Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014 Video Game) User Reviews (18)

The Lord of the Rings game we deserved and the one we needed.

[Spartan_1_1_7 · 8/10 · 24 June 2015]

The Lord of the Rings game we deserved and the one we needed.

I always wanted a good RPG to take place in the LOTR universe and developers Monolith Productions delivered just that. The game is set in Mordor and takes place before the LOTR events. We are given control of Talion, a ranger, who after being sacrificed is merged with a wraith and together they must uncover the wraith's past and have revenge.

I'm a huge fan of LOTR and naturally every little reference, ever little thing related to it made me really excited. And because of that, I really liked some elements of the story. That being said, the story overall was lackluster. It started out great, but after that there were very few story missions and fewer still felt proper. This was my biggest gripe with the game. Not many characters in it, some were interesting, some were OK. I liked the protagonist and his companion. Companion's history was interesting.

The game really shines in the gameplay department though. I loved its combat system. Was like a modified version of Arkham games combat system. It was fluid, fun and really satisfying. Finishing off Uruks in gory ways was always entertaining. As the game progresses, you get newer and more powerful powers, allowing you to take down more and more Uruks at a time in various satisfying ways. The game was pretty easy though. There were very few places where I felt like I was properly challenged. And it got more easier as I unlocked better powers.

Apart from combat, the game featured climbing and free-running mechanics very similar to Assassins Creed. While it wasn't sometimes as smooth as the AC games and I occasionally got stuck at certain places, it was still a good addition. Just like AC, you could do a lot stealth kills and stuff, reminding you of your assassin days. And I really enjoyed it. Often times, the enemy groups were too large to confront head on, so thinning out the herd with stealth always made for a wise decision. The stealth also helped the game from being too repetitive as you can change up your fighting style from time to time.

The most amazing thing in the game though was the nemesis system. It made every battle and every death mean something. If any Uruk kills you in battle, He gets promoted in the ranks, gets more powerful and even remembers you when you try to fight him again. This made for unique feature unlike anything I have experienced in a game. It gave every Wandering Uruk a purpose other than just getting killed and it added to the stakes in every battle.

The game gets really fun in the second half, when you get to control Uruks. This added an extra layer of strategy and planning. I often took down tough warchiefs by taking control of their bodygaurd captains first and then relish the sight when they turn on him during the final encounter and do all my work.

The game has basically two large areas to free roam. The first one is a desolated barren place while the second one is a more greener and nice area. Both are fairly large but feel very similar and repetitive. Beside from this, the game doesn't have any interesting side quests, which lead to boredom after playing it for long stretches.

Graphics were great, game looked beautiful. Character models were highly detailed. Soundtrack was good, and I really loved the nice touch of Uruks chanting a warcheif's name when he is revealed, making a big entrance and all. Made them feel formidable and stuff.

Overall, it was a great RPG. Had tons of fun killing countless Uruks. Story could have been a lot better. Took me around 16 hours to finish it. Definitely a must play if you are into western RPGs and want good combat system and/or are a fan of LOTR world.

8.5/10

Utterly Brilliant

[JimmyWhimmyNutrinSon · 8/10 · 25 July 2016]

As a huge Tolkien fan (I absolutely love The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books)I couldn't wait to get my hands on this for my PC. And I absolutely love it. The combat is basically the Assassin's Creed/Batman Arkham combat, but it seems to be a bit different. Not as slow-paced as AC, but not as fast as Batman Arkham. It's a perfect meet in the middle (Earth-see what I did there?). It has likable characters, great boss fights, great voice acting (anything Troy Baker does, is brilliant). The only downside is the overwhelming amount of enemies early on. Sometimes I just felt as if I couldn't defeat them all. Luckily from there on-out, it's good. I strongly recommend.

A game we have been waiting for since forever. A beautiful RPG in a beautiful world. Simply must-play.

[Toemoe98 · 8/10 · 21 July 2021]

The game itself features the usual RPG set-up: you start with not so many abilities but the more you progress; you get stronger. At a certain point, rather far in the game, you're allowed to create your own army. This is when Shadow of Mordor took a turn for me and became one of my all-time favourites. Combine this with the Nemesis system which forges mini-storylines between you and your enemies and you have a golden cocktail. I can tell you, this game is a game you'll love. The sequel is even better and more expanded. But this, this is the start. Have fun in Mordor!

Most Astonishing Game for the Next-Gen Consoles

[jorgeheinrich31 · 10/10 · 2 January 2015]

I just bought this game a few days ago. and I'm still not getting bored of it. This is possibly the most fun game I've played since The Last Of Us came out for Playstation 3! The graphics are absolutely gorgeous! And don't even get me started on the combat! The combat is so smooth and so fluid, yes I know it's EXACTLY like the Assassin's Creed combat and so is mostly everything to be honest, the sprinting, the sneaking, the climbing. But this game has one thing that no other game has, and this is what makes it special. The Nemesis System! It's absolutely magnificent! That's what makes this game great is that it could go on forever. The Nemesis System is basically a system of a mere twenty captain Uruks, they all have special names and power skills and ranking and weaknesses and strengths, and that's fun! If a Captain kills you, then they rank up and possibly get promoted, if YOU kill them then they obviously die but they can come back to life but they're just demoted to beginner and aren't in the system (nemesis branch of captains) anymore. but when you run into one, you'll know because they'll stare you down and say some rude thing "you weak peasant." some sort of comment. and then you can fight them yet again. Also, when you kill a captain you always get a Rune which you can apply to your sword, bow, or dagger. (depends on the rune because they're each meant for one of the weapons.) So overall, I give this game a solid 10/10 because the replay value is very high in my opinion. The graphics are beautiful! The combat and nemesis system are outstanding! and overall I think it was a well spent $50. I would recommend buying this game. Even if you're not into the middle age type of games like The Elder Scrolls, because in my opinion I hated those type of games until I bought this. So give it a try! Thanks for reading.

Kill Your Free Time

[Taloszan · 10/10 · 14 July 2022]

This game is fantastic at making you go "Oh I just need to quickly do this...oh well that's only a moment away might as well get it also......hmmm I am very close to this next thing".

If you want to get lost in a game and forget the world, this one will suck you right in.

The enemy system is such a wonderful concept, they come back and change and grow. Their hatred for you is never tiring and your joy at their deaths only increases.

The combat is so fluid and comfortable plus you can set things on fire.

If you have not tried this game, 100% you should very much consider playing it.

Great combat system, overall fun game but sometimes can be very frustrating

[851222 · 9/10 · 23 February 2016]

Greetings from Lithuania.

I beat "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" (2014) main story (completed ~64%) in about 23 hours. It is very fun game, which has great combat system, interesting enemies ranking system, great graphics, sound design. Story was not bad at all, and i'm not "Lord Of The Rings" series fan although enjoyed every movie. There many said quests, but they are very repetitive, kill someone in some time and etc. (hate missions were there is a time limit). There are two main maps in the game, which aren't very big, but there is enough content to keep you involved, collect that, gather that and etc. During game play i stumbled upon two bugs, which made my to restart missions. But some fight can be helluva frustrating, when there is almost no chance it winning the fight or you hit those last chance buttons but sometimes unsuccessfully but you not by your fault.

Overall, "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" is very enjoyable game. It's game play and combat system is very similar to Batman series, which is good. Fights are always very brutal, and i had some fun in crushing some skulls. Game also features very interesting "after dead" enemy ranking system, which isn't very superb as it would like to show itself, but it is a fresh thing. All in all very cool game not without some issues.

Stellar!

[Analog_Devotee · 8/10 · 3 August 2021]

A great action-RPG based in the Lord of the Rings universe. Wasn't expecting much from this one but it ended up being one of my favorites of the generation. Great gameplay and story propped up by TREMENDOUS graphics and character and environment design. Stellar game.

Good game!

[Eugenia123345 · 9/10 · 20 July 2019]

Good game(Personally tho I kinda like the second game alittle better than this one)! Even tho it might not be canon, but if ya like The Hobbit/LOTR franchise then I think you'd like this one game.

MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR: A Great Tolkien Rendition

[Jinxxa_Wolf · 9/10 · 19 July 2023]

MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR was definitely entertaining and as a hardcore, diehard Tokien fan, I'm glad to have a Middle Earth themed game to play. Since this game came out it has been both lauded and criticized, and I can honestly understand why. My opinion is often mixed as well. I tend to try to lean more on the optimistic side however, and remain just grateful to have a decent Tolkien-inspired game and honestly because I did truly enjoy the game, I will rate it accordingly.

As other reviewers have said before, this game had strong similarities to Assassin's Creed series, as well as other similar parkour action styled games with elements of stealth, adventure, fighting, (i.e. Assassins Creed series, Watch Dogs, inFamous, etc.) however the unpredictability of the AI for the Orcs made this game really fun and much more strategic. I enjoyed the premise of the battlefield being the main focal point, recruitment of orcs, building your own army, all the while analyzing and dismantling the enemy army. Uber cool. And the revenge aspect often made it more enjoyable as well.

While it can still be a bit repetitive, (Aren't most games when you think about it?) the graphics are pretty great, cutscenes are visually praisable, and the story is compelling enough to drive the player onwards WITHOUT overstepping too much outside of the Tolkien lore and world. I really appreciated that the writers didn't want to diminish or tarnish an epic masterpiece world by adding too much of their own. Not saying everying here is cannon, per say, but just that it didn't really feel overdone or too butchered. I enjoyed how the many collectables offered room to share lore and background to players that might not know about it. Lastly, while Talion as a character was alright, I really liked the persona and portrayal of Celebrimbor as a main lead far more.

Overall, this game was really fun and offered a decent ammount of play time. While, not perfect, it was still pretty great for a Tolkien / Middle Earth inspired game and I hope to get more sequels in the future, as long as they don't stray too far from the literature or take too many liberties with the source material.

Killing Uruks is fun! For a while

[schroederagustavo · 6/10 · 12 May 2020]

The absolute biggest strength of this game is the combat. It's very fast paced and getting combos and kill streaks is very satisfying. Upgrades, runes and all that is good as well, very similar to the Arkham games. The boss system it introduces is innovative, although I don't think it quite reaches the heights the developers wanted it to. The problem is although killing orcs is really fun (and I do mean it's awesome), it does get old pretty fast. And maybe if the story of the game was awesome, then we'd be talking about something else, but the thing is it just isn't that interesting and the characters are bland and don't offer much in terms of personality. There is plenty to do, plenty of side missions and artifact collection and that kind of thing, but it really got old pretty fast for me. I couldn't get through the entire game, but I guess I would recommend it now, since it's probably a bit cheaper. I wouldn't recommend it at full price, though. It's also pretty funny how whenever you get into a boss battle, the boss will say his generic line with his thick british accent and then scream with his hands raised up. It's fun, but not for too long. I played this game for about 15 hours. It was incredibly entertaining for the first 5, it was OK until hour 10, but the last 5 hour I kind of just wanted it to be over. I will also say the enviroment isn't too interesting either. The most intersting thing is this statue of Sauron with some human slaves and it literally gets torn down during one of the first missions.

True expiation on the lord of the rings universe

[lillyfinn-78479 · 10/10 · 17 June 2016]

This game take you to Mordor prier to the evens of the hobbit. Her you play as a ranger witch has his soul boned to the Elvin creator of the rings of power on a quest for revenge for the murder of you wife and son. You are limited to Morrdor but there is still much to explore and you are able to go very close to the border of Morrdor. you fight uric with are like orcs but stronger. you are able to use meany ability in the game. You can ride animal and control uric. As well as combat based ability's like shooting Sprite arrows taking uric soils and stealth kills with swords and knifes. all in all it is a great game and I would highly recommend it

Initially about as easy as taking part in the battle of Helm's Deep with only Samwise Gamgee and his potatoes for help, but it's a rewarding game...

[MBsMidnightGeeks · 7/10 · 14 March 2022]

The game is a few years old, but the design looks crisp, detailed and smooth, the voice acting is top notch and the cut scenes are nicely animated. It has a detailed open world, not too large, with many orcs abound. MANY orcs.

There are enjoyable main and side missions in the open world system, a lot of which are very challenging early in the game.

The first couple of hours of gameplay are about as easy as taking part in the battle of Helm's Deep with only Samwise Gamgee and his potatoes for help. For this reason, it's best to get some orc kills and side missions under your alive/undead belt before tackling harder orc captains and main missions. Some of these are solid without upgraded weapons and health, and if you don't have enough points to enhance your Ranger and wraith skills.

Meh

[strizbiz-99429 · 4/10 · 26 March 2023]

First of all, I'm a lotr fan, read a few of the books and of course saw all the Peter Jackson films and others. I played the lotr game on the Ps2 way back and had a lot of fun playing it, but I'm finding Shadow of Mordor kinda meh....for me, it was kinda fun fighting orcs and what not...but it got kinda old and repetitive pretty fast, and going after his army was kinda a waste of time for the most part, you have to hunt them down and kill them, but at the same time a ton of orcs appear out of nowhere and you have to fight them at the same time and most of the time before you can finish off the captain or whomever, it cuts and runs away and escapes or you get killed by the other orcs as you fight him and they get stronger and it's like why bother? Maybe had I'd tried playing it when it came out I might have given it a higher rating, but I'm just not finding myself really caring about the main character, the story is kinda meh, especially by todays standards or even older games like the last of us, which really make you feel like the game characters are real. Shadow of Mordor just doesn't have me invested in the main character and tbh, I probably won't finish the game because I just don't find it that interesting.

Alright, but afraid to risk too much on its story.

[eunbi0530 · 6/10 · 5 November 2020]

I disliked how the game didn't risk more on some aspects and would just copy what happened in the Lord of the Rings. For instance, when Celebrimbor tells Talion that he feels Sméagol will play a role in the future, or when Queen Marwen is possessed by Saruman, or when Talion says "break the staff", it is reference after reference making the game feel unoriginal.

Another disappointing ideas are the side missions (weapon legend and outcast rescue), collectables (artefacts and ithildin) and the hunt and plant missions. The only point on doing them is to get Mirian (money) so you can upgrade stats, it would have been way much better to have skills unlock by completing those missions.

Interesting ideas are the nemesis system and how some enemies are able to pinpoint exactly how you killed them, or how the battle was interrupted last time they found you.

Talion is a good character, but the story feels a bit flat at times, could have been a much better game if it tried a bit more.

Played on PS3

[Starbuck823 · 7/10 · 12 January 2015]

This game will get compared to the AC series and the Batman series. I can see the similarities to AC but I found it has more in common with the Batman series, especially when it comes to controls and upgrades. Perhaps it is the association with Warner Brothers. Unfortunately, while being better than Batman - Arkham Origins, it has numerous faults in common.

Not to say this is a bad game. It has excellent voice acting and scripting. The nemesis system adds definite difficulty and thus strategic planning on the players part. Lots of Middle Earth lore. Engaging playable characters.

The main reason why I compare this to Origins (aside from controls/gameplay) is that is has numerous glitches and small faults that make things frustrating. As said above, I have it on PS3, so it may be different on other platforms. I read quite a bit about this game and it got great reviews and little mention of these problems (even on PS3 specific reviews).

The glitches/tech issues. One of my main annoyances was the long delay from the pause/map screen to the return of the gameplay. Every time you pressed it regardless of action taken, it took 5-10 seconds to return to play. While sounding like a small thing (nitpicking just about), it really detracted from the flow of the game, from if you were checking a survival challenge or pausing during a hectic moment to gather your wits. I can't think of such a highly rated game that does this.

Another was the graphics - while great in some aspects (characters and cut-scenes), I saw many parts in the environment where it would flash about or be very grainy. Many commented on the quality of the graphics but I did not rate it as highly, especially when the frame rate slowed from time to time. And, unfortunately, this slowing wasn't as rare as you would hope. Most of the issues were from the environment, things like background settings just plonking themselves into frame often in poor resolution before it jarringly sharpened, things suddenly appearing/disappearing etc. The character animations were stable (though I did have a few times I dropped through the ground for no apparent reason, one time fighting a captain. Very frustrating). Often, within the Orc menu, I found it would shift a few times while sharpening the details on the Captain. And, this well could be my TV, but I found I had to get really close to be able to read the writing - details about the strengths/weaknesses, details about the artifacts etc, all were somewhat tiny and blurry. I have a HD TV and haven't had this problem before (My eyes are fine too). Small things but again, detract from the game.

Speaking of the environment, it is a large map with plenty of side missions (AC/Batman). But to me, it really all looked the same. Wooden, dirty, slave camps, ruins etc. I know the setting doesn't lend much but running across the environment, you can't tell where you are and makes it monotonous. You can't just look around and tell what area you are in very easily. So you have to always check the map. Which, when you have the constant delay from checking your map/marking waypoints and returning to play, it gets tiresome. Not to mention sometimes the scaling feels a little off. Sometimes climbing things, it feels like it's much bigger than it should be or compared to when you were climbing something similar moments before.

Big talk has gone into the Nemesis system. It is the major strength of the game, though has it's faults. It's great working out a captains strengths/weaknesses then planning a strategy to take them out and finally accomplishing it (it's hard - if you get overwhelmed, you'll probably die which will make the Orc harder to beat next time). But doing all that work/planning and killing captains seems to be hollow when 20 minutes later the Orc you killed is back in the line up and stronger. I understand why they eventually return but the quickness of their recovery does bug me and very much detracts from your play.

There are a few small other things, but really, this is a solid game. Honestly, not a 9 or 10/10 game like most reviews have said but 7/8 level. I've given it a 7 here mainly due to the tech issues and visual. Another small note - the musical score. While Middle Earth type (aka, Howard Shore orchestra style) often it is very over bearing in the wrong moments.

Not "Open World" in GTA or Skyrim sense

[sbulgacs · 5/10 · 13 February 2015]

This is the first game I have bought for the Xbox One and I have decided to review it as some of the previous reviews are a little misleading. The closest game I compare this too is Assassin's Creed. However for role playing fans it is definitely not the same. The reason for this is that the game is mainly run fight, run fight and in that sense it is more like Batman Arkham City. Also the world is not huge. I get the feeling that it was designed to play on the PS3 and Xbox 360 but then someone asked them to tweak it for the next gen of console. However the designers decided that making the world larger would be too much hassle so added things like characters that "learn" and ever more complex fighting routines.

The graphics and motion are slightly better than many PS3 and 360 games but when you consider the lifelike graphics of Far Cry 2 are approx. 8 years old the "slightly" better rendered imagery here is certainly nothing to shout about and no major leap forward. Also when you consider the hugely upgraded processing power of the Xbox One, this game has not even come close to the consoles capabilities. Do not forget that a slightly "dumbed down" version is also available to buy for both the PS3 and 360.

The game play, due to its combative nature, gets quite lame after a while and due to the comparatively "medium" size of the world becomes repetitive. That is to say that you do find yourself running around the same areas and streets over and over again attempting to complete very "samey" missions. On the upside unlike say GTA 5 the character development is rich you can find yourself fighting up to 30 different Orcs who all move differently and appear to have pretty distinct characters. However this can regress into a Dead Rising scenario where you are quickly over run and have to escape. Taking you back to running around the world again trying to complete other pretty similar fight type missions. Think Lego LOTR game.

The game is quite long I have been playing for about 20 hours at 41% of game completion and I am still enjoying it (even due to the repetition). The game approx. sticks to the LOTR mythos and if you are familiar with the universe you will meet many familiar characters and situations (most of which you end up fighting with or in). I would go so far as to say that this is the best LOTR game so far and I have played most of them. If they do another one or anything similar I would suggest they add more role playing elements on top of the fighting and also make the world bigger so we don't end up running round and round in circles a'la Lego game style! Would I recommend this game? Not to a role playing fan but to anyone else who likes LOTR's and obviously fighting. Would I rush out to buy a next gen console just to play this game hell no. Buy the PS3/360 version and save yourself some money.

Un-lorefriendly, an AC rip-off, but it has its charm

[MegaGothmog · 6/10 · 28 October 2014]

I finished the game recently, and I do have to say that it was a game that you can enjoy.

When we saw the trailer, many of us already say the mechanics, and the climbing from Assassins Creed, and we were not wrong. The climbing, sneaking, distracting and fighting are a complete copy of the AC games. We even have bushes to hide in, stealth-take-downs from above and below, and that convenient counter-button. Thank goodness I know the AC series, that helped me get the hang of the game.

The game has it's lore-friendly moments. As a Middle Earth fan I know too much about the world and lore of Middle Earth so there were plenty of moments where i smiled all smug-like because I knew this detail, this artifact, this piece of back-story etc. On the other hand (and that hand is quite big), there are a lot, as in a lot, of moments that are not lore-friendly at all. I prefer not to give any spoilers, so i can't get into that too much. But prepare for some major flaws in the Middle Earth universe when you play this game.

There are also good points about the game. For one is the fact that it stays difficult. It is always fun to mow down 200 enemies with ease, but you always feel overpowered. Not with this game. Sure, at the end you are powerful enough to take down any enemy, but prepare to run when you fight 15 or more. Also the fighting mechanics are fast, and you need to pay attention if you don't want to die. No longer that single-button spam. The fights will keep you on your toes. The cut-scenes are also beautiful, and the environment looks amazing. The effects are nicely done and overall the game just looks really good. At least as good as AC IV.

If you are thinking about buying the game, think twice before you do it. If you are a Middle Earth fan like me, you will cringe a few times because of un-lorefrienly moments, but all in all it is a game that I can play without throwing it out.

ME:SOM Review

[tyggfqxcm · 7/10 · 28 March 2023]

Shadow of Mordor holds up well by modern standards with intuitive controls and consistently-paced gameplay. The stealth mechanics feel well-integrated and unforced. Instead of feature bloating like many modern games it finds what works and sticks to it. (+1) It does suffer somewhat being a product of its time graphically. The style isn't particularly distinct and the environment can be bland and monotonous. (0) Where other medias of LotR failing to interest me, I did find learning the lore and background of these characters to be interesting, though the main character is somewhat 2-dimensional (this could be intentional give the overall theme of the game). (+1) The music brought fourth the visceral and brutal nature of the gameplay and story, with voice performances that were serviceable. Being an early PS4 game it has to rely on the controller sound which could become repetitive but was overall one of the better uses of it during combat. (0) An easy game to trophy hunt and the collectibles aren't gratingly long, but I don't think there is much reason to return to this title after one finishes the story. (-1) It was refreshing to play a game where things weren't breaking or crashing constantly. Easy win for this game to create a simple and stable game. (+1)

Overall, while not pushing the envelope and borrowing from some established franchises, the Nemesis System made for a unique experience in both difficulty and gameplay, but seems like it could be expanded upon. (0)