

Shadow of Mordor is an appealing title with nice graphics and of course the beloved universe of Lord of The Rings would it live up to those Shadow of Mordor is an appealing title with nice graphics and of course the beloved universe of Lord of The Rings would it live up to those expectations, well I believe it does. I subtracted a point because all in all, the story needs more substance, and the gameplay feels a bit grind oriented and repetitive at times. PROS: Open World Fun Combat System Multifaceted Combat Preference Options Excellent Graphics Great Voice Acting Replay-ability CONS: Open World Feels A Bit 'Grind' Oriented Somewhat Repetitive Storyline Needs More Substance Overall I give this game a 9 of 10 because of it's innovate system, excellent game play, and it's replayability. Literally every single time you play, you could end up changing something and finding quite a different result. You can play this game through time and time again, and while the scenarios themselves will be the same, the way you handle them, and what you do will shape the outcome. There is something to be said about replay-ability. I feel that the Nemesis system bears some mentioning as well, because I think this is something that I have yet to see in another game, which makes it truly original, and originality should be rewarded! (I mean, sure it may be out there in other games, but I have yet to see anything similar to the Nemesis system as of yet.) By using the Nemesis system, WB and IE have introduced strategy into a sandbox hack-n-slash game. I hunt them down like the bastards they are. The game isn't without faults, I can see how some people would get bored by killing throngs of Orcs. The leveling system isn't too fast paced, and although I haven't beaten the game, I feel like the abilities at the end will be well worth the work, time, and effort. It combines innovate moves and ideas into the combat system, and rewards players for not always taking the easy way out. I enjoy that very much, because I like to roam and get far from the storyline, but I like to be able to get back to it when I want, and SoM allows you to do that. The game is also open world, so expect that you will find it easy to meander and fart around, but it is also easy to just follow the story lines. Sure, the game will force you out of your comfort zone, but any great game will, in my opinion. There truly is something for each style of player, whether it be in your face, from the shadows, or a safe distance away. I found that the stealth options were fun, the ranged options were fun, and the swingin'-my-ranger-sword-in-yo-face options were fun too.

I found Shadows of Mordor (heretofore to be called SoM) a great deal. I should say that I very much enjoyed the books, movies and games. I am, however, a LotR enthusiast, well that's a little too far. I opted to play the tutorial again, which solved all of my problems. In the beginning it can take quite a bit of finagling and I won't say that I didn't say some silent prayers to Cthulu and sell the soul of my first born to Satan trying to get a handle on the game. I also didn't like Shadows of Mordor.at first. Let me start off by saying that I did not enjoy Arkham Asylum, and I hated Assassin's Creed.
