Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Review

I know I'm a little late to the party on this game, since it came out in late September. However, I just got around to playing it. I have to say, this is probably the greatest Lord of the Rings game that I have ever played, and one of the most satisfying games I've played in a long time. Not only does it have fun and addictive gameplay, but the characters are also interesting enough to keep you invested in the main missions and the story is rewarding to progress through. This really is a must-have for Middle-earth fans like myself and casual gamers as well.

I have loved everything about Middle-earth since I was a young lad. The Lord of the Rings films are some of my favorite movies of all-time, and I also really enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy. While I've never read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, I loved The Hobbit as a kid, and it is one of the few books I'd like to read again. I also used to love playing some of the older Lord of the Rings games, like The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

As a result of my fondness of the lore, I've been looking forward to playing Shadow of Mordor ever since it was announced. I opted to wait until I bought a next-gen system to buy it with the console, and I just recently purchased my PlayStation 4. After reaching 100% completion in the game earlier this week, I couldn't wait to talk about it. This game is amazing.

I'll start with the combat. Shadow of Mordor follows a similar counter-based combat system to the Batman: Arkham games. Arkham Asylum is one of my all-time favorite games and Arkham City literally is my all-time favorite game. Thus, I latched on to the combat right away, and once you master it, you can't get enough of it. Just like in Batman: Arkham, there's an attack-chain system that allows you to perform special moves once you build up your combo enough. The combat upgrades are rewarding to invest in as well. The game also gives you a bow and arrow, which is very effective when trying to use stealth rather than brute force.

Travelling around the game's vast open world is relatively swift thanks to the ability to sprint for an allotted amount of time and also the addition of Forge Towers at certain points on the map which you can fast travel to. There isn't any groundbreaking maneuverability, but it isn't frustrating or dull either. The game also looks phenomenal. The graphics are truly next-gen worthy.

The game's biggest strength in my eyes is the Nemesis system. This is effectively the ranks of the orc army. You can keep track of which orcs are getting promotions, and also target certain orc captains based on their position within the ranks. About halfway through the story, there is a game-changing upgrade that enhances the gameplay experience completely. You are granted the ability to brand orcs, which means they are under your control and won't attack you. Furthermore, you get to choose which orcs become leaders in the orc army. This is a very rewarding experience, and it's one of the more innovative aspects of any game I've played in a while.

Shadow of Mordor is one of those rare games that has very few actual flaws. If there was one thing that bothered me the most, it was the repetitiveness of the missions. After a while, some of the side missions lose their freshness, because they're effectively the same thing over and over. While this isn't a crippling weakness, it was something that detracted a bit from the playing experience.

Other than that, I loved this game. The aforementioned gameplay is wickedly entertaining, and it's difficult to put down the controller once you get in a groove. Additionally, the developers have actually taken the time to create interesting characters. The main protagonist and only playable character is Talion. You really feel for him as you go on this journey with him. By the end, I legitimately cared about the outcome of the story. That's something not a lot of games get right. I also liked a lot of the side characters. They weren't afterthoughts like in so many other games. Bottom line, this is a terrific addition to any gamer's collection. Middle-earth fan or not.

A