If this won game of the year, 2014 must have been a bad year for video games. Shadow of Mordor isn't bad per say but it's not a 10/10.

My favorite thing about this about is the Sauron's army mechanic. Taking out captains, helping them rise through the ranks, pitting warchiefs against each other. That was a lot of fun and very unique too. Only complaint is having to open the menu so frequently. Combat is pretty fun and so is the stealth only I wish there was less of it.

There's not really a story here, it's just a series of events that take place until Talion decides he needs to move on with the plot. Game's main story feels like a bunch of side quests stringed together. Speaking of side quests, 10 missions for each weapon and 24 outcasts missions is a bit much. Fighting captains and warchiefs always pauses the game so you can hear them say some dumb line. Open world is dull and the inconsistent climbing makes it a slog to traverse. The two final bosses are The Tower and Sauron respectively. I have never fought a more underwhelming boss fight. The Tower, you just sneak up on him 3 times. Sauron is just 4 quick time events and 1 mashing the button moment. I was so confused I made to look up if that was the real ending. It was, but I think it's supposed to be a set up for Shadow of War. Making a video game just to set up a sequel instead of standing out individually is not looked up too highly by my eyes.

I do believe Shadow of Mordor is a fun game with great Lord of the Rings lore despite talking more negatively about it. It sucks because the issues I have don't make it a bad game, they hold it back from being a great game which it certainly has the potential to be. Or maybe I expected too much from a game my dad has been bugging me to play since it came free on ps plus and the fact that it says "Game of the Year"? So much so to the point where nitpicks made me rate it far harsher than I should have. Guess we'll never know.

One of the best power fantasies ever.
this game truly makes you feel powerful while still being challenging. The combat never gets old, and the open world is very atmospheric and immersive most people criticize it's open world for being too similar to ubisoft's open world games because of some elements like the towers but I think there is nothing wrong with that and I think this game refines that formula and makes it actually fun. The story is pretty okish but it doesn't get in your way too much so it's better than nothing I think you'll like it if you are a lord of the rings fan. The dlcs are great at the start I despised the dlcs because I thought they were just recycled content but after completing both of them I have to say they are the best content of the game.
My final thoughts : you should play it if you are a lord of the rings fan or if you just want to play a solid game with exceptional combat.

After watching Rings of Power with my girlfriend, I decided I should check out the source material so of course I did the sensible thing and tried out Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. (The actual reason is it was free on Amazon/Twitch Prime like a month or two ago and I figured why not)

First off, a neat thing I truly didn’t expect is that you can kinda-sorta play the game as a woman? It lets you select a skin for Talion and most of them just put him in different types of armor (normal guy armor, evil guy armor, elf guy armor, etc) but then one of them is just a woman named Lithariel? It’s purely cosmetic (no audio/dialogue changes) and only in the gameplay segments (cutscenes switch back to generic Talion), but it’s kinda neat that it’s available at all. Being able to be a cool lady with a sword instead of generic gruff white dude #75 was a big plus for me.

But, uh, other than that I didn’t have a great time? The movement feels mushy (on keyboard and mouse, maybe controller would feel better?) and I felt like I was constantly fighting the camera for control. I also didn’t care much for the combat. I’ve never really been a big fan of the Batman Arkham game style combat and this is pretty directly that with some bits added on. But then this one it feels like I don’t get to decide who I’m actually targeting so I just kind of flailed between targets. I pretty frequently caught myself thinking that I wish this felt more like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey because I love how that game feels for runnin’ around, climbin’ stuff, and stabbin’ dudes. Maybe that’s an unfair comparison since AC:O was several years later but it constantly came to mind for me.

I’m largely ambivalent on Lord of the Rings in general so this game is kind of not targeted towards me but the narrative (as far as I saw in my 3-ish hours of playtime) didn’t really do anything for me. Talion is a kinda boring sad dad, Celebrimbor trying to regain his memories doesn’t do much for me either (maybe because I already know some of his deal and the game seems to assume I wouldn’t know anything), and having missions where I had to go hang out with Gollum felt like fan service aimed at completely different people. It’s not necessarily a bad thing (well, maybe the Talion stuff is, that’s dreadfully dull) but it left me without much to really latch onto here. If the story had been intriguing enough maybe I’d feel compelled to stick through the mushy controls for a while longer to see what’s up with the rest of it.

Highly addictive. Once you start playing and clearing all the icons.. it's really hard to stop.

"Ok now I stop..
- Wait, there's an artifact just over there.
- HEY YOU SCUM! You left me for dead.. you will regret it!"

It just never ends! First thing you know it's 1am.

A perfectly competent open world title grafted from several major AAA franchises at the time (Arkham, Assasins Creed) that's elevated entirely by one really good unique mechanic: the Nemesis System.

The Nemesis System still holds up wonderfully, allowing you to create some compelling stories and relationships with your foes. It's a shame WB's legal dickery prevented anyone else from being able to try their own take on it. Even now it still feels like a truly next gen idea.

Also docking a point for the final boss fight still one of the biggest wet farts of a climax of any game this past decade.