Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Review (SS PigeonShit)
As a huge Lord Of The Rings nerd, I greatly looked forward to this game when it was released back in the day. I beat it back then, beat it again, and now after replaying it once more to prepare for my Shadow of War playthrough, I've seen enough to give it an honest review.
It's a very very OK game. Nothing that will blow you out of the water, but it's not bad by any means. The pros for me would be the story (obviously) because it's compelling, albeit slightly convoluted. I also appreciate the in-game lore. You can know nothing about LOTR lore and get on just fine in this game but if you're a lore buff, they do a nice job of placing little nuggets of info here and there. Granted, this game is not canon to the LOTR lore but it stands on its own well enough. And while it needs some tweaking, I do like the nemesis system. It adds character and depth to characters who would otherwise just be nameless, faceless cannon fodder.
The cons are few but lengthy. While developed by different development studios, some of the same individual developers worked on this game as well as Ryse: Son of Rome and the Arkham games which is apparent upon starting gameplay. The combat, while seamless and a step up from Ryse, still leaves a bit to be desired. I wouldn't say I disliked it but rather was indifferent to it. It could be improved but it wasn't bad. I also thought the playable area was a bit small, which I'm hoping was improved on in Shadow of War. It doesn't feel like you're exploring the great vastness of Mordor, it feels like you're exploring the corner of a corner of it. Lastly is the graphics. They were OK for the time but could've been better.
All in all I'd give Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor a 6/10. There's not really a ton of replayability but it's worth dumping 20+ hours into a playthrough.