at face value, but the implementation is rage inducing. And finally - my biggest complaint - is the unresolved input lag that was well documented with Shadow of Mordor. Sometimes the character will just sit there taking hits, not responding to input because, well, apparently the developers don't play their own product. The only improvement in the game was the decision to eliminate plant hunting for health regeneration, but even that doesn't resolve the issue of a fundamentally broken character health system.… Expand
  29. hyun8801
    Sep 23, 2020
    0
    absolutely garbage. Controls are seriously **** up. 99% of the time their auto targeting is off. **** up camera, missions are all **** chores.
  30. JoKeR_AlexS
    Jun 24, 2020
    4
    Este comentário é universal nas minhas reviews. Apenas quero dar nota aos jogos e caso queiram saber mais alguma coisa sobre o jogo, aconselho a ver outras reviews ou até mesmo a experimentar o jogo.
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Awards & Rankings

65
#65 Best PS4 Game of 2017
12
#12 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
13
#13 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 19, 2017
    80
    I was annoyed by various flaws (both technical and design-related) and tedious, dragged out final stages of the campaign, but overall I enjoyed the ride. It looks like the developers wanted to stuff the game with all the best elements Middle-earth has to offer. Shadow of War’s atmosphere is terrific and watching Talion rise in power is surprisingly addictive. [12/2017, p.62]
  2. Cubed3
    Nov 26, 2017
    70
    A handful of issues, some much more annoying than others, do not negate how solid of an action RPG Middle-earth: Shadow of War is. A tremendous achievement for the team at Monolith Productions, this is an exciting, if not sometimes slow, and too often unfair, title that manages to be as impressively fun as it is big.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Nov 20, 2017
    60
    Big, brutal, and - alas - bloated, Shadow of War is a disappointing follow-up, conjuring battles of grand scale and then deadening their impact through grinding repetition. [December 2017, p.79]
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