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    Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

    Game » consists of 15 releases. Released Sep 30, 2014

    An open-world action-adventure game by Monolith, set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

    zor's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam) (PC) review

    Avatar image for zor

    If you like stabbing Orcs, than I have a game for you.

    Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a great combat game, it does some game aspects really well, however, it does other game elements poorly. After all the hype the game got, I was really looking forward to it, and while I did enjoy it (and I am recommending it), I often found myself disappointed with the game at the same time.

    On the positive side, the game's graphics are great, and if you can run it, they can become even better (HD content patch). Normally graphics don't influence my opinions on a game much, however, I found that they enhanced the Nemesis system by making the enemies feel real by the amount of detail they displayed. The combat system in the game is great, mainly due to the fact that it is the Batman combat system for the most part. Lastly there the Nemesis/Enemy Army system that is really well done. Enemies feel unique, they have strengths, weakness, fears, and hate certain things. Overall it is a very strong and unique system that makes the enemy NPCs feel like they are a part of their world and not just random obstacles.

    On the negative side, the story is mediocre. The characters aren't interesting, the plot is generic, and it fails to get the player emotional involved. The game doesn't have any big set pieces, like a big action scene you would see in most combat focus movies or games. Without this, the game fails to feel epic, even though you are a lone wolf character behind enemies lines, fighting their entire army. The game's environment are pretty, but very repetitive. For the most part they are nothing more than grassy hills and ruins. Which makes the 'open world' feel like single level, a big level, but just the same one level. Lastly, the game has the worst enemy respawn system that I have seen in a game since The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. I often found that if I was fighting in ruins (or wherever), cleared the area of enemies, and then walked around a wall that enemies would sometimes spawn behind me in the area that I had just cleared. I found this to be rather annoying since it would turn a small scale conflicts with 3-5 enemies into a large scale battle with 20+ enemies. And while this is fun the first couple of times, it become annoying quickly.

    If you go into this game expecting the usual open world experience that most games do than you'll find yourself disappointed too, however, if you take the game for what it is, then you'll enjoy it a lot more. The game is a combat game, and it does it really well. And while other aspects of the title are bad, they are not bad enough to ruin the game's experience.

    Other reviews for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam) (PC)

      How could we see that coming? 0

      Shadow of Mordor was one of the biggest surprises in video game history. An action hack 'n slash game with the Lord of the Rings lincese, telling a side story, getting huge amounts of praise from the industry? What!?Everybody expect this type of game to be full of gimmicks and have a bad story to tell. Sure, Shadow of Mordor has that, a story that doesn't grab you and some fan services that makes no sense and don't add anything for the game.But even so, the game is amazing, the combat is so resp...

      4 out of 4 found this review helpful.

      Its Greatest Strength is its Greatest Downfall 0

      *Note: This was originally written around its initial release. This a revised version.At an initial look, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor looks like a straight-up AAA crossover between the Arkham and Assassin's Creed games. This is absolutely true; it replicates the free-flow combat established in Batman: Arkham Asylum and reiterates the interface and traversal mechanics found within the Assassin's Creed franchise. Add this with the open-world flora elements in recent Far Cry entries and the "las...

      3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

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