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. damman
    Oct 12, 2017
    1
    All can type is don't purchase this game new if possible due to the loot boxes and weeks of grinding to see a lame final cut scene. If you want to buy ( support Titian Fall 2 which has not micro-transaction) wait to it's on a deep sale or better yet do not purchase and support WB and Monolith who used a dead man sickness to profit for DLC or giving countless gambling loot crates that willAll can type is don't purchase this game new if possible due to the loot boxes and weeks of grinding to see a lame final cut scene. If you want to buy ( support Titian Fall 2 which has not micro-transaction) wait to it's on a deep sale or better yet do not purchase and support WB and Monolith who used a dead man sickness to profit for DLC or giving countless gambling loot crates that will give you OP over others. Please do not buy this game and stop supporting gaming devs like this one who are greedy SOBs. The game is a $$$ grab do your research first. Lets teach these gaming companies to stop slicing up games and selling it as DLC and season passes. We are the gamer who make these companies rich but we get nothing in return but pointless loot boxes and dlc that was originally cut from the real game. Bottom line it's a shell game. They know which shell has the ball but they hide if from the customer. Not going to fall for this tactic again. I work to hard for my money and I demand a full game and no DLC season pass BS and grind feast. By the way I am a black man who believes in unity for all. I say lets apply the same to the gaming industry and stop fighting each other while these fools count our money. There will be a day where the gamer control what content for the next season go AAA games. Lets get these devs to give use more not less for under 59.99. We can change the industry over night if we stop supporting these games and band together. Trust me. One love peace.… Expand
  2. 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.
  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. Thalosmoon
    Oct 10, 2017
    1
    Shadow of War is an OK game. Its a AAA FULL PRICE game too. If you want all Content and the Season pass you will spend well over 100 bucks.

    Thats a LOT of money for a videogame. Now Warner Brothers went the extra step to put Loot Boxes in this game. Loot boxes that are paid for by real money. Lootboxes that contain Exp. Boosts, Gear and Units with a high value. By doing this they    Shadow of War is an OK game. Its a AAA FULL PRICE game too. If you want all Content and the Season pass you will spend well over 100 bucks.

    Thats a LOT of money for a videogame. Now Warner Brothers went the extra step to put Loot Boxes in this game. Loot boxes that are paid for by real money. Lootboxes that contain Exp. Boosts, Gear and Units with a high value.

    By doing this they Made the PVP Base Building completely Pay to Win and they SPOILER ALERT!!
    .
    .
    put the Endgame and the TRUE ENDING behind a grindwall that is artificially made into a tedium so that people would buy lootboxes for XP boosts. This Game is as SHAMELESS a MONEYGRAB as there is.

    In closing. If you dont have hundreds of bucks to spend on Microtransactions DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! NOT EVEN AS A SALE! It is no fun without investing Money for Microtransactions.

    Disclaimer: WB Games may purchase Reviewboxes that contain additional Scorepoints or Epic to Legendary Emotes like the Winki Smily of Victory"; )". Only 1000,-$ per Box. 1 Scorepoint guaranteed every 15 boxes.

    No purchase needed. The 1 out of 10 funtcions just fine as a review. Its totally optional.

    All jokes aside, no full price this riddled with Microtransactions deserves a higher Score than 1.    … Expand
  5. saturday_youth
    Mar 29, 2018
    1
    So i bought the game with good will after reading a few reviews and thought to myself, man it can't be that bad. And of course it isn't at the beginning. It starts with a strong atmosphere that quickly shoots itself in the food with the terrible fan fiction approach to the tolkien universe. Spider transforms into women? New "the one Ring"? Ok so far so bad, i can get behind that. GameplaySo i bought the game with good will after reading a few reviews and thought to myself, man it can't be that bad. And of course it isn't at the beginning. It starts with a strong atmosphere that quickly shoots itself in the food with the terrible fan fiction approach to the tolkien universe. Spider transforms into women? New "the one Ring"? Ok so far so bad, i can get behind that. Gameplay counts in the end. The Combat delivers imo, so does the nemesis system. So far so good. But than it get's to the tokens that u use to buy the "LootBoxes", terribly designed, they float in the air like coins in a f2p running game. Full immersion break right there in your face. Same goes for the jewels (which will buff your weapons) and armor. Picking them up locks you in a terrible animation that takes way to long. Well designed? Not really.
    The Menus are even worse. They are uninspired and completely designed without the world of LotR in Mind. Easy to navigate? Yes but just not fun to look at. Besides this, it is fun to play but i've only played a few hours and the music already starts to get annoying. Then there are the "elven Soul arrows" who make annoying sounds which can't be turned off unlike the music and are nearly everywhere.

    So the game has everything it needed to succeed but somewhere along the line of development, something must have happened. Something bad that influenced gameplay and design. But let's end this on a good note: The World is beautifully designed.    … Expand
  6. Ravarath
    Oct 10, 2017
    1
    Decent game but what's with the loot crates? I pay for game full prize so why should I pay more? Nope. Do not buy. I'm boycotting this kind of marketing. Here and in Battlefront.
  7. 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
  8. Ungodly_Phantom
    Oct 11, 2017
    1
    Отличий от первой части минимум, нудный гринд,скучная боевка. И на десерт кейсики. Как игра за 60$ получает оценку 1, если бы была ф2п, то 5 из 10
  9. Reza19
    Oct 10, 2017
    1
    Disgusting, very greed, let don't buy any game which very greed. Just wait until there any crack for them. It is not worthy to buy this game just to spend more money t
  10. 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
  11. CccyrussS
    Oct 12, 2017
    1
    I don't dislike this game because of microtransactions. I hate this game because I hate the stupid Orcs jabbering at you for 5 minutes before and after you get killed by them. I just can't stand it. Also the fighting is ridiculous dumb compared to something like Dark Souls. I just got the game yesterday and I'm bored to Tears by it and I almost threw my controller at my TV to try to getI don't dislike this game because of microtransactions. I hate this game because I hate the stupid Orcs jabbering at you for 5 minutes before and after you get killed by them. I just can't stand it. Also the fighting is ridiculous dumb compared to something like Dark Souls. I just got the game yesterday and I'm bored to Tears by it and I almost threw my controller at my TV to try to get the Orcs to shut up and that's not a good sign.… Expand
  12. forbitz
    Oct 11, 2017
    1
    Its a pity that in a single player game that greed has come into the equation, speaking of course about the micro transactions which ruin the end of the game. People should vote with their wallets and let publishers know we don't want this sort of thing in games we pay good money for.
  13. Unicus
    Oct 15, 2017
    1
    So much of this game is based on the first part, even the sounds have been taken over. It's like I'm playing the predecessor (which I have played A LOT), just with additional features. Once you get bored of the old game, do you really want to play the all new game, which is the same as the old? Apart from that, I feel like everything is overpriced, especially considering that so much hasSo much of this game is based on the first part, even the sounds have been taken over. It's like I'm playing the predecessor (which I have played A LOT), just with additional features. Once you get bored of the old game, do you really want to play the all new game, which is the same as the old? Apart from that, I feel like everything is overpriced, especially considering that so much has been taken from the previous version. The game itself (which can cost up to 100 USD, for the Gold edition), the all new buy in the single player game stuff, to show off to your not online friends... I have also played the game on Android, you can see the same overpriced "boost packages" there as well.… Expand
  14. M1N5K
    Oct 25, 2017
    1
    This game is a shame. The pushing of micro-transactions is really absolutely ridiculous. This game is REALLY Pay To Win. Too bad, because the previous game was fantastic.
  15. oleksii13
    Nov 1, 2017
    1
    zaebali Loot boxes, zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes zaebali Loot boxes
  16. ChildofDivorce
    Nov 22, 2017
    1
    I was sooo pumped about this game. LOVED SoM.
    After reading USER reviews I will not be purchasing it.
    Micro-transactions are BS, even if they aren't necessary, it just makes me sick to see them in a game like this.
    Stay classy WB.
  17. Lo-Fi_Suicide
    Jan 21, 2018
    1
    I'll give this greedy compiled piece of code, filled with grind, 1/10 just for first 5 hours of exploring local combat system.
    Microtransactions shall not pass!
    First lootbox war has begun. Our army needs you. Your weapon is your money. Save it for developers and studios, who don't see you as a piece of wood that need to be chopped.
  18. LuciusCarluswig
    Jan 28, 2019
    1
    264/5000
    apart from the graphic quality of the game
    the game does not respect the books and even less the movies
    like his predecessor.
    Beyond that, the gameplay is poor and the game is extremely repetitive.
    I do not blame the dev's but did not develop more games like this
  19. Kurxen
    Nov 23, 2019
    1
    DO NOT BUY even if it were a dollar. I play every game out there but this game is GARBAGE. One of the biggest issues is the enemy balancing. Ots just ridiculous and unplayable as you can defeat a single thing. I'm telling you even on easy mode they can still one or two shot you
  20. Watcher-o-Roads
    Feb 12, 2020
    1
    Wasted Opportunity
    Batman Arkham like gameplay with addition of Nemessis system which was cool. Lamest final boss fight and unreliable story which ruin both the game and the Lord of the Rings experience.
  21. Weeklythrower58
    Mar 27, 2020
    1
    This is trash on ps4 play it on Xbox the game is just broken and ai is ****
  22. Pibblepunk
    Jun 12, 2020
    1
    Liked the first game well enough, though the nemesis system while cool in concept could sometimes really screw you over in unexpected ways. Sequels are generally expected to build upon the original title, featuring things like improved graphics and gameplay, perhaps a more engaging narrative and complex worldbuilding. Standard stuff. This game however, is in every single respect aLiked the first game well enough, though the nemesis system while cool in concept could sometimes really screw you over in unexpected ways. Sequels are generally expected to build upon the original title, featuring things like improved graphics and gameplay, perhaps a more engaging narrative and complex worldbuilding. Standard stuff. This game however, is in every single respect a downgrade from the original. The graphics and character models look worse, the environments look worse, the combat is worse, the story is more confusing and less interesting. Even the UI has been downgraded. And on top of all that, every single menu page is pushing advertisements for DLC content on you, as if to say, "Hey, you notice how this game is a bunch of cheap and badly made BS? Would like to buy MORE OF IT???" Absolutely disappointed.… Expand
  23. 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
  24. lilkillpappy
    Oct 10, 2017
    0
    my review for this game has been deleted 3 times now. I wonder if this one will be deleted as well? How much did Sony pay metacritic to help buffer the scores? 150 negative ratings and counting. Could the real score be much much lower? Anyway, don't buy games with micro transactions because they are a slippery slope to real money gambling and the destruction of quality games as we know it.my review for this game has been deleted 3 times now. I wonder if this one will be deleted as well? How much did Sony pay metacritic to help buffer the scores? 150 negative ratings and counting. Could the real score be much much lower? Anyway, don't buy games with micro transactions because they are a slippery slope to real money gambling and the destruction of quality games as we know it. DONT BUY THIS GAME!… Expand
  25. Eaynfrith
    Oct 10, 2017
    0
    Somehow manages to disgrace both the Tolkien legacy and AAA gaming.

    Shelob is now a beautiful woman. Orcs have funny personalities. Loot crates are required to finish the main story campaign,
  26. RoosterJuice
    Oct 12, 2017
    0
    Microtransactions in an $60 single player game is like buying a nice car and then after driving it for 1 year, a message pops up on the dashboard saying you can only drive a maximum of 40 mph unless you purchase more "credits".

    Unacceptable filthy greed.
  27. DonMega
    Oct 12, 2017
    0
    Pay $85 in my country for this game only to pay for loot boxes in a single player game. Sure you can beat this game without loot boxes but the game literally kills you in the last act of the game because you are forced to grind for 20+ hours to get the legendary orcs you need to finish the game or pay for loot boxes in a single player game to reduce the grind time. Just the lowest of thePay $85 in my country for this game only to pay for loot boxes in a single player game. Sure you can beat this game without loot boxes but the game literally kills you in the last act of the game because you are forced to grind for 20+ hours to get the legendary orcs you need to finish the game or pay for loot boxes in a single player game to reduce the grind time. Just the lowest of the low by a developer. Shame because the first game was great although boring and repetitive at times.… Expand
  28. Kenmei
    Nov 28, 2017
    0
    I wanted to go into this with an open mind. All the news about the microtransactions was really disturbing to me but I wanted to give this a shot. Well, quite frankly, this game sucks. And not just because of the microtransactions. No pretty much everything in this game had very little added to it, or just flat out failed in its delivery.
    Basically imagine just the first game, with a    I wanted to go into this with an open mind. All the news about the microtransactions was really disturbing to me but I wanted to give this a shot. Well, quite frankly, this game sucks. And not just because of the microtransactions. No pretty much everything in this game had very little added to it, or just flat out failed in its delivery.
    Basically imagine just the first game, with a kinda different story and, again, the microtransactions. While the story is prob average, it suffers heavily from the 4th act being a MASSIVE leveling grind and a halt to pretty much any momentum it had gained from the previous act. The beginning of Act 4 is the point where the game starts to heavily recommend you buy loot boxes because of the sudden massive level deficiency you find yourself in. With the amount of time it would take to grind your way to the point where you are able to do those quests, hours will have gone by and I can't accept that. For how little things changed from the 1st game to this one, throwing a massive road block in there around 3/4th the way through it is a slap in the face. All the good will that Monolith built up through the first game, with alot of stolen concepts from other games, is just completely gone now. I won't play another game in the series and prob never another Monolith game. They've lost a customer by their actions here.    … Expand
  29. macdigger
    Oct 11, 2017
    0
    Just say NO. Draw a line in the sand where we just don't allow triple-A single player (mainly) games to do the highway robbery through game-changing microtransactions and loot boxes (gambling!).
    Whatever this game has to offer, I won't ever know until it's on very deep sale, if that.
    Game companies MUST be shown their place AND understand that non-free full-priced games are not    Just say NO. Draw a line in the sand where we just don't allow triple-A single player (mainly) games to do the highway robbery through game-changing microtransactions and loot boxes (gambling!).
    Whatever this game has to offer, I won't ever know until it's on very deep sale, if that.

    Game companies MUST be shown their place AND understand that non-free full-priced games are not free-to-play ones. MAKE A STAND RIGHT HERE.    … Expand
  30. Beast979
    Jan 3, 2018
    0
    I loved the first one, but actually avoided getting this one because of the micro transactions and how they were implemented. The difficulty spike towards the end of the game that forces you to either grind for hours or give in to their micro transactions are a big reason why I am glad I did stay away from this game...these companies will only stop doing this sort of thing once people stopI loved the first one, but actually avoided getting this one because of the micro transactions and how they were implemented. The difficulty spike towards the end of the game that forces you to either grind for hours or give in to their micro transactions are a big reason why I am glad I did stay away from this game...these companies will only stop doing this sort of thing once people stop buying their products.… 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.
    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]
See all critic reviews »