Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ Game of the Year Edition

Even if you never want to play the sequel to this game, I recommend that you buy this. Not a lot of games are worth full-price, but this one certainly is. The combat can become repetitive, but with all the different things you can do in the game, even though there's a lot of the same type of fighting, it's an absolute blast to play. You have the power to mix it up, go stealth one mission, go full-on Rambo on another one, and then snipe the next. And honestly, some of the kills in this game are shocking to see. They did a good job. Look forward to higher levels. Some of the stuff you get to do later on in the game is unexpected and exactly the kind of thing you hoped would happen. (They put a whole new spin on steeds. Riding into battle is actually fun, not just maddeningly frustrating like so many 'fight while on a mount' games out there.)

Sounds insane? Yes it is. There are lot of in-depth reviews so i just point the poins that i liked the most. Fight animations are superb. Your slauthering tons of orcs nonetheless fights still look believable. Idea to convert orcs to your side is very fun. Ghost-elf mode is very cool. I am a rather casual player and i still knew where i left of. For hardcore players there is even more to explore. Storytelling is wonderful. Developers at their jobs interview needed to know J.R.RTolkien books with every detail. Simply said: killing orcs was never more fun:-D

1. Gameplay 10/10 Combat: what newer Assassin's Creed games try and fail to top. Outside of Combat: hippity hoppity with no fall damage...'itty. UI: spend 20 minutes setting keybindings only to forget which overlap :X 2. Writing 6/10 Setting: Middle Earth! Hell yeah! Main Plot: Simple, functional, crap ending. Side Activities: Gotta catch em all! Characters: Colorful, though shallow... unless: Nemezis system: You die once by pure chance and then this one green son of a %$#@ can't stop bragging about killing you. Lock in. 3. Visuals 10/10 Fidelity: All you need from 2014 title. Art direction: At times can keep you glued to the monitor. Animation: I wish I moved so smoothly. Locations: I want more! 4. Sound 8/10 Music: Outside of main menu I forget it's there which might be good. Speech: Don't know what these guys are selling, but I'm buying! Environment etc: Nothing really stands out. Effects: Punchy. 5. Other 7/10 Performance: An outstanding optimization. On laptop with 1660ti, fully detailed fans don't even ramp up. FoV is nauseatingly narrow. No way to permanently increase it through settings or by editing files. "FlawlessWidescreen" software does work with this title so pick it from it's official website for way better experience in all resolutions. Especially if you are prone to motion sickness. No New Game Plus ;| SUMMARY: After playing it I finally understand why I didn't exactly enjoy Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Instead of narrowing your playstyle through points in character sheet and equipment Shadow of Mordor actually wants you to constantly adapt to changing circumstances and use every tool at your disposal. By the end you really feel like skilled demigod moving through your persinalized power fantasy. If you need a really good cheeseburger, this is top tier. It's pure unadulterated joy to play. A one time ride. It might get too easy by the end (and have really poorly conceived plot ending) yet the fun and memorable moments will stick with you for a long time.

(minor spoilers) Music is nice, visuals are good. While the stories in this game are all pretty cool, the gameplay seems to be never ending. It seems to me this was designed to be played forever, much like one of those addictive mmo's. On the upside, taking control of enemies is fun.. you can then have them go simp to warlords... then have them betray those warlords. You can help or not while this is happening. Some of the powers you get are quire useful, others are powerful; they almost all feel good to use. Daggers are useless; they can insta kill a fleeing basic enemy, but not a captain or warlord. Fleeing basic enemies are not important; only captains or warlords are! The beasts in this game are great fun to use, once you can control them. A few Caragors can devastate an entire enemy camp by themselves. One of them... well it can be a great mount for you or a good distraction for you to attack from stealth! While riding a caragor, you can do a stealth attack by leaping from it's back; odd, but very satisfying. You can then get back on them while they are fighting and do it again! You can ride the big ass totally not a Rancor from starwars... *cough* It's called a Graug in this game and it is just as effective as you might suspect, being a huge beast. In the beastlord expansion you can also use poison varients of this thing. Oh and it can eat enemies to restore it's health. Eating a captain or warlord is also an instant kill, so you can rampage into an enemy base and just straight up murder the warlords, sometimes. Only big complaint is that they made enemies have traits which straight up make them immune to damage! In the beastlords expansion this is particularly bad; they made the archer warlord immune to everything but ranged, immune to stagger and he can instantly tripple fire explosive bolts which instant kills you at full health! Oh and he is also completely immune to his own explosions, so he can do them at point blank range.

As of now, I have tested the game on a laptop (specs below). CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4600H GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5500M RAM: 16GBs Storage: SSD The game runs at 60fps smooth and stable with everything maxed out, at leaf-blower mode (so a 30fps cap is recommended), (AA+Blur, Tessellation, Order Independent Transparency and Depth of Field are DISABLED). In case the textures of NPC and character models don't load properly, reboot the game. The strong points of the game are its swordplay against masses of opponents, with varied specializations and the process of taking down their Captains and Warchiefs, NPCs with specific strengths and weaknesses, that set them apart from the game's basic opponents, reaching it's height (swordplay) with boss fights against the cast of main villains. Recommended for those with expectations for a game with satisfying brawling mechanics and related progression. Plot wise it represents an oversimplification of the Lord of the Rings' book universe, utilizing only as much as it is necessary to create a relatable to the universe brawling/sword-fighting experience. Not recommended for dedicated fans of Tolkien's universe looking for an immersive story. My rating of the game, based on the merits of its technical and game-play qualities is four (4) stars, while based on its faint plot is two (2) stars, with both aspects carrying the same weight in forming the average of a three (3) star final rating.