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. Hokyshirt
    Nov 19, 2017
    6
    Overall great game, but just skip act 4 and watch the 'true' ending on youtube, because it's not worth the grindfest. Acts 1-3? FANTASTIC. Act 44? I mean, if you have nothing better to play for the next four months, go for it. It's still the same keep seiges and defenses as before, but you can only do the same thing in the same 4 areas so many time before it just gets dull, and the endingOverall great game, but just skip act 4 and watch the 'true' ending on youtube, because it's not worth the grindfest. Acts 1-3? FANTASTIC. Act 44? I mean, if you have nothing better to play for the next four months, go for it. It's still the same keep seiges and defenses as before, but you can only do the same thing in the same 4 areas so many time before it just gets dull, and the ending you get from all that work is just not worth it.
    This isn't a terrible game, but Act 4 almost ruins all the awesome stuff about the rest of it. Without act 4, I'd give it a 9. With Act 4, I'd give it a 6.    … Expand
  2. superfields
    Nov 19, 2017
    9
    Totally unfair reviews, which is why I had to write my own review. If reviews were left to gamers like these no one would ever want to play games. I agree I hate microtransactions too, Star wars Heroes is a perfect example. But unlike that game which forces you to purchase game time, this game is entirely up to you if you want to make any further purchases. Believe me if your good at thisTotally unfair reviews, which is why I had to write my own review. If reviews were left to gamers like these no one would ever want to play games. I agree I hate microtransactions too, Star wars Heroes is a perfect example. But unlike that game which forces you to purchase game time, this game is entirely up to you if you want to make any further purchases. Believe me if your good at this game you never have too.

    Besides this game is better than the original in every aspect, so when I say its a shame how many people turned a blind eye to this game based on the losers who gave this game zero. Pretty sad, to give a zero means it has too be absolutely atrocious and this is far from it...    … Expand
  3. Spidor
    Nov 18, 2017
    1
    This game is one half okay game, and one half infuriating grind. Once you beat the penultimate mission, suddenly the game forces you to repeat ALL your progress multiple times over (encouraging you yo purchase precious lootboxes on the way). Do not play this game as is. Wait until they realize the error of their ways and patch the second half of the game out.

    Also - fortresses are not    This game is one half okay game, and one half infuriating grind. Once you beat the penultimate mission, suddenly the game forces you to repeat ALL your progress multiple times over (encouraging you yo purchase precious lootboxes on the way). Do not play this game as is. Wait until they realize the error of their ways and patch the second half of the game out.

    Also - fortresses are not nearly as cool as the trailer. IT's not fun, it's samey, and the AI is AWFUL.    … Expand
  4. GreyKaff
    Nov 17, 2017
    8
    Great game.. A little bit similar to shadow of mordor but better.. ZERO need for microtransactions. Nemesis system still impress with fort attack/defense.. For me, solid 8.
  5. Nubosis
    Nov 17, 2017
    9
    This game is very addictive, it builds up from its great predecessor (Shadow of Mordor) and adds a lot of content and gimmicks along, its better than the first one and it's very enjoyable, it gets old the tribe-oriented theme, maybe it gets better with the dlcs, maybe not, it's worth the full price and more if you like (maybe not if you are hardcore fan) LOTR.
  6. CaptainPuGDoG
    Nov 16, 2017
    7
    Loot boxes,Loot boxes,Loot boxes,Loot boxes,Loot boxes,Loot boxes,or Grinding Grinding Grinding Grinding Grinding Grinding
    But this game have interesting story 8,and beautiful animation 8,and this fight animation only one,because of this, it is time to spend on Grinding
    World 5 all game design so primitive and unremarkable
  7. davidas101
    Nov 16, 2017
    0
    This game broke me

    I didn't think much of this games predecessor, I purchased this game on pure chance and faith and I was very much rewarded.....until about 50 hours of grinding clocked in and I realized just how little control I had over this reviled piece of rancid crap with its randomized loot chests entangled pathetically with the games otherwise impressive nemesis system. I paid    This game broke me

    I didn't think much of this games predecessor, I purchased this game on pure chance and faith and I was very much rewarded.....until about 50 hours of grinding clocked in and I realized just how little control I had over this reviled piece of rancid crap with its randomized loot chests entangled pathetically with the games otherwise impressive nemesis system. I paid £50 for this game upfront
    and countless hours of fun but the façade starts to peel pretty quickly in this joke of a game.
    THIS GAME IS A RIGGED GLORIFIED GAMBLING SIMULATOR. DO NOT BUY.    … Expand
  8. Hemp316
    Nov 16, 2017
    9
    People on here are complete and utter idiots!This game is extremely fun and innovative and all people can talk about is Loot Boxes which in no way is necessary to play the game.Every zero I see lends me to believe most of these people have never even played the game.For once the Critics are correct and the people have absolutely no idea what hell they are talking about!
  9. Juel92
    Nov 15, 2017
    8
    A great game held back by occasionally repetetive gameplay and a weaker 3rd act. The game features microtransactions but I can honestly say that I never even considered using them. The Uruks are plentiful and sieges are fairly easy, especially if you dominate the Warchiefs. The game does improve and expand on the first one but it also feels a bit held back and not quite the "Greater thanA great game held back by occasionally repetetive gameplay and a weaker 3rd act. The game features microtransactions but I can honestly say that I never even considered using them. The Uruks are plentiful and sieges are fairly easy, especially if you dominate the Warchiefs. The game does improve and expand on the first one but it also feels a bit held back and not quite the "Greater than the sum of it's parts" that the first game was.
    Still a lot of fun and if you enjoyed the first one you should get this game and just ignore the MTs since they're entirely pointless.    … Expand
  10. prorock777
    Nov 14, 2017
    0
    EA and WB the worst game publisher again. Pay to win, or loot boxes are evil, this **** is destroying gaming industry. And this game overall desent, but donation system kills all good things that this game has.
  11. Aginagala
    Nov 13, 2017
    6
    Although the game can be buggy at times an improved story, improved combat system, improved nemesis system and a huge open world cannot take away the fact that this was a great game and thoroughly enjoyable. I finished the story to a point where I couldn't stop there and simply carried on afterwards. I found new monsters such as drakes a great implementation, and were fun to upgrade withAlthough the game can be buggy at times an improved story, improved combat system, improved nemesis system and a huge open world cannot take away the fact that this was a great game and thoroughly enjoyable. I finished the story to a point where I couldn't stop there and simply carried on afterwards. I found new monsters such as drakes a great implementation, and were fun to upgrade with the improved RPG system, giving a feeling of satisfaction when leveling and finally being able to ride one. Moreover I found the leveling system on the whole in the game extremely satisfying to unlock new move sets, and skills to aid me on my journey.

    Finding a legendary captain felt scary and when you are ambushed at the point of almost killing another captain for your army it feels very real. To build on this you see betrayals against you, betrayals against the warchiefs, seemingly a much more real and immersive feeling surrounded the game this time, as mini stories were built up within your armies and at points I felt small bonds connected to particular captains that stuck with me or helped me in situations I did not expect.

    The game built on the best bits of the former game creating a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The gigantic battles that were the sieges were perhaps the best part of this game, with huge and reasonably challenging battles, and more than enough choice to plan how you can attack. I feel the first, fight and capture part was reasonably easy however the Overlords themselves are no push over. Each with unique and tough abilities, interesting designs and never feeling samey due to lazy design, fighting them always felt like a new experience, the setting, the time taken to get there was beautifully crafted.

    However... the game is let down due to the gambling aspect of it. This game has succumbed to micro transactions, another let down of a great game. It was unnecessary and could have been completely avoided and been a fantastic game without it. Moreover due to these micro transactions the end game was a lot more grindy than enjoyable and with a lack luster ending. Moreover, the fact that the micro transaction aspect of the game is always in your face, when you're spending hours after hours grinding the same things over and over, it becomes tempting which I do not like at all, and for younger gamers I'm sure it would be more than enough to convince them to purchase something in this. However in 2017 it no longer surprises me when Triple A titles contain micro-transactions, it could have easily been left out and felt like a much more satisfying experience after grinding all your huge army up, rather than knowing that someone had skipped all that and simply bought their way into most probably a better position than you. Without these, it would have easily had a lot of better reviews and been a much more well appreciated game, it's part of what made the first game fun, the feeling that you were at the bottom and had to make your way up the ranks of orcs with no other way of simply cheating/buying your way up there. A fantastic game let down by greed..    … Expand
  12. IGROLOGIA
    Nov 13, 2017
    4
    This is perfectly fine for me to have an other bland game with no new ideas. Nemesis mechanics are not the thing that can perfectly replace the normal campein's story. The grind is absolute. It could be just almost the same game and it could earn 6 or even 7, but the donate thing... That really stinks. There is no way 60$ game could possibly make us pay even more with all the lackluster ofThis is perfectly fine for me to have an other bland game with no new ideas. Nemesis mechanics are not the thing that can perfectly replace the normal campein's story. The grind is absolute. It could be just almost the same game and it could earn 6 or even 7, but the donate thing... That really stinks. There is no way 60$ game could possibly make us pay even more with all the lackluster of content.
    That is bad    … Expand
  13. Hectik
    Nov 12, 2017
    8
    In my opinion, this is a big improvement from Shadow of Mordor.

    Amassing a large army and assaulting fortresses and very challienging and defending them every now and then is also very fun. New enemies and allies like the Olog Hais and Drakes to fly through the landscapes. Combat is more polished and the Nemesis system has a couple of surprises like being saved by a rogue Orc when    In my opinion, this is a big improvement from Shadow of Mordor.

    Amassing a large army and assaulting fortresses and very challienging and defending them every now and then is also very fun.

    New enemies and allies like the Olog Hais and Drakes to fly through the landscapes.

    Combat is more polished and the Nemesis system has a couple of surprises like being saved by a rogue Orc when you're about to be finished off by the Captain (that rogue orc sometimes kills your would be killer).

    The micro transactions are there but I haven't played long enough for it to be an issue so far. I've been getting Legendary and Epic followers so far without buying them.

    The story is still not very interesting but the human version of Shelob is a welcome change to her portrayal on the LOTR movies. Too bad it was too short.

    Still a great game. Don't be turned off on all the 0s from idiots who probably haven't played the game to completion and just complain about the microtransactions being there.    … Expand
  14. Alex1010500
    Nov 10, 2017
    0
    Контейнеры в сингплеерной игре, разработчики, вы серьезно? Ваша жадность ни к чему хорошему не приведет.
  15. ganavak
    Nov 10, 2017
    1
    This game had been designed with the idea of slipping in micro transactions. They know most people will judge it along with many critics never play games all the way through (After 5 or so hours for example) before scoring.

    The last section of this game is a complete grind designed around frustration and edging you towards paying of orcs with RNG lootboxes with real money mobile phone    This game had been designed with the idea of slipping in micro transactions. They know most people will judge it along with many critics never play games all the way through (After 5 or so hours for example) before scoring.

    The last section of this game is a complete grind designed around frustration and edging you towards paying of orcs with RNG lootboxes with real money mobile phone F2Play model, ontop of paying £50. Its simply a way to ease this model in for the next game by saying (It's ok it was in Shaodw of War and this game and that so just deal with it etc) It feels very underhand to put them in at the end where they know most people would have reviewed before the end and moved on.

    On balance , I can just about deal with cosmetic only (as long as I can still get some good loot playing) to support the on-going development of that game (Overwatch) as in more content.

    After all, there will always be whales throwing £££ at things just to look the best. If they want to fund my game for me...?. But gameplay changing, cheats, more XP, more power, different versions, still have season passes its just layers of greed, therefore LINE CROSSED.

    Thankfully it seems a lot of people are not falling for this and nonsense in Battlefront 2. Pay to Win and loot boxes crap needs to end now otherwise AAA gaming will be killed by corporate greed.    … Expand
  16. Reed618
    Nov 10, 2017
    10
    This is really more of an 8/10 because of the unskippable orc intros (so annoying at times), some of the poor questlines (carnan in particular) and the fighting pits (occasionally very entertaining but often a massive pain... I hate it when my orc just stands around doing nothing until it dies)
    However I can't agree with a 3.6 so i'm trying to upvote it. There's tons to love about this    This is really more of an 8/10 because of the unskippable orc intros (so annoying at times), some of the poor questlines (carnan in particular) and the fighting pits (occasionally very entertaining but often a massive pain... I hate it when my orc just stands around doing nothing until it dies)
    However I can't agree with a 3.6 so i'm trying to upvote it. There's tons to love about this game. Huge areas to explore with lots of missions and sidequests. There's not that much narrative drive throughout but the gameplay is really fun and i like some of the twists and turns even if it did kind of crap all over the lore.
    I've finished the first 4 stages of the shadow wars end game (there are ten stages in total) and it's surprisingly fun. it's just siege missions (either defence or attack) which can be repetitive but at the same time the sieges are one of the best parts of the game so i'm spacing this part out and taking my time with it.
    All in all I can see why people are disappointed but this isn't andromeda, it's still a really good game which is a lot of fun. It's just also quite flawed in areas. I'd say pick it up on sale and give it a go. You'll probably enjoy it but don't buy loot boxes because they really aren't necessary. You can just recruit orcs during the siege missions of shadow wars, there's no need to buy them.    … Expand
  17. NamelessLang
    Nov 10, 2017
    0
    I wanted this game to be good. I really did. I legitimately wanted to ignore the microtransactions. But no, this game FORCES the gameplay to revolve around it, which is INEXCUSABLE when your predecessor did it so well.
  18. metasebii
    Nov 9, 2017
    4
    Ignoring the apparent micro-transaction controversy, I found this game clunky and unconvincing. The stealth mode wasn't at all intuitive, and the mechanics of the take downs and combat just felt awkward. While I understand the story, there was so much to dislike about the basic mechanics of the game. I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story due to the stupidity andIgnoring the apparent micro-transaction controversy, I found this game clunky and unconvincing. The stealth mode wasn't at all intuitive, and the mechanics of the take downs and combat just felt awkward. While I understand the story, there was so much to dislike about the basic mechanics of the game. I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story due to the stupidity and unrealistic nature of the movements. I give this game a four because I can see there is potential here. It's a beautiful world they have created, and the modeling and aesthetics of the game are outstanding.… Expand
  19. Bob_Paulson
    Nov 9, 2017
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm very happy with this game except for 2 very distinct reasons:

    The Captain and War Chief endless speeches become very annoying. There needs to be a way to disable this "feature". A little bit is fine, but some of these bosses go on FOREVER.

    The second issue I have and is a huge let down for me is Act 4: Shadow Wars. It's just a series of defending your territories over and over and over again. This is just plain STUPID. If you want to play a never ending campaign of defending your castles, that's fine. Add it as an option. But to be part of the actual story line is a huge let down for an otherwise fantastic game. I feel like this was just added as filler and has no real purpose nor adds any value to the game itself. If the story is essentially ended after Act 3, then why add this? It really makes no logical sense.

    Honestly, the micro transactions really don't mean anything to me. I really don't care if it's there or not. I'm not going to spend any additional money on this game and I really don't have to pay attention to it if I want. I do spend the in game Miriin to add new Captains to my armies. But that's it.

    This game started out with a fantastic premise and has a great story line to continue the tale of Talion. But in the end I feel it falls way short of the original game Shadow of Mordor. I feel that scoring it as a 7 is a bit generous, but the overall game play is every bit as fantastic as the first game and what story there is, is also very well done. No game is perfect, but what's odd here is the game designers gave us too much of a good thing. For me the game is equal parts over the top good and over the top bad. In this case, a little bit less of both would have made a much better overall game.    … Expand
  20. notlaw
    Nov 8, 2017
    7
    shadow of war loot box arrrhhh score 0-0-0-0- haha I dont play online say I can happily say I didn't encounter any of it. The game itself is more or less just as good as the last the orcs themselves dont look quite as polished but with alot more variety it doesn't really matter. the story is abit of a hit and a miss but so was the last one. Shame about the massive grind wall at the endshadow of war loot box arrrhhh score 0-0-0-0- haha I dont play online say I can happily say I didn't encounter any of it. The game itself is more or less just as good as the last the orcs themselves dont look quite as polished but with alot more variety it doesn't really matter. the story is abit of a hit and a miss but so was the last one. Shame about the massive grind wall at the end that is what made me give it a 7 and not higher. Making you either pay or grind is really a poor decision by the developers but does it make this game a zero? Nah.… Expand
  21. spaghetti-cop
    Nov 7, 2017
    7
    Shadow of War is filled with a lot of great moments. Sadly there aren't enough of these to make the game reach the highs of it's predecessor. I was hoping more compelling campaign this time around with interesting characters, but instead it's more of the same cliches we got the first time around. To be fair, the plot has a couple interesting twists that were good enough to motivate me toShadow of War is filled with a lot of great moments. Sadly there aren't enough of these to make the game reach the highs of it's predecessor. I was hoping more compelling campaign this time around with interesting characters, but instead it's more of the same cliches we got the first time around. To be fair, the plot has a couple interesting twists that were good enough to motivate me to complete it, but it's the orcs that make this game worth playing; nothing else really. Once you finish each NPCs arc and complete the final mission, you'll get that familiar "that's it?" feeling that commonly plagues open world games like this one.

    The game just never finds its stride. Buffing Talion to god level and manipulating the story lines and progression of your orcs is a lot of fun, but it's a shame that the game cheapens this in its final act by turning orcs into stats to be purchased instead of characters to remember. Every strength the game has is marred by a weakness.

    The combat this time around is very one-note. It's just chaos with berserkers, defenders, ologs always overwhelming you and the game devolves into spamming overpowered skills like chain consume and headshots. The first game had tighter encounters with more balance put into each one. The game ramped up its difficulty organically. Shadow or War just throws it all into the blender and makes combat feel like a mess. I think that's how I feel about it in general. It's a very tangled game that does a lot right and a lot wrong.    … Expand
  22. Kevan
    Nov 7, 2017
    9
    yes, canon lore is totally subverted. yes, it's grindy at the last act. yes, there are some graphical glitches. Still, great graphics, great gameplay, clever nemesis system. and nope, microtransactions are worthless, actually nobody asks you money. don't miss it, it's definitely 9/10 and a goty
  23. EpiPhonka
    Nov 6, 2017
    0
    Full description of the game – grind and farm non stop.=( Interest to the game disappears a couple of hours after the start. Nothing new since the first part.
  24. Dog3117
    Nov 6, 2017
    5
    Short and sweet
    -Horrible Story with characters that range from horrible to somewhat promising
    -smooth and initially enjoyable gameplay, which unfortunately personally grew dull rather fast -Microtransactions in a singeplayer game that directly relate and effect the core mechanic of the game -is a sad excuse to be part of LOTR universe (Feels like its only LOTR for brand recognition)    Short and sweet
    -Horrible Story with characters that range from horrible to somewhat promising
    -smooth and initially enjoyable gameplay, which unfortunately personally grew dull rather fast
    -Microtransactions in a singeplayer game that directly relate and effect the core mechanic of the game
    -is a sad excuse to be part of LOTR universe (Feels like its only LOTR for brand recognition)
    +core mechanic of nemesis system is a unique and impressive feature that makes all players experience somewhat unique and personal
    -Ratbag shoulda **** died in the first one bruh, thats BS

    Anyone who disagrees with my score, either thinking it should be lower or higher probably has some valid points, respect y'alls opinions either way    … Expand
  25. Superman311288
    Nov 5, 2017
    9
    Great game with epic gameplay and nemesis system.. only annoying is the microtransactions in the game. I was not present in the previous game .. now its only about season pass and microtransaction.
  26. PraizzTheSun
    Nov 5, 2017
    0
    Worst than the first, full of bugs (captains stuck on terrain), the AI is complete garbage (they don't notice you even if you are 10 meters away and they forget about you when you are no longer in their line of sight).. Don't buy it. Just don't. Even for 5$, it's not worth it.
  27. lol28
    Nov 4, 2017
    0
    Лутбоксы в синглплеере. Разрабы вы не охуели там ? Это каким надо быть дебилом чтоб в ААА проект добавить лутбоксы. + за деньги продавать своего умершего друга и товарища. Стыд и позор вам
  28. cas514
    Nov 3, 2017
    5
    Update:

    I've been playing this for about 80 hours now and im still not done.. Great right? yea i guess but something dawn on me that made me put the game down and made me stop playing. So legendary orcs, where the **** are they? I remember at the start of the game when i was in the first map, I had an orc become legendary after coming back to in my first 5 hours of the game. Then one    Update:

    I've been playing this for about 80 hours now and im still not done.. Great right? yea i guess but something dawn on me that made me put the game down and made me stop playing. So legendary orcs, where the **** are they? I remember at the start of the game when i was in the first map, I had an orc become legendary after coming back to in my first 5 hours of the game. Then one day i came back home tired and i just wanted to get a quick kill in and I mistakenly agreed to the agreement at the start of the game which shows up every-time you boot up the game which enables the online mode and now im 80 hours in and I barely get nemesis to come back to life, and barely get legendary orcs. This is a clear indication that the ****ing loot boxes effect the balance of this game greatly. It's disgusting that it had to come to this.

    First Impression ( Will Update): First off im only maybe 4 hours into the game:

    Graphics: Look worse than the first game, textures on the orcs especially look stretched out and blurry and its especially noticeable on my 4k TV. This is probably due to the scale of the game. The open world is bigger (for no reason) so the graphics had to take a hit. It's unfortunate that dev still believe bigger maps equals better game. Talions face model looks better so does the models for the other humans.

    Gameplay: Same as the first but it doesn't feel as fluid or as responsive as the first game. The reused animation from the first game still look great but the combat doest feel like a dance like the first did. Maybe it will feel better when I unlock more skills. One skill i absolutely hate and breaks the flow the combat animation is the new Staff they force you to use. I never want to use this thing, the animation when you use it feels so clunky and unsatisfying. I hope I can turn it off later.

    Lootboxes. I did not agree to the terms in the beginning so i wont have to deal with any loot boxes or multiplayer nonsense but of course I will continue to get prompted to agree anytime I boot up the game because they really want me to use the market which I never ever will. I wont know until later in the game wether or not the loot boxes will effect the game or not so we shall see. if it does I will promptly change the score to a 0 if i feel like the game is effected. I don't mind grinding as long as its fun and progression is fair but if this starts feeling like a cell phone game im going to lose it.

    Supporting Characters: I already hate them.

    Story: Not Sure, The intro to the game did nothing for me tho. Felt poorly executed. But i will update as soon as I beat the game

    I payed $18 dollars for this game so I won't feel too bad if it disappoints me but i hope that it doesn't because Mordor is one of my favorite games of all time.    … Expand
  29. disgruntled
    Nov 3, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Only subscribed here to voice my disappointment and hopefully send a message to future developers that try to force micro transactions into games. Really enjoyed the main story arc, which you do not need to use micro-transactions for at all. Then came the near endless fortress defence missions which would take an age to complete. Now you don't have to buy the loot boxes that contain epic/legendary orcs levelled up to your current game level (mine was 45) But you are up against level 40 (Forty!!) orcs and my orc army was 25/30 ish at best so I started levelling up in the fighting pits, maggot level, I enjoyed the first game, lets give it a go. I put an EPIC 34 level orc against a level 21 and he lost. AN EPIC 34 against a LOWLY 21 AND HE LOST. REALLY??! I lost the will to live or at least play this skewed random number generator, turned it off and wiped the game from my hard drive. This seemed to me to be a hidden algorithm (or just BAD game design) to deliberately frustrate you and force your hand towards micro-transactions to see out the end of the game, which I might have done (the long cheap way) if I didn't think I was being pushed underhandedly towards paying even more for a £50 game. Very poor and greedy tactics from WB, hope that by awarding zero the horrendous user score puts developers off this type of cynical practice and you know they pay some low level drone to read, assess and feedback on these scores. Just make good, fair games, we'll buy them and you still make money. If the next Mordor game has micro-transactions I'm getting it 2nd hand from GAME and you've lost fifty pounds!… Expand
  30. Zekeriah03
    Nov 3, 2017
    8
    I really do enjoy this game. The nemesis system has been refined and the interactions with the orcs are one of the best things about the game. One thing that disappointed me was the story. The orcs in the game had far more of a personality than any humans that you would run into. The Balrog fight is disappointing as well because all I was doing was dodging his attacks and shooting him inI really do enjoy this game. The nemesis system has been refined and the interactions with the orcs are one of the best things about the game. One thing that disappointed me was the story. The orcs in the game had far more of a personality than any humans that you would run into. The Balrog fight is disappointing as well because all I was doing was dodging his attacks and shooting him in his gigantic weak spot. It felt as though someone was holding my hand throughout the fight. Some of the fights with the orcs in the game were way harder than that. The sieges in the game were amazing to watch though. The main parts of the siege are not focused on surviving but making sure that the captains you brought with you don't die. The fights with the overlords were quite difficult and it would occasionally take me several tries to defeat them. Unlike Shadow of Mordor, the ending to this game is really cool. I did not go through with the countless siege defenses to finish the game and I may edit my review after that but the boss fights are not quick time events, the story takes a major twist, and the story somewhat fits in with the movies. Taking all this into consideration, the nemesis system is probably the best thing in the game. The story is bland up to the end but that doesn't make it a bad game. It does a good job of wrapping up the story of Talion and Celebrimbor. One thing that I want to know from the other reviews for the game is "why do you harbor such a deep hatred for the game?" I ask this because all I am seeing are people bashing the microtransactions. I do admit that I do not like them either but it does not break the game. I understand some of the reviews with like 4s and 5s saying that the story is boring or something else was wrong. But the low scores on the microtransaction alone is kind of arrogant. Why rate the game so low if all you have to say about it is one thing? Try something a bit more constructive.… Expand
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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

All reviews »
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.
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  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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